Inklings: Cartoons and Caricatures

Jeffrey Moon is Documents Reference/Data Centre Librarian at Queen’s
University.

Inklings is an inspired collection of cartoons and caricatures that
target public figures, issues, and events from the Maritimes, Canada,
and the international scene. In the introduction, Meek, editor of two
Halifax dailies, is enthusiastic about MacKinnon’s work. This
enthusiasm is warranted.

Provincially, Premier Buchanan, the Marshall Inquiry, taxation, and
liquor-store strikes are but a few of MacKinnon’s targets. National
targets include Free Trade, Canada Post, Brian Mulroney, Michael Wilson,
and the gst. MacKinnon shows a homeless person commenting on the gst
being dropped from nine to seven percent: “I’m so relieved . . . I
was beginning to worry about the effect a 9% gst would have on my cash
flow.”

MacKinnon is effective largely because of his skill at crossing
elements of popular culture with current events, to produce humorous,
often cutting, commentaries. For example, MacKinnon has the leaders of
the two Germanies embrace while singing “Reunited, and it feels so
good”; he takes some liberties with the lyrics that follow. Aided by
an electric guitar and an oversize speaker labelled “Sanctions,”
Nelson Mandela sings to Margaret Thatcher, “Wake up Maggie I think I
got something to say to you,” a Rod Stewart classic.

In short, MacKinnon’s caricatures and cartoons effectively distill
the parade of current events into succinct, comical form. His insights,
timing and wit make him a cartoonist worth following.