Saturday, February 2, 2008

Results and Comments- Favorite Magazine Cartoonist

Here's the final results on the contest . . Mike Lynch had some good questions . . and so did James Grasdal from Canada . . I agree with Mike in that it's very hard to pick just 1 or 2 or 3 because tomorrow you might change your mind, I know that I feel that way.

It looks like Sempe and Leo Cullum and Sam Gross were the winners here . . all are the cream de la crem ( or something like that ). And VIP also won !

I also could've easily put Leo Cullum and Danny Shanahan on my list.

We'll have another contest down the road but this time the rules will be drafted by a Wall Street Law Firm so everything will be crystal clear before voting . . no hanging chads !

From the newer guys in The New Yorker I like Leighton, Bliss and Patterson !

Since we're talking about good gag cartooning here, did you ever notice: NOT ONE PERSON PICKED NOT ONE OF THOSE FEW NEW ( New meaning in the last 15 years or so ) CARTOONISTS YOU CONTINUALLY SEE IN THE NEW YORKER WHO HAVE ZERO TALENT, CAN'T WRITE OR DRAW, NOT ONE ! . . I wonder why that is . . . HMM ? ( maybe art imitating life ? or art imitating the cartoon-picker or it's just a zeitgeist thing or it COULD be the attitude around The New Yorker is the ubiqutous " WHATEVER " ).

It's sad, As Pat Byrnes once eloquently commented on a collegue's cartoons: " At first they were kinda funny, These cartoonists drawings will never be published as gag cartoons in legitimate venues because they're not smart enough, because the cartoonists are not smart enough . . if they were, they wouldn't continually assault the art of the magazine cartoon every chance they get unless the cartoons were brilliantly incisive and fabulously rendered that the irony would reverberate throughout the professional community. Does anyone actually believe this to be ?

For awhile, there was something sort of funny about them, though in a sad sort of way. Now it's just sad. And embarrassing to the profession of cartooning. New Yorker: Please find a new honest batch of cartoonists whose work can be appreciated and enjoyed by more than the dozen or so fans of this KRAPP. Wake up, smell the coffee !

Like George Carlin says: " You ugly people know who you are . . " BUT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, THEY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE ! MAYBE THEY'RE JUST DUMB. OR ARE THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THE STUFF DUMB ? OR ARE THE READERS WHO ARE TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT DUMB ? THIS IS JUST AN OBSERVATION. . . I DON'T THINK ANYONE'S DUMB . . But maybe, just maybe, the artist and the cartoon-picker(s) are ILL-INFORMED, NAIVE, DUPLICITOUS, DISHONEST, but I would never say dumb . . . I think they actually BELIEVE, THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE ( Like Kucinich ) that the world has not caught up with them.

As for Charles Addams and Peter Arno, I feel they're in an untouchable class by themselves and will probably be excluded from the next contest because they're too obvious . . The contest is for the mob below them . . Nuff sed.

No comments: