New breed of young cartoonists trace political views
By Andrew LaMar
Of the Emerald
It’s hunting season again, but
this year’s prey, Pres. Ronald
Reagan and Walter Mondale,
aren’t easy game for political
cartoonists.
“Reagan makes a very tough
target because of his popularity.
Eisenhower was a difficult
target for the same reason,”
says journalism Prof. Roy Paul
Nelson. Nelson, a free-lance
cartoonist, has written several
books about cartooning and
caricatures.
Nelson says that some traits of
politicians are difficult for car
toonists to portray. One exam
ple of this is the perceived
dullness of Walter Mondale.
Cartoonists are livelier today
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"politics
1984
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than they were 10 years ago,
probably because they are
younger, Nelson says.
“Before there was only
Herblock and Mauldin. For
about 20 years they were the
only two major cartoonists,”
Nelson says. “Then came
Oliphant, and about 10 years
ago, MacNelly, who brought
with them a whole new group of
younger cartoonists.”
Nelson began selling gag car
toons when he was in high
school.
“Back in those days we had to
carve them (cartoons) out of
linoleum,’ he recalls. “We
couldn’t just draw a cartoon and
send it in.”
He received his B.S. and M.S.
degrees from the University
and, after holding jobs as a
reporter, copywriter and public
relations man, returned to the
University to teach. Nelson says
he was hired as a “junk man,”
teaching a variety of classes,
because of his experience in
designing, cartooning and
reporting. He has been on the
faculty for 29 years.
According to Nelson, Pat
Oliphant of Universal Press
Syndicate and Jeff MacNelly of
the Chicago Tribune are the top
political cartoonists in the
country today. Oliphant is
liberal and unpredictable
whereas MacNelly is conser
vative and a better draftsman,
Nelson says. Nonetheless, he
adds, both of them are
“marvelous artists.”
Nelson concedes that it’s dif
ficult to make a living as a car
toonist. There are only about
150 political cartoonists in the
country, and few make
anything near the six-digit
figure of a Jeff MacNelly.
“You have to be somewhat
angry to be a good political car
toonist. I, myself, am a bit too
bland for that,” Nelson says.
Cartoonists don’t have pro
blems coming up with material,
he insists. “1 don't think it’s
dictated to by a syndicate and
cartoonist as to the size of the
strip,” he says. “If I was a car
toonist on the comics page, I
would be annoyed that someone
else’s strip got more space than
mine.”
Roy Paul Nelson
difficult to maintain ideas.
Creative people have their ways
to keep the pump primed.”
Along with livelier car
toonists, another trend is the in
creased willingness of comic
strips, such as Doonesbury and
Bloom County, to address social
and political issues.
“I’m not overly enthusiastic
about that,” Nelson says. “I’m a
bit traditional. I like to see
political opinions on the
editorial page.”
With the return of
Doonesbury, artist Garry
Trudeau has insisted that his
strip be run larger than the other
strips, which surprises Nelson.
“What amuses me (about
Trudeau's request) is that an
editor of a newspaper will be
“Actually, I don't think that
Garry Trudeau is a great artist
like MacNelly and Oliphant,"
he says. “He’s a great idea man
and very creative with his strip,
but he’s not a great artist."
Certain distortions exist when
portraying political opinions
through a cartoon. Nelson says
cartoonist have the most
freedom of any journalists,
often reshaping reality to por
tray an image.
“In a way they tell visual
lies." he says.
Though he believes that
political cartoonists don’t
change people’s opinions,
Nelson says cartoons do
challenge beliefs. "They are
organs of criticism that make
you think.”
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