Sunday, November 11, 2012

Sunday morning toons: We were Nate Silvered into submission


Yes, it's true. Last week's p3 toon review predicted that “Tuesday's presidential election is probably now fated to go unresolved for weeks.” And I suppose it did, if by “weeks” we mean “about forty-five minutes.” So thanks to Nate Silver for teaching us that you should leave your vote-count predicting to a number-crunching sports junky, not to former speech writers, winless campaign managers, disgraced former political staffers, eternal primary losers, out-of-touch columnists, anyone currently or formerly employed by Fox News, or bloggers who use Sunday morning to round up the best in political cartooning for the week.

On to this week's toon-ography: The GOP has a new empty chair to talk to; the Dana Scully of economics recaptures Ted Kennedy's seat; the Dark Money Boys spent tens of millions on the 2012 election, and didn't even get a lousy T-shirt. Also too, Veterans Day makes it two national celebrations in one week that Mitt Romney has to sit out.

And, as you might have noticed already, there seems to be a lot of chair/seat themed humor this week. No idea what to make of that.

Anyway, today's toons were selected using a constantly-tweaked statistical model incorporating George Will's empathy with the average voter, Newt Gingrich's track record, Dick Morris's moral standards, and something the dolphins once told Peggy Noonan, from the week's pages at GoComics, McClatchyDC.com, Slate, Time, About.com, Daryl Cagle, and other fine sources.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Signe Wilkinson, Chan Lowe, John Deering, Walt Handlesman, Tom Toles, Nate Beeler, Randy Bish, J. D. Crowe, Jen Sorensen, Matt Weurker, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Clay Bennett.

p3 Class Valedictorian Award: David Fitzsimmons.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium (tie): Steve Sack and Lisa Benson.

p3 “Ah, If Only . . . “ Award: Steve Kelly.

p3 “Shrinking Habitat Awareness” Certificate: Pat Bagley.

p3 Badge for Mathematical Excellence: Nick Anderson. (Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference.)

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Cam Cardow (Canada), Petar Pismestrovic (Austria), and Ingrid Rice (Canada),


Ann Telnaes stops in at the bar where “last call” does not make any of the regulars seem more attractive.


Mark Fiore warns of a threat to one of the greatest threats to our economic recovery!


Taiwan's Next Media Animation brings you the 2012 election you wish you'd gotten -- complete with giant lizards and Little Stevie Wonder!


Which one's the strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, again? Superman meets Neil deGrasse Tyson. Nothing remains the same thereafter. (And, by the way, DC comics are now available for Kindle, Nook, and iStuff.)


Tom Tomorrow shows how to see what's really going on around you. They live!


Keith Knight shares a Halloween story.


Tom the Dancing Bug's favorite plutocrat, Hollingsworth Hound, has no problem.


Red Meat's Bug-eyed Earl shares a fond childhood memory.


The Comics Curmudgeon shares the greatest “Lockhorns” ever written.


If I were President: To salute the power of the gender gap up and down the ticket in this week's elections, p3 proudly re-shares “Olive Oyl for President,” directed in 1948 by Izzy Sparber, with voice work by Jack Mercer and Mae Qustel, and music by Winston Sharples. It's a tamer reworking of a much weirder 1932 Betty Boop toon on the same theme, and it includes an early cameo appearance by former cartoon B-lister Little Audrey (licking the giant ice cream cone). President Oyl's “special cabinet” included leading men (like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby) who were then under contract to Paramount, which owned Famous Studios, which controlled the animation rights to Popeye. See how that works? (And why, 64 years later, Disney now owns LucasFilms and you're going to get three more Star Wars films whether you want them or not?)


If your browser won't display the embedded version, click here.


The p3 Big Oregon Toon Block:

Jack Ohman (who is no longer an Oregonian but remains grandfathered in) looks at the Romney voter's post-election nightmare.

Matt Bors looks at the Big List of Disasters. It's not as funny as it might sound.

Jesse Springer takes us on safari to meet Oregon's latest threatened species:




Test your toon-captioning mojo at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

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