# Who are your favorite/least favorite political cartoonists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187 "2003-06-29T18:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/1 "2003-06-29T18:30:15Z")
And, a related question: Do you admire any political cartoonists whose politics are very different from your own? I must admit, I don’t. I’m a leftist and all my faves are left-of-center cartoonists: Ruben Bolling of _Tom the Dancing Bug_ (at [http://www.ucomics.com/tomthedancingbug/](http://www.ucomics.com/tomthedancingbug/)). (Check out the Adventures of God-Man! And Billy Dare, Boy Adventurer!) Tom Tomorrow of _This Modern World_ (at [http://www.thismodernworld.com](http://www.thismodernworld.com)). Tom Toles (at [http://www.ucomics.com/tomtoles/index.phtml](http://www.ucomics.com/tomtoles/index.phtml)). I also like Pat Oliphant, though he’s not exactly leftist – seems to be equally ready to skewer whoever’s in power. My least favorite is Wayne Stayskal ([http://www.comicspage.com/stayskal/](http://www.comicspage.com/stayskal/)), a right-wing editorial cartoonist for the _Tampa Tribune,_ whose work has inexplicably gone into syndication. Not only do I disagree violently with practically everything he has to say, but his mode of saying it is always crude, clumsy, stupid and lame. I would call Stayskal the Bil Keane of political cartooning but that would insult Keane, whose wit and artistic talent both are vastly superior, which should give you some idea why I hate Stayskal. How about you guys? ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/2 "2003-06-29T18:43:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Not only do I disagree violently with practically everything he has to say, but his mode of saying it is always crude, clumsy, stupid and lame. I would call Stayskal the Bil Keane of political cartooning but that would insult Keane, whose wit and artistic talent both are vastly superior, which should give you some idea why I hate Stayskal. Ahaha. Stayskal has NOTHING on [Chuck Asay.](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/Asay.asp) Nothing. I gain perverse pleasure from reading his comics, and I’ve yet to see one that has an actual joke in it. It wouldn’t even have to be a good joke. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but there’s something about editorial cartooning that this guy misses completely. But at least Asay can draw passably, which separates him from the blight upon editorial cartooning that is [Barry Shelton.](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/shelton.asp) In fact, most of the cartoons at [CNSNews’s cartoon page](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/welcome.asp) are hilariously bad. And yes, it’s got Stayskal in it. I’ve considered bringing it to everyone’s attention via a Pit thread or something, but really, it’s rather inconsequential. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/3 "2003-06-29T19:05:57Z")
You can find a wide selection of recently-printed political cartoons at [http://cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons//](http://cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons//). ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/4 "2003-06-29T20:12:58Z")
Mallard Fillmore. Typical strip: Mallard: I’m here talking to a dumb liberal. Dumb Liberal: I’m a dumb drooling liberal. Mallard: Wow, you are a dumb liberal. At least Doonesbury has a plot. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/5 "2003-06-29T22:08:29Z")
Michael Ramirez of the _Los Angeles Times_ is another mindless conservative political cartoonist (a redundant phrase, maybe?). Putting aside the grotesque people in his cartoons, I’m just peeved at how his topics are always a predictable regurgitation of whatever the GOP Groupthink Idea Of The Day is. I have yet to see a Ramirez strip which offers anything more insightful than stereotypical conservative posturing. Ramirez is doubly embarassing when you compare him with his predecessor, Paul Conrad, who at his prime was able to skewer targets all across the political spectrum with uncanny precision. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/6 "2003-06-30T02:09:30Z")
Gary Tredeau ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/7 "2003-06-30T02:14:24Z")
