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SYMPOSIUM

Introduction

artoons come in many shapes and sizes, ists are notoriously difficult to mobilize, but C from gag cartoons and comic strips, to the specter of job losses taps into larger con- comic books and graphic novels. A more or cerns about opinion-based cartooning and the less respectable cartoon format is the news- future of the newspaper. The prize-winning paper editorial cartoon. This symposium con- Clay Bennett and Ann Telnaes siders the state of editorial cartooning around touch on these issues in their symposium inter- the globe, from representations of gender, reli- views ~Margulies 2007; Harrison 2007!. gion, student life, and popular culture in the As a commercial art form, the editorial car- United States, to visual politics in Indonesia, toon is linked to the development of the modern Yemen, Turkey, and South Africa. daily newspaper. But the editorial cartoon may The term editorial cartoon typically refers to also be viewed as one form that cartooning can the topical outbursts of image and text that assume along a continuum of formats, styles, punctuate and enliven the daily newspaper edi- and genres. In recent years, the influential work torial page. Ideally, the editorial cartoon enjoys of Scott McCloud ~1993! has encouraged re- a certain degree of autonomy from the columns searchers to think of comics as a medium of of print that surround it. A capable editorial car- sequences and juxtapositions, which places the toonist can use this autonomy to “grab people by editorial cartoon in an awkward conceptual the lapels, shake them and say, ‘Don’t you un- relationship with multi- and multi-page derstand what’s happening?’ ” ~Tom Tomorrow, cartooning, even though plenty of editorial car- quoted in Lamb 2004, 233!. As the transnational toonists use multiple panels at least on occasion. protests and economic boycotts over the car- The comics scholar Robert C. Harvey ~1994; toons published in the Danish newspaper 1996! has argued, in contrast to McCloud, that Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 made abun- comics are based on a “visual-verbal blend.” dantly clear, editorial cartoons can also serve as Their debate has focused the attention of schol- lightning rods for larger ars and interested readers on how comics work by controversies. and how they may be distinguished from other The idea for this art forms. Our focus on the editorial cartoon not Kent Worcester, symposium was floated only underscores the utility of Harvey’s notion Marymount Manhattan a few weeks before the of images and text as giving each other meaning, Danish cartoon crisis but highlights the important distinction between College and was motivated by simplification, which cartoonists are routinely reports that “the number accused of, and encapsulation, which uses small of newspapers employing full-time editorial spaces to capture large meanings. Editorial car- cartoonists has steadily declined” over the past toons rely on the visual-verbal blend, but they several decades ~Leonard Downie, Jr., quoted also, at their best, exemplify the crucial differ- in Lordan 2006, 158!. The waning of two- ence between encapsulating difficult truths and newspaper cities, the consolidation of the dumbing things down. newspaper industry, and outsourcing in the The history of the editorial cartoon in this form of substituting syndicated material for country reaches back to Ben Franklin, Paul staff-generated material have each contributed Revere, and the emergence of a national press to the steady erosion of full-time employment in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- opportunities. Thom Gephardt, a veteran editor turies. Early U.S. efforts were often inspired by at the Cincinnati Enquirer, estimates that “a the work of European illustrators such as John major American newspaper hires an editorial Tenniel, Gustave Doré, Honoré Daumier, and about as infrequently as the Presi- James Gillray. Innovations in printing, paper dent of the United States hires a Chief Justice” production, and image reproduction in the mid- ~Ruby-Sachs and Pittman 2002!. to-late nineteenth century made it increasingly When the Tribune Company eliminated edi- possible for newspapers and magazines on torial cartoon staff positions at the Los Angeles both sides of the Atlantic to incorporate timely Times and the Baltimore Sun in 2005, the As- drawings at reasonable prices. In the United sociation of American Editorial Cartoonists States, formative creative figures such as ~AAEC! organized something called “Black Thomas Nast ~see Figure 1!, Homer Daven- Ink Monday.” On December 12, 2005, dozens port, Joseph Keppler, and Art Young not only of cartoonists “unleashed their biting commen- used their pens to put across their views and tary on the current state of affairs of the news- to influence the opinions of others, but honed paper business, with a specific emphasis on the vocabulary, imagery, and sensibility of the corporate downsizing” ~AAEC 2005!. Cartoon- modern . Styles and subject

PSOnline www.apsanet.org DOI: 10.1017/S1049096507070321 223 Figure 1

Thomas Nast’s cartoon cover for the April 22, 1876, Harper’s Weekly. Reprint permission courtesy of the Library of Congress.

