Gag Recap’s caption contest.

Hey Dudes!

While I was drawing the cartoon for Cartoonstock’s caption contest thing, I was reminded of the one time I entered one of these contests. I think I mentioned it here on the old blog, but for those who didn’t see it… I actually ended up winning. And then I retired. Figured I’d leave while on top.

For those who don’t know, Gag Recap is (or was?) a newsletter for cartoonists, filled with contact info for all the major publications. You’d subscribe, and every month, this legend called Van, would email you a PDF with info on where to submit cartoons and what contests were running. They eventually started their own caption contest, and I won the very first one. I don’t normally enter these things, but this one caught my attention because the caption had to be cartooning-related.

I don’t subscribe to the newsletter anymore because I don’t really have time to churn out tons of single-panel cartoons. I still draw comics, but mostly for myself and Cartoonstock. I used to be published in a bunch of magazines, but like I’ve said before—I never really enjoyed sucking up to editors. I never wanted to draw cartoons for money. It was fun to make money from cartoons, and it was cool to prove to myself I could do it, but honestly, I enjoy it way more when someone asks me to make a cartoon or draw something for them directly. Submitting cartoons for some editor to approve just isn’t fun at all.

I’ve also said before: I don’t even really like 80% of the cartoons I sold to magazines. So I stopped submitting. These days, any free time I have goes into drawing for myself. That’s way more enjoyable.

One thing that started bugging me about cartooning for magazines is how damn political they’ve all become. I hate politics. And what I’ve noticed is: a lot of cartoonists weren’t political at all… until they got into a major publication or decided to suck up to social media. They weren’t “right-wing” or “left-wing”—they were just regular dudes drawing jokes. But the second they got a foot in the door at some big magazine, suddenly they’re political commentators, always pushing the same narrative.

Like, why now? Why not before? Why wait until you got into a publication to start moaning about politics and picking sides?

It’s dumb. Both sides are dumb. Always have been. I don’t have a side—I think both sides are full of crap on different issues. But what’s weird is, the “bad, evil, right-wing” side that everyone’s afraid of? They don’t actually attack me. It’s the “good” side, the lefty ones, that seem to go completely nuts if I don’t 100% agree with every single thing they say.

What really pisses me off is when cartoonists drag their kids into this crap. One dude I used to respect now takes his kids to protests, gets them to hold up signs, and posts the photos on social media like it’s some heroic act. These kids are way too young to understand what their signs mean. This isn’t parenting—it’s indoctrination. Same thing I hate about religion: raising kids into cult-like beliefs before they can think for themselves.

The only explanation that makes any sense is they’re doing this to suck up to editors. Because otherwise, why the sudden change? Why the urge to start posting political cartoons and pretending you’ve always cared about these topics?

I’ve had editors tell me to avoid certain topics when submitting, which is just ridiculous. We should be allowed to make jokes about anything—not just pander to one “approved” side. And what about the people in the middle? The ones who are sick of both sides and just want something different for a change?

Like climate change—why can’t we do a cartoon about the upsides, even just as a joke? The globe might be getting warmer, but surely we can still laugh about something? But no… the second you make a joke that doesn’t toe the line, you’re suddenly evil. You hate nature. You want penguins to die.

It’s become this weird cult. And let’s be honest—the climate obsession is less about saving the planet and more about making money. Companies are only on board because there’s cash to be made. If it wasn’t profitable, they wouldn’t care.

I’d love to see a pro-climate-change cartoon. Or even a pro-Trump one—just to shake things up. I don’t like the guy, but come on, surely he’s done something good? I’m just tired of the constant “he’s a dictator” hysteria. They said that last time, and he wasn’t. If you tell me something’s going to happen and it doesn’t—that’s called lying. And I’m done falling for that.

And for saying this, I’ll probably be accused of supporting him. Even though I’m South African. I’ve never even been to America. I don’t care about your politics. But I do care when your politics start infecting cartoons, TV shows, movies, and everything else.

So here’s a message from a normal, non-political South African:

America, shut the fuck up about politics. Go back to making entertaining, non-political, non-whiny, non-woke shows and movies. The rest of the world is sick of the crap. Be American again. Love your country and your people before trying to “fix” the rest of the world.