I will be on vacation for through Friday and have turned the reins of power over to a trusted friend and talented and award-winning cartoonist Aaron Taylor. Aaron is the editorial cartoonist for the Daily Herald in ultra-conservative Provo Utah which makes editorial cartooning too easy most days.
I received and email from Dawn Douglas, the founder of GoGags (not to be confused with Universal Press’ GoComics) who is wheeling and dealing to get more cartoonists to sign up for their mobile cartoon and “My Fridj” products. These products allow any cartoonist to publish their cartoons on to mobile phones and take a generous percentage of the advertising and direct sales for each cartoon.
On the heals of Steve Benson’s Haditha cartoon comes Mike Luckovich’s cartoon on torture etiquette that has generated 18,000 votes on an online poll (Mike’s cartoons usually generate only 1,000) according to Editor and Publisher.Public Editor Angela Tuck, in a column Saturday, took issue with its timing, and claimed the “symbolism clearly overshadowed the intent.” The cartoon showed a hooded figure holding an American flag while reading a book on torture etiquette to an al-Qaida member.Not by design, it appeared just above photos of two Americans killed by insurgents in Iraq this week, whose bodies were brutalized, probably after they died.Tuck wrote: “Luckovich had that brutality in mind when he drew the cartoon, which was meant to criticize U.S. military leaders for allowing torture tactics, such as waterboarding (making prisoners feel as though they are being drowned) at Guantanamo Bay….’
Awhile ago, I posted a notice that Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial cartoonist Joe Heller was one of 41 artists to create artwork that would be displayed through out the city streets and then auctioned off to raise money for the Einstein Project. Joe’s work is now on display in the lobby of the Brown County Library at 515 Pine Street.