Apart from Climate Conference and its anticlimactic outcome (check out these cartoons if you still care), last week’s major topic was the assault on Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Despite the occasional lip service to violence being a bad thing in general, there seems to be a kind of consensus among artists on toonpool.com that he deserved it.
There are some cartoons that simply seem to refer to the fact that the assault happened and that it happened to a person no one in their right mind feels pity for (here, here & here). Others try to make the point that Berlusconi has finally felt the power of the Italian people (here, here & here), conveniently disregarding the attacker’s history of psychological problems. The weirdest version, by far, is this Jesus Vampire Freemason Berlusconi thing. Is his ear representing some shape I should know?
While some cartoonists draw parallels to the 2008 Iraqi shoe throwing incident (here & here), others link the attack to the Copenhagen Conference (here & here). To be honest, I don’t think that any of the cartoons is very good. Except for the vampire.. and perhaps this sexy-nurses-in-a-15-year-old-boy’s-room collage. Or these cartoons I didn’t understand because they are in Italian (here & here).
Cartoons of Interest
Christmas is coming up, so this week’s favorite is another holiday-themed cartoon. Andreas Prüstel’s untitled cartoon ["So.. what are you?" "Same thing as last year."] nicely fits into my personal (and annual) present-finding terror. There is definitely a pattern emerging in the presents I give away. Come to think of it, there has been a pattern ever since I started giving presents away. Oh, well.
This week, there are some other great works I would like to refer to: Junior Lopez has created an amazing portrait of Sherlock Holmes; fellow Brazilian William Medeiros did this cool and classic caricature of architect Oscar Niemeyer. Finally, there’s Rex May’s cartoon about potentate-people relations.
Have a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah or a solemn and dignified Kwanzaa. That is, if you’re celebrating. Otherwise, have some good days anyway.
Paul Hellmich
© toonpool.comTags: christmas, last week, letzte woche, Silvio Berlusconi, weihnachten
