Sutton Impact

by Ward Sutton

A full-color trouncing of the Bush Dynasty from cult-favorite Village Voice cartoonist Ward Sutton, Sutton Impact brings together for the first time the artist’s hilarious, irreverent social commentary and his vivid poster art. More than two hundred pieces document the flights and folly of an era, from politics to popular music, excoriating the USA PATRIOT Act, John Ashcroft’s evangelical songwriting, the Democrats’ domestic blunders, and much more.

Genres: Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

WARNING:
The Attorney General has found that reading Sutton Impact may be hazardous to your unquestioning devotion to the Bush administration, the religious right, and the media industrial complex.
—from the back cover

Subtle, Sutton ain't. But then, are the moments before a train wreck occurs the best time to be whispering "umm, maybe you shouldn't be on the tracks?" This collection of Ward Sutton's political cartoons from the 1990s up through early 2005 takes in some of the darkest times in recent American history, and his clear-eyed view of what was going on then seems only clearer now. He calls it, time after time, in panel after panel: the corporate greed, the opportunistic politics, the failures of both imagination and will on the Left, and of compassion and intelligence on the Right, that have defined the early 21st Century.

These are not really funny comics, not the kind of stuff you'd see next to the late Bil Keane or Charles Schulz on the mainstream media's funny pages... these are living, savage indictments of hypocrisy told in graphic (and often graphic) form. They're usually verbose; the headlines Sutton is responding to often need a little context, after all, although his distinctive, naive drawing style usually makes the villains in the piece quickly identifiable.

Sutton's "Foreward" (sic—and intentional, I'm sure, "in a world going backwards") says,

As that wise man Mick Jagger once asked, "What can a poor boy do, except to sing for a rock'n'roll band?" Good question. I can't sing that well, though, so I draw cartoons instead.

I don't know what Sutton's like as a singer, but I can vouch for his impact as a cartoonist... as a lonely voice crying in the wilderness, he may not have been able to turn the tide of American politics all by himself... but he might've, if anyone out there could see him.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who shares my opinion that the Bush administration is a bunch of criminal turds will enjoy this. It's funny, yet extremely sad at the same time.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most politically slanderous book I have ever read. Wow this guy really hates Republicans. It is a lot of fun to.