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Like all great cartoonists, The
Wizard of Whimsy relies on brutal caricaturization to express
a highly partisan political viewpoint.
But unlike Nast, a supreme master
of the the art of drawing, The Wizard uses the visual and communication
technologies of today, creating his work in PhotoShop, and disseminating
it over the Internet.
And this requires a quick aside.
A mere eight years ago, Stephen Hess and and Sandy Northrop wrote:
As newspaper circulation has
declined for the past fifty years, the death of the cartoon has
been repeatedly predicted. Yet, as we will see, the craft has
evolved and sustained many changes, and is very much alive. Today
there exists an extraordinary, diverse range of styles and approaches
to the medium of political satire, and any discussion must encompass
not only editorial cartoonists but also comic strip artists and
illustrators who sustain an ongoing political stance. Hess, Stephen
& Northrop, Sandy. Drawn & Quartered: the History
of American Political Cartoons. Montgomery, Alabama: Elliot
& Clark Publishing. 1996. p. 23.
They altogether missed the impending
impact of digital technology; but if "all art can be reduced
to a sequence of binary bits, zeros and ones in endless succession"
(W. Logan Fry, 1997), then a very great portion of political
commentary can be reduced to binary bits as well. The Internet
has breathed new life into the medium of the political cartoon.
This is a true revolution in the methodologies of political commentary;
and The Wizard of Whimsy stands at the forefront of this revolution.
A Case of Partisanship?
Some have taken umbrage over
the Wizard's partisanship, his "unfair" treatment of
a "kind and compassionate" President; but it is not
the function of an effective political cartoonist to present
a "fair and balanced" presentation of the facts. Many political cartoonists, observes Professor Roger A. Fischer, contend that:
[T]ruth, or even fairness in
seeking truth, have little or nothing to do with effective cartooning.
Dayton Daily News artist Mike Peters once stated, "Cartooning
is not a fair art. You can never treat anyone justly" adding
that "most cartoonists like me--who like to attack--are
like loaded guns." Louisville Courier-Journal mainstay
Hugh Haynie has defined the cartoon as "an offensive thing,"
and Bill Mauldin has characterized his calling as "a destructive
thing," insisting that the proper function of cartoonists
is not to act as "pontificators, or molders of thought,"
but rather as gadflies who "circle and stab,
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circle and stab." Jules
Feiffer has voiced a belief that "outside of basic intelligence,
there is nothing more important to a good political cartoonist
than ill will." Bill Watterson has argued that the cartoonist's
role in our political process 'is not so much to instruct his
audience, or illuminate the Truth, as it is to simply take an
honest stand and present it vehemently enough so that it must
confronted.' Chicago Tribune artist Jeff MacNelly once
quipped, 'Many cartoonists would be hired assassins if they couldn't
draw.' " Them Damned Pictures, pp. 16-17.
And, in fact, political cartoonists
have not been gentle people; nor have their cartoons been universally
fair and unbiased. Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrop add:
Cartoons work best when they
attack. With the rare exception of applauding a peace agreement
or a singular individual act of of valor, cartoonists are nobody's
cheerleaders. Some Cartoonists gauge their success by the hate
mail they receive. Hess, Stephen & Northrop, Sandy. Drawn
& Quartered: the History of American Political Cartoons.
Montgomery, Alabama: Elliot & Clark Publishing. 1996. p.
14.
A Hoary Tradition
Thus while the Wizard's cartoons
attack, they do so no more meanly than those of his predecessors.
In a 1935 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Herbert
Johnson draws a rascally mob of miscreants tagged with the labels:
"Communists, Govt.-Backed Labor Barons, Self-Perpetuating
Political Barons and Utopian Dreamers" carrying a position
paper labelled "Redistribution of Wealth," all hiding
behind a smiling theatrical mask labelled "New Deal Labor
Policy." Drawn & Quartered. p. 95.
More recently, Paul Conrad of
the Los Angeles Times portrayed a reticent Ronald Reagen
bearing tattoos of his foreign policy failures, including the
scowling visage of Ayatollah Khomeini portrayed as the "Moderate
Iranian," a bag of Contra boodle, nose down "Defensive
Missiles" and a sinking Ship of State. Drawn & Quartered.
p. 63.
Siegel & Drucker attribute
John F. Kennedy's success in the presidential sweepstakes to
"great hair" and a Daddy who bought him the state of
Wisconsin. Mad Magazine, December, 1961, reproduced in
Drawn & Quartered. p. 111; while Doug Marlette, of
North Carolina's Charlotte Observor, in one cartoon captioned
"The Blues Brothers," shows a disconsolate Jimmy Carter,
head hung in dejection, while his buck-toothed brother, decked
out in black suit, black tie, black hat and shades, tosses bills
and coins from a satchel labelled "Libya;" while in
another of his cartoons,
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