Happy Fourth of July!

From the July 3, 1967 Journal

Here's hoping you have a safe and happy July 4th!

In keeping with tradition here on the Brady Blog, here's yet another grisly Grim Reaper cartoon, this time from the 1967 July 4th holiday. It was drawn by Doug Borgstedt (1911-2001) who had a long and successful career as a political cartoonist for King Features, with his cartoons appearing in more than 90 newspapers. His work also appeared in several well-known magazines, including New Yorker, Look, Colliers and Esquire.

I love looking at these classic political cartoons. Look how carefully the cartoon is composed; the use of perspective, shadows, figure/ground relationships, etc. It takes a true artist to layout a cartoon so that it looks perfect.

The thought, composition and pure craftsmanship that artists like Borgstedt put into their work will unfortunately never be matched by today's mediocre political cartoonists, who only aim for a cheap laugh.