From Publishers Weekly
Operating under the premise that it's fun to get a glimpse of something verboten, Wallis (Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print) presents dozens of political cartoons yanked prior to publication. Functioning as both a compendium and history of political cartooning, the book is full of cartoons, each accompanied by a brief narrative describing why it was killed, and though some cartoons seem fairly innocuous, the background provides intriguing context. Perennially controversial cartoonist Ted Rall has several entries, including one from 1991 captioned "How Gulf War Veterans Like To Spend Their Summers," which features a kooky-looking guy burying beachgoers. It was inspired, Wallis writes, "by a report in Newsday that U.S. Gulf War veterans might be having some remorse about using tanks outfitted with earthmoving plows to bury Iraqi troops alive." Older cartoons are included, as well, like a David Low cartoon killed in 1937 that "skewered the imperialist ambitions of Fascist leaders in Spain, Japan, Germany and Italy." Catholicism gets spanked, too, as do a host of presidents, notably Clinton, Bush I and II and Reagan. With 100 illustrations, this is a commendable collection.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
If editorial cartoonists are the court jesters of journalism, using humor to speak truth to power, I^Killed Cartoons demonstrates that the monarchs who run newspapers have grown increasingly unwilling to listen. The collection rescues dozens of cartoons rejected for politics, offending advertisers, or just plain effrontery. Their artists include Pulitzer Prize winners Garry Trudeau, Doug Marlette, Paul Conrad, Paul Szep, and Mike Luckovich; renowned illustrators Al Hirschfeld and Edward Sorel; and young turks Ted Rall and Keith Knight and comics creators Carol Lay, Ward Sutton, and Peter Kuper. Sometimes the editorial vetoes are understandable, such as the I^Los Angeles Times spiking Conrad's rendition of a Republican elephant humping a Democrat donkey, but just as often what has been squelched is surprisingly benign. Historical examples include a 1952 Herblock cartoon excoriating McCarthy I^ and Nixon and a 1968 Norman Rockwell illustration for I^ Look, but "old" in this book means 1982 or 1991. Most selections are recent, attesting to increased media cowardice and irrelevance. But not all cartoon killers are daily papers or otherwise corporate-owned. A handful have been such purportedly open-minded publications as the I^ Nation, the I^ New Yorker,and I^ Mother Jones. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
A sequential reading reveals Wallis's thoughtful editorial choices as each entry builds subtly on the last. Powerful. -- Library Journal
A very positive thumbs up...a very well-gathered collection and amazing in its range. -- Gahan Wilson, cartoonist and author
[V]aluable illustration...that freedom of speech is being eroded away and nobody is either aware of it, or cares. -- Pat Oliphant, cartoonist
About the Author
David Wallis, editor of the acclaimed Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print, is the founder of Featurewell.com, a syndicate that markets articles by more than 1,500 writers and journalists. He lives in the New York City area.
