Editorial cartoon: Energizer Grassley

A recent letter to the editor inspired this particular cartoon.

The author compared U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley to the iconic Energizer Bunny. For many years, Iowa's senior senator has had the distinction of being the oldest active member of the U.S. Senate. Some feel that's a boon for the senator, while others feel its a strike against him. Either way, he's pretty tough to catch in any election. Makes sense. Last I knew, the man still goes for a morning jog around Washington D.C. at nearly 90 years old. And he's been known to beat a young journalist or two in a push-up contest.

So, we'll see how the senator fairs against his latest opponent this next election cycle.

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This cartoon isn't much more than a bit of fun. Frank Miller, who drew editorial cartoons for the Des Moines Register many a year ago, was said to have felt any serious situation should be approached with a degree of humor, and that's about where I landed on this one.

The older I get the more I dislike the two-party system. I doubt the Grassley v. Franken race will be the one the history books remember.

At any rate, the image of Chuck Grassley in a pink bunny suit was too good to pass up. The caricature element was the most important in this case. I've done a number of cartoons about Grassley over the years (one of them, I'm told actually caught his office's attention, and they requested a copy from my publisher – it was about his push-up contests, in case you're wondering). So I had plenty of reference material in my digital sketchbook.

Then there's the Energizer Bunny, which everyone recognizes. And hitting that icon just right required a contrast in texture, which I think was particularly satisfying in the end. And a stroke layer around the text helped keep things in better balance. But the panel needed a bit of iconography, so the elephant was added to the drum, and a quick swoosh really put the cherry on top in some way.

Toward the end, I felt the overall cartoon wasn't quite specific enough to the situation – just a funny image. So, having little time to pull together a full caricature of Franken, I opted for the hand and the spotlight (didn't hurt that I could use a distinct cuff for the retired general). And from a composition standpoint, I thought leaving the hand open and grasping also left interpretation open – which is good in many ways since we won't know for a while here.

I didn't keep strict time on how long this one took me, but it was split over a couple days with sketching and digital work.

Thanks for reading,

Seth Boyes