If December has come, can Zapiro plus Madam & Eve be far behind? Both Jonathan Shapiro and the team of Stephen Francis and Rico are cartoonists, who are serious, keenly attuned socio-political commentators who keep their pens close to the pulse of South Africa and the world we live in.
The festive season would not be complete without the annual compendium of cartoons by Zapiro. This year, with his usual sharp, acerbic wit, the title of his compendium is My Big Fat Gupta Wedding. And the cover cartoon is in sumptuously, over the top Bollywood style, with a showerhead overtly in evidence.
In Bollywood mode, we are treated to an overwhelmingly abundant collection of cartoons from the Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times and The Times.
Surveying the cartoons is a neat way of reviewing the past year in all its seedy, vulgar and questionable excesses. And I think it’s important to note that no one is spared this cartoonist’s sharp eye and distinctively robust pen. Zapiro’s observations are not necessarily for the feint hearted, but that is not sufficient reason to dash off outraged letters to the editor or rush off to bring a charge of defamation.
Award winning cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro, certainly knows how to pack a punch! Bravo Zapiro and power to your pen.
My Big Fat Gupta Wedding is published by Jacana and sells for R136.80.
Keep Calm and Take Another Tea Break is the new Madam & Eve Collection by Stephen Francis & Rico, which is also published by Jacana and priced at R136.80.
Madam & Eve – Keep Calm
With Madam and Eve, you are looking at South Africa through the eyes of very specific stereo-types that have become comfortably familiar, but unsettlingly close the bone in their idiosyncratic prejudices and attitudes.
Again this is sharply observed socio-political satire that get’s across a powerful message through humour. It confirms in my mind that being funny, on a daily basis, is a seriously difficult profession. That daily chuckle is based on the cartoonist keeping up to date – in a highly individualistic way – with current affairs, while also being an accomplished artist, in a demanding milieu. You don’t have the luxury of waiting around for the creative muse. It’s about instant, instinctive responses to unfolding situations and finding a way of presenting the situation with a creative twist that highlights and focuses the issue through a particular prism.
Flipping through the pages provides a singularly effective annual history lesson, a sort of ‘do you remember what happened last year’ test.
Which makes me ask why cartooning is not used as an educational tool? It would help teasing out the story, which is the essential aspect of history. These talented cartoonists should be doing school textbooks….which might hopefully be delivered.
As mentioned, both My Big Fat Gupta Wedding this year’s Zapiro’s compendium, and Keep Calm and Take Another Tea Break, the new Madam & Eve Collection, by Stephen Francis & Rico, are published by Jacana and priced at R136.80 each.
Both books make for excellent holiday gifts.
This review was aired on Gorry Bowes Taylor’s Book Choice on Fine Music Radio FMR 101.3
PLEASE vote for mapmyway and Cape Town Green Map for the SA Blog Awards – voting opens on Monday 2 December. Just click on the button on their respective home pages.
