Sometimes tragedy guides us towards inspiration.
If you are a cartoonist, the Columbia shuttle tragedy is an opportunity to be inspired and offer inspiration to your readers. With limited space, limited words, if any, and the need for a powerful visual statement, the cartoonist has a unique challenge.
And, you need to do it on deadline.
Drawing inspiration from a disaster is a particular challenge of journalism. Artists, photographers, reporters and headline writers are always looking for the right tone or the right approach.
Slate’s editorial cartoonist, Daryl Cagle finds that it is easier “to draw inspiration when feelings are strong. I think the fear is that you will be banal. I drew a cartoon very quickly, with stars, and flags at half-staff -- I thought it would likely be an average cartoon when compared with the others, so I drew a second cartoon of a boy with a tear, in a Shuttle ride-on toy.
I think the second one was a stronger cartoon.”
Cagle, who runs Slate’s Professional Cartoonist Index Site, says it is “always difficult to draw a cartoon when expectations are high and feelings are strong."
What goes through his mind when he approaches such a subject?
- "How fast can I draw this so it goes out in time?"
- "I'm sure that's what the other guys will draw – better not do that."
- "Don't screw up."
However, Cagle is unusual among editorial cartoonists, many of whom are shut out of Sunday newspapers because of earlier deadlines for the editorial page section or because syndicates do not send out material over the weekend.
A look at the we sites of many newspapers Sunday turned up many Iraq cartoons, a State of the Union commentary and even a Medicare opinion. Most were probably done in advance. Not many Columbia disaster drawings were posted on newspaper websites.
Among the artists that rose to the challenge on Saturday were Jeff Parker of Florida Today; Marshall Ramsey, The Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Miss.; Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star-News; Bill Day, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn,; Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant; Jim McCloskey, The News Leader, Staunton, Va. We talked with the group via an e-mail roundtable conversation about their experiences:
Poynter: When did you hear the news and what were you doing?
Ramsey: My mom e-mailed me. My two-year-old was watching a tape of "Dora the Explorer," so I was cut off from the real world. I heard about it at 9:30 a.m. CST and then watched the coverage from then on.
Parker: I was listening to NPR while fixing breakfast and expecting the sonic boom we normally hear when shuttles pass over on the way to the shuttle landing facility, which would've been the signal to switch on the television and watch Columbia land. Instead NPR's Scott Simon broke in to report "some sad news"... a true understatement.
Englehart: I was shopping for a new car.
Poynter: How did you start work on your cartoon? Did you go into the office? Or did first start work at home?
Parker: My paper serves the Space Coast, so once I heard the news and switched on the television to get more of the story, I knew we'd be putting out an extra in a couple of hours (as Florida Today did for the Challenger disaster) and called my editorial page editor, John Glisch, to let him know I was working on a cartoon. I work from my home studio.
Englehart: When I got home, I called our copy editor on the editorial page and told him I was coming up with something. I didn't know what, yet. Then, I went to my studio in my house. I'm connected to the newspaper's computer system and work from home.
Vervel: I contacted my editor and she advised me that we were working on a special opinion page to deal with the tragedy. I decided to work from home and send it in by e-mail.
McCloskey: The wheels began turning even as I watched the story unfold. During my 20-minute drive time to get to the newspaper, I began my mental pictures on what ideas and images would best portray the event. I didn't pick up a brush or pencil until I arrived.
Poynter: Did the idea come quickly? Or did you try different ideas? What ideas did you reject?
Ramsey: I thought of about four ideas off the bat. Two I kept. One of them (Lunar astronaut grieving in front of a half-staff flag) ran in our A section. I used the image of Buzz Aldrin saluting the flag for a reference.
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Marshall Ramsey, The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi |
Our perspective section was unfortunately preprinted, so I could not pull that cartoon. But the executive editor ran my new cartoon in color on A5. It ran on Saturday on the website as a special cartoon. It is running again today (in the paper) in my usual spot. My second idea, I am running on Monday. It has a shuttle astronaut (with courage on his nametag) saluting, with a falling star in his helmet reflection. Other two were weak variations of those two.
Parker: No, but I needed it quickly because we were going with an extra. I settled on the image I used within about 45 minutes, and finished the drawing in an hour and a half. I tried some ideas with the image of Columbia streaking across the sky, but felt it was too painful an image. Also I rejected things like, "Columbia breaks up over Texas -- Space Coast hearts break up over Columbia" and images of American eagles in tears.
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Jeff Parker, Florida Today |
I settled on the image of Columbia landing at the pearly gates with six stars and one star of David in the night sky to represent the fallen astronauts. Drawing a cartoon at times like these is really difficult for me, and I have to somehow put aside the numbness and emotion for a little while to get the work done... easier said then done.
