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BorgBlog
Take a peek over Jim Borgman's shoulder


Jim Borgman has been the Enquirer's editorial cartoonist since 1976. Borgman has won every major award in his field, including the 1991 Pulitzer Prize, the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 1993, and most recently, the Adamson Award in 2005 as International Cartoonist of the Year. His award-winning daily comic strip Zits, co-created with Jerry Scott, chronicles the life of 15-year-old Jeremy Duncan, his family and friends through the glories and challenges of the teenage years. Since debuting in July 1997, Zits has regularly finished #1 in reader comics polls across America and is syndicated in more than 1300 newspapers around the world.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Wednesday Notes





It happens in the elevator, first thing in the morning, and fills me with dread. A fellow passenger will point to a particularly goofy article in the newspaper and say with delight, "Bet you're going to have a ball with this!"

Such is the case with the Cheney hunting story. If it's a big enough story, as this one is, the cartoonist has no choice but to draw about it. And the expectations are so high among readers that any single cartoon is likely to fall short of the anticipated hilarity.

But here's what's going through my head in the nanoseconds after I hear the story:
"Oh no. Every other cartoonist will do the obvious angles. Elmer Fudd. Quayle. Cheney's taking you hunting. Silencer on the gun. Everyone wears orange around him from now on. Cheney shown with rifle in every cartoon anyone ever draws about him again. Who else he's shot. Leno, Letterman and Jon Stewart probably already did most of the angles in last night's monologue. The internet is probably choked with jokes already. What chance do I have of finding something fresh to say?" Etc, etc. etc.

Most cartoonists have studied hundreds of thousands of cartoons in their lifetime, which has the effect of making almost every approach to a subject feel hackneyed and cliched. I subconsciously veto dozens of cartoon ideas before I even realize I'm doing it. So, the cartoon that might delight a reader who will give it a few seconds of her time in tomorrow's paper might be one I simply dread embarking on because I've seen it a thousand times.

I try to push on to new ground as often as I can. But in holding a high standard I sometimes think I pass up obvious but perfectly servicable cartoons that readers are expecting to see. I'll spend a day working past tons of obvious cartoon ideas to find a fresh but offbeat idea, only to realize that the one I should have drawn was way back there in the first few moments after I read the story.


6 Comments:

at 2/15/06, 12:54 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aw Jim... you were snookered.
Why reach out for Libby ? Especially when a google would help you find the real story.. the press made it up.. Here is the quote from Fitzgerald..
"We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors," Fitzgerald wrote.
The White House has authorized the release of the National Intelligence Estimate many times for various purposes.. that is old news.
Your cartoon just replicates the misinformation MSN apparently created in their original story.

....So ? ..How to you repair that in folks minds ?

 
at 2/15/06, 3:20 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jim,

I think your cartoon very accurately portrays the situation Cheney faces with all of these problems swirling about, no matter if the information regarding the source/testimony is true or not.

In humor, the easiest joke is rarely the best, and usually not the most insightful.

Keep up the good work.

 
at 2/17/06, 7:30 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow...

i thought i was the only one who went through that veto process before putting pencil to paper...

guess that's what happens when you;re hunched over a drawing board all day...

 
at 2/18/06, 9:40 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

sheesh, what an elitist... how nice of you to distance yourself from the other rif-raf cartoonists who drew the "obvious" stuff, while you sought the higher ground. i liked you better when you stuck to drawing.

 
at 2/19/06, 4:37 PM Blogger MJLM said...

Good luck, Jim, keeping your sanity with all the cranky bloggers out here in blog world.

 
at 2/19/06, 9:59 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wait a minute... I thought you said you avoided the obvious cartoon ideas. Then I see you draw a gun with a u-turn barrel.

Yep, that's original. Try to get over yourself.

 
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