In terms of cartoons topics, last week has been a bit of a sequel to the week before that… and the week before that.. and so on. Which is probably how reality works, but it can get somewhat difficult for a medium as dependent on simplification as cartoons. While air traffic seems to be back to normal for now, there’s still some smoke cloud cartoons (1,2,3) and they don’t really differ from last week’s cartoons. Giorgos Papandreou’s call for financial aid has spawned new cartoons about Greece being broke (1,2,3) and Catholic child abuse cartoons probably will never go out of fashion anyway. I’m quite glad I don’t have to come up with ideas for editorial cartoons.
Introducing…
Achille Superbi is a new member fom Torino, Italy and a professional caricaturist. Most of the works he has contributed so far are very smoothly drawn and distorted in just the right way. There’s Germany’s Michael Ballack (ca. 2006), Bill Gates on a beach, Ronaldo during his AC Milan period, and director Pedro Amodovar, whose haircut really is that funny. I can’t really tell if Achille’s caricature of President Obama is a digitally distorted version of a photo – not that this would matter – but if so, Achille has added a great twist to it.
Cartoons of Interest
This week’ favourite is “Laptop” by German artist Beck (intl). It doesn’t really have a punchline, nor does it need one. Think of it as a slightly surreal snapshot. I fact, this would work as a real photo if only trains weren’t that expensive or toilets that heavy.
I have written about toonpool.com member Alves both last week and the week before that. And I’ll do it again: this time to point out the nice way of sequential storytelling he came up with (here, here, here & here). At least one of these cartoons has been published in Brazil’s MAD-magazine.. and it shows. Which means I don’t think it’s funny if you’re older than ten. But, again, the temporal sequence.There’s that interesting jump between the last picture and the one before making the whole story a flashback… and, since you can tell from the squiggly panels, I think you’re more eager to get to the final one than in a ‘normal’ narrative strip.
If you haven’t already, please also take a look at the ever-so-stunning work of British artist Russ Cook. I probably mentioned him before, but just look at the caricatures he’s contributed this week: there’s Liverpool FC’s Rafael Rafa Benitez, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and Austrian composer Johann Baptist Strauss.
© toonpool.comTags: last week, letzte woche, monotony, sequels
