The More Things Change…
A couple of old cartoons feel like they could have been published today.
While closing my 2022 tabs in preparation for the 2023 tabs, I came across two great examples of present memes showing up in the past. The first was Mad magazine’s “Super Patriot,” which chances are you have seen before on these great interwebz of ours:
by Frank Jacobs, Stan Hart, and artist Jack Davis from 1969
I had missed this one during its previous internet circulations. Seeing it brought back memories as my family had gotten a collection of old Mad magazines and collected volumes at a garage sale when I was a young kid. As such, I had read this many, many, many times.
Of it, there’s not much more to say than “wow, this isn’t new.” It comes from a 1969 feature: “The Mad Primer of Bigots, Extremists, and Other Loose Ends” by writers Frank Jacobs, Stan Hart, and artist Jack Davis. The Primer contains 10 profiles, all of which you can find in this Twitter thread. In typical Mad style, the first five skewer the “right” and the second five skewer the “left” (though I’d argue that “Chapter 9: The Rabble Rouser” is much more of a common Right Wing figure now (and probably was then as well). The entire thing is VERY Mad (and most of these either could work today or represent the way that a lot of America sees people within these groups). For a more in-depth exploration of the background of that feature and its authors, I suggest this article by Alan Stewart.
The second cartoon goes back even further to 1950’s:
“When We Get Back Home” was a comic strip that ran in US Military publications in Japan created by servicemen Bill Hume and John Annarino. It was a reflection on what it would be like for Japan-stationed US forces who had grown used to local customs when it came time for them to return to the US. You can find a collection of the strips here. This cartoon is far less pointed than the Mad one, but it’s nice to remember there was a time when the worst someone might assume of you wearing a mask is that you might be playing a bandit. I fear that if this was done today, its more likely the kid would be pointing the gun at the Navy man (either because of “stand your ground” or because that mask is a threat to his freedom).
Happy New Year’s All! And please share any prescient comics or other bits of media that you enjoy going back to for reminders that we have been in similar spots in the past.
When I was in grade school in the ‘50s Mad was my first political journal.
@Mister Bluster: Yes, fond memories of Mad Magazine. We could use a reincarnation of it today.
I remember seeing the super patriot cartoon decades ago, probably in a paperback (we had tons of MAD paperbacks at home). Only for some reason I recalled it being by Al Jaffee
I remember a Mad cartoon that was from the 1960s I think. I read it when I was a kid—it must have been in the 1980s, maybe early ‘90s. Three college-age kids are walking together, and one of them says he’s a Republican, he’s asked why and he says “Because my father is a Republican.” The other says she’s a Democrat, she’s asked why and she says “Because my father is a Republican!”
My parents had to explain that one to me.
Always on point!
@Kylopod: Heh, well done by them.
@Mister Bluster: Me, too!