My good friend Jon Lyons and I started doing the political cartoon Off the Square for Isthmus five years ago this week. Off the Square was somewhere around the 50th title that was suggested. Jon and I came up with all sorts of titles for the cartoon that got rejected. My personal favorite was probably Winter and Construction.
Still, the fifth anniversary inspired me to go back through the archives and pick out a few of the cartoons where I thought Jon and I did some solid work.
State politics:
Workin’ for the dead end: I feel this accurately captured the mood of UW employees during this year’s budget debates.
Walker’s tax cut is not a political stunt: In five years of doing this cartoon, one of my most vivid memories is how much fun Jon and I had figuring out all the stuff that would be in the last two panels for this particular cartoon. Still love the chorus line.
DOA employee balloon engagement manual: That’s how crazy politics in Wisconsin got in 2011-12 — balloons were the focus of controversy.
Mike Tate picks Mary Burke to be the Democratic gubernatorial candidate: That odd time when I knew my party’s candidate but had no idea what she stood for.
Union maze: Jon and I started the cartoon just about four months prior to the introduction of Act 10. It provided good joke fodder, but it was challenging to keep up with a rapidly developing news story while we were still figuring out our workflow. I feel this is probably the best one of the genre.
Wisconsin’s checks and balances: We made this for the reelection of Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, but it really speaks to any number of scenarios that play out in a one-party state.
Wisconsin Department of Justice cracks down on annual duck race: Jon and I wish we could just make jokes about plastic ducks every week.
Times we predicted the future:
Budgeting: The Republican way and Right to Work: Both of these turned out to be sadly prescient. Hopefully, Wisconsin Legislature dooms the human race isn’t the next one to come to pass.
Madison Life:
The Badgers Won/Lost the Rose Bowl: This is the sort of gimmick cartoon you can only get away with doing once.
Limited Time Only: The tactics of Restaurant Week catch on with other businesses: I actually really like Madison Restaurant Week. But I also really like making fun of it.
What Waukesha thinks a Madison Christmas looks like: Jon and I had this big plan to introduce a pair of made-up conservative cartoonists from Waukesha who would be our “fill-ins” on a semi-recurring basis. Instead, we just decided to do this as a one off.
NIMBY 3000: The perfect home for the finicky Madison resident: I was honestly surprised this one didn’t generate some angry letters. But I’ve never been able to tell what will generate letters and what won’t. We once got a five-paragraph screed sent to us because we mislabeled the Lady Wisconsin statue as Lady Forward.
Madison has so much construction: Why does every new building in town look almost exactly the same? I’m still asking that question.
Revenge of the Soglin: This was early in our tenure but was the first strip where I really felt like the cartoon clicked.
