Last week, there have been two news items that inspired a lot of new cartoons on toonpool.com. The first one is the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Of course, there are always a few environmentalist cartoons coming in, but these days the numbers have grown considerably. There’s the usual “we’re destroying this planet” stuff [and I think we really are] (here, here & here). There are some “global warming hoax” cartoons. And there is one cartoon, that I am not really sure about. It could express hope about the US stopping China’s pollution in an interesting way. Or it could be criticizing US politics. Or it could be about doing something unpleasant to Madagascar.
Anyway, he other event I was talking about is the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice, or عيد الأضحى, or Kurban Bayramı which is taking place between November 27 and December 1st. Even though I live in a neighborhood with a large percentage of Muslims, I would have missed the holiday if it wasn’t for toonpool.com. Just like Christmas, Kurban Bayramı is used to comment on various aspects of society. There are cartoons about swine flu, burkas, and… other topics. One picture by Saadet Yalcin made me wonder how vegan Muslims deal with the situation. I would be glad if anyone could tell me. On the opposite side of the spectrum there’s this one cartoon, that is outright scary if you think about it a bit longer.
Introducing…
This week, I would like to introduce Gud from Rome, who has contributed two interesting series of pictures so far. The first is named “Crazy Hair” (1,2,3,4) and deals with.. hair. The second (1,2,3,4,5,6) doesn’t have an official name but is best described as a kind of “crossover homage”. It combines characters from different comic books in a single panel – all drawn in Gud’s slightly scribbly lines. Some people might complain that these aren’t really cartoons because there is no joke, but there is something in panels like “Corto Maltese and Krazy Kat” that strikes a note in me.
Cartoons of Interest
This week’s favorite is “Praktikant” by Comicpiero. [B: "… and, where do I put this present?" S: "God, I hate interns."] Cartoons that combine Santa and the Easter Bunny might not be new but, as a former intern, I know those questions. And I did ask them – and probably was annoying as hell.
There were two close contestants this week, both of them caricatures: There is this great Manmohan Singh by Junior Lopes and Kim Yong Il hiding a loaf of bread.
Paul Hellmich
© toonpool.comTags: Festival of Sacrifice, last week, letzte woche, Opferfest, United Nations Climate Change Conference
