From the desert to the swamp

Scott Stantis is that rarest of things: A conservative cartoonist with a sense of humor. Not just my opinion, either. There was a recent on-line conversation somewhere in which one fellow disapprovingly listed a bunch of conservative cartoonists. Someone else responded "You forgot Scott Stantis," and the answer came back, "No, Stantis is funny."

And that's basically what makes his work stand out: Whether it's in his editorial cartoons for the Chicago Tribune or his politically-based feature comic, Prickly City, he's funny, and he's funny in part because you don't always know where he's going with a gag. He's not trying to make a living, and brownie points, by delivering knee-jerk insults of Nancy Pelosi or providing illustrations for Republican talking points or loyally, uncritically drawing up the latest misinformation from Glenn Beck.

It's sad to stand out for this reason, but he does: Scott Stantis appears to actually read the news, think it over and then come up with a cartoon about it.

And, while he is most often going after liberal foibles, when he sees a bit of hypocrisy or a potentially humorous inconsistency in the conservative camp, he's willing to have a laugh over it.

Today's strip suggests a major change, as Carmen (the conservative little girl) and Winslow (the liberal coyote) have, to their surprise and consternation, managed to get Kevin, the Lost Bunny of the Apocalypse, elected to the Senate, and are moving to DC along with him. Given the length of the story arc that led to this moment, I suspect it's a long-term change in the strip's setting, and I hope that is the case, as I think they'll find the swamps of the Potomac a richer source of humor than the high desert of Arizona.

Those at either wing of the spectrum will probably hate what Carmen and Winslow find in Washington, with those on the far right liking it more often than those on the far left. But if you're somewhere in between, and willing to sometimes say, "Yeah, okay. Point taken," I think this is going to be a bumpy ride worth belting in for.