Cartoon: Munro, 2007

(Click for larger view)

By Andrew Wahl, a cartoonist for the Wenatchee World newspaper, and founder of OffTheWahl.com.

Here is Andrew's weekly commentary about his toon:

Has thereever been a more politically tone-deaf administration than this one? Ican understand Bush’s need to score points with the base. But if you’regoing to veto legislation to take a stand against “big government,”couldn’t you pick something more palatable than quashing healthcare forpoor children? And to say we can’t afford $35 billion for sick kids, atthe same time you’re asking for around $190 billion — that’s$190,000,000,000! — in additional war spending?
    How did this numbskull ever get to be president? No, really.
    As I was sitting down to tackle this week’s toon, I was looking todo something with that notion of tone deafness. But as I brainstormedsymbols that spoke to children paying the price for America’s warmachine, I kept coming back to the same image: Jules Feiffer’s Munro.
    For those not familiar with Feiffer, the guy is on the top rung inmy pantheon of creative heroes. Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist.Obie-winning playwright. And, in 1961, he was the writer of anAcademy-Award-winning animated short called “Munro.”
    “Munro” started life as a short story in Feiffer’s 1957 cartooncollection, “Passionella.” The story revolves around a four-year-oldboy named Munro who is drafted into the U.S. Army and can’t seem toconvince anyone that there’s been a mistake. It’s a brilliant piece ofwork, one that still has wonderful resonance today. (If you haven’tseen the animated version, treat yourself on YouTube)
    Feiffer retired from editorial cartooning on a regular basis in 2000.
    With our young again being victimized by a misguided militaryeffort, it seemed a good time to pay homage to one of my greatestinfluences. “Munro, 2007” [Archive No. 0733], below, is the result. Ithink it works fine with no knowledge of the “Munro” back story, andoffers deeper meaning for those in the know (which now includeseveryone reading this). I’m pretty tickled with this one.
    As always, feel free stop by the OtWP Blog and let me know if you agree or disagree.

Till next week,
Andrew
toon@offthewahl.com

Andrew Wahl has been submitting his toons on The Blue State since 2005.