How long have you been cartooning and what do you like about this form of humor?
How long have you been cartooning and what do you like about this form of humor?
I have been doing cartoons all my life, I suppose, starting with my first paying gig when I was in 6th grade -- my friends and I would put together a small book of comic strips every week for our English teacher, who would reward us with ice cream on Friday afternoon!
I've been doing the Retail Death web comic for a little over a year (starting in May 2009).
I think what I like best about cartoons as a medium is that you can communicate humor as well as a message in one, or a brief series, of poignant drawings. In RD, I am trying to show the way retail associates are mistreated by managers and customers, and how these often overlooked member of our society suffer in silence for little pay and often no benefits. They are screamed at for their store's lack of selection, punished for putting their own lives first, and the store second, and often cast into the scary world of unemployment for little to no reason. I use my cartoon to present the aspects of retail work that, for an associate, are really quite horrible, in a way that people can laugh at, all while realizing how true the statement is. The hope is that after the laughter, a reader will experience a change of heart, and the next time they are a customer in a retail store, they will behave just a little more politely -- if for no other reason than to not be like the cartoon character they were laughing at. I know it doesn't always work, but when I see that I have used my cartoons to change someone's perspective, I'm always reminded of why I do it.
