Hey Kids — Tea Party Comics!

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« Well, that was the silliest tea party I ever went to! I am never going back there again! » — Lewis Carroll

One more item unearthed while rummaging through my unsorted boxes: a couple of back issues of The Funny Times, one from 2010, the other 2013. The former held a fascinating exercice by Herblock prize winning cartoonist Ward Sutton, skewering and subverting the conservative ‘mindset’ from within. Not an easy trick to pull off convincingly, I would think; yet it’s one of Sutton’s specialties, having honed it to perfection — of a sort — as The Onion‘s longtime political cartoonist (since 2006), fictive curmudgeon “Stan Kelly”. Here’s a trove of Kelly pieces, which The New Yorker deemed “brilliantly terrible”.

Given the recent rash of controversies — in a long row of such skirmishes — regarding cartoonists’ freedom of expression, this piece sadly remains pertinent.

Remember the Tea Party?
Of course, B.P. barely feels like parody, given B.C. creator’s Johnny Hart mesolithic views. A couple of samples from a 1999 interview: « Jews and Muslims who don’t accept Jesus will burn in hell », « Homosexuality is the handiwork of Satan ». [ source ]
Ah, yes — that nonsense about Obama’s birth certificate, another MacGuffin in a seemingly endless parade of conservative bugaboos.
By most accounts, Herbert Hoover was a pretty lousy president, though everything’s relative.
Another fine myth, that of a liberally-biased media.
Teanuts goes right back to the first Peanuts strip (Oct. 2, 1950) for its inspiration (though not its aspect ratio, for some reason).
Here’s a pearl: « simply, homosexuality can be healed. That is, a homosexual can become a heterosexual; the homosexual orientation can be changed through prayer for inner healing and the power of the Holy Spirit. ». [ source ]
Again, Diligent-Bert hews so close to its model that it might easily pass for an actual Dilbert strip.

Incidentally, “Tea Party Comics”, commissioned by The Boston Globe, hardly passed unnoticed: it reaped a gold medal from the Society of Publication Designers.

The feature was accompanied by this deadpan caveat: « EDITOR’S NOTE: Ward Sutton, an elitist who lives in the elitist New York area, is a cartoonist, illustrator, animator and painter who has recently been lurking about the back of Tea Party gatherings, stuffing his pockets with American flag cookies, and brochures for camouflage underwear and mail-order ammo. Superpatriot and regular guy cartoonist Joe Smith disavows any knowledge of Mr. Sutton and his ilk. Need I say more? »

-RG

2 thoughts on “Hey Kids — Tea Party Comics!”

  1. Ellen's avatar Ellen March 2, 2025 / 19:14

    Really good styling off the originals there, though the art for Nancy (Pelosi) and Teanuts was further from the model. Of the political views expressed I shall not speak. (I know nothing of that cad!) I was an editorial cartoonist myself at one time, and sometimes there can be a wide gulf between the artist and the art.

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  2. Eric Barnes's avatar Eric Barnes March 3, 2025 / 02:48

    That Teanuts one gave me a big laugh. I’m familiar with the original Peanuts version, so I wasn’t ready for the new punchline. Voila, comedy.

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