History Main / PoliticalCartoons

* Bill Mauldin, who is probably best remembered today for that cartoon of the WWII cavalry sergeant shooting a jeep with a broken axle.

* [[DisContinuity/RealLife Historical Revisionism]]

* Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) made these circa WWII, before moving to kids' books.

--[[{{Family Guy}} Stewie Griffin to Brian]], in the ''[[AmericanNewspapers Washington Post]]'' political cartoon universe.

* UnfortunateImplications: Political cartoons seem to be the only medium left in which artists feel free to depict ethnic groups (particularly Mexicans) the way African-Americans were depicted in the 1930s, or politicians of opposing political parties (see any cartoon featuring Al Gore for an example) the way you would portray a CardCarryingVillain or DesignatedVillain in a comic book.
** This is also true of less evolved BritishNewspapers such as the ''Daily Mail'', in which the portrayal of the Irish has not advanced very much past the simian, neanderthal, thug of Punch in the mid-1800's. Don't ask how they portray arabs and Islam..

----

* EvilForeigner

* John Tenniel, who besides illustrating ''[[AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', also drew the famous "[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/1890_Bismarcks_Ruecktritt.jpg Dropping the Pilot]]" cartoon for ''Punch''

[[quoteright:468:[[SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20080702.gif]]]]

Most British newspapers still have political cartoonists on the strength. A typical example would be Steve Bell, who draws both editorial cartoons and a long-running daily political strip called {{If}} for the [[BritishNewspapers Guardian]]. Cartoonists of other political hues are also available.

* Bill Mauldin

* UnpleasableFanbase

The now-defunct UK magazine ''Punch'' was famous for its well-drawn cartoons for a long period, a number of them turning up in school history books.

* UnfortunateImplications: Political cartoons seem to be the only medium left in which artists feel free to depict ethnic groups (particularly Mexicans) the way African-Americans were depicted in the 1930s, or politicians of opposing political parties (see any cartoon featuring Al Gore for an example) the way you would portray a CardCarryingVillain or DesignatedVillain in a comic book.

Most British newspapers still have political cartoonists on the strength. A typical example would be Steve Bell, who draws both editorial cartoons and a long-running daily political strip called {{If}} for the [[BritishNewspapers Guardian}}. Cartoonists of other political hues are also available.

The now-defunct UK magazine ''Punch'' was famous for its well-drawn cartoons for a long period, a number of them turning up in school history books.

-->''Oh god, let's go, quick. Here comes an overweight cat with [[{{Wingding Eyes}} dollar signs for eyes]] and a hat that says "Social Security" pouring a bucket that says "Alternative Minimum Tax" over a sad Statue of Liberty holding a "Democracy" umbrella.'' \\

These are those little boxes on the editorial page of your local newspaper where cartoonists try to educate and entertain the masses via their snappy, illustrated political commentary. Done well, a political cartoon will creatively expose the social and political hot buttons of the day; in fact, one of the precursors of the Mexican Revolution was ''a bunch of perfect political cartoons''. Done poorly... well, they're easy to avoid.

!!Tropes:

These are those little boxes on the editorial page of your local newspaper where cartoonists try to educate and entertain the masses via their snappy, illustrated political commentary. Done well, a political cartoon will creatively expose the social and political hot buttons of the day; in fact, one of the precursors of the Mexican Revolution was ''a bunch of perfect political cartoons''. Done [[SoBadItsHorrible poorly]]... well, they're easy to avoid.

* James Gillray, late 18th and early 19th century cartoonist who is still cruder and more vicious than any of his mainstream succesors.

* James Gillray
* Thomas Rowlandson

-->''Oh god, let's go, quick. Here comes an overweight cat with dollar signs for eyes and a hat that says "Social Security" pouring a bucket that says "Alternative Minimum Tax" over a sad Statue of Liberty holding a "Democracy" umbrella.''\\
--[[Family Guy Stewie Griffin to Brian]], in the ''[[AmericanNewspapers Washington Post]]'' political cartoon universe.

-->''Oh god, let's go, quick. Here comes an overweight cat with dollar signs for eyes and a hat that says "Social Security" pouring a bucket that says "Alternative Minimum Tax" over a sad Statue of Liberty holding a "Democracy" umbrella.''

* Thomas Nast, who created the Republican elephant and popularized the Democratic donkey (and created the modern image of Santa Claus)

* John Tenniel, who besides illustrating ''AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', also drew the famous "Dropping the Pilot" cartoon for ''Punch''

* John Tenniel

[[SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20080702.gif]]

The first political cartoons were drawn by William Hogarth in the 1720's, before newspapers as we know them. An early American example was Benjamin Franklin's drawing of a snake divided into 13 parts, which he captioned, [[AC:Join, or Die]]. Some famous political cartoonists of the past:

* Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) made these circa WWII, before moving to kid's books.
* Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón, who in the first years of the 20th century ran the political satire magazine ''El hijo de El Ahuizote''... during Porfirio Díaz's administration, in the middle of a harsh dictatorship, their presses were constantly confiscated, some of its journalists were even murdered, and both were promoted to national heroes for being among the instigators of the Mexican Revolution.

Tropes:
* {{Anvilicious}}

* [[FoxNewsLiberal Fox News Liberal, Daily Kos Conservative]]

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