Josh Fruhlinger wants to know (and so do I):

I’m completely uninterested in discussing the didactic content of this cartoon, but it does bring up a question I’ve always found completely fascinating, which is: why are large, wooden barrels the Universal Comics Symbol For Poverty? I mean, I know I’m a decadent 21st century denizen who has grown accustomed to wearing garments that in relative terms cost very little, thanks to helpful Southeast Asian children with tiny, nimble fingers — certainly less than a finely crafted barrel. But is it possible that there was a time when a sturdy, wooden barrel with metal … circular dealies … that hold it together (boy, I hadn’t realized how weak a grasp I had of basic barrel vocabulary until just now) was actually cheaper than, you know, clothes? Did people really go into some kind of old-timey second-hand clothes store, sell all of their clothes (including the ones they were wearing), then walk, stark naked, up the street to the cooper (see, there’s a word that I know) to buy a barrel to wear, and have enough cash left over to afford life’s necessities? Did that happen? Because if not then, you know, barrels, what the hell?

Having recently drawn a cartoon employing this visual cliche (with some irony), I would really like to know the real answer to its origins. Which doesn’t mean that the possibilities — some plausible, others absurd — proposed on Josh’s discussion board aren’t incredibly amusing. Oddly, it may have something to do with Diogenes.

Also, Josh has written previously about this and other political cartoon cliches about poverty at Wonkette.

It’s October, so that means every political cartoonist in the nation must draw at least one trick-or-treat cartoon. It’s the same cartoon every time: a suburban home, the door open, and someone dressed up as something scary, labelled “Recession” or “Mortgage Crisis” or some trite crap like that. Here’s a typical example:

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61091/

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61183/

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61077/

Below the cartoonist takes a few satirical swipes at candidates he opposes. All fine and dandy. I don’t know who these people are, because I don’t live wherever Varvel lives, and I don’t care. What I do care about is that there is nothing at all insightful, funny or clever about this whatsoever.

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61178/

There are variations on the theme.

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61173/

I kinda like this one (above), but not for reasons that the cartoonist intended. It’s the unsettling, rather uncanny sight of John McCain wearing an Obama mask. In rendering the mask, the artist uses the same caricature style for Obama’s face that he uses for McCain’s without adding any texture or other technique to suggest “mask.” As a result, it reads more as “skin pulled off the skull of the living Obama.” Which makes McCain a creepy serial killer — and that makes me laugh.

Meanwhile … what?!

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/61099/

What is Plante trying to say? Anything? What does Plante think about the bailout? About the mortgage-backed securities crisis? About Paulson’s plan or Bush’s performance or a home owner’s plight or – well, anything? What does he think?!?! We have an allusion to Hurricane Katrina and FEMA’s botch-up under Michael Brown’s leadership (or lack of.) But what about it?

And that’s the problem with relying on cliches for inspiration. Nothing is really said, no opinion is made, no risks are taken, so nothing really funny happens; the brain doesn’t light up with connections nor does the heart ignite with fury or indignation. It’s just a chuckle, if that, a harmless non-thought sandwiched between editorials, letters to the editor and syndicated columns that, for all of their faults (and there are many), at least show engagement with the world around them and strive to advance a position, however futile. Is it any wonder more professional political cartoonists are losing their jobs?

My fellow Cartoonists With Attitude Matt Bors and Jen Sorensen will be at Powell’s Bookstore on Burnside this Friday at 7:30pm. Here’s how Matt describes it:

Jen Sorensen and I will present a live slide show and reading of our comics and Jen will be signing copies of her new collection of cartoons, “SlowPoke: One Nation, Oh My God.”

We’ll be doing some live drawing as well, showing folks how we cartoonize McCain’s numerous cheeks and Obama’s massive smile.

Maybe I’ll even draw a cat’s asshole for you.

That last link brings you to a drawing Matt did for a Willamette Week editorial on the politics of spaying cats. It is all that it should be.

There will also be a pre-Stumptown Comicsfest Party at Guapo Comics.

I hope to make it, but no guarantees from this father of two.

Found via the Daily Cartoonist, this clip of cartoonist Steve Brodner shows how wonderful traditional media can be. The watercolors are fascinating to watch. I couldn’t hear the audio, because my work station doesn’t have speakers. I imagine it’s insightful and witty. What else would it be?