It’s that time of year when editorial cartoonists and other creative types compile their ‘Best Of’ collections. To be honest, I have no idea if the following cartoons are representative of my best work for 2012. How it works in the world of freelance and self-syndication is that I follow the regional, national and international news each day, decide which stories are big enough or interesting enough to comment on with a cartoon, and then I send the images off to newspapers across the country. If editors like the cartoon, they print it, and I get paid. If they don’t, I try again the next day. At the end of each month, most papers simply tell me how many cartoons they used, but only a few tell me exactly which ones. Preferences vary from region to region, so while a cartoon may play well in Ontario, it might be a dud in Western Canada. That’s the nature of this business, trying to please everybody.
So, when it comes to picking my ‘Best of’ cartoons for 2012, I’m just showing you the ones I liked best out of the 275-300 syndicated cartoons that I drew this year. Could be because the commentary still made me smile when I was going through the archives, or that I remembered enjoying working on the drawing. For example, the Pac-man cartoon has no editorial or political value at all. It’s a seasonal cartoon. But for some reason, I really like it, so it made the list. There are a few that take shots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper in here as well. The other party leaders have no power right now. They’re just noise in the wind. So naturally, the blame is placed at the top, the guy with the power. And considering how much he abuses it, there were a number of cartoons about that this year. Pardon my candor, but that guy just pisses me off.
All the rest were on topics that made me laugh, made me think, or in a perfect world, accomplished both, which is what an editorial cartoon is supposed to do in the first place. For those of you who follow my daily cartoon posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, thanks for your continued support this year. I will do my best to keep you interested and amused in 2013.
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