Article Outline
Editorial cartoons, also referred to as political cartoons, serve as a visual commentary on current events. Usually satirical rather than merely humorous in nature, they may communicate the political viewpoint of the cartoonist or add depth to an editorial opinion article in a newspaper or magazine. Editorial cartoons often use caricature, a deliberate distortion or exaggeration of a person's features, to make fun of well-known figures (often politicians). These cartoons can play a significant part in swaying public opinion. Illustrators who gained fame for their political and editorial cartooning include English artist William Hogarth, French artist Honoré Daumier, Australian-born artist Patrick Oliphant, New Zealand-born artist David Low, and American artists Thomas Nast, Boardman Robinson, Bill Mauldin, Jeff MacNelly, and Mike Luckovich.
In Gag cartoons—which consist of a single panel and are often accompanied by a caption, usually placed outside the panel—characters appear only once, rather than recurring as in other types of cartoons (see below). Gag cartoons usually make fun of groups of people rather than lampooning individuals. They are often found in magazines, such as the New Yorker, and on greeting cards. Well-known gag cartoonists include Americans James Thurber, Charles Addams, and Peter Arno.
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Illustrative Cartoons
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Illustrative cartoons are used in conjunction with advertising or learning materials. They illuminate important points, highlight special aspects of a new product, or give visual representations of processes to reinforce an advertisement or educational text. Sometimes, existing cartoon characters are used in advertising. For example, the characters in the comic strip “Peanuts” (see below), drawn by American Charles Schulz, began to appear in life insurance advertisements in 1985. Other well-known original cartoon characters used in American advertisements include Toucan Sam (for Froot Loops cereal) and the Jolly Green Giant (for Green Giant Foods).
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Comic Strips and Books
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A comic strip, or comic, is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story. Often but not always humorous, comics usually chronicle the lives of recurring characters, and sometimes humor arises from the reader's familiarity with a particular character. Dialogue is usually present in balloons, as encircled words issuing from a character's mouth within the panels of the cartoon. Each comic strip may recount a self-contained episode, as in “Peanuts” (1950- ) or “Cathy” (1976- ); or it may contain part of a continuing story. The latter technique is common in adventure, detective, or dramatic strips, such as “Prince Valiant” (1937- ), “Flash Gordon” (1934- ), “Apartment 3-G” (1961- ), or “Dick Tracy” (1931- ). Comic books, which either present one long story line or consist of a collection of separate comic strips (usually previously published), are popular worldwide. Well-known examples include American superhero series, such as “Batman” (1939- ), “Superman” (1938- ), and “The Amazing Spider-Man” (1962- ); the humorous historical series “Asterix” (1959-1980) from France; or the children's comedy classic “Doraemon” (1974- ) and the science-fiction series “Akira” (1982- ) from Japan (see Comics).
Animation is the process of recording a series of incremental drawings and then playing it back to create the illusion of continuous motion. Animation toys, such as flipbooks, have been used for centuries, while film animation was introduced as a cartoon genre at the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of motion pictures. In the United States, animation is most often humorous or tells adventure stories, as in television cartoons shown on Saturday mornings. Animated cartoons have also been popular for use in television advertisements (see Animation).
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