by Mike Rhode
Warren Bernard is known to many as the Executive Director of the
Small Press Expo, but he's also an indefatigable collector of specialties in the comic art field. He and I refer to these as the "Secret History of Comics." Lately, he's been providing a lot of
ads drawn by New Yorker cartoonists to Michael Maslin's Ink Spill. When I visited him recently, he pulled out a whole box of
Winsor McCay's editorial cartoons clipped from the Chicago Herald and Examiner. I looked through barely any of the box (there's always something more to see at his house), but what struck me was how sadly relevant are these cartoons dating from 1929-1930 by McCay (who was also creator of Little Nemo, and Gertie the Dinosaur, and a founding father of animation). Almost 90 years later, we're still dealing with many of the same issues and Warren provided scans for me to share with you.
There's a narcotics problem hollowing out the social and civil life of our country....
and an international drug problem...
...although it's apparent to everyone that the War on Drugs dating back to Ronald Reagan and the 1980s has been a stunningly expensive failure.
Distrust and ill will lead to tariffs that block trade and business...
...while a President's speech disrupts international organizations.
Schools are failing their students, leading to high levels of ignorance...
... which is infecting the mood of the country...
... leading to an endemic lack of trust in government among certain Americans ...
...while also filling prisons, which now are being run for profit, and thus prime for overcrowding.
Public works projects, including highways, are desired by 'common citizens and tax payers' ...
... but the large companies in the country are using their power to manipulate Congress and the media on their own behalf...
...while farmers suffer from high seed prices, low commodity prices and high debt while big
agribusinesses like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland Company get even bigger.
Meanwhile, there's ongoing probes of the Executive Branch and Congress for sexual, ethical, lobbying and foreign interference issues...
that's going to take a lot of effort to resolve and preserve democracy.
Meanwhile, 16 years of ongoing wars have led to tens of thousands of veterans, many with medical issues, having problems integrating back into society.
Sadly, I'm afraid that Warren and I could have added many more cartoons if I had time to look through more than a tenth of the box.
