Hungary

Subtitle: Or, how to draw a really bad editorial cartoon

Iran’s Mahmoud Amadinejad berates George Bush and world diplomacy in his U.N. speech, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez calls George Bush the devil during his own address to the U.N. General Assembly, outrage continues among the Islamic world regarding Pope Benedict’s condemnation of holy wars, the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis is delayed due to mysterious space debris flying around close by, the head of the CBC is canned for suggesting Bestiality is legal in Lebanon, and that defecation is one of life’s greatest joys… and what do I draw on?… the Hungarian riots. Yes, I blew an opportunity to pick from a bevy of several juicy issues to focus on a pretty obscure story from yesterday’s newspapers. Just when it was looking like things were gaining momentum I check the headlines this morning only to read ones like this: UPDATE 4-Hungary opposition calls off weekend rally, and Small radical fringe behind violence at Hungarian protest . I suppose my thinking was to be ahead of everyone else just as revolution was unravelling in the streets of Budapest. To get the first cartoon comparing the angry mobs against the Hungarian PM, against whatever anger remains among Ontarians against Dalton McGuinty for broken promises and added taxes. Boy, do I ever look like an idiot.

Combo cartoons are risky executions, and with my ‘I’m-still-mad-at-McGuinty-for-the-health-premiums” attitude, the cartoon comes off pretty out-there, pretty contrived. Wanna know what the original caption would’ve read like had I gone with it? It would’ve said, “I hereby order all paprika off store shelves across Ontario effective immediately.” Yeah, pretty bad. What’s worse is having to throw in a newspaper with wordy headlines to explain the story. The wordier a cartoon is the less people are going to read.

Without the reference to Dalton the cartoon could be considered for publications in places like, Budapest, but with the Dalton reference it’ll go nowhere… except the Hamilton Spectator, and there must be a lot huhs? being uttered and head scratching going on right now in the Hamilton area. Still, I throw it out through my syndicate for whichever paper wants to run it.