AAEC - Editorial Cartoon News
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September 26, 2007
A Report on the 2007 AAEC Convention in Washington, D.C.
by Dave Astor & JP Trostle (and a cast of hundreds)
Editor & Publisher Previews The D.C. Convention and The Golden Notebook
Editorial cartoonists had a memorable 1988 encounter with singer Robert Plant, whose many Led Zeppelin credits include "The Song Remains the Same."
That incident will be described later in this story, but the Zeppelin song (and film) title has some relevance to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists as it nears its 50th-anniversary convention July 4-7 in Washington, D.C. — where the AAEC held its first meeting in 1957.
"Some of the problems then are the same problems now," noted AAEC President and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers, who said one of those issues is job losses. Also, there continues to be debate about what's the best cartoon style (for instance, hard-hitting or joke-oriented?).
But some things have not remained the same over the past half-century. One example is the rising number of cartoonists now tackling animation and doing blogs to find new creative challenges — and try to increase their job security.
And, while the AAEC (like editorial cartooning) remains mostly white and male, female and African-American creators began joining the organization in the 1970s. The AAEC also was apparently more cozy with politicians in its early days — even making then-Vice President Richard Nixon an honorary member during its first convention.
The AAEC was forged through the efforts of men like John Stampone, an Army Times cartoonist who grew alarmed after seeing a Saturday Review magazine story about editorial cartooning's alleged decline. Stampone contacted his peers, and more than 80 cartoonists turned up for the first convention to discuss their craft and hear speakers such as Nixon, according to V. Cullum Rogers, the AAEC's current secretary-treasurer and a cartoonist for The Independent Weekly of Durham, N.C.
Cullum Rogers spent a lot of time this year researching the AAEC's history, including burrowing through the organization's archives at Ohio State University's Cartoon Research Library and looking at decades of Editor & Publisher magazines stored at Duke University.
Much of what he found appears in the "Golden Notebook," a special 112-page edition of the AAEC's "Notebook" magazine that will be distributed at the convention and also made available for sale to libraries, cartoon fans, and others who are interested. The anniversary publication — put together by Cullum Rogers and J.P. Trostle — includes pieces about each convention since 1957, along with scores of photos and other content.
"Some shots have never been seen before," said Trostle, who noted that cartoonists dug deep into their closets to unearth some of the pictures.
Cullum Rogers said Nixon was by no means the only major political figure to speak during an AAEC convention. Cartoonists met John F. Kennedy in the Rose Garden in 1963, were addressed by Lyndon Johnson several times, and even visited Johnson's ranch during their 1971 meeting in Austin, Texas. "LBJ was a huge cartoon fan," Rogers noted.
AAECers traveled again to the Rose Garden to hear Ronald Reagan in 1987, listened to Al Gore in Memphis in 1991, and chatted with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento in 2005.
The Reagan encounter in 1987 led to a brouhaha in which one AAEC member suggested the Rose Garden gathering be adjourned when Sam Donaldson and other Washington correspondents began asking the president about the Iran-Contra scandal. Later during that convention, a majority of attendees voted to rebuke the cartoonist for protecting Reagan. "It was the only time the AAEC ever passed a motion critical of a specific member," said Cullum Rogers.
Then there was the convention during which the political and entertainment worlds met in a bizarre way: Israeli official Shimon Peres shared the stage with crooner Wayne Newton at the AAEC's 1998 meeting in Las Vegas.
There also was that aforementioned 1988 encounter with former Zeppelin frontman Plant, who happened to be staying at the same Milwaukee hotel as AAEC conventioneers. Several cartoonists (including Rob Rogers) were having drinks with the singer when J.D. Crowe — then of The San Diego Tribune — decided to play a joke on the rock legend. Crowe made believe he thought Plant was singer David Coverdale of Whitesnake, a band considered somewhat derivative of Led Zeppelin. An enraged Plant proceeded to head-butt Crowe.
Plant didn't have a "Whole Lotta Love" for Crowe at that point, but the two ended up burying the hatchet and posing with Rob Rogers for a photo.
Of course, AAEC conventions aren't all about politicians and crazy encounters with rock stars. Each year, trends, issues, and other topics relating to editorial cartooning are addressed in speeches, panel discussions, and casual conversations among attendees.
"The real legacy of the AAEC is its conventions," said president Rogers. "Most of us work in one-newspaper cities with one staff cartooning position. There aren't a lot of chances to bond with other cartoonists during the year."
Trostle said he enjoys the gatherings, too: "Editorial cartoonists are some of the smartest, funniest people on the planet."
This week, attendees will hear such speakers as White House correspondent Helen Thomas, columnist Mark Shields, investigative reporter Dana Priest, and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. There will also be a Cartoonists Rights Network International dinner on Friday, and a pre-convention "Cartoonapalooza" for the public Tuesday evening. Ten cartoonists are scheduled to speak at that event.