McCloskey: The idea came within five minutes of sitting down at my table. My first thought that I actually began to rough out was of a teary-eyed eagle gazing up at the black sky as the shuttle streaked across the sky like a shooting star.
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Jim McCloskey, The News Leader, Staunton, VA |
I discarded it because I felt it was too “sappy.” I feel the public is too accustomed to seeing that same image every time we confront national tragedy, a la Sept. 11. I wished to do something that would evoke the human side and personalize this disaster.
Day: I rushed to the office and started working on ideas. I didn't want to do the 'Shuttle into Heaven' cliché. I wanted to do something as clean and simple and heartfelt as possible.
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Bill Day, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN |
I did a falling star on an American flag stars background.
Englehart: The idea came fairly quickly. I've been doing this for about 30 years and my mind is inexorably bent toward communication on paper. I usually reject the most obvious idea because that's the one every marginal, lazy cartoonist will be using.
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Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant |
The brightest cartoonists with something unique to say dig a little deeper. Off-hand, I can't say which ideas I rejected, they were rejected so fast and completely.
Varvel: The idea came to me after about an hour of considering possibilities. I toyed with the idea that the contrail in the sky reminded me of the American Flag. I also thought about doing something with 7 stars in the sky and one of them being the Star of David for Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. I rejected an idea of the Columbia landing in the hand of God because
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Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star-News |
I thought that idea has been overdone. I rejected an idea of having the Columbia landing in the clouds meeting the Challenger with the caption, "Safely Home," because I thought the idea was too light. When the image of the flag on the moon came to my mind I immediately knew that was the cartoon. For a fleeting moment I thought of putting the earth just above the moon's horizon but decided that simpler is better. As the late Al Hirschfeld said, "Eliminate, Eliminate, Eliminate."
Poynter: How did the event affect you personally?
Parker: I'm a big space-head, having grown up near the Cape in the 1960s and 1970s. The emotions of shock and grief we felt when Apollo burned, and when witnessing Challenger explode came flooding back. While working on the cartoon yesterday, I was thinking that before Challenger, the thought of losing astronauts in space was so foreign... I think the disbelief of that disaster was much more profound and devastating. Certainly, watching that explosion from my office window that morning and Challenger's interrupted contrail that hung in the cold air all day to remind us, imprinted some deep emotions on me personally. Every launch I've watched or witnessed since Challenger has come with some trepidation and in the back of my mind I always worry about another mishap... and while always knowing shuttle landings are dangerous, a disaster so close to the mission's completion was most unexpected and so profoundly sad.
Ramsey: I was saddened. One of my first memories is of looking at the Moon and thinking, "There are men up there." I love the space program. It represents all that is good about human nature. When I heard about the crash, I instantly thought about the Challenger and where I was when it blew up (senior in high school, at home because of a snow day). And then I thought of 9/11. How our country is probably getting numbed to disaster. Anthrax, plane crashes, the World Trade Center and now this. I was impressed with the President's remarks and thought, he must be thinking, "What next?"
Varvel: It jarred me. My first response was, "Not again!" It reminded me of the Challenger accident. Although I was moved by this tragedy, it didn't affect me as much as 9-11. Anytime there is a loss of life it is tragic, but this was an accident and 9-11 was an attack from an evil enemy.
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John Sherffius, St. Louis Post Dispatch |
This was 7 souls, 9-11 resulted in the loss of 3,000. I also feel that although the mood of the country is sadness for the families of the astronauts, we have become hardened to these events over the past year.
Day: Very personally. I grew up in central Florida and attended high school in the early 60s. The intercom would have the countdown: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and then all the classes would go outside, look to the east and see it go up! Later I worked for Cocoa Today (now Florida Today) and was able to see several launches from the press gallery.
Englehart: I was saddened and depressed Saturday and Sunday. The disaster took me right back to the Challenger explosion, and my memory of watching it blow up upon take-off while a bunch of us watched in horror in my editor's office.
Of the cartoons spotted on the Web, many seized upon the very powerful photographic image of the shuttle's debris streaking to earth as a visual theme in their drawings. Other artists used evocative images of Columbia in heaven.
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Bill DeOre, Dallas Morning News |
One of the more striking uses of “stars” imagery was from Bill DeOre of the
Dallas Morning News. He brought the story “home” with his cartoon. Regardless of the imagery, these cartoons are a powerful reminder of why visuals are so important to newspapers, not just to convey information, but also to communicate feelings and bring people together.
If you are a cartoonist and would like to share your experiences, please send an e-mail to
hfinberg@poynter.org.