224 PS April 2007 matter continue to evolve as cartoonists respond to changing of ~Rall 2002; 2004; 2006!. World War III Illus- social conditions and adapt to or resist prevailing winds of fash- trated, a trailblazing, irregularly published anthology of politi- ion and taste. There are a few recent surveys on the editorial cal comics, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary ~Worcester cartoon ~e.g., Hess and Northrop 1996; Lamb 2004; Lordan 2006!, and a growing number of comic books and graphic 2006; Trostle 2004!, but nothing definitive. Perhaps the single novels are explicitly concerned with current events. The suc- most useful primary resource on newspaper editorial cartooning cess of titles like Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Miriam Katin’s in recent decades is the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year We Are On Our Own, ’s In the Shadows of series ~Brooks 1973–2006!. No Towers, and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis has helped legiti- Editorial cartoons can be described as sites of dense visual mate long form cartooning and has encouraged bookstores to information. They use symbols, icons, lines, and words to find room for the grown-up graphic novel as a major affirm, mock, and complicate the assumptions and boundaries category alongside literary fiction, crime, non-fiction, romance, of acceptable discourse. They draw on established narratives and biography. A sign of the times: Bechdel’s Fun Home was and genres even as they publicize the latest scandals. They listed as book of the year for 2006 by no less an authority decorate the page and distract the eye, and they encapsulate than Time magazine. historical change and transmit coded messages. Most editorial Cartooning’s newfound cultural clout has been accompanied cartoons are in black-and-white, but there is no formal reason by the emergence of an increasingly sophisticated secondary why this should be so, and the use or absence of color can literature that takes up questions of form, history, ideology, and add a further dimension to the meaning of a particular genre ~See, for example, Carrier 2000; Coogan 2006; Gordon cartoon. 1998; Hatfield 2005; Kannenberg 2002; Magnussen and Chris- Some editorial cartoonists are beloved members of their com- tiansen 2000!. The graphic novel has attracted an outpouring of munities. Others receive hate mail. Paul Conrad of the Los An- serious-minded commentary from journalists and literary critics geles Times made ’s enemies list, while former in recent years, some of which builds on and reproduces the CBS producer Bernard Goldberg ~2005! found room for no puzzled skepticism that was characteristic of twentieth-century fewer than three cartoonists— ~#15!, Jeff Danziger commentary on comics and cartoons ~Heer and Worcester ~#35!, and Aaron McGruder ~#88!—in his list of the 100 Peo- 2004!. The unparalleled distributive capacity of the Internet ple Who Are Screwing Up . Many academics post car- means that cartoons are constantly traversing the planet, in the toons on their office doors, but the number of our colleagues form of web links and email attachments. But neither the main- who write substantively on cartooning is roughly the same as streaming of the graphic novel, nor the emergence of comics the number who closely study campaign buttons, i.e., not very studies, nor the global reach of the Internet can ensure that many. The power of cartoons to inspire and enrage public and sentiment-free media companies will commit themselves to un- elite opinion is a matter of historical record, yet editorial car- derwriting editorial cartooning in the new century. toons are mainly understood by the discipline as epiphenomenal Although this symposium was initially framed in terms of paraphernalia rather than as, say, “a single, integral system of domestic cartoon politics, the growing controversy over the signification” ~Varnum and Gibbons 2001, xi!. Jyllands-Posten cartoons suggested that a more inclusive frame- As Ilan Danjoux notes in his contribution to this sympo- work was required. For this reason, the call for papers invited sium, the shaky status of the newspaper cartoonist does not contributions on cases outside the United States, as well as on mean that the cartoon itself is in crisis. Political cartooning the Danish cartoon controversy itself. The result is a symposium exists beyond the editorial page. Many observers would de- that offers a rich mix of single-country case studies, compara- scribe and as editorial cartoons, tive studies, theoretical excursions, thematic essays, interviews even though they are also comic strips. Weekly newspapers with leading cartoonists, and, of course, examples of the form. often feature opinionated cartooning in the free verse tradition

References Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. 2005. “Editorial Cartoonists Heer, Jeet, and Kent Worcester, eds. 2004. Arguing Comics: Literary Mas- Announce ‘Black Ink Monday’ to Protest Industry Layoffs.” Posted ters on a Popular Medium. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. December 5, 2005, at http:00editorialcartoonists.com0news0article.cfm0 Hess, Stephen, and Sandy Northrop. 1996. Drawn and Quartered: The His- 5270. tory of American Political Cartoons. Montgomery, AL: Black Belt Brooks, Charles, ed. 1973–2006. Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year. Press. Gretna, LA: Pelican. Kannenberg, Gene. 2002. “Form, Function, Fiction: Text and Image in the Carrier, David. 2000. The Aesthetics of Comics. University Park: Penn State Comics Narratives of Winsor McCay, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware.” University Press. Unpublished dissertation, University of . Coogan, Peter. 2006. Superheroes: The Secret Origin of a Genre. Austin, Lamb, Chris. 2004. Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial TX: Monkeybrain Books. Cartoons. New York: Press. Danjoux, Ilan. 2007. “Reconsidering the Decline of the Editorial Cartoon.” Lordan, Edward J. 2006. Politics, Ink: How America’s Cartoonists Skewer PS: Political Science and Politics 40 ~April!: 245–48. Politicians, from King George III to George Dubya. Lanham, MD: Goldberg, Bernard. 2005. 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America ~And Rowman and Littlefield. Al Franken is #37!. New York: Harper Collins. Magnussen, Anne, and Hans-Christian Christiansen, eds. 2000. Comics and Gordon, Ian. 1998. Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890–1945. Culture: Analytical and Theoretical Approaches to Comics. Copenha- Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. gen: Museum Tusculanum Press. Harrison, Brigid. 2007. “Interview with Ann Telnaes.” PS: Political Science Margulies, Jimmy. 2007. “Interview with Clay Bennett.” PS: Political Sci- and Politics 40 ~April!: 233–36. ence and Politics 40 ~April!: 229–32. Harvey, Robert C. 1996. The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic His- McCloud, Scott. 1993. Understanding Comics. Northampton, MA: Tundra tory. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Publishing. _. 1994. The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History. Jackson: Uni- Rall, Ted, ed. 2002. Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists. versity Press of Mississippi. New York: NBM. Hatfield, Charles. 2005. : An Emerging Literature. Jack- _, ed. 2004. Attitude 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists. son: University Press of Mississippi. New York: NBM.

PSOnline www.apsanet.org 225 _, ed. 2006. Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists. Varnum, Robin, and Christina T. Gibbons, eds. 2001. Introduction to The New York: NBM. Language of Comics: Word and Image. Jackson: University Press of Ruby-Sachs, Emma, and Asa Pittman. 2002. “Cartooning Terror,” The Nation, Mississippi. July 12. Posted at www.thenation.com0doc0200207150sachs20020703. Worcester, Kent. 2006. “The World War 3 Illustrated Roundtable Inter- Trostle, J. P. 2004. Attack of the Political Cartoonists: Insights and As- view.” Comics Journal 276 ~June!: 161–76. saults from Today’s Editorial Pages. Austin, TX: Dork Storm Press.

SYMPOSIUM AUTHORS’ BIOS

Sushmita Chatterjee is writing her Ph.D. dissertation in Thomas A. Koelble is professor of business administration the departments of political science and women’s studies at in political science at the graduate school of business, Univer- Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation, tentatively titled sity of Cape Town, South Africa. After completing his Ph.D. at “Fictive Bodies and the Feminist Democratic Imagination,” ex- UCSD, Koelble worked at a variety of universities and colleges amines Art Spiegelman’s craft of cartooning in the context of in the U.S. before returning to South Africa. He is currently 9/11 and its implications for contemporary identity politics. working on two book manuscripts dealing with the democratic transformation in South Africa. Joan L. Conners is assistant professor of speech communi- cation at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, . Her Mark Long is assistant professor of political science at the past publications on political cartoons involve analyses of im- College of Charleston. A political geographer, his research in- ages during the Persian Gulf War and historical representa- terests include state control over space and identity politics. tions of Congress. J. Maggio is a graduate of University of Florida College of Daniel Corstange is a doctoral candidate in the depart- Law, as well as a doctoral candidate in political science at the ment of political science at the University of Michigan, Ann University of Florida. His intellectual interests include the inter- Arbor. He has lived and conducted field research in several section of aesthetic, cultural, and political theory. Arab countries. Mohamed Magid is executive director of the ADAMS Cen- Ilan Danjoux is a doctoral researcher in the centre for in- ter in Sterling, Virginia, and an undergraduate student of po- ternational politics at the University of Manchester. His current litical science at the University of the District of Columbia. A research is a cross-cultural media analysis of public opinion in native of Sudan, Magid is a moderate Muslim Imam. the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Dori Moss is a graduate student in communications at Geor- Janis L. Edwards is associate professor of communication gia State University. Her research interests include rhetorical analy- studies at the University of Alabama. She is the author of Po- sis and media criticism, twentieth-century cultural and social litical Cartoons in the 1988 Presidential Campaign: Image, history, and wartime . Metaphor, and Narrative (Garland, 1997), and of a number of essays on editorial cartoons and other topics in visual cul- Marion G. Müller has published widely on political visuals ture and political communication. and how to methodologically reconcile political science and vi- sual mass communication studies. She received her Ph.D. in S. Suzan J. Harkness is assistant professor of political sci- 1995 at the University of Hamburg and among her publica- ence at the University of the District of Columbia. She also tions is a textbook on visual communication (Grundlagen der serves as research mentor to her undergraduate coauthors, visuellen Kommunikation; UVK, 2003). She currently chairs the Mohamed Magid, Jameka Roberts, and Michael Richardson. visual communication division of the German Communication Association. Brigid C. Harrison is professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, where she teaches courses on Olena Nikolayenko is a Ph.D. candidate in comparative civic engagement, mass politics, and political institutions. She politics at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her research in- is the author of numerous books, including Power and Society, terests include public opinion and political change, political 11th edition (with Thomas R. Dye; Wadsworth, 2007) and An socialization, and youth movements. She is currently complet- Invitation to American Government (with Susan J. Tolchin, Jean ing her dissertation on the political attitudes of adolescents in Wahl Harris, and Suzanne Samuels; McGraw-Hill, 2008). post-Communist hybrid regimes.