Welcome to Washington. D.C!
July 4 — Three 80-something men who have been members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists since its 1957 founding made some impromptu remarks Wednesday night at the opening reception of the AAEC's 50th-anniversary convention.
The three original AAECers were introduced at the podium by organization president Rob Rogers
Hy Rosen, formerly of the Albany, N.Y. Times Union, joked that he's been around so long that he drew with Benjamin Franklin — whose 1754 "Join or Die" drawing (showing the American colonies as a snake in various parts) was considered the first editorial cartoon when published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754.
Rosen told attendees that "it's great to see so many young people" in the room, and added: "We have a great, very unique profession. Hopefully we'll have a future."
He was undoubtedly referring to the way staff editorial cartoon jobs have been dwindling in recent years.
"I'm delighted the AAEC is still going," added Jim Ivey, another founding member. He noted that editorial cartoonists are also known as political cartoonists — meaning the organization could also be called the AAPC. Ivey said he hopes those initials never mean the "American Association of the Politically Correct."
Ivey worked for the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, the St. Petersburg Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Washington Star.
The third founding member, Jim Lange, still draws for The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City — though he's cut back from seven cartoons a week to a still-full workload of five.
Lange recalled that he didn't stay at the convention hotel during the AAEC's initial 1957 meeting in D.C. — instead opting for a motel that cost $11 a night.
Later that evening, many of the cartoonists accepted an invitation from the Canadian Embassy to attend a Fourth of July celebration on the rooftop patio of the embassy, where attendees had a near-perfect view of the fireworks display over the Washington Monument and National Mall. As might be expected, the cartoonists closed the party out and joked with the consolate that they wouldn't leave until extradited by the United States.
Day Two
July 5 — Editorial cartoonists often lament that many newspapers don't appreciate them and staff jobs are being lost.
So they tried to do something about it Thursday by holding a session that resulted in numerous suggestions that AAECers were to vote on Saturday.
Before audience members came up with the suggestions, the problem was described by editorial cartoonist Paul Fell — one of the session leaders.
"Part of the reason the AAEC was founded was a concern about the diminishing number of editorial cartoon positions in the U.S.," said Fell, a Nebraska-based creator syndicated by Artizans. "Here we are 50 years later and we're facing the same problem — only now there's roughly 25% of the staff positions [about 80] compared to 1957."
Another session leader, Milt Priggee of the Skagit Valley Herald in Washington state, added: "Will the AAEC become an organization of freelancers? That's where we might be going."
A third session leader, AAEC Vice President Ted Rall, said reasons for the staff-position decline are many — including fewer daily newspapers, and editors using inexpensive syndicated cartoons rather than paying a cartoonist's salary (despite losing the local commentary a staffer can provide).
"Now there's even a trend to eliminate syndicated cartoons," Rall added. "We're vanishing, and the Internet has not proven to be a viable economic alternative for most of us."
The fourth session leader — Clay Bennett of The Christian Science Monitor — suggested that cartoonists speak about the importance of their profession at editors' conferences, educators' conferences, journalism schools, and in classrooms of younger students.
He added that the AAEC is already involved with the "Cartoons for the Classroom" program, which provides teachers with lesson plans using cartoons — and which is popular with many students. "We're growing an audience that will hopefully bear fruit in the future," said Bennett.
Then audience members chimed in. Signe Wilkinson of The Philadelphia Daily News brought up the possibility that the AAEC give awards to editors and publishers who appreciate political cartoons.
Jimmy Margulies of The Record in Hackensack, N.J., suggested that the AAEC commission a poll to show how popular editorial cartoons are with readers.
Jim Morin of The Miami Herald added that a number of newspapers do internal polls that probably show the popularity of cartoons, and that AAEC members should find out the results of those surveys.
Gordon Campbell of the Inland Valley Bulletin in California said the high Web traffic many editorial cartoonists attract is another way newspapers can see the popularity of these creators.
Walt Handelsman of Newsday in Melville, N.Y., said cartoonists need to meet with their editors and publishers and ask: "What can I do to help the newspaper?"
In Handelsman's case, he began creating animations for Newsday.com that were one reason why he won this year's Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.
Margulies also suggested that, while it may not fit the anti-spin sentiments of many cartoonists, the AAEC should consider hiring a public-relations person to help tout editorial cartooning.
Rex Babin of The Sacramento Bee said one thing people need to know more about is how editorial cartoons — especially local ones — "have helped change legislation and zoning laws, and have helped improve the quality of life in a community."
Rall noted that things like polls and PR aren't cheap, meaning the AAEC needs to raise more funds. "Money is power," he said.
Self-syndicated political animator Mark Fiore said the AAEC should try to raise more money via its EditorialCartoonists.com site. This could include efforts like the organization's recent online auction of cartoons, and more selling of books by AAEC members.
