The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
"Well, get over it, jackass!"
Happy new sletter!
Poems:
“Prelude in Grey Major” by Christian Wiman: The usual Wiman thing; great depths of formal accomplishment in service of a sorta pat proclamation of how awesome and important Christianity is. Look: Some of my best friends are Christian! I’d still like to be spared all the one-set-of-footsteps-in-the-sand shit.
“Bass Lake” by Safia Elhillo: A winner. Accomplished and moving, and it moves too, in startling ways. The Sudan war is condensed into a scorpion carapace, five books drop – one shot, two left, two lungs. Slow movement, shocks, shrinking succulents, the dropping of another year.
Cartoons:
Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.
Cover: I always like Ejiata’s work; if the color story here doesn’t totally convince me, and that very central red arm is an awkward shape, well… those are just details, I still dig the vibe.
Pg. 11: I was already certain before I Googled it that squirrels are not monogamous. They do not have that vibe.
Pg. 14: I’m sure Victoria Roberts has her reader.
Pg. 27: Interesting that the alien doesn’t just say the line. The translator may be one layer of complication too many; is it a joke about politeness or about translation? Still, I do prefer it to a theoretical version with the same caption and without the translator, so it’s not doing nothing…
Pg. 29: Actually kinda ballsy to publish something this reliant on the ability to render tiny handwritten text legible in print. Considering how many printing errors my copies tend to have, it might not be the smartest gamble.
Pg. 30: Funny that the default setting of fairy tale characters tends to be “amidst the woods” even though Jack and his mother would probably be at home – in the regular story, she throws the beans out the window, no? I wonder if it’s a post-Sondheim thing…
Pg. 32: You have to pay extra for Dry Southwest
Pg. 39: Funnier if she’s in the armor, no?
Pg. 40: Would not laugh if someone said this to me at yoga.
Pg. 43: “Big hammy weary fourth-wall break” is not the right approach for the gag.
Pg. 44: At least it’s better than Uber Race Music
Pg. 49: Scale is really weird. I thought it was a joke about having tiny coffee cups at first.
Pg. 53: Doesn’t really benefit from the usual Chast approach of “three or four things” as this could easily be one long poem. Still, it’s sorta clever.
Pg. 54: The visual joke of “noir baby” could be fun, but the art doesn’t go far enough while the caption tries too hard.
Pg. 60: The idea of a rooster having a dressing-room mirror with the circular lights is inherently funny, and for once the caption (or thought bubble) adds to the joke: Much better as weary self-loathing than it would be as a positive pep talk. Best of the Week.
Pg. 64: A bit ambiguous – is it raunchy, slice-of-life, zany? I guess a little bit of all, but therefore kinda none.
61 Years Ago Today
days of auld lang