Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Divvying up the candy

How Barack Obama and Mitt Romney handle their loot after a successful night of trick-or-treating (published in The Daily Iowan today):


Friday, October 26, 2012

Keep Out

My prediction from yesterday was correct. Today The Daily Iowan published one of my cartoons about the Wagner v. Jones case in the U.S. Court of Appeals.


Just to recap from my post yesterday:

The federal case is between Teresa Wagner, a part-time employee at the University of Iowa law school, and Carolyn Jones, the former dean. Wagner claims she was denied a full-time job because of her conservative ideology.

The case has attracted a lot of media attention.

Verdict could alter hiring in higher education

This week, the jury reached a ... non-verdict. Hung jury, mistrial.

Judge calls mistrial in conservative's lawsuit claiming liberal bias in hiring at U. Iowa law

I had drawn two cartoons in anticipation of the verdict: one if Wagner won, another if she lost. Even though it was a mistrial, the cartoon of Wagner losing still can apply, I think.

To see the other possible cartoon, click here.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Performance Review

Today's cartoon is another cartoon about the judicial retention election.


Here's an update on that story, by the way: New poll shows more Iowans plan to vote against Wiggins' retention

Now, there's another big news story going on in right here at the law school. There's a federal case between Teresa Wagner, a part-time writing adviser at the law school, and the old dean of the law school, Carolyn Jones. Wagner applied for a full-time instructor position, but was denied the job. She claims it's because of the law school's anti-conservative bias.

Verdict could alter hiring in higher education

It's a really interesting story.

Anyway, the verdict was expected to come this week. So, being the cartoonist who goes above and beyond, I provided The Daily Iowan two cartoons: one if Wagner wins, and another if Wagner loses.

But I didn't draw one specifically for a mistrial!

Judge calls mistrial in conservative's lawsuit claiming liberal bias in hiring at U. Iowa law

I found out about the mistrial at about 6 p.m. yesterday, which was too late to draw a new cartoon. But I did email the opinion editor to suggest that my "If Wagner loses" cartoon could still work. I never heard back from him, and this morning I found the judicial retention cartoon instead.

But, lucky for you blog followers, you can see both of my Wagner v. Jones cartoons right here!

If Wagner wins
If Wagner loses
The paper could maybe still use the "If Wagner loses" cartoon tomorrow. In that case, you just got an exclusive sneak preview of tomorrow's edition.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Safe!

I was actually a little surprised The Daily Iowan published this cartoon, because I wasn't sure if it expressed an overall consensus about Monday's foreign policy debate or if it was just my own opinion.

It seems like all the commentators were saying Barack Obama won the debate hands down. But I actually think Mitt Romney did a good job. I didn't agree with all of his positions (and a lot of where I did agree with him, he also agreed with the president), and of course there were a few inaccurate statements, but he seemed to know what he was talking about.

President Obama definitely had the best zinger of the night. But other than that, I think the main thing that benefited him in the foreign policy is that he's done this before.

Plus, it combines political news with news in the sports world, and Game 7 of Cardinals v. Giants.
 Just imagine if it were Herman Cain. Or Donald Trump.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

It's a mudbath

In searching out local stories to turn into cartoons, I looked up the current U.S. House race in Iowa City. I'm glad I did, it was very educational. Iowa City is in District 2, out of four districts. After the 2010 Census, Iowa actually dropped a representative in the House. (Utah gained one after that census.) The current representative is Democrat Dave Loebsack, and the Republican running against him is John Archer.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of interesting news going on between those two, other than some negative ads. So it turned into a pretty generic cartoon. (One thing I did to make it unique was to give Archer a bow and arrow. He uses a bow and arrow as part of his logo on all his signs. 'Cause his last name is Archer. Get it?)


Friday, October 19, 2012

The Elephant on the Field

Iowa plays Penn State this weekend. Awkward... (maybe not, but it makes for a cartoon anyway.)


I wrote an editorial for The Daily Universe last year when the Penn State scandal broke. If you'd like to read it, click here.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tie goes to ... partisanship

It's nice that the debates between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are making it a closer race. Before the first debate, a lot of people were saying Romney had already lost. So, even though I'm not sure if I'm voting for him, it's nice to see him be more relevant again.