Rall, who's also an executive with United Media, reported that the AAEC might end up with about $4,000 from its July 3 "Cartoonapalooza" event in Washington that was open to the public. Rall said that, despite a snafu with a newspaper ad that mistakenly didn't run, about 150 people paid $35 to hear 10 speakers and mingle with cartoonists. "That shows there's a market for us as personalities," he said.
"In this time of ?cult of personality,' we need to brand ourselves," observed J.P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com, "and then we need to protect the brand." He added, cartoonists should insist that their names be printed prominently when publications reprint their work and not allow them to be removed the way Newsweek and other publications sometimes do.
Part of the way cartoonists become prominent, at least locally, is when they're a staff cartoonist who appears in a newspaper many times a week. In comparison, a paper running just syndicated cartoons might publish the work of a particular creator only occasionally.
"When readers see a cartoonist five or six days a week, they establish a relationship," said Bennett, adding jokingly: "It's the difference between being married and having a one-night stand where you wake up the next morning not always happy with what you got."
"Minimum Security" cartoonist Stephanie McMillan of United suggested that editorial cartoonists should consider expanding their client base to include political newsletters and other publications.
Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher said wryly: "At the end of the day when a newspaper has only five people working for it, we want one of the five to be a cartoonist!"
Any discussion about how Muslims are depicted in cartoons will inevitably include comments about the Danish drawings of Muhammad that sparked riots about 18 months ago.
At a conference session Thursday, some of those comments came from the Jyllands-Posten newspaper editor who published the Muhammad cartoons. Flemming Rose said the decision to publish wasn't made in a vacuum. The Danish editor noted that among the incidents inspiring what his newspaper did included several artists turning down the opportunity to illustrate a Danish children's book about Muhammad because of fears for their personal safety. So the Jyllands-Posten page of Muhammad drawings was partly a commentary on self-censorship.
Rose said he asked artists to draw something about Muhammad, not necessarily something NEGATIVE about Muhammad. "It was very neutral," he recalled.
"We could have done a feature story and gotten one or two letters," added Rose. "Instead, we decided to show it rather than tell it. That demonstrates the power of cartoons."
Rose criticized the decision of many American newspapers not to publish the Muhammad cartoons after the rioting started. He said describing the cartoons wasn't enough, and that not showing them made people imagine that the cartoons were more controversial than they actually were.
Panelist Nik Kowsar, an Iranian artist who was jailed and received death threats for his cartoons before moving to Canada in 2003, said cartoonists have to be careful not to equate Islam with terrorism. "I was targeted by Islamic extremists, but Islam itself isn't the problem," said Kowsar, who that week was reunited with his Iranian wife and child after four years. He noted that extremists account for a tiny percentage of Muslims.
The session — moderated by editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press — also included discussion of how Muslim and Arab artists look at the United States.
Joe Szabo, the WittyWorld International Features founder, reported that he found a lot of anti-U.S. sentiment while traveling around the world doing research for a book called "The Image of America."
People described the U.S. with words such as "expansionist," "hypocritical," "materialistic," and "self-absorbed." And Szabo said cartoonists from the Muslim and Arab world are doing cartoons showing images such as the Statue of Liberty stomping on a globe of the world and U.S. soldiers dragging one of their bloody victims on the ground to create the red stripes in the American flag.
Cartoonist Tom Bone noted later in an article for his paper, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph: "The discussion ran overtime, but few cared about that. Near the end, Rose talked about how he feels papers in non-Muslim countries should treat followers of Islam, when they are a minority in society.
"?It is discriminating against a minority to treat them differently,' Rose said. Applying the same standards to content touching on any religion ?is a fact of inclusion, not exclusion. We treat you as we treat everybody else.'"
Some editorial cartoonists like to blog. Others tolerate it. And sometimes it depends on whether you're a staff or freelance cartoonist.
Those were a few of the points made during a "Blog or Die" session at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists conference Thursday.
Panel moderator Lee Judge, editorial cartoonist for the Kansas City Star, does a blog that includes many of his killed cartoons. He enjoys the blog to a degree, but wonders if the time he spends on it is worth the relatively modest amount of traffic it attracts.
"The time it takes to do a really good cartoon — and to sit and read and think — is being eaten up by this stuff," Judge said. But, he added, many newspapers editors "are in love" with the idea of having cartoonists and other staffers do blogs.
Mikhaela Reid, speaking from the audience, said cartoonists such as herself who aren't daily newspaper staffers often want to do a blog because it helps build readership. She added that freelance or self-syndicated creators may not do as many editorial cartoons each week as staff creators do, so a blog can be "a valuable place to vent" when not drawing a cartoon that day.
Panelist Tom Tomorrow (real name: Dan Perkins) has mixed feelings about blogs. He was one of the first cartoonists to start one — in early 2002 — and said doing a blog helps cartoonists build "a personal relationship with an audience" independent of an employer who might fire them the next year.
