An Introduction

This world is full of editorial cartoons, designed to prove to all of us the immediate, blinding insight of their creators, and cause us to instantly be a convert to whatever particular political philosophy the cartoonist happens to hold. Well, they would, if only we could understand them -- but, all too often, we can't.

No one is out there explaining what those bizarre pictures of three monkeys (labeled "Soros," "Queen Elizabeth," and "the Yen") are doing with that nuclear weapon, nor why they're making those famous three-monkey faces. And so I'll just have to step up and do it.

Sure, there's The Comics Curmudgeon, but he focuses on strip cartoons. And there's Comics I Don't Understand, but he only rarely attempts editorial cartoons. And Daryl Cagle posts a lot of political cartoons -- his own and from others -- with some commentary, but he never explains them. So there's clearly a need unfulfilled here.

If I were a smarter, more mercenary man, I'd spin off a whole new blog for this idea, with a fancy design and lots of Google Ads. But I'm not, so it gets rolled into Antick Musings like every other random whim and thought.

Edit: And so I was.

With the hope that this will continue, whenever and as long as confusing editorial cartoons appear, let's begin.