EVery year Charles Brooks publishes (through Pelican Publishing Company) a collection of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1589802004/qid=1094337965/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-7211968-1416726) But he never includes anything from Tom Tomorrow’s “This Modern World” or Ruben Bolling’s “Tom the Dancing Bug” or Mark Alan Stamaty’s “Washingtoon.” Why not? They don’t run on the op-ed pages of daily newspapers (they run in alternative weeklies – just like “The Straight Dope”!), but they’re better than most cartoons that do, and they’re definitely political cartoons, aren’t they?
“Editorial cartoon” generally means a fairly specific ARTISTIC format, not just that they tackle political issues. In fact, a good editorial cartoon is not necessarily political. Tom Tomorrow’s work simply is not editorial cartoons; they’re cartoons, and they’re POLITICAL, but an editorial cartoon is usually a single panel format and, most importantly, primarily uses images to convey an opinion on current events. Tom Tomorrow’s work never uses imagery and metaphor - it’s pretty much just talking heads saying what he wants to say. Tom Tomorrow is a very talented and edgy satirist but he’s not actually much of a CARTOONIST in the sense an editorial cartoon demands.
“Tom the Dancing Bug” is somewhat more visually interesting, but again, Bolling is using verbal satire, not imagery, for the most part.
“Washingtoon” is an editorical cartoon, I’d have to agree. Looking over it, it’s a terrible one. Really lousy stuff, at least the recent material.
I don’t know what Charles Brooks’ standards are, but several cartoonists who DON’T fit the mold you describe have won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons. Berke Breathed and Garry Trudeau are just two who come to mind.
So, I don’t think his format is what’s keeping him out of Brooks’ collection. The fact that he’s a pompous jackass who browbeats his readers and never says anything funny might have something to do with it.
Are you referring to Tom Tommorow, Bolling, or Stamaty? Or to Brooks himself?
Based on context, I assume he’s talking about Tomorrow.
And neither of them show up in the Brooks collections, apparently. So there may indeed be a format bias at work for this collection. And I’ll second the description of Tom Tomorrow as not so much a cartoon panel as an illustrated mini-essay
That’s fair – but it’s just wrong to say Tom Tomorrow “never says anything funny.”