BP Oil: when everyone knows your name, but nobody likes you.
A lot of very busy, important sites have linked to me in the past for some reason, but I was amused, and, yes, a little concerned, when I was linked on Google’s finance page for BP Oil for my recent cartoon on them. I loved the high volume traffic from this, but there’s a reason editorial cartoons are on the OPINION page, and not in the Business section! I mean, I was literally one of the first 2 or 3 cartoonists to have a cartoon out on the oil spill, since I work on the weekend and since I can’t resist any green issues. So I was furious at British Petroleum. But still, I am a capitalist, and it makes me sad that something I might do would end up on their finance page, when they are trying to make money…
So, anyway, back to the cartoons for this week’s LA Times roundup. (I explain how and why I do this roundup over here. Because the Times needs me, they really, really need me.) As I promised last week, we have a theme this week of the oil spill disaster. There were some really great, moving cartoons, and even the usual old-fashioned guys who still think the world is just black and white, look good with this subject.
steve breen carbon footprints cartoon from gocomics
This is a gorgeous cartoon by Steve Breen- really more of a poster or illustration look. It reminds me of botanical illustrations in a way. I’ve seen a couple exhibitions of them – it’s so inspiring, the way they marry science and art! The stiff way these animals are all profiled, and the fact that one is half way out of the picture is interesting, too. And on a personal note, birds are kind of my thing, so I picked live rather than dead ones for these cartoons. This drawing is not reminiscent of SoCal beaches – well, maybe down in Oceanside a bit – but birder culture is very big, and growing here.
drew sheneman oil spill cartoon from gocomics.com
I picked Drew Sheneman’s cartoon right away, because it really made me laugh! Whoever said Republicans don’t have a sense of humor must have been a Dem. I don’t know Sheneman’s work that well, but Gocomics says he is on the left. So is he making a leftie jab at Republicans? Or did he know how funny this was when he wrote it? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt! Funny. This cartoon would probably have looked better in color, but this is fine, too, with lots of shades.
signe wilkinson on buying oil at the pump, from gocomics.com
Signe came out with this cartoon very early after the disaster. It just makes a good point in an effective way. I didn’t get why it was 2 panels at first, as I would have done just one, but that’s probably because she’s much more experienced than me, and even better, too! This is a great cartoon. And I’ve seen cars here and there in LA, so I think the Times readers will understand this one.
cummings on Louisiana gumbo from gocomics
Ah, Cummings, another cartoonist with just one name. Cummings is one of 3 honorable mentions this week, for an excellent and attractive rendering of a sad situation. (Back to personal note: yes, this crawfish is dead, but we can’t see any details, so okay.)
marshall ramsey mother's day and bp oil cartoon from gocomics
Another cartoon that made me laugh! It’s rare that I find 2 cartoons a week that make me laugh. It’s this guy’s expression and his flyaway hair and reluctance. Or maybe I shouldn’t even try to analyze it.
matt davies bp blame cartoon for gocomics
Matt Davies works only in black and white, that I have seen, but he uses a lot of white and you can actually tell what is happening, which is nice. An amusing idea to illustrate the fact that BP, Halliburton and TransOcean are all blaming each other for the catastrophe. And I don’t usually like puns, but this works. Thanks, Matt.
Thanks, indeed, to Gocomics, where I got all of my cartoons this week (and where they have hundreds you can see for free, and even sign up to get them delivered to your email), and all of the excellent cartoonists who work so hard to give us expression even in an emergency like this. As I write this, it looks like BP is making progress in containing, and even cleaning up part of the spill. I wish them the best, hurry up, and NEVER EVER do this again, you stupid stupid idiots.
My cartoons this week:
illegal immigration in az cartoon
Love this one!!! LA really did declare war on Arizona! More later!
medical marijuana cartoon
endangered fish in california cartoon
Captions spelled out for Google: Happy mother’s day to mother earth from bp oil, dispersant for gulf spill blame game, with bp, halliburton, and transocean, louisiana bp gumbo of crawfish in a dish, authorities are investigating who is responsible for this massive oil spill. at gas station: would someone turn this stupid thing off?! At Gulf Coast: What a terrible tragedy. Republican: I know. Look at all that wasted oil. Carbon footprints, with egrets, mallards, crab, maybe a pelican walking out of ocean.
Notice that I didn’t use any cartoon that says Drill, baby, drill, or Spill, baby, spill. So very tired and old – even the usually cool LA Weekly used one by Patrick O’Connor this week that said that. You can see tons of these drill cartoons over in Daryl Cagle’s roundup – and he has some very good ones without those words, too, thank goodness.
