The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
"Don’t make a hobby…"
Poems:
“I Nearly Died from the Socratic Method” by Diane Seuss: Impossible to find fault with this intricate, elegant series of gestures. The most famous teacher in history still teaches the lesson of death, in the end; nature, too, has that lesson. The ego and the body are each fragile – but in very different ways. The shift in the middle is funny, too; so is “hot/dog, a pea/brain”, obviously, and even “wild / carrot”. Humility is the lesson, and the constant state of not-knowing; on the other hand, if you can write something like this, who needs humility?
“Old Movies” by Robert Pinsky: Forties film stars are parallel to fascism, which Pinsky remembers in the context of what’s obviously Ye. The pull and push from the implied (“certain crowd scenes”) to the very explicit (“Hitler embracing Mussolini”) creates some productive tension. This isn’t overwritten, and it’s making a minor point about a major subject, yet its slightness doesn’t rankle. The unknown watches the famous, the famous watch the unknown.
Cartoons:
Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.
Cover: Seeing the self in the eyes of another, surrounded by nature – a powerful scene. Wonderful color story.
Pg. 10: Even when it’s lions, it still has to subtly be about human gender roles.
Pg. 15: Oh no, do I do this? I may do this.
Pg. 16: This week in “wouldn’t make me laugh if someone said it to me in real life”.
Pg. 23: The furrowed brow on the duck is absolutely necessary, meaning while this is a joke about a few things, it’s definitely at least in part a joke about “what if ducks had eyebrows?”
Pg. 24: Gotta be a funnier way to say “presented something similar.” But I can’t think of it.
Pg. 29: Some interesting stuff going on with the relative head sizes of the characters here.
Pg. 31: Really clever, though the Narcissus hair situation isn’t drawn right – it takes too long to figure out that he has his face in his hands.
Pg. 34: Literally just a gripe.
Pg. 39: “The devices used in comics are insufficiently thought through” is a thought that will only occur to someone who hasn’t read many comics. Trust me… they have nothing but answers.
Pg. 40: Just about a funny phrase; unfortunately the word “post” is so tied to the web that the second figure browsing her computer makes the caption sorta confusing: “Is there a double meaning I’m missing?”
Pg. 42: MPJ today stands for “Many-Person Journey”
Pg. 45: Spent a while thinking the other woman’s hat was cut fruit, for some reason (it does sort of look like pineapple rings); once I worked out that they were donuts I found it slightly less funny than if it had been cut fruit, although who knows how you’d draw that.
Pg. 51: A very cartoon-ified way of saying “Whatever you think about the most is your god.” I love it. Best of the Week.
Pg. 54: Almost too easy to understand; still charming.
Pg. 58: I’m so glad they didn’t put a big above-cartoon caption on this that said “The Invention of Premeditation” or whatever. I also like the back hair.
Pg. 65: Why does he have two laptops?
44 Years Ago Today
well