But the self-syndicated Tomorrow finds a blog very time-consuming. To spend more hours with his family and his cartoons, he turned his blog into a "mini-Huffington Post" with guest bloggers doing some of the commentary.
"My blog adds about an hour and a half a day to my job," said audience member Ed Stein.
Another panelist — Matt Davies of The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y. — said he was "a reluctant blogger at first. I felt anything I had to say I could say in my cartoons."
But Davies became more accustomed to blogging, and said it's inevitable that most staff cartoonists will eventually be asked to do one. Davies also does some animation and a weekly spot on a Journal News TV show, so "time management is a huge issue."
Ben Sargent of the Austin American-Statesman and Universal Press Syndicate said editorial cartoonists' blogs need to be journalistic rather than have content such as where the blogger is going to have coffee that day.
Dana Priest, the Washington Post reporter who helped break the story of neglected soldiers and poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, thanked editorial cartoonists for their followup work on that scandal.
"Your work provided the cultural cement that embedded the story in the country's psyche," she told convention attendees who traveled to the Post building Thursday to hear Priest speak. "You put the punctuation mark on the sentences we constructed."
Priest, who collaborated with Anne Hull on the Walter Reed expose, also discussed some of the misadventures involved in the investigation. For instance, she recalled being given directions to drive into the hospital complex, and got hopelessly lost. It turned out that there were two entrances, and she was using the other one.
The speaker also thanked editorial cartoonists for their work on an earlier story she was involved with — that of America's secret overseas prison sites for torturing alleged terrorist suspects. Priest, who won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for that 2005 investigation, said some cartoonists did strong drawings on that "black site" subject when a number of other media people and government officials were criticizing the Post more for doing the story than they were criticizing the CIA and the Bush administration for the secret torture sites.
"There were calls for my imprisonment, and I received many e-mails calling me a traitor," remembered Priest. "It became a lonely time."
Some of the press has become a little more skeptical of President Bush since his approval ratings plummeted to record lows, but Priest wishes more skepticism was allowed in the mainstream media in 2002 and 2003. "Look what happened when we didn't push hard enough on WMD before the war," she said.
Priest also shared some memories of legendary Post cartoonist Herbert Block (1909-2001). She recalled that Herblock would hang a mistletoe at the door when holding his Christmas party to benefit the Children's Hospital in Washington.
"He sprang up out of his chair and gave me a huge wet kiss," Priest said. "The guy was old even then. After the initial shock wore off, I told myself, ?he's Herblock, he's a cartoonist.' Political cartoonists can get away with all kinds of things, and I'm glad you do." The Post reporter did explain that she was referring to the work of cartoonists, rather than condoning kissing in the workplace.
An exhibit of Post editorial pages featuring Herblock's cartoons was mounted just off the room where Priest spoke, and several of his original drawings could separately be seen in the newspaper's 15th Street lobby.
The setting: American University's art museum, where a cartoon exhibit about the current White House included many scathing drawings. The speaker: Helen Thomas, who drew a scathing picture of the Bush administration with a few well-chosen words.
The King Features Syndicate columnist and former UPI White House correspondent didn't spare the media, either. "I do believe journalists have let the country down," said Thomas, who was addressing Association of American Editorial Cartoonists conference attendees Thursday night. "They were cowed, and afraid to be called unpatriotic. The real journalists are the editorial cartoonists who don't fear the truth."
Describing the Bush administration, Thomas said it's "running on empty and heading for collapse." She added that the "invasion and occupation of Iraq — which didn't attack us — was illegal, immoral, and unconscionable. George W. Bush struck a match inflaming the whole Mideast, and no one has laid a glove on bin Laden."
Thomas also blasted secret overseas prison sites and Guantanamo, noting: "Detainees have been denied the right to appeal — a right that only goes back to the Magna Carta." One result? "The U.S. is now the most despised nation in the world," she said.
And Thomas criticized the Bush administration for giving the rich the biggest tax cuts, allowing 47 million Americans to have no health insurance, and for preferring "political appointees who are more loyal to the president than to this country."
In short, "I can't think of one good thing he's done," said Thomas, adding that she's appalled that Bush doesn't seem to be losing sleep at night about how disastrous things are in Iraq.
Later, during a Q&A session, a conservative cartoonist asked Thomas if she's an objective journalist.
"Not anymore," Thomas retorted. "When I was with UPI, it was ?just the facts.' Now I write a column."
Thomas was also asked why White House correspondents don't help each other with follow-up questions when the president gives evasive answers. "Everyone has their own questions," she said.
Why aren't Americans more outraged at Bush? "There's no draft," Thomas replied. "People don't feel personally affected by the war." She added that some Americans still believe the president's rhetoric about how "they'll come here if we don't go there, which is the biggest bull I've ever heard."
Thomas also offered anecdotes about some of the presidents and other politicians she's covered since John F. Kennedy. She said JFK had "a ready wit," and recalled once speaking to him about what would happen if Air Force One crashed. "Your name will be just a footnote," was his joking gibe at Thomas.