**Blalron** , is that pro-Tredeau or anti-Tredeau? I happen to like Doonesbury, but I’m a Lefty. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/8 "2003-06-30T06:44:44Z")
I don’t care for Ted Rall. After his cartoons slamming the 911 widows, I’m surprised he still has a paying gig on this side of the McDonalds drive-through window. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/9 "2003-06-30T22:05:55Z")
Tom Tomorrow has the most consistently intelligent, well-reasoned cartoons I’ve ever seen. He’s even aware of the fact that he’s basically “getting mad once a week” and probably won’t make much of a difference. I think all the ripping of Ted Rall is precisely why we _need_ him. He’s not afraid of criticism and won’t pull punches to make anyone feel better. (For the record, his beef with the 911 widows was that they were getting well over A MILLION DOLLARS EACH. Even most of the donators believed that they should only get enough to get back on their feet.) Actually, I’m more impressed by his essays and how much actual, hard research he puts into them…his piece on the former Soviet Union alone should be required reading. Peter Bagge is a little more centrist than the typical cartoonist, but he usually has plenty of good insights and in general seems open and honest. Oh, and I’d better not forget my favorite “indie”, August Pollak. It’s true…it’s amazing that somone this young knows so much about the world. And the worst? Bruce Tinsley and ANYONE like him. Conservative viewpoint I don’t mind, not having a single intelligent thought, I do. (P.S.: Animation-wise, I wholeheartedly recommend Mark Fiore.) ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/10 "2003-06-30T22:09:45Z")
Aaron McGruder “Boondocks”. Especially after I heard about the strip being censored after Sept. 11. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/11 "2003-07-02T00:39:28Z")
I think _Doonesbury,_ _Boondocks_ and _Mallard Fillmore_ fall outside the scope of this thread. I’m asking for opinions about **editorial** cartoons, the kind that do not appear in the regular funny pages. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/12 "2003-07-02T00:56:27Z")
McGruder is kind of a nut in person (albeit a nut with a great sense of humor and a lot of charisma), but that doesn’t stop _The Boondocks_ from being one of the very few newspaper strips I still consider worth reading. I find Ted Rall’s wit engagingly sharp, even if I often disagree with his unhesitant demonization of all things right. [Bob the Angry Flower](http://www.angryflower.com/) isn’t a political cartoon per se, but the cartoonist’s political opinions are often expressed in it. Plus it has one of the best comic triumvirates of the last decade: Bob the aforementioned angry flower, Stumpy (a deadpan talking piece of wood), and Freddie the Flying Fetus. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/13 "2003-07-02T01:00:23Z")
Whoops, forgot to list my least favs… Stayskal and Asay are both horrid. Johnny Hart’s comic strips annoy me intensely whenever he injects his uberChristianity into them (they’re merely monotonous when he doesn’t). ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/14 "2003-07-02T01:29:44Z")
Personally I think **Tom Tomorrow** is crap. I’ve never seen anything that bad or more deliberatly-missing-the-point-so-I-can-slam-the-other-side mess. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/15 "2003-07-02T12:06:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrainGlutton \* > **I think _Doonesbury,_ _Boondocks_ and _Mallard Fillmore_ fall outside the scope of this thread.** Why? All of those cartoons are inherently political in nature. I’ll grant you, though, that these cartoons are not quite as issue oriented as the editorial cartoons. I like Pat Oliphant. (He’s dead now, right?) ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/16 "2003-07-02T13:56:13Z")
I’d have to say David Horsey of the Seattle PI is my favorite. And I’ll second **Kantalooppi** Chuck Asay is the worst. No set up, no joke, no real idea’s other than whatever is in the latest “Liberal’s are Liable” newsletter that the GOP has been handing out. Unfortunately he is a local here in Colorado Springs, so I get to see his work every day. Lucky me. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/17 "2003-07-02T13:59:29Z")
I love Tom Tomorrow–i try never to miss one. Leftists like the OP might like to check out [Kirk Anderson](http://www.zmag.org/cartoons/by_artist.cfm?artist=6). [Matt Wuerker](http://www.mwuerker.com/) is also excellent. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-your-favorite-least-favorite-political-cartoonists/185187/18 "2003-07-02T15:39:39Z")
Bruce Plante