Michael Ramirez Essay: My Favorite Cartoons for 2023
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
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HAPPY NEW YEAR
By Michael P. Ramirez, Dec. 31, 2023
It’s hard to believe another year has gone by. Each year at the Review-Journal, I have to pick out my ten (or twelve) favorite cartoons of the year. I find it to be a difficult task. It’s like choosing your favorite child. Sorting out whether the topics rise to the level of importance is another part of the equation.
Making the task more difficult is the nature of the editorial cartoon. It combines elements, a marriage of the right and left brain. The left hemisphere of your brain is responsible for linear thinking, analysis, logic, math, speech, writing, and comprehension. The right hemisphere controls your creativity, imagination, feelings, artistic and spatial ability. My sardonic humor seems to be a part of both.
People often call us artists. I view what I do as journalism. I suppose it is a combination of both.
So what is most important? The Art? The meaning?
An editorial cartoon is the byproduct of both sides of the brain, the logical conclusion of deep analysis delivered in a visual package designed to challenge the reader… or simply an act of stenography, taking shorthand dictation of the day’s brilliant proclamation by Joe Biden, Donald Trump or most any of the political geniuses infecting social media these days.
For me, the message is the most important element of the cartoon. It should say something profound. It is called an “editorial” after all. But the art can significantly enhance the message, or for that matter, be the message. Unfortunately, I am not the artist in my mind’s eye so, my cartoons visually fall short of the vision in my head, but they are good enough to make the point… and that is all that matters.
People are drawn to the visual image. It is what makes the editorial cartoon such an effective tool of communication. I keep that in mind in the design of the cartoon. You will notice the action flows from left to right, designed to accommodate the way we read.
Image!
Setup!
Point!
Lights!
Camera!
Action!
The image is like the bait in the trap, designed to lure the reader into the cartoon.
The setup is there to help navigate the reader to the exact spot where you want them.
Then the iron jaws of the point are thrust upon them leaving them left to slowly chew the enduring image from their memory in an effort to free themselves. Too late!
Adding humor gives the cartoon legs, giving it a higher chance of distribution. Adding a sharp edge, giving the cartoon bite, allows for a bigger chance of consumption… but you want it to be digestible… Editorial cartooning is most effective when it is the art of persuasion.
The ones you know readers disagree with must be designed with more care. You have to entice them like a fine meal that they know will give them indigestion, but it is simply too good to pass on, even as the pain lingers while they decide whether or not to get their stomach pumped.
The best cartoons are designed to convince, stimulate thought, be the catalyst for action, and not offend. Sometimes, that is unavoidable… especially in this era of safe spaces, participation trophies, hyper-partisanship, and hypersensitivity.
When I sort through the cartoons for the year-end collection, I start with the most important topics of the year and find the cartoons that I feel were the most persuasive in the arguments raised. Next, I look at the visual element. When you have the perfect marriage of topic and workmanship, point and artistry, right brain and left brain, those are the chosen ones.
Rarely do I find cartoons that turn out exactly the way I pictured them in my head. But each year, I come a little bit closer.
I hope you enjoy the collection, or at the very least, it gives you food for thought. Thank goodness for Pepto Bismol.
Happy New Year!
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Thank you for this wonderful collection of your fine cartoons. You are very much appreciated!