No disrespect to anyone else, but one of the coolest wedding presents we got came from our friends Van and Amy Jensen. Van and I used to work together at the Daily Nebraskan, and he has since moved on to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as I have moved along to my freelance cartooning career. Well, long before Van ever went to the DemGaz, I knew of cartoonist John Deering from other friends that worked there. I’m admittedly probably too hard on the whole world of editorial cartooning on this site, but there are a handful of cartoonists whose work I really admire, Deering being one of them, and most of the rest are listed over in the links section. Van has since come to know Deering, and the two are working on a graphic novel together and have started their own Drink & Draw Social Club.
So the other day, I was looking around on the internet and saw Deering’s cartoon with Transformers in it, and I was simultaneously thinking “This cartoon is awesome” and “Dangit, why didn’t I think of that?” It was that perfect kind of professional envy when you wished you’d found a way to make a point that well (and found a way to justify drawing Transformers in an editorial cartoon, which I have only succeeded at twice in the past 8 years).
Well I was very excited to open a package that came in the mail the other day – our present from Van and Amy, who weren’t able to make it to the wedding – and find the original of this cartoon. I am now a proud parent of a John Deering original.
Thanks, guys!