When I came across a New York Times “Sketchbook” piece called “Portrait of the Cartoonist as a Dog Owner” I thought that I could definitely devote some moments to it. I was born to a dog-loving cartoonist and married a dog-loving cartoonist. What are the chances, right? These people should start a club. And here was one in The New York Times. Which I read! The coincidences continue.
So, given my love of cartoonists, I was ready to post this and be all “Hey look! This is great!”
But, it turned out that Joe Sacco isn’t a dog-loving cartoonist as much as he is a dog-owning cartoonist who should give me a call if he wants to work on that barking problem. He is also a self-labeled “serious” cartoonist. The cartooning men in my life are more likely to describe themselves using words like “the greatest mind of my generation.” That’d be followed by some kind of fart joke.
However, due to the applicability of this cartoon to my life (cartoons + dogs) and the minimum effort it’ll take you to read it (there are pictures!) I felt compelled to post it.
In summation: It’s about a guy who feels that caring for his girlfriend’s dog takes away from what really matters (namely, his serious cartooning). It’s meant to be funny, but it’s hard not to think that the truth doesn’t lie so far below the surface! I’m guessing the next edition will be about the dog hair left behind when p.o.’ed girlfriend moves out because he complained about her dog in print. And shows her with that haircut. Sheesh!
Of course it’s just a case of different strokes/different folks, but when I’m doing any kind of grudge work, I’m calculating how many minutes its taking away from the time I could be spending with my dog.
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