Anyway, here's this cartoon.


Monday, October 15, 2012

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away

Here's yet another take on Mitt Romney downsizing Big Bird and PBS.

(click on it to make it larger)
My original idea was to have Big Bird and the gang do all these lame jobs. But somewhere in the brainstorming session my ideas turned into things these characters would actually enjoy. Which I think works for a cartoon a week after the debate - it can work as a sort of "reaction to the reaction." And maybe it's a little softer on Mitt Romney, which I'm noticing a lot of cartoonists have done. Maybe it's because he's ahead in some polls now? After the debate last week, President Obama is the easier one to make fun of.

Anyway, because this cartoon is basically seven cartoons combined, it's really tiny in the paper. Lucky for you, you get to see it on my blog!

On a related note...here's Big Bird visiting "Weekend Update."


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Next Big Thing is Already Here

This one was cool to see in today's paper, because I drew it and sent it in a couple of weeks ago. It's nice that they're still hanging onto the cartoons they don't publish right away and finding a use for them!


In case you don't know where this joke came from, it's based on these Samsung commercials:


I was partly inspired by this The Daily Iowan editorial by Benjamin Evans:

Don't vote early

I wanted to do something about Iowa early voting, but I didn't know what until I read this column. It's pretty interesting and funny.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Public Intoxication

Early Saturday morning, Iowa cornerback Micah Hyde was arrested for public intoxication. Instant cartoon!


It wasn't until this morning that I found out it was actually three players arrested over the weekend for alcohol-related incidents. I wish I had known, I would have drawn two more teammates/cellmates. But I think the cartoon still works, since the three arrests all happened separately and in different places, and Micah Hyde is one of the team captains.

Maybe this is bigger news to me than to the average Iowa student, since I'm from BYU where there hasn't been an athlete in trouble for drinking for at least eight years. But, it was something to do with Hawkeye football that happened during a bye week, so it worked for me.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Livin' on a Prayer

Bon Jovi is coming to town to put on a free concert for the Obama campaign.

Another hyperlocal story to cartoonize. So I thought of ways to combine politics and a rock concert, and my first thought was to have Jon Bon Jovi singing about budget figures or something boring like that. But as I thought about it more, I invoked my inner Weird Al and came up with something of a song parody.

In case you haven't guessed it: it's to the tune of the chorus in "Livin' on a Prayer."
This was also a chance to exaggerate and make fun of President Obama. So for any of you who think I'm a hopeless Obamaphile, don't worry, I can mock both sides of the aisle.

Whoa, that rhymed. Maybe I should look into the song parody business.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnhvjnPUsw1qdezf9o1_500.gif

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Wiggins Comeback

In some states, state judges are appointed. In other states they are elected. In Iowa, they are appointed and then regularly brought up for a retention election. Basically, you don't get to vote them in, but you do get to vote them out.

This year, Justice David Wiggins is up for retention. His retention is a big deal because he is one of the justices who participated in the unanimous decision to make same-sex marriage legal in Iowa, Varnum v. Brien. Conservatives from around the country, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum have been touring Iowa to campaign against him.


Hence the cartoon in today's The Daily Iowan.

What's funny is that I've actually met Justice Wiggins. I have a funny story about him that I don't want to put it on my blog. But if you're curious, let me know and I'll send you an email.

I'll just say that my encounter with him, plus my own position on same-sex marriage, means he's lost my vote.


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Debating With Himself

I did another cartoon for The Daily Iowan about tonight's first presidential debate:


The joke has been thought up well before now that Mitt Romney could fill a whole hour just debating himself, or at least debating his former Governor of Massachusetts self. So I combined that idea with President Obama overpoliticizing his success in hunting down in Osama bin Laden, attempting a balanced mockery of both candidates.

These are all actual quotes from Mitt Romney. I found them compiled at this website (and, in case you're wondering, they have links to President Obama's own flip-flopping as well).

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Almost Harmony

I love when I can combine more than one news story into one cartoon.


I actually drew this cartoon last week, as a possible alternative to this one. But it also worked for this week since Iowa beat Minnesota, 31-13. (See, I don't always need Iowa to lose to advance my cartooning career.)
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