Lyndon Johnson, she continued, took pains not to seem elitist. When a speechwriter put a Voltaire quote in remarks prepared for LBJ, the president instead attributed the same exact quote to "my dear old daddy."
Thomas also related the story of how someone once thanked Henry Kissinger for saving the world. "You're welcome," replied the egotistic Nixon administration official.
Asked who she thought might make the best presidential successor to Bush, Thomas praised John Edwards for apologizing for his pro-Iraq War vote, offering a comprehensive health plan, and speaking about poverty. "But," she added, "I think Hillary will get the nomination."
Day Three
July 6 — What might editorial cartoonists do if they weren't editorial cartoonists?
Some of the possibilities were provided during a "Funny People Who Don't Draw" session Friday. Panelists included a blogger, a "Daily Show" writer, and a radio personality.
The blogger is Josh Fruhlinger, who humorously mocks comics on ComicsCurmudgeon.com and makes funny remarks about editorial cartoons via Wonkette.com.
For the latter, Fruhlinger looks at numerous editorial cartoons and tries to find quirky patterns. For instance, one week he discussed the different ways TVs looked in several cartoons. One drawing showed a couple watching a TV that didn't seem to have any wire leading to an electrical outlet.
"Please continue to turn out stuff for me to comment on or else I might have to get a real job," Fruhlinger wryly asked attendees.
Kevin Bleyer, a writer for "The Daily Show" and previously for Bill Maher and Dennis Miller, admitted he could be characterized as a centrist ... or intellectual prostitute. He described serendipitous moments like noticing that the Bushism, "When the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" had 17 syllables, leading to a hilarious haiku for the Daily Show.
A third panelist, Scott Paulsen, described his Pittsburgh talk-radio show that includes humor — and also noted that he's a big editorial cartoon fan. "I'm completely hooked on dead industries," Paulsen quipped. "I work in one and you work in one."
Whether they're near or far from the front, editorial cartoonists are commenting about the Iraq War and other conflicts. That was the focus of the next Friday session.
Panelist Signe Wilkinson has done cartoons about the Iraq War from afar. In the beginning, The Philadelphia Daily News creator was uncertain whether or not the war was worthwhile — thinking people like Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell might have some legitimate reasons for supporting it. But Wilkinson soon realized how wrong the U.S. invasion and occupation was.
"Many cartoonists, like Tom Toles, saw through it all from the start," said Wilkinson, referring to The Washington Post creator.
Wilkinson showed several of her war cartoons, including one picturing a "pro-life" men's center in which males had to be counseled, shown dead babies, and have a mandatory waiting period before going to war. Wilkinson also displayed a drawing of a park bench with blood all over it. The caption: "Benchmarks in Iraq."
Panelist Ted Rall wrote/drew a book — "To Afghanistan and Back" — about that wartorn country. Visiting Afghanistan and making other trips to Central Asia made Rall realize that conflict zones can be "funny" and "absurd" as well as tragic. And putting that knowledge and experience into graphic-novel form can help convey the complexity, quirkiness, and horror of those places, said the AAEC vice president.
That was seconded by another panelist, military reporter/cartoon creator David Axe. "War is not just tragedy," he said. "It's not just gut-wrenching political drama. It can also be hilarious." Not to mention tedious — Axe collaborates with Matt Bors on a cartoon called "War Is Boring."
At least one cartoonist — Vaughn Larson of The Review in Plymouth, Wis. — currently serves in Iraq and supports the war. He obviously couldn't make the session, but did e-mail some remarks to the AAEC.
"My overall opinion of the war has not changed — we need to finish the job we started," wrote Larson, who draws cartoons when he can in Iraq.
The Wisconsin creator also said he feels there's "a definite gap in perspectives between veterans and many cartoonists."
For three editorial cartoonists, there was a silver lining when they lost (or thought they might lose) a newspaper staff position. That silver lining is the multicolored, multimedia world of political animation.
After Mark Fiore lost his job at the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News in 2001, he became a pioneering Web animator — and has been making a living at it via self-syndication for several years.
After several cartoonists at Tribune Co.-owned papers were pushed out, Walt Handelsman in late 2005 wondered how safe he was at Newsday of Melville, N.Y. "There was no specific reason to worry, but I was ?pre-panicking,'" he recalled. So Handelsman developed Web animations that helped him win this year's Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.
Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher was forced to take a buyout from the Tribune-owned Baltimore Sun during the winter of 2005-06, and subsequently started a 3-D animation project that may result in a TV program.
All three men spoke and showed their work Friday at an animation session during the 50th-anniversary convention.
"I've always loved animation," said Fiore, but he didn't want to live in Los Angeles or work for an animation studio with various layers of staffing and management. "Then I stumbled into Flash animation, and found that I loved doing that more than print cartoons."
Fiore noted that a number of newspapers want their editorial cartoonists to try animation, but said creators should "only do it if you love it."
