Existing comment:
Readers Respond
"Without a certain amount of savagery, the cartoonist is not really doing his job."
-- Oliphant interview USA Today, 1983
Oliphant enjoyed feedback from newspaper readers, especially local ones: after becoming independent when the Washington Star shut down in 1981, he remarked upon the drop in reader mail as a loss.
Fan mail, hate mail, requests for originals, and cartoon ideas were scattered throughout the archive. Hate mail was a favorite. When he began drawing George H.W. Bush with a pocketbook on his arm -- "the wimp factor" -- angry letters ensued. Years later Oliphant recalled, "that only made me worse."
Shown here is a selection of feedback from mostly unhappy readers, some eloquent, the others not. Some critique a cartoon's argument, while others question the artwork. Caricature is generally not an attractive look for anyone; when the subject is from a marginalized community, stereotyped representation will generate a backlash. |