The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for February 24, 2021

Al Hirschfeld?

Too bad he’ll never have any depth as a person.

He ain’t lying.

When my daughter was little I said why would anyone want to be around a king that lied? She always corrected me!

You’ve heard this old Lion King joke? What do you say to Simba when he’s walking too slow? Mufasa

♩will the circle be unbroken…

Huh. Looks like my self-portrait, only neater…

♫ Because your mine. I walk the line. ♫

“To the vector go the spoils.” -Charles M. Jones

The Limn-on King.

Stick with it.

Early kinematics for The Fully Embellished King movie.

I draw the line at this kind of “art”…

There’s a great documentary about the caricaturist Harry Herschfeld titled “The Line King.” Now there was a guy who could draw.

This production lacks depth.

Writer’s head.

Not to be confused with “writer’s blockhead”. (Double meaning.)

Scott is my favorite cartoonist…bar none!

When The Lion King 1st came out in 1994, I generally liked it but I had serious reservations about some of its messages. In the intervening years, I’ve grown less tolerant of stuff like this:

 • Royalism. I’m a small-r republican to the core, and the idea that some folx are inherently entitled to rule over others by dint of royal birth (or divine right) absolutely rubs me the wrong way.

 • Chauvinism. The lionesses do all the work but have no say in how the society is run; all the glory is heaped upon the big, hairy male, despite Simba’s having been out-wrestled by Nala (as both a cub and an adult) as well as outwitted by dopes and out-ethicked by half the supporting cast of critters.

 • Oppression. The prey animals — wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, and gazelles — all bow worshipfully before the predators who will eventually eat them, as if such submission is only just and proper. The lions rationalize this with a nice tune about the circle of life, but the film never shows us the ugly reality. That’s the only mercy involved.

 • Incompetence. A youth spent in idleness, dissolution, and goof-offery does not prepare one to be a competent governor of others, something I wish America would have paid more attention to before George W. Bush hove onto the national stage.

 • Stereotyping. Is it merely a coincidence that the treacherous Scar is both darker-furred than the other lions and facially disfigured, or is this a shameless shorthand message that such characteristics are instantly suspect?

 • Despoliation. The over-exploited veldt is ravaged, gray, and dying when the triumphant Simba climbs his pinnacle and roars; by the next morning the sun is shining, the leaves are green, and the babbling brook runs crystal clear. If environmental cleanup were really this easy, they should import lions into West Virginia.

Ironically, the artist is no Kunta Kinte.

This is one strip that might work better without color.

These comments are getting drawn out.

he looks a bit drawn…