Political Cartoons

About

Political cartoons are drawings and shorts comics with an outspoken political message, created in reaction to a current political trend or a recent event, often in a satirical or demeaning way. Although their origin dates from the era of printed books and newspapers, they have known a great resurgence with the arrival of blogs and social media websites. They have played a big part in the communication strategies of a many political movements online, and have also been the subject of vocal criticism from politically opposite movements.

Origin

The first instance of satirical drawings dates back to a 1721 book, Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme^[1], in which William Hogarth used allegorical drawings to denounce a financial bubble. Ever since then, many books, soon followed by many newspapers, have used this medium to illustrate the point of view of various artists on the state of the world, in a humorous and/or metaphorical way. The creation of the Internet helped propagating such drawings beyond the previous scope of the publications; later on, the popularisation of personal blogs and social media accounts helped professional and non-professional artists alike to promote their artworks, including political cartoons, on a worldwide scale.

List Of Famous Online Political Cartoons And Cartoonists

George Alexopoulos

George Alexopoulos is an online artist who has been posting comics since 2012. His work has been firmly categorized as right-leaning, with especially a strong bias towards Donald Trump and against Joe Biden. He has been criticized online for said biases, and for his use of strawman characters with uselessly exaggerated expressions.

Behind The Pen

Behind The Pen is a parodic political cartoon, drawn by Stan Kelly (one of Ward Sutton's pen names) and published on the website of the satirical news network The Onion since 2006. It is characterized by extreme ironic strawmaning, and an excess of labeling reminiscent of a Ben Garrison artwork (see below). Similarly to the Onion's articles, several Behind The Pen cartoons have gained online notoriety for occasionally tricking people into mistaking them for genuine social commentary.

Ben Garrison

Ben Garrison has been an online political cartoonist since 2006. His stances are firmly on the right wing of politics, and he is one of Donald Trump 's most virulent supports. He has often been criticized and mocked for his political convictions and biases, for his use of famous personalities and of anthropomorphic animals in a way that could be mistaken as fetishistic by the newcomer, and for his overuse of labels within his drawings.

Happyroadkill

Happyroadkill is a popular political cartoonist who debuted in 2019. His content is left-leaning and pro-LGBT, and features anthropomorphic animals who serve as allegories for various political parties, movements, and institutions.

The Nib

The Nib is a website where several left-wing cartoonists posted their artworks, from September 2013 to September 2023. It hosted many cartoonists; the more prominent among them were its founder Matthew Bors, KC Green, and Jen Sorensen. Although popular among leftist wiewers, its content has often been criticized and cataloged as misguided or obnoxious.

Stonetoss

Stonetoss is a cartoonist that has been present online under that name since 2017. He has been widely criticized for his controversial and offensive opinions and jokes towards minorities, as well as for being a self-admitted nazi sympathizer. In 2024, two antifa collectives doxxed his civilian identity (a certain Hans Kristian Graebener), and linked it to Red Panels, a previous neonazi webcomic.

Viral Political Cartoons

Good Mor-ning Sunshine

Good Mor-ning Sunshine is a line from a 2009 polifical cartoon by Steve Sack, in which Barack Obama gets ready to milk an emaciated cow, which represents the US Treasury. Ths cartoon has been the inspiration for many edits, in which a person or a company is figuratively "milking" someone or something.

The Illusion Of Free Choice

The Illusion Of Free Choice is a 2009 cartoon by the Abstruse Goose, in which a cow is facing two corridors, both of them leading to a slaughterhouse, as an allegory of bipartisanship in the USA. This cartoon has been the inspiration for many edits, to illustrate similar situations in which a choice ends up being inconsequential.

Guns Cause All Of This Trouble!

Guns Cause All Of This Trouble! is a line from a 2012 political cartoon titled "God Will Know His Own", by Ron Smith Jr., in which two parents blame gun culture for school shootings, while their son gets brainwashed into violence by a video game. It has led to some heated debate online, and was also the inspiration for many edits.

This Is Feminism

This Is Feminism is a 2013 2-panel comic by Tumblr user bilbos-buttons, defending feminism as a movement for gender equality rather than feminine dominance. It has been the inspiration for several edits, including "Some Crimes Can Never Be Forgiven" and "Block This Overhead" (see below in Derived Memes)

Your Greed Is Hurting The Economy

Your Greed Is Hurting The Economy is a line from a 2013 political cartoon by Nick Anderson, in which a businessman standing on a literal mount of dollar bills yells at a woman who's protesting in favor of a minimum wage raise. This cartoon has been the inspiration for many edits.

