It has been a slow return to editorial cartooning since I got back from the annual convention of the AAEC (Association of American Editorial Cartoonists). I've noticed the added links I've posted alongside my "MacKay is Away" notice has resulted in higher multiple page viewings by visitors. It's making me wonder whether or not to retain these links and post even briefer texts to help put some context to my daily cartoons. Added to that, I'm not too pleased with my first cartoon since getting back from the convention.

Anyway, this year's host was Denver, Colorado, a hot western city situated where the barren plains meet the snow capped peaks of the rocky mountains. Aside from it being a big venue for all kinds of sports, skiing, football, baseball, hockey, and basketball, it's also known for it being the home of Coors, a powdered tasting fizzy drink which is considered similar to beer. Actually, Denver is less known as the home to many micro breweries offering delicious ales, pilsners, and lagers. It's very popular mayor is a brewery owner himself.

A sizeable showing of beer swilling Canadians showed up for the convention. It's always nice to attend these American conventions as it gives a great opportunity to get to know the veterans even better. Despite living only 4 hours from Mike Graston of the Windsor Star, it took a convention a couple thousand miles away to be the setting for our first face to face meeting. It was great to finally meet him, a cartoonist whose work I've been appreciating and following since I was a teenager.

Apart from the bar chatter that goes early into the wee hours of each morning, the AAEC gathering provides a great slate of panels and Q & A sessions. I was looking forward to a talk on the Danish Cartoon Controversy but found that little new could be added to a topic that has really been talked to death. Representatives from Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups lectured us on what we can and can't draw, raising the temperatures of some of the attendees but not enough to inspire a good shout down by raucous editorial cartoonists. Religious leaders will always complain about pointed cartoonists, and cartoonists will continue to poke religious leaders.

There was a talk on editorial cartoon presence on the Internet that appealed to my interest. While I've pretty much been running my website for close to 10 years the advent of the blog has only recently made its way into the cartoon world. Before I got to Denver I had no clue just how many editorial cartoonists run blogs like this. From what I hear, more and more are on their way. The great thing about the Internet is the greater freedom which allows us to show off our edgier stuff, to be a more forthright in what we have to say, and to answer to our critics. (Who I wish would give me more feedback through this thing.)

I'd say the most inspiring panel I tuned into was one explaining the process of how cartoonist's create their cartoons. Nick Anderson, Clay Bennett, Matt Davies, and Steve Sack each gave very informative presentations on how they do their daily cartoons. I found the all-around-nice-guy Clay Bennett and Steve Sack to have the most similar process to what I do with heavy reliance on Photoshop to achieve the final product. Steve Sack, who I got to know a bit better over dinner last Thursday night, wowed the audience with the best Flash animated clip I've ever seen. His oil paint stylized cartoons are the most cutting edge cartoons in the U.S.A. right now, and I expect there'll be a lot of copy cats who'll emulate his style in the not too distant future.

Finally, a big hooray goes out to my friend and Denver tour mate Mike deAdder from the Halifax Daily News who took home the annual AAEC golden spike award. It celebrates those whose cartoons were killed by antsy editors. It's the first time a Canadian has ever won the recognition.

See more on the convention here....

Readers of today's printed Hamilton Spectator probably didn't know that my cartoon appearing on the editorial page was only half finished:

For whatever reason I forgot to save the final version of the cartoon before sending it to the big computer which laysout the pages. So what readers end up with is a bit of head scratcher for a cartoon. The unfortunate thing missing is the mud I had drawn on Dalton McGuinty's face, which is pretty much the most important element in the cartoon. Here's what the final version was supposed to look like, in black and white:

Fortunately no one will know the name of the idiot who drew this cartoon since his signature was left off the printed cartoon as well.

Readers of the Hamilton Spectator will see the sanitized version of this cartoon in today's paper. The part of the above caption which reads "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll", actually appears in print as "girls, cars and rock 'n' roll. We don't want to give any impression that we advocate teenaged sex and the use of drugs. Rock 'n' roll is acceptable, even though rock 'n' roll might as well be lumped in with big band music to the ears of the hip hop and electronica generation of youth.

The cartoon loses its edge with out the well known phrase that emerged from music from the 70's. To a parent of a kid charged with plotting to blow up Canadian targets in the name of Islam, the normal indiscretions of youth, such as sex, drugs, and whatever dubious music is being listened to must take on greater insignificance.

Oh, and happy 06-06-06. Whatever bad things happen today on the planet will be blamed on Satan, so if you want to rob a bank and you get caught you have this day to take no responsibility for the evils you commit.

A great many visitors to the site will see my local cartoons and move on without having a clue about what I'm drawing about. The cartoon above refers to the perpetual story of a decaying building in Hamilton's downtown and the lack of political will to decide its fate. I post the brief explanatory to the right of each 'toon hoping it'll put some context to each cartoon.

It is often said that the it's the local cartoons which are best appreciated by newspaper readers. They often bring in the most feedback, and may occasionally cause some to cancel their subscriptions. Perhaps that is why some of the tamest cartoons I've ever drawn are subject to greater scrutiny by my editors due to their potential for local provocation. It's far more acceptable to spear a national leader with the same degree of satire than it is a local mayor or councillor. If an editor kills a local cartoon because he thinks it goes too far, then you've basically wasted 4 to 5 hours on something that will never get published anywhere else.

So while local editorial cartoons often beats any chance that some generic cartoon drawn by some freelancer hundreds of miles away will get printed, there's still a greater chance that the local cartoon will be under more scrutiny. Increasingly, I'm finding the local cartoons to be more of a hassle to draw than the non-local cartoons. The result is that I've been doing less the local stuff, which is unfortunate, because a city like Hamilton could use more satire.

The above cartoon might be regarded by some as a cheat since I relied so heavily on Photoshop to achieve the result. I believe in recycling so I don't see incorporating images from past cartoons into present cartoons as an evil thing.

Components of this cartoon have appeared here, and here. The first appearance of the parliament buildings component appeared almost exactly a year ago. Anticipating more cartoons involving images of Parliament will come, I've banked it in my personal clip art archives. Expect to see it in one shape or another in the future.

Added to my clip art bank is the Capitol dome, which I created yesterday. Considering it symbolizes politics in the U.S. so significantly you can expect to see that reappear sometime again. In the past I've toiled with drawing the same image from the same angle. This isn't to say I'll never draw this perspective of the capitol dome ever again, but at least I'll have one banked if time presses me in the future.

Is this cheating? You tell me.