The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
The Cartoon & Poem Supplement
"Oh, no—"
Poems:
“For Better or Worse” by Megan Fernandes: Describes its conceit a bit too forthrightly in the early going (“Nothing lasts”), so all the subsequent images feel too much like riffs; we get the idea – the city changes. The late-breaking “you” is a classic trick for good reason, it takes the fast-movement and transposes it to romance, where the pain of the idea suddenly shows through (indifference clouds commitment – “you barely make out my laugh for a siren”.) But the last three lines don’t do much with this, instead hammering home the original point again. We get it.
“I refuse to be intimidated by time” by Erika Meitner: A long stream-of-consciousness poem that’s ultimately more about death than time. This is an enjoyable read, with plenty of humor (“(trust the poet)”) and various interesting moments – the gull, the watch – but I can’t say I find its philosophical conclusions especially satisfying, resting as they do on received notions like being “good” or acting “healthier” or finding “hope”. Poetry is for subverting or at least unpacking such things. But Meitner is still pleasant company and the couplet form works well enough. There are worse ways to pass the… you know.
Cartoons:
Here's where to find the cartoons, with credits, in order.
Cover: The usual charming visual punnery from Niemann. The smoke-dog is especially nice, and the subtle color-matches (the woman’s hair, the sky, the ground; the woman’s heels, the shadow.)
Pg. 14: Catwalk person.
Pg. 17 [Sketchpad]: I don’t get what’s meant to be funny about this, and it feels vaguely homophobic – imagine if famous men of the past dressed in gay little fits! – but as pure illustration it’s good stuff.
Pg. 21: What does living in a giant can have to do with consuming the contents of that giant can? Is the guy driving the Wienermobile at increased risk of cardiovascular disease?
Pg. 22: First-in-line-zation.
Pg. 29: This wouldn’t win the caption contest for its illustration.
Pg. 31: The pun on “enduring” makes this more legibly a joke than a lot of Baxter’s stuff.
Pg. 40: Not sure if this is specifically a mustache joke or just about personal style in general. It’s not like his outfit is that silly.
Pg. 56: MPJ today stands for Might Prefer Jerky.
Pg. 62: Is the joke just professional jealousy? This hardly even seems extratextual, much less funny.
Pg. 66: If he’s polling to find out the results of a future proposal, why is he on one knee already? I guess just because otherwise the illustration would literally be two people talking to each other in a blank void, at which point you may as well just print the caption.
Pg. 70: Devolutions per minute.
Pg. 76: Not funny, but I’ll give it points for lesbian representation because why not.
Pg. 80: This ritual is low-hanging fruit (the hack-comic joke: “Why do you think God cares about your team in particular?”) but the execution here is really good; I chuckled, so… Best of the Week.
82 Years Ago Today
…