Our Blessed Homeland / Their Barbarous Wastes

Our Blessed Homeland / Their Barbarous Wastes is a 2015 political cartoon by Tom Gauld, and originally posted in the newspaper The Guardian. It illustrates the double standards of nationalists, by putting face to face two virtually identical cities, and labeling the one on the left with positive descriptions and the one on the right with equivalent negative descriptions. This cartoon has been the inspiration of many edits, in which the labels are changed to fit another type of double standard.

We Should Inprove Society Somewhat / Yet You Participate In Society. Curious!

We Should Inprove Society Somewhat is a line from a 2016 Nib comic called Mister Gotcha. In this comic, Matt Bors denounces whataboutism from people mocking Iphone users on the ground that they use one to complain about Apple 's malpractices, making a parallel with a serf complaining about the society he's living in and being similarly mocked for it. The last panel has been used as a template for memes with similar rebuttals.

Pencil Chained to Voting Station

Pencil Chained to Voting Station refers to a 2016 political comic by Arend van Dam, to illustrate the stranglehold of Vladimir Putin on Russian politics. It has been an inspiration for many edits.

Mental Gymnastics

The Mental Gymnastics comic was first posted in 2016 by the Facebook group Vegan Sidekick. It puts side to side a gymnast representing vegan beliefs, with a performance as simple as a walk, and another gymnast representing non-vegan beliefs, with a performance consisting of increasingly irrealist moves and stunts. This cartoon has been used as a template for many memes, in order to similarly represent one side of an argument as obviously right and the other side as full of inane assumptions and technicalities.

Be Like Bob And Sally

Be Like Bob And Sally is a catchphrase associated to a picture of a man and a woman holding hands, which was used by the Facebook group TheSilentMajority in 2017 as an illustration to argue against political division between friends. This post has been the subject of controversy from Democrat supporters, and has inspired several edits.

How Dare You Wear Such an Offensive Shirt to School

How Dare You Wear Such an Offensive Shirt to School is a line associated to a 2017 political cartoon titled "Teacher Kicks Out Students for MAGA Shirt", by Tom Stiglich, and in which a teacher scolds a student for wearing a MAGA shirt, before praising another wearing a Che Guevara shirt. It has been the inspiration for many edits, in which the pictures on the shirts are changed.

Thai Political Crisis Breakup

Thai Political Crisis Breakup is the name given to a 4-panel cartoon posted by cartoonfartcat on 2017; in it, a man gives up on having sex with a woman after noticing a picture of Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on her dresser. This comic was turned into an exploitable, edited to change the reason why the man goes away from the woman.

Rick McKee's Boy Scout Cartoon

Rick McKee's Boy Scout Cartoon is a 2017 cartoon by Rick McKee, originally published in The Augusta Chronicle, and criticizing the opening of the Boy Scout Organization to girls, and therefore potentially any other gender. This cartoon has been an inspiration for many edits.

Gahhh, I Don't Get It, Is It Political??

Gahhh, I Don't Get It, Is It Political?? is a 2018 comic by ReallyGoodComics, in which a character overreacts at a webcomic, trying his hardest to find a political meaning in it. The third panel was later turned into an exploitable, with the character reacting in a similar way to various things.

Are You Sure This Will Help Us Sell More Burgers?

Are You Sure This Will Help Us Sell More Burgers? is a line associated to a 2018 comic titled "Burgar Kang", in which Stonetoss criticizes modern advertisement for allegedly focusing on pandering to minorities rather than promoting their products. This comic has been an inspiration for many edits, to highlight things deviating from their original purpose.

Opposites Attract / Tug of War

Opposites Attract is a 2018 political cartoon by Stonetoss, in which a libertarian participating in a game of tug-of-war is bewildered upon noticing that he's teaming up with a fascist, and that a communist and a capitalist have allied against them. This cartoon has been an inspiration for many edits, to illustrate cases of unlikely alliances between historically opposite factions.

I'll Handle Them, Mr President

I'll Handle Them, Mr President is a line from a 2019 political cartoon by righthandedleftyartist (alias Tom Garrahan), showing a gunman wearing a MAGA hat, who watches a Donald Trump rally on his television, implying that Trump's speech will be the cause for a mass shooting. This cartoon has been an inspiration for many edits.

Don't Shoot, I'm a Nazi Too

Don't Shoot, I'm a Nazi Too is a line associated to a 2020 comic by Stonetoss titled "Papers, Please", in which a soldier proves his nazi allegiance to another by claiming that there are two genders. Originally made to mock the notion that certain common beliefs can mark someone as fascist, this comic was later turned into an exploitable and became the inspiration for many edits, also based on this affirmation/proof structure.

Statue Down Statue Up

Statue Down Statue Up is the title of a 2020 political cartoon by Pat Cross, in which activists topple a statue of Christopher Colombus, unearthing a statue of Karl Marx in the process.This cartoon has been an inspiration for several edits.