Session moderator Matt Wuerker of Politico.com said Fiore was "the first to really crack the code and make Flash fly."
"Mark is a trailblazer," agreed Handelsman, who mostly taught himself to use Flash (he said it took about 250 hours of "not seeing my wife and kids" to become expert at it) but also relied on some telephone help from Fiore.
"As it came together, I realized I loved this," added Handelsman, who's syndicated by Tribune Media Services. "I enjoy sitting in front of my computer cracking myself up — doing imitations of voices, sound effects, and songs."
Handelsman is now trained in the area of Flash animation, but did emphasize that the whole process remains very time-consuming.
KAL, with the help of the University of Maryland's Imaging Research Center, went the 3-D route with his "Digital Dubya" puppet. The cartoonist first sculpted an image of George W. Bush using clay and other material, after which the image was scanned and painstakingly digitized. The presidential puppet can even be animated in real time; at a 2006 "press conference," KAL and others manipulated joysticks as the Dubya "answered" questions.
And all this time Bush thought Karl Rove was his puppeteer, quipped KAL, who still does traditional print cartoons for The Economist magazine and New York Times Syndicate.
Now, with the help of motion-capture technology, Dubya and other digital puppets may be coming to TV. "We're working on a half-hour satire show — hopefully for next year," reported KAL.
Mark Shields, the political columnist and TV personality, gave a glass-half-full luncheon speech Friday. For instance, Shields joked that fellow Creators Syndicate columnist Robert Novak couldn't be with him at the AAEC meeting because "Friday is his day to get his rabies shot."
But Shields, who appeared on CNN'S "Capital Gang" with the man who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, hastened to add that he likes Novak.
Shield offered a similar partly positive spin on a negative topic when discussing the Bush administration and the current state of American politics.
"This is singularly the most incompetent administration across the board," said Shields. "No one who has served in this administration has been enhanced by the experience."
He also noted that, "for the first time, a plurality of Americans believe their children's lives will not be as rich and full as their own lives."
Looking back at the Democrats' 2004 presidential candidate, Shields said he likes John Kerry but doesn't feel the Senator had enough personality. "John Kerry is so unexciting his Secret Service name was John Kerry," quipped the columnist.
Kerry, unlike many politicians and most children of politicians, served in the military. "Those in power today are totally divorced from those in peril," said Shields, comparing this to the World War II period when all of President Roosevelt's sons were in the armed forces. "War demands equality of sacrifice. This is the only war in history fought without a draft and with six tax cuts. We should be ashamed that all the burden and suffering are being borne by less than 1% of the country."
The columnist also said that compared to people like Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, who have both been married three times and had public affairs with women, Bill Clinton "seems like a family-values guy."
Mentioning Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military, Shields said it can be summed up this way: "It's OK if ?Uncle Sam wants you.' But if you want Uncle Sam, keep it to yourself."
Jonathan Shapiro of South Africa received the "Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award" Friday night at the annual Cartoonists Rights Network International dinner.
"Freedom of expression is something I treasure more than anything else," said Shapiro, whose work is distributed by the U.S.-based Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate (CWS).
The honoree, who draws under the pen name "Zapiro," was slapped with a $2-million lawsuit by South African politician Jacob Zuma after doing cartoons critical of Zuma. Shapiro responded to the suit — and to late-night threatening phone calls — by doing more cartoons critical of Zuma.
Ironically, Shapiro told the audience, he used to admire Zuma. Both the cartoonist and the politician were anti-apartheid activists in the 1980s, and Shapiro was harassed by police and eventually jailed for opposing South Africa's racist government of the time.
Shapiro thanked CRNI Founder/Executive Director Robert Russell for his organization's work helping threatened cartoonists around the world. And Shapiro thanked Russell for mentioning (while presenting the award) the sacrifices his wife has had to make living with a cartoonist facing the wrath of government officials.
"I've received other awards," he said, "but no one has ever acknowledged the role of my wife Karina" who was in the audience.
Russell noted: "Violence works. If it didn't work, we wouldn't have it. But most of the cartoonists who win this award and who are our clients are taken unawares. Suddenly, the full weight of a government comes down on their shoulders. A minister, a head of state, or a goon squad wants you dead and you're absolutely helpless. That's why CRNI exists."
Indeed, Shapiro said there are cartoonists in various parts of the world who have it much worse than he does.
After Shapiro described some of the dangers he's faced, CRNI President Joel Pett of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader quipped: "That's impressive. But I want to point out that we [American cartoonists] did some great Paris Hilton stuff."
There were also plenty of laughs from Will Durst, the political humorist and syndicated Cagle Cartoons columnist, who performed at the end of the event.
"It's going to be hard to say goodbye to George W. Bush," he said. "Satirizing him was like slam-dunking from a stepladder." Durst noted that Bush seems like the child of Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle.
