CARTOONS AND JOURNALISM

CARTOONS AND JOURNALISM

A picture says a thousand words, if played carefully; a picture can convey what a write up may not be able to. Political cartoons have been an integral part of daily newspapers. The concept of political cartoons dates back to dictatorship and no freedom of speech, people raised their voices through political cartoon satire.  The trend of political cartoon spread like wildfire, now even electronic media is using cartoons to highlight the political situation in the country.

Today a new breed of comics is emerging, different from satirical, opinionated political cartoons. Single panel cartooning and multi-panel comics are significantly different. The former is basically being opinion visuals while the latter captures the passage of time and movement.

Illustrative depiction is getting popular in media. “Editorial cartoons are visual comments,” explained Abroo, a graphic designer at Dawn newspaper; everyone has their own way of expressing, there are people who burn tyres, set ablaze their houses but a cartoonist expresses through his pencil, he added.

For years Pakistan has been connected to comics through one panel political cartoons in newspapers. Archie, Spiderman, baby blue, batman, Garfield these are the names that pop-up into ones minds when we talk about comics.

 “As I grew up I realized that Pakistan lacked a good comic scene. There were no characters, no comics, no nothing. Being a business student I have been taught to find out gaps in the market and I realized this was one market that was completely untapped. So I launched Kachee Goliyan.” disclosed Ramish the co-founder of Pakistan’s first proper online comic, Kachee Goliyan (KG).

The concept of local comic characters other than the political satire has long been missing in our society, but now with the passage of time it has started developing. Sufi and JC are two local comic characters developed by KG that started in 2011 as a Facebook page and gained popularity with 103k fans today.

Similarly Jay’s Toons was created in 2010 by a journalist Jahanzaib Haque. His Toon series comment on political/social dynamics of Pakistan. Social media has played a vital role in promoting comic journalism; Comics by Arsalan, Comics Power are a few among the active groups on Facebook that are working on comic journalism.  Leading newspaper artist also post their works online as they receive more exposure.

“I try to toon whenever there is an issue I wish to raise awareness about. I Toon for free and all the material is available for people to steal so no monetary plans involved” remarks Jahanzaib. Visual are more appealing and powerful form of expression more people can relate to them even those who are not educated can understand and make out the message from it. Comics can be with or without text.

Zahoor a cartoonist of Express Tribune confesses, “Editorial cartoons have strong message, with punch and criticism into it,” comics portray issues in a humorous way that is not taken offensively by the readers and it says it all. One can always communicate bitter messages in light tones using humour and that is where comics come in.

Comics and cartoons are far more interesting than write ups and text .Mostly the cartoons show unsaid stories and different people perceive them according to their mindsets. In Pakistan much needed importance is not paid on education in this field.

 “No attention is given by the society towards the field of art hence the youngsters aren't much motivated to express their way of thinking through the comics or cartoon characters, there should be proper acknowledgment and awareness throughout the country for the subject of art” confessed Fizza, an art student.

Not only education but this line of medium should be given the respect that it deserves. Once it starts to be taught it institutions and gains recognition, wonders can be done in comics in Pakistan.