Shawn P. Healy is a doctoral candidate in political science Richard Ostrom is professor of political science at Califor- at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a resident scholar nia State University, Chico. He graduated with honors from at the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, where he is re- Stanford University (B.A. in social science) and Claremont sponsible for exhibit content expertise, academic outreach, Graduate School (Ph.D. in international relations), and became and conference planning. fascinated with Southeast Asia as a result of a year in Singa- pore on a Fulbright grant and two years teaching in Indonesia. Donna R. Hoffman is assistant professor at the University of Northern Iowa. Her most recent research has focused on Esra Özcan is a sociologist, with a special interest in Islam presidential communications with Congress. She is the coau- and the public sphere. She is currently working on her Ph.D., thor (with Alison D. Howard) of Addressing the State of the on the topic of visual representation of the female in Turkish Union: The Evolution and Impact of the President’s Big Speech newspapers. (Lynne Rienner, 2006). Michael Richardson is a senior majoring in political sci- Alison D. Howard is adjunct instructor at Dominican Uni- ence at the University of the District of Columbia. versity of California where she teaches courses in American politics. Her research interests include the presidency, Con- Jameka Roberts is a senior majoring in political science at gress, and political communication. the University of the District of Columbia.

226 PS April 2007 Steven L. Robins is associate professor of anthropology at Meral Ug˘ur graduated from the department of political sci- the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. After completing ence at Bilkent University, Turkey. She is currently pursuing a his Ph.D. at Columbia University, Robins returned to South Af- Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in the same field. She rica to teach at the University of the Western Cape. Robins is especially interested in the application of political theory to has published widely on land rights issues, housing policy, empirical issues. HIV/AIDS, and the politics of violence in the transition of South Africa. Kent Worcester chairs the division of social sciences at Marymount Manhattan College. He is the author of C. L. R. Hakkı Tas, is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of politi- James: A Political Biography (SUNY Press, 1996), The Social cal science at Bilkent University, Turkey. As a fellow of the Sci- Science Research Council, 1923–1998 (SSRC, 2001), and the entific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, he coeditor of Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular conducts research on contemporary Turkish politics. Medium (University Press of Mississippi, 2004).

SYMPOSIUM CARTOONISTS’ BIOS

Clay Bennett is the editorial cartoonist for the Christian Sci- Leonard Rifas welcomes correspondence at rifas@earthlink. ence Monitor. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2002, net, or in care of his educational comics company, EduCom- and in 2005 he was elected president of the Association of ics, at Box 45831, Seattle, WA 98145-0831. A list of his American Editorial Cartoonists. scholarly activities can be found at: www.english.ufl.edu/ comics/scholars/directory/pt.html#rifas. Jeff Danziger (cover image) is an award-winning editorial Ann Telnaes’ editorial cartoons have appeared in the cartoonist. His most recent collection is Blood, Debt and Fears: Washington Post, Boston Globe, Le Monde, Chicago Tribune, Cartoons of the First Half of the Last Half of the Bush Adminis- , New York Times, and elsewhere. In 2001, tration (Steer Forth Press, 2006). she won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. Her first book, Humor’s Edge, was published by Pomegranate Press Jimmy Margulies has been the editorial cartoonist for the and the Library of Congress in 2004. Record since 1990, holding the same position at the Houston Post from 1984–1990. His cartoons are nationally syndicated Zapiro is the pen name of Jonathan Shapiro. For over a de- by King Features, and his state-oriented work appears in cade, he has worked as the editorial cartoonist at the Mail newspapers all over New Jersey. His cartoons can be seen at and Guardian (South Africa); he is the author of eight collec- www.northjersey.com/margulies. tions of cartoons.

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