Btw, Sarah Palin did NOT start that annoying phrase, “Drill, Baby, Drill”. From The Hill:
Two senior Republicans on Tuesday distanced themselves from the controversial “drill, baby, drill” phrase first used by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and repeated prominently by 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
“That was not a Senate Republican phrase,” Kyl said. “I think there was a candidate that used that. I think our phrase was ‘drill here, drill now,’ meaning here in the United States and as quickly as oil and gas leases are going.”
Roberts said Republicans were always uneasy with the catchphrase.
Steele is believed to have used the phrase first in his address at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota, where the delegates took to chanting it. Conservative blogger Erik Rush also used it around the same time, and Palin employed it that October in an exchange with then-vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.
So it sounds like no one knows who first said this expression. Daily Kos adds:
There are political reasons for shouting “drill, baby, drill.” It’s a feel-tough bounce for folks who want to give a kick to “tree hugger.”
Whatever.
More cartoons:
Green Cartoons, LA Times Editorial Cartoons | Donna Barstow | May 19, 2010. Cool enough for sweater. Not hot enough for short sleeves. Hazy, nice.
Good thing you have a sense of humor… :)
My son has been working on some cartoons about this too. Here’s a link to his blog that has some other cartoons of his, not about the oil, yet.
We are green by doing as opposed to the hot air from the fakers like Gore. This gets reflected in some of Ben’s cartoon opinion pieces like his COPS15 that got published in the local newspaper.
Cheers,
-Walter
in Vermont
[...] political cartoons…….. (see here for more political cartoons) Matt Davies political [...]
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Great collection of BP oil spill cartoons as collated by editorial cartoonist Donna Barstow: http://opedcartoons.com/2010/05/19/bp-oil-when-everyone-knows-your-name-but-nobody-likes-you/ [...]
Fat-bummed Americans in SUV’s responsible for the spill – Solar, Wave, Wind, Hydro, Tidal, Geothermal, Nuclear electric power all exist, and are under-developed by the world’s worst oil addicts – the Americans themselves! Next: The Canadian Tar Sands, just add Nuclear reactors up there for economical recovery and bingo! Americans drive V-8 engined, air conditioned SUV’s for another half century or more. Americans will never adopt nuclear power sourced electric bullet trains, battery cars, sane and sensible energy use! Wasting is too glorious! They enjoy the roar of V-8 engines and the red light to red light races! They even go in circles on weekends in big races going nowhere, just to see the wheels spin and hear the noise! Such is the nature of the beast! Let it be! Realize that to their simple minds, even the gulf disaster can be accommodated by importing the domestically produced foods lost, from Asians, and manipulating the tired old dollar once again to pay for the follies! We witness the end of an Empire and the beginning of Third World conditions for some Americans, but for the Uber-Rich majority, it doesn’t matter a damn bit!Corporatists to the end, and the end is near! China is about to unleash the Yuan and to the billions of people in China this means purchasing power that far exceeds Yankee Doodle’s, and on a much grander scale! Beware the inflation this causes!
I LIVE AND WORK BUILDING STRUCTURES ON THE BEACH IN DESTIN . WHEN I WENT TO THE BP OFFICE I NOTICED A LOT OF FOLKS WEARING SHORT-SHORTS , BATHING SUIT TOPS AND MOST HAD FLIP-FLOPS ! LOOKING LIKE THEY WERE ON THERE WAY TO THE BEACH OR JET SKI ,INSTEAD OF BEING TRUELY AFFECTED LIKE ME FROM THE ” OIL SPILL SCARE ” . THE BEACHES ARE BARELY AFFECTED IN OUR AREA EXCEPT FOR THE CLASSLESS INGNORANCE OF THE LAZY PEOPLE THAT LIVE HERE . AS LONG AS THEY ” MILK” THE SYSTEM NONE OF THE REAL HARD WORKERS CAN GET WORK . I WANT TO SEE A CARTOON OF LONG LINES OF PEOPLE WITH SCUBA GEAR , JET SKI’S AND LEAVING THE BP OFFICE TO HEAD TO THE BAY TO TIE UP THE’RE BOATS AND GET DRUNK ON BP’S MONEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brad, very interesting to hear of your experiences in the trenches there. I love the flip-flop detail.
Thanks for sharing the illustrations and cartoon artworks.
Good thing google linked you in one of their page.
It’s only tells that you got their attention in making really good illustrations.