Cartoon Crutch Quilt
We've all seen the editorial cartooning tropes; couple at the breakfast table, couple watching TV, flood waters labeled with a problem. We've all done them. Some rely on them more than others.
Mike Luckovich is the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and probably the most widely reprinted editorial cartoonist in America. A New York Times editor dubbed him the "alpha male" of our field. Luckovich always draws the same middle-aged couple in front of a 147-inch wall-mounted flatscreen TV commenting on the day's news.
I was curious to know how often he really does it, so I strolled through his archive and made a quilt out of them! The cartoons below are from the last year and a half only. (And I think I may have missed a few.)
That's a lot of TVs! Is this laziness or does recycling a scene for your joke delivery help the cartoon in some way? I ask in all seriousness.
Mike Luckovich is the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and probably the most widely reprinted editorial cartoonist in America. A New York Times editor dubbed him the "alpha male" of our field. Luckovich always draws the same middle-aged couple in front of a 147-inch wall-mounted flatscreen TV commenting on the day's news.
I was curious to know how often he really does it, so I strolled through his archive and made a quilt out of them! The cartoons below are from the last year and a half only. (And I think I may have missed a few.)
(click to enlarge)
That's a lot of TVs! Is this laziness or does recycling a scene for your joke delivery help the cartoon in some way? I ask in all seriousness.
posted by Matt Bors at
9:38 PM
7 Comments:
I remember reading that Luckovich is thinking of naming the couple he draws all the time.
As a one-panel cartoonist, I've done quite a few 'desert island' gags (coincidentally, I've even got one posted today which pokes fun of desert island gags) but I'm not sure if that's the same thing, because at least each one is a different take on the same premise. This just seems to be his way of making sarcastic/ironic statements based on current events (I'm surprised he hasn't come down with Carpel Tunnel redrawing that lamp over & over). Why can't a few of these involve someone viewing a computer monitor, or reading a newspaper for a little variety? Then again, most Americans love repetition, we're suckers for repetition, in fact, repetition is how most products (& even wars) in this country get sold. However, to answer your question, I think it's both. Who knows, maybe all his other cartoon ideas for those days were shot down by his Editor.
I find your quilt absolutely hilarious. I imagine It would be like keeping warm at night with a blanket of Newsweeks!
It's a beautiful thing. You should make a silk screen and send it to him.
Wow. That is one hell of a lot of flat screens. If editorial cartooning is this simple, I'm not going to college!
Luckovich I always found to be inoffensive (that's bad). I think it's a deeper-seeded conceit within Mr. Luckovich that his two characters are the voice of 'America'. I'd rather not be represented by two people who value TV so highly.
I wish that was larger so that I could read them. But enough complaining, I love this blog and your cartoons :)
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