Culture

But Besides the Shooting Death of Your Father, Caroline, How Did You Like the Drive in the Open Convertible? Or, More Evidence That Editorial Cartooning Is the Lowest Form of Art (Kennedy Clan Edition)

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I've made little secret of my opinion that editorial cartooning is, with the exception of the three greats Reason publishes on a rotating basis on Fridays (Bok, Payne, and Stantis) and the fantabulistic Peter Bagge and Terry Colon (not traditional one-panel ink-stained Picassos in any case), really about the lowest form of expression this side of a baby's diaper. If you question that judgment, I recommend you survey this gallery of Tim Russert Is Dead cartoons, Ziggy's searing statement on email and toilets (no joke), this 100 proof antidote to laughter, and the fucking dumbest non-jihadist statement ever made about the 9/11 attacks.

And then, if you're still not with me—if you've still got a soft spot for crying Statues of Liberty and airplane tailfins floating in the water with "Never Again" written on them, or crippled actors like Christopher Reeve leaving his wheelchair and flying into heaven in a Superman costume—look at the Caroline Kennedy cartoon below and come on over to my side of the debate.

The perpetrator of this crime against comedy and tragedy is the Arizona Republic's Steve Benson. I did a quick search of his archive, which failed to turn up the same scene from 10 years ago, with John-John in the car and JFK saying, "You'll make a great pilot someday."

The fix for all this? As always, Reason's Friday Funnies archive and a heaping dose of The Onion's great Kelly Kartoons.

Hat Tip: Michael C. Moynihan of Reason.