October 3, 2024

The Cartoon & Poem Supplement

The Cartoon & Poem Supplement

"MY FIRST"

Poems:

“Under the Rubble” by Mosab Abu Toha: Less one long poem and more an onslaught of images, a series of gutting haikus – some could be printed on protest signs, others are quieter and more ambiguous. The hit rate is not especially high, but these were obviously written in the midst of the genocide, while Toha struggled with escape; they’re important writing even if they don’t cohere as a poem.

“Gloria Patri” by Virginia Konchan: A meditation on religion on the road with a worn tone, as Konchan struggles to resist cynicism. Its attempt at avoiding self-seriousness by embracing and then subverting the “whence”s and wherefores is too obvious – it’s self-serious anyway, because Konchan’s speaker is so set on “acknowledge”ing her “need” and devastation, which is a way of shoving it aside instead of letting it speak. But the sly twist of poet as one of many “salesmen” does make things come together; it pops the bubble a bit. The very gradually expanding column it makes on the page is its own awkward object at “perfect peace”.

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Cartoons:

Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.

Cover: Sure. I was interested what past endorsement issues have looked like – 2004, the first, had an unrelated (so far as I can tell) cover, 2008 was hilariously generic, 2012 was a Blitt anti-Romney riff, 2016 was a Blitt anti-Trump (and Clinton-neutral, I guess) riff, 2020 was about RBG instead. So this is really the first rah-rah effort. I guess that makes sense – the left-liberal mood generally has a sort of desperate rah-rah tenor at the moment, compared to 2020’s “hold on for dear life” feeling – but it’s not as inspiring as intended.

Pg. 15: Pretty rote, but elegant.

Pg. 21: This is fun. Mailboxes don’t have street names on them, though, and I find it unthinkable that anyone who hadn’t gotten the joke would be prompted by that particular detail. It’s just a signpost for a signpost’s sake.

Pg. 22: The title (plus the non-talking whale’s pervert gaze) makes the whole thing read as sexual. Maybe that’s the idea?

Pg. 29: The Near Side.

Pg. 30: A fairly elegant solution to the issue of how to portray an ongoing disaster without depicting anything upsetting. Yet somehow it’s more upsetting for that.

Pg. 32: I have to wake up at 5:30 AM for work now and I’m still not half as tired as this joke.

Pg. 35: Phenomenal frog. Best of the Week.

Pg. 37: Really confusing. It wouldn’t be a medical doctor with a stethoscope giving the advice being parodied; even if it were, that’s certainly not the cliché. And then the subversion of the advice having to be taken literally doesn’t seem connected to… anything? I’m pretty lost.

Pg. 40: Did I do the what-time-I-wake-up-for-work bit already? Darn…

Pg. 41: The six sins of adulthood, left to right: Alcoholism, neurosis, gambling, being Italian, being Italian, computer addiction.

Pg. 42: Even though the joke isn’t actually funny, I do like the idea of writing sequels to classic panel cartoons.

Pg. 47: Exists entirely in the cliché-world of jobs and employment, divorced from anything but the agglomeration of signifiers, in a way I find oddly beautiful.

Pg. 48: Am I the only one who compulsively slams the close-door button after pressing my floor?

Pg. 58: I like the joke, but the illustration is doing too much – there doesn’t need to be a novelty-glass-shaped smoke machine, the guy being talked to doesn’t need to be wearing some kind of bizarre suspenders-dress, and there certainly don’t need to be goofy children’s-museum pipes running everywhere.

87 Years Ago Today

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