The bad cartoonist

Daryl Cagle calls these types of incidences ‘yahtzees’ though I have no clue why. I think we ought to call it what it is: mooching. I hesitate to use the P word because you don’t see too direct tracing too often but, come on, it’s just too coincidental how a bad idea gets turned into an epidemic.

Sure, it happens from time to time; cartoonists work off the best news of the day and often go with similar iconic images, so, yes, I suppose it is possible that we could have similar ideas. But I think there is something deeper going on.

We all complain that the profession is going to pot; people are losing their jobs, editorial control is is out of hand, circulation is down, Editors are scared of controversy, yada, yada, yada. The real problem is that too many cartoonists suck at what they do. I know this because I am one of them (not saying who!) and I have bad days like the rest. There are times when I spend half the day trying to get my idea worked out on paper only to look at cagle.com the next day to see how many of my colleagues did a better job than I. It’s a rough business (thus this cathartic exercise. My shrink told me it would be better than another hissy fit at the next edit board meeting) but it’s also half-full (half-empty?) of hacks with unoriginal, stolen, or poorly executed ideas.

Case in point: Hillary crying. This was obvious fodder for cartoonists but it was also a topic where un-originality reared it’s fat, pimply head. The first person to come up with this gem of an idea was Pat Bagley from Utah; a state where people will think anything is funny if it’s done by a mormon. He set the standard with this over-used approach and his typically bad caricature style. Funny to anyone who doesn’t know any better.

Jeff Koterba (a man not known for his brilliant ideas) came back a whole week later with an even worse caricature. I think he had to put a name-tag on her because this drawing looks more Howdy-Doody than Hillary.

I was disappointed in Sherffius’s version of this one. He’s usually very poignant if not funny and his ability as an artist is admirable. But this caricature is horrendous. She looks like she was left in the tanning bed a few hours too long. How about giving the woman even a little bit of character. I feel like this isn’t a caricature at all, rather an art students first attempt at studio portraiture. I feel for the readers who saw this in print. I’m sure all 12 of them gathered around the table in the nursing home cafeteria with their bifocals and magnifying glasses trying to decipher the tiny writing on her tear. I think it says ‘Hot Rumpshire’.

Pat O’Connor finishes off this round with a caricature that is, at best, totally unrecognisable. Perhaps it’s the manga version of Mrs. Clinton but it could just as well be a manic-depressive kewpie doll. I’d say he could do better but I’m really not sure.