Just repeating some of Bush's actual statements can be hilarious, said Durst, citing gems such as "I think we can all agree the past is over" and "More and more of our imports are coming from overseas."
One reason some people still support Bush is they consider him a "God-fearing" man. "As well he should be," Durst said wryly.
Durst said Republicans lost the election in 2006 more than Democrats won it. "Bush had a 29% approval rating, Cheney had 22%, and Mark Foley was ?dipping into the teens,'" deadpanned Durst.
The humorist also slammed Democrats, quipping that they support stem-cell research because they need to "grow themselves a spine."
Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, once said he needed the votes of "every thinking American." But, noted Durst, "you need a majority — and sometimes that's not enough."
Another dinner speaker was Flemming Rose, the Danish newspaper editor who published the Muhammad cartoons that sparked riots about 18 months ago. Rose, who previously spoke Thursday at the AAEC convention, said "cartoons can be offensive but so can the truth.
Day Four
July 7 — AAEC members voted Saturday to pursue several ideas suggested at a Thursday convention session that focused on the future of the profession.
The suggestions are designed to help stave off job losses and raise the profile of editorial cartooning. Among them are:
- Conduct a survey that the AAEC expects would show that editorial cartoons are one of the most-read parts of newspapers.
- Have more public events like the July 3 "Cartoonapalooza" in Washington to raise money for AAEC education and publicity efforts — and to demonstrate the popularity of cartoonists.
- Try to increase the low prices many syndicates charge and many newspapers pay for editorial cartoons.
- Offer more resources for freelancers, who make up an increasing percentage of AAEC members. This could involve providing information about finding editorial cartooning work and perhaps starting a health-insurance plan for AAECers who don't have staff jobs.
"We'll try to get at least one or two of these projects off the ground in a couple of months," said Ted Rall, who's coordinating the future-of-cartooning effort with Paul Fell and Milt Priggee.
Priggee said the AAEC should have a similar future-of-cartooning "Town Hall" at future conventions, and attendees agreed.
Prior to voting on their plan of action, AAECers discussed various suggestions and made other comments and recommendations.
For instance, Ed Stein said the AAEC's Editorial Cartooning Initiative would raise money to partly fund some of the suggestions voted on. The AAEC is currently seeking 501(c)3 nonprofit status for an ECI endowment.
Clay Bennett said one important statistic a poll could provide would be a comparison of the readership of syndicated editorial cartoons in a newspaper with readership of a staffer's editorial cartoons in that same paper. Bennett thinks the staffer's work would be more popular.
Speaking of comparisons, Malcolm Mayes of the Edmonton Journal said Canadian editorial cartoonists tend to get paid more for their work than American editorial cartoonists do. Mayes' comment was the impetus for the vote to look into the possibility of higher U.S. pricing.
"Syndicates are selling us for too little," agreed Matt Wuerker.
Walt Handelsman reiterated his Thursday suggestion that staff editorial cartoonists meet with their publishers to find out what more they can do for their newspaper.
"I started a local comic for my newspaper 10 years ago," added Stein. "I might not still have my job if I hadn't done that."
Fell urged more AAECers to send their work for posting on the organization's EditorialCartoonists.com site. "It seems like we always have the same 30 or 35 people [uploading cartoons]," he said.
And attendees discussed whether the late-2005 "Black Ink Monday" was a success or failure. On that day, many cartoonists did drawings protesting the loss of cartoon jobs at newspapers. Priggee suggested that if there's another "Black Ink Monday"-type effort, perhaps all cartoonists should do only local cartoons for a week to show how effective that approach can be.
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich closed the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' 50th-anniversary convention Saturday night with a ringing call for the removal of a high official.
"I want all of you to join me in calling for the impeachment of President ... Rob Rogers," joked the Ohio congressman, referring to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist who's the AAEC's current leader.
Actually, Rogers was widely praised for his part in putting together the convention. Hy Rosen, the former Albany, N.Y., Times Union cartoonist who joined the AAEC when it started in 1957, said: "This was one of the best conventions. And since I've gone to 50 of them, I speak with some authority."
Kucinich, who in real life has called for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, offered the AAEC a deal: "If I'm elected president, I'll ask Congress to pass a law requiring every newspaper to hire an editorial cartoonist."
In return, he added, "you can start to draw cartoons about me. I know you're required to draw a certain number of cartoons about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but throw one in about me once in a while. I can take the heat! Give it your best shot! Just draw me!"
Kucinich continued joking, saying he saw a secret document indicating that Cheney wants to amend the Patriot Act to get ink, pens, and paper classified as weapons of mass destruction. "He knows what you've been doing," deadpanned Kucinich. "I can protect you!"
Of course, Kucinich is trailing badly in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Speaking from the audience, editorial cartoonist Steve Kelley told the candidate: "Personally I'm only a point behind you in the polls and I'm not even running!" Kelley questioned why Kucinich feels he should seek the Oval Office.
