Check out the video of me drawing this cartoon!
Two-thirds through drawing this cartoon I had the thought “surely some other cartoonist has already done ICE arresting Jesus.” And of course, they had. For instance, Andy Marlette in 2017; Claytoonz in 2018 (featuring Jeff Sessions – remember him?); and Ellen at Pizzacake just two months ago. (I’m a big fan of Pizzacake, by the way – it has a lovely sense of whimsy). I’m sure there are many others, as well.
I considered abandoning the cartoon. But then I thought of this exchange between George (an artist) and Dot (a muse) in one of my favorite musicals, Sunday In The Park With George.
[GEORGE]
I’ve nothing to say[DOT, spoken]
You have many things.[GEORGE]
Well, nothing that’s not been said[DOT]
Said by you, though, George
That passage is one of the best pieces of advice for artists I’ve ever heard, and I think of it often. My cartoon shares a premise with those other cartoons, but I don’t think anyone could mistake our cartoons for each other.
This is the second anti-ICE cartoon I’ve done this month, the previous one being this collab with Kevin Moore. So rather than go over the reasons to hate ICE in this post, I’ll just link to that previous post.
For panel four, I thought it would be a good idea to show famous immigrants, real and fictional, among the prisoners. My hope is that it makes the group look more like a collection of individuals, rather than being simply a mass of generic people.
I’m not the best at caricature, but – as a result of my recent turn to drawing lots of chicken fat in my cartoons – I’ve gotten a bit more confident, so I decided to try it.
When it came time to actually draw the panel, it turned out to be much more challenging than I’d anticipated. The panel is inspired by homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s repulsive photo op in front of a cell full of prisoners in El Salvador. The prisoners were all male, had their heads shaved, and were shirtless.
Being all male wasn’t a problem – since beauty standards are much more stringent for female celebrities, male celebrities tend to have easier-to-caricature faces.
But all the other elements made it harder. They had to all be shirtless – so there went using costume to identify characters. (Although I cheated a bit on this by including a hat). They all had to have shaved heads, so there went using hair. And I didn’t think it would work to show anyone smiling, so there went a whole lot of characteristic expressions.
So a lot of folks that could have been in that panel – Mork from Ork, Angel from Buffy, Alfred from Batman, Raj from Big Bang Theory, Keanu Reeves, etc – ended up not being there because I just didn’t think I could successfully draw them under these restrictions.
The characters that ended up going in were Chico Marx (American, but the character he played was an Italian immigrant), Mr. Spock (not an immigrant, but he spent a lot of his life being an outsider among smugly superior Earthlings), Superman (the ultimate immigrant), Albert Einstein, Bob Hope (born in the UK), Beldar Conehead, and Mr. Miyagi.
I don’t think all of them are great likenesses, but one of the pleasures of chicken fat is that it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect.
For me, the most iconic Superman cartoonist will always be the late Curt Swan. Kings Highway Elementary School, when I was a kid, had an original Swan Superman sketch framed on a wall, and I studied it often. Very helpfully, it turns out that Swan made a “How To Draw Superman” tutorial.
Although I didn’t look at them while I was drawing, as preparation I did check out Al Hirschfeld drawings of both Chico Marx and Bob Hope. As far as I’m concerned, Hirschfeld is the best caricaturist to ever wield a pen, and if Hirschfeld chose to emphasize a particular feature, then it’s an important feature. Mainly, though, I relied on photos.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels. The first three take place on a city sidwalk.
PANEL 1
Jesus Christ, a smile on his face and a glowing halo over his head, is talking to a man wearing an ICE jacket. The ICE agent is talking into his phone.
JESUS: Yes, it’s me, Jesus Christ! I’ve come back to–
ICE AGENT (thought balloon): ✓ Foreign accent. ✓ Brown skin. ✓ Doesn’t look rich.
ICE AGENT (aloud): Guys, I think I got one!
PANEL 2
Two more ICE agents, big men wearing black masks that cover their whole faces other than their eyes, have rushed in and are shoving Jesus (now wearing handcuffs) to the sidewalk.
MASK DUDE: He looks mid-eastern to me.
JESUS: But I– OW!
ICE AGENT: No talking back, terrorist!
PANEL 3
A cartoon dust cloud, from which raised fists and clubs emerge, indicates a beat down going on.
JESUS: I’m only here to–
MASK DUDE: He’s resisting!
ICE AGENT: Get him!
PANEL 4
The Ice Agent, hands on hips, is grinning as he chats with Kristi Noem (Trump’s Homeland Security secretary). In the background is a cell full of prisoners, shirtless and with their heads shaved. One of the prisoners is Jesus, covered with bruises, looking very irritated.
NOEM: We really are doing God’s work here.
ICE AGENT: Heck yeah!
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is a long-obsolete cartoonists’ term for unimportant details drawn in a cartoon.
PANEL 1 – The building directory in the background:
Accountant
Accountspider
Spider-Man
Copyright Suit
Tailored Suit
Taylor Hebert
Hebert ‘n Ernie
Ernied Interest
Interest Ing Inc
Dentist
A newspaper lying on the sidewalk says “Background Detail News. Headline Leaves No Room for Story Text. Lazy Cartoonist To Blame, Says Bob. Bob? Who’s Bob?” (Some of that last line is literally impossible to read, because panel borders. Honestly, the entire newspaper might be impossible to read, partly because I distorted the lettering to put it in perspective.)
A poster on the wall says “WORDS. They’re all over! Where do they come from? What do they want? Do they have plans? No one knows.”
Oscar the Grouch is peeking out of a trash can in the foreground.
PANEL 2 – The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and the Lion are watching from a window in the background. In another window, the three-eyed alien from “Toy Story” watches. A bumper sticker on the ICE van says “My other car is unmarked.” One of the ICE agents has actually stuck his hand through the middle of Jesus’ halo.
PANEL 3 – One of the Ice Agent’s arms has a “Care Bears” tattoo. Micky Mouse’s fist is sticking out of the dust cloud.
PANEL 4 – The people in the jail cell include Chico Marx, Mr. Spock, Superman, Albert Einstein, Bob Hope, Beldar Conehead, and Mr. Miyagi.
I’m surprised the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion aren’t getting arrested seeing as they are not U.S. citizens. I guess this isn’t their The Wiz incarnations.
I bet I.C.E. comes back for them later.
While Bob Hope was indeed an immigrant, white anglo saxon protestant male immigrants are explicitly welcomed by the current shitocracy that is terrorising the w0rld through its illegitimate control of the American government.