Rodewalt: With Weapons Drawn

Dennis Blake is a visual arts teacher with the Halton Board of
Education.

In his latest collection, Vance Rodewalt, editorial cartoonist for the
Calgary Herald, presents an unrelentingly cynical view of the political
and social world. The cartoons, from the period 1988 to 1994, were
selected according to their contemporary application or timelessness of
the message, and topically organized in an eclectic range that includes
Albertan, Canadian, and world politics; the lighter side of sports;
reflections on the Canadian identity; and the environment.

Though a few of the cartoons are locally focused to the point where the
twist of the Calgary events being caricatured are inaccessible to a
reader from the rest of Canada, Rodewalt’s fluency in the vocabulary
of editorial cartoon expression still allows the reader to reflect on
the universality of the foibles of the political arena. This work is a
fine example of the Western Canadian political cartoon mini-genre
wherein Canadian sensibilities are coupled with an artistic style that
reflects an adapted American influence.