The Congressman said he has about 40 years of political experience, including more than a decade in the House and a stint as mayor of Cleveland. Kucinich added that disgust with the Iraq War, which he's opposed since President Bush first made noises about invading in 2002, will grow even stronger by next year's presidential primaries. At that point, said Kucinich, he could have a chance.
He added that he's disappointed that the Democrat-controlled Congress hasn't tried to force Bush's hands to end the war. "The U.S. occupation is fueling the insurgency," Kucinich said. "Congress could tell the president, ?you have $70 billion that will last until October 1, 2007, and you're not going to get any more. Bring the troops home and replace them with an international peacekeeping force.'"
Kucinich believes in "security through peace." He said the U.S. needs to defend itself when necessary, but also needs more diplomacy and less "us versus them" saber-rattling. The speaker added that Americans and their government leaders need to remember that the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed since the U.S. invasion were human beings with the same hopes and dreams as everyone else.
"The world is ready for an America that will open its heart again," he said.
Returning to the subject of cartooning, Kucinich told AAECers they have "the passion to fight injustice" and that "you help keep democracy alive with the power of your pen."
Daryl Cagle later wrote on his blog: "I was surprised and impressed with Kucinich because his whole speech was written for the cartoonists — that might seem to be a natural thing to do, when speaking to editorial cartoonists, but almost all of the politicians who speak to us only say a couple of sentences about cartoons, then launch into their regular stump speeches. Kucinich clearly was a political cartoon fan; he knew his cartoons and cartoonists, and showed respect for and interest in our profession that we seldom see from politicians.
"Kucinich acknowledges his longshot status as a presidential candidate, and pleaded with the cartoonists to draw him, as he showed a series of cartoons that had been drawn about him. Kucinich also made a big point of acknowledging his wife, who is about thirty years younger and about a foot taller than he is (Cleveland Plain-Dealer cartoonist, Jeff Darcy had noted this in a couple of biting cartoons). Kucinich turned out to be good fun and I'm sure the evening spent with the cartoonists in Washington will yield him much more goodwill in the press than another evening spent in Iowa. Kucinich then came back up to the hospitality suite with us as we drank ourselves into our nightly ?toon-stupors — another thing politicians rarely do after their speeches."
Prior to Kucinich's speech, the AAEC gave out several honors.
There were two winners of the Ink Bottle Award: the Herb Block Foundation (HBF), which has given grants to the AAEC and many other recipients; and Jay Kennedy, the late King Features Syndicate editor in chief who died in a drowning accident this spring at the age of 50.
Frank Swoboda accepted the award for the foundation he heads; and King Comics Editor Brendan Burford accepted the honor on behalf of Kennedy. "This is an absolutely appropriate and caring gesture on the part of the AAEC," said Burford. "It's great that this group is showing its love for Jay."
The John Locher Memorial Award for best college cartoonist went to Kory Merritt of the State University of New York at Brockport. The honor is named after the late son of Dick Locher, who does editorial cartoons and the "Dick Tracy" comic for Tribune Media.
Dick Locher said 13 of the 21 Locher honorees have full-time jobs as editorial cartoonists — a high ratio in this time of dwindling staff positions.
And this year's Golden Spike for best killed cartoon went to Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner (above), whose drawing showed Bush saying that "artificial deadlines embolden the enemy." But the cartoon also noted that "artificial limbs" on badly injured American soldiers embolden the enemy, too.
The Golden Spike was presented by David Wallis, author of the recent "Killed Cartoons" book.
"Cartoonists get more rejections than those of us who work with words," said Wallis, who's also founder of the Featurewell.com syndicate.
He noted that censorship goes back a long way. Just before the 1952 election, The Washington Post refused to run several Herblock cartoons critical of Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower. But Wallis said the cartoons were picked up by many newspapers via syndication — and a rival Washington paper wrote an editorial about the Post's cowardice. An embarrassed Post subsequently gave Herblock "unparalleled" editorial freedom, according to the speaker.
The final banquet also included another tribute to the three founding AAEC members at the 50th-anniversary convention who had previously spoken during the opening reception Wednesday night.
On Saturday, the trio came to the stage and made more remarks. Hy Rosen offered the aforementioned praise for Rob Rogers, while Jim Ivey said the editorial cartooning profession is in good shape.
"Not in numbers, but in the work," said the former cartoonist for the St. Petersburg Times and three other dailies. "Great art, great caricatures, and a strong bite."
And Jim Lange of The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City said of the half-century with the AAEC: "I'd like to go back and do the whole thing all over again."
—Sources: Editor & Publisher, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, www.cagle.com, robintierney.blogspot.com/. Photos by JP Trostle unless otherwise noted. Thanks to everyone who contributed, including R.C. Harvey, Tim Jackson, Mikhaela Reid, Jeff Parker, Tom Bone, Milt Priggee, Jimmy Marguiles and Dave Astor. For more convention photos, head to the AAEC site for further links.