Living in 1984

Living in 1984 refers to a 2021 political cartoon by Gary Varvel, in which a man turns the page of a calendar and finds out the year has become 1984. This is a reference to George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, and is meant to illustrate a totalitarian censorship, here associated with Donald Trump 's ban from Twitter. This comic has been an inspiration for many edits, in which the woman's speech bubble is changed to associate another idea or event to this implication of censorship and control, although often in a clearly ironic tone.

Supply Chain

Supply Chain is the title of a political cartoon by Michael de Adder, posted in 2022 in the wake of the Freedom Convoy movement. It has inspired many edits, with changes to the labels on the trucks – originally "Fascism".

Same Sex Marriage Just Won't Fly

Same Sex Marriage Just Won't Fly refers to a 2022 political cartoon by Pat Cross, in which he expresses his views against same-sex couples by illustrating it by a plane with no right wing and two left wings. This cartoon has been an inspiration for several edits.

Derived Memes

Memes in general have been consistently used in political propaganda by many movements. The access to image-editing tools such as Photoshop or MS Paint has made it possible – and even easy – for anyone with a computer to edit or label a picture, and to use such pictures in the same way one would use political cartoons.

Counter-Signal Memes

Counter-Signal Memes, also known as smuggies, are a type of online pictures, typically poorly drawn on MS Paint, which serve the same purpose as political cartoons; they often revolve over a central character, who is used as a strawman, to paint a political position as hypocritical and inconsistant. Although such drawings are probably almost as old as the Internet itself, they've only been inventoried first on a Facebook page in 2015. Among them, the most viral cartoon is the Mental Gymnastics comic (below, on the right).

Ben Garrison Racist Edits

Starting back in 2010, several edits of Ben Garrison's works were posted on 4chan, and especially on /pol/; those edits were characterized by additional racist caricatures and claims, and mainly featured the antisemitic caricature Happy Merchant and the anti-black caricature Sheeeit.

Je Suis Charlie

The rallying sentence Je Suis Charlie was created in 2015 and shared on social medias, in reaction to the terrorist shooting at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris, France, during which many journalists and political cartoonists had been executed. This attack was the consequence of the publication by the newspaper of a set of caricatures targeting Muslim integrists, in support of the cartoonists who had first published them in a Danish newspaper.

Sickos / Ha Ha Ha… Yes!

Sickos refers to a character from a 2015 Behind The Pen cartoon titled "Painful Procedural" (below, on the left). The character, literally labeled Sickos, is looking through a window and vocally rejoicing at the dismay of a typical American family. The picture singling out this character (below, on the right) has seen popular traction online since 2016, and has been the inspiration for many edits and redraws displaying similarly "sick" people.

Some Crimes Can Never Be Forgiven / Block This Overhead

In 2016, the blog antifeminism27 posted an edit of the bottom panel of the This Is Feminism comic (see over in Popular Political Cartoons), in which the man apologizes for "being a man", to which the woman replies: "It's ok, just don't do it again" (shown below, left). In 2017, user doomsneigh submitted an edit of this very edit (shown below, right), in which the woman points a gun at the man and states: "Some crimes can never be forgiven". This last edit became a viral meme, and the source of further edits.

Among such edits, the most popular was one by Kallie_El, posted in 2021, in which the woman is re-drawn performing a high-jump kick while saying: « Block this overhead ». This one, too, became viral online, to the point of inspiring many redraws.

Kung Pow Penis

Kung Pow Penis is a nonsensial catchphrase, associated to Bernie Sanders, which was first featured in 2018 in a shitpost, an edit of a 2016 political cartoon by David Horsey (see below).

Ben Garrison Cum Edits

Ben Garrison Cum Comics are edits of Ben Garrison's cartoons, in which the speeches and labels are edited in order to change their context into voluntarly exaggerated sexual content. This trend has started in 2020.

Amogus

Amogus is a bastardized spelling of Among Us, in reference to the famous multiplayer video game. It was first popularized in 2021 in a shitpost (see below) based on an edited panel from a Stonetoss comic. From then, the term became a comical catchphrase, and the picture became the inspiration for many edits and redraws. Furthermore, Stonetoss acknowledged this meme by hiding Crewmates in most of his subsequent comics, as a recurring Easter egg.

Begging Leftist Comic Artists To Stop Adding Unnecessary Text

Begging Leftist Comic Artists To Stop Adding Unnecessary Text is a viral tweet from 2024, in which @LinkofSunshine used a comic by Haus of Decline as an example to argue that left-leaning political cartoonists are too reliant on text over substance in their comics (below, on the left); he then doubled down by posting a Stonetoss comic (below, on the right) as a counterexample from a right-leaning source. This devolved into an online conflict between LinkOfSunshine and Haus of Decline.

External References

^[1] Wikipedia – Emblematic Print on the South Sea Scheme