Water Wars

For as many years as I can remember, the threat of water diverted from the St. Johns river to over-developed central Florida has been a heated bane of contention. Now it appears that it might be getting closer to reality with a potential 150 - 250 million gallons a day being "diverted" to supply the greater Orlando area with fresh drinking water. One argument against this is that it will deplete the fresh water at the mouth of the St. Johns, allowing more infiltration of salt water into the river. Not good for the fishing or Shrimping industry, and not good for North Florida. I've been doing cartoons on this subject since I won my second Florida Press Award in 1994:








So, it's not a problem that's likely to go away any time soon.

This week, I did another cartoon on the subject. Interestingly enough, it contains "straws" again. I guess this is the visual symbol I most associate with this problem.

Here's the rough:




I didn't change it too much. Maybe added a few more straws. These are the kind of cartoons I like the most - no words, with a strong visual impact (at least I hope so).


The finished cartoon:

Sweet, sweet hate mail

Here's a cartoon illustration that ran in The LA Times a couple of weeks ago, and the accompanying hate email I received. I was pretty sure that this one was gonna piss some people off. Guess I'm doing my job. Here's the story as it ran in The Times.

And here's the email (unedited for your grammatical enjoyment):

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"Mr. Hall,

Please submit a copy of your cartoon that appeared in the LA Times last Sunday depicting Uncle Sam in JEWISH/Mogen David shackles. I understand your cartoon is reminiscent of Nazi Germany. I am not in Berlin, I mean, LA right now to view it. However, I noticed your website has cartoons posted just before and after Sunday's LA Times. Very interestink! I am sure O'Reilly, Glen Beck and Sean Hannity would love to have you come on and explain your sense of humor. Can you say, GOING DOWN, my man? Prepare yourself for the national recognition you always sought and now deserve. I will do my best to make sure the only rags you are tooning for in the future will be in the Middle East. Can I persuade you to consider moving to any of the Arab countries (which of course is any one of the 21 surrounding Arab countries being "bullied" by the only peaceful democracy in the entire region) where your work will be most appreciated? While tooning for them, it would just be a matter of ticking before your "FREEDOM of Speech" would result in your being punished in ways only they know how to... execute. Now that would make the ultimate editorial cartoon!"

DJW

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I love it when people completely miss the point, and on top of that he wants me deported and killed.

Cool! I've made Ted Rall status!

-Ed

PS - Seems he's not the only one interested in this article. Here's a few more letters to the editor.

Warm Northern Breezes

Here they come. January 29th. Get ready for the blather.

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I haven't posted many roughs lately, so I'll show ya the one for this cartoon. Not much difference here. When the idea is this immediate, I find that I rarely vary from the original sketch.


Well, now that I look at it, I see that I did if fact change some stuff. I wanted you to really "feel" the wind, so I bent the trees, made the sail boat's sails "full of wind" (LOL), and as a kind of afterthought, I decided to bend some of the type into italics and the speech bubble as well, to make them look like they were distressed from the breeze (my favorite part of this cartoon). I thought this was kinda clever as visual experiments go...I see now that I should have probably done BOTH speech bubbles.

Write-in candidate

This cartoon was sparked by a conversation I had with my father the other day. We were both discussing how sorry the slate of candidates was this time around. I also remembered him telling me a long time ago about one of his fishing buddies who actually had a dog that would get beers out of the cooler for you. How cool is that? I tell you what...the first candidate that promises to deliver beer to my house, I'm voting for.

Happy weekend!

-Ed

My morning coffee and your morning Barack

I'm not quite sure yet why I enjoy sketching this guy so much. There is something magnetic about him. And those ears that look like "open cab doors" are real fun. Another interesting thing about Obama is that his "string bean" body adds a lot to his caricature. You put that bobbly head on top of a flagpole body and you've got pure hilarity!

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Every election cycle, we cartoonists go through this debate about who would be most fun to draw. I think Obama has my "vote" so far.

Hey! That coffee cup is looking a little low. Back in a bit...

Sometimes they ink themselves

It's a funny profession - cartooning. There are days when getting an idea is literally like pulling teeth. Then there are other days (like today) when the cartoons come so fast and furious that they almost seem to do themselves. A weird kind of karma comes over you, and you feel like the idea is just passing through you. It's kinda neat actually. I like days like this.

This cartoon is based upon a lawsuit being filed by three young girls against the St. Johns County Sheriff's Dept. (and the Sheriff). Seems that these three underage girls were strip searched for possession of alcohol. Now I'm not sure how having a wine cooler in your purse warrants a strip search, but the Sheriff's Department was going to make damn sure they weren't hiding any more booze anywhere else. This Sheriff already hates me, so this will just add to that. Seems he was in a bad accident a couple of years back and wasn't wearing his seat belt. He mysteriously received no ticket for that, and I use every opportunity to remind him of that fact. Now I'm gonna have to make double sure I don't speed when I drive down to St. Augustine.

Tell the world my story.

-Ed

"Hit me!"

The brand new Orange Park Poker Room (which was protested by standing room only crowds up until it's acceptance by the Town Council) will soon be hiring 100 new employees. So, what do they do? They organize and throw a job fair! I haven't been posting many local cartoons lately, but I like the way this one came out, so I'm uploading it.

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This isn't even the one that's gonna get me in trouble this week. I'll post THAT one in a couple of hours after I ink it.

Watch out!

-Ed

"It was she to blame alone..."

Yeah right Perv. I, for one, hope he keeps talking. The more he speaks, the more the world can see him for the coward he is. His words may also incite the populace (90% normal everyday people - not fundamentalists) to rise up and spread democracy throughout Pakistan. We can only hope.

Talkin' 'bout my evolution

Teach evolution in Florida schools? Why would we want to do that!?! We don't need no stinking science to muck things up.

We're perfectly happy here in the Bible Belt teaching the arcane and ignorant "intelligent design" principles.

And, even more, on Pakistan

Here's a couple of cartoons that I really enjoyed doing. They both came from a project I was working on for a newspaper illustration. Even though they ended up going with the second one, I was able to use the image of George Bush as one of my syndicate cartoons and that made me REALLY happy. Enjoy.

I've used the image of Bush as a world cop in the past, and come to think of it, both times he's been in a pickle. This image of him, a prisoner of what he's tried to create, just strikes me as so fitting.

Here's the cartoon they went with. Turns out it fit the copy better anyway.

Home Foreclosure cartoons

I did two foreclosure cartoons today. As a matter of fact, I set a new record for myself today (Wednesday) for the most local cartoons done in a single day - (it's 4 in case anyone else cares). And, just so you know, that's a bunch of drawing.

Here's the foreclosure toons. I'm not sure which one I like the most, or which one has the most resonance, so I'm gonna post them both. I suppose if I HAD to pick one, I'd go with the frozen realtor. There's just something inherently funny about a frozen salesman (of any kind) in his underwear.

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For the second one I played up the idea that "little '08" has to purchase a new house, and "old-man '07" warns him against going with an adjustable rate. I put him in a pickle barrel with no shoes on to show he's pretty much out on the street now. Don't know if anyone will pick up on that. Here's hoping that the housing market starts to turn around in 2008. I kinda doubt it will though. All signs point to it getting worse before it gets better.