My First (and Ideally Last) Political Cartoon

I'm not normally a political person. Politics are usually something I like to try to avoid - in fact, I was something of a draft dodger this past year when local campaign offices kept calling me up to go out and ring doorbells with them: I politely declined each time, but in all honesty, I had no intention of wasting my time, or other people's time, making a nuisance of myself by randomly ringing people's doorbells to talk politics with strangers I don't even know and who could probably care less about the candidate I've been roped into campaigning for (and mainly because I don't even know who any of these candidates are either)!

That being said, however, the political landscape has really been frustrating me these past several months, so what's a good way to relieve frustration? Why, art of course! I must admit that I have had a few ideas for political cartoons based on observations I've had over these past several months, but I've been really cautious about doing them . . . as I said, politics are not me, and I kind of felt like doing political cartoons would perhaps cheapen myself quite a bit (not that I'm not already cheap). Not to mention, while I could certainly take a swipe at a certain side of the political spectrum that's really giving the red, white, and blue a black eye, I felt that wouldn't be fair to any friends, loved ones, followers, fans, what have you that may actually be on that side of the political spectrum.

Then, I was hit with a realization: what's one thing that both sides of the aisle have been complaining about for a long, long time? The media! And what's one thing that both sides of the aisle have been throwing around almost carelessly for a long. long time? Accusations of fake news! Rewind back to the 1980s: THE GREAT SPACE COASTER was a hit in syndication, and who doesn't remember Gary Gnu and his famous "No G'News is Good G'News Show"? Gary always closed his no-g'newscasts with his catchphrase, "No g'news is good g'news with Gary Gnu!" It struck me how not only has what Gary been saying for over thirty years stood the test of time, but it rings even more true today when people on all sides complain about so-called fake news being reported by the so-called lying media. With that, I tried my hand at my first political cartoon, that doesn't take sides, and really drives home Gary's point:

I also shared this with Jim Martin, co-creator of THE GREAT SPACE COASTER (and performer of Gary Gnu), and I'm thrilled to say that he loved it so much that he shared it on their official Facebook page as well.

Oh, Gary Gnu; decades ahead of his time.