Luke Costin – Giants By Name, Infants By Nature

This is a cartoon I did for a blog article written by Luke Costin, one of my sport journalism classmates at La Trobe University. The article is titled “Giants By Name, Infants By Nature“, and was posted on March 22 this year in the lead up to the Greater Western Sydney Giant’s début match in the AFL against the Sydney Swans. Giant’s coach, Kevin Sheedy was forced to début sixteen young players against the experienced Sydney line-up, and Costin goes into predicting the outcome based upon the début match of the Gold Coast Suns in 2011, where they lost to Carlton by 119 points with a list of twelve new players.

My cartoon contends that the Giants were entering a losing battle, taking the metaphor of “infants” literally. A supportive Sheedy is encouraging the boys to participate more than anything, while the formidable Sydney Swans are waiting to get an easy four points.

In the end, the Giants lost quite significantly with a score of 37 to Sydney’s 100. This outcome was possibly better than what was expected for reasons highlighted in Costin’s article. The end of the 2012 home and away season has left the GWS Giants at the bottom of the ladder, winning only two AFL matches for the year. Despite this, there were promising signs from the Giants, beating the Suns by 27 points in round seven, and Port Adelaide by 34 points in round 19. The Giants will hopefully make more of a mark in season 2013 when the boys have gained a bit more experience and a bit more mass.

Cartoon for Upstart Magazine – Plain Packaging

This is my cartoon that was published in Upstart Magazine on July 20 this year accompanying an article by Adria De Fazio titled “Plain Packaging Won’t Work? So What’s All The Fuss About Then?” The article discussed the anti-smoking campaign involving the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes.

De Fazio looks into how tobacco companies are saying that the campaign won’t be effective, despite what the research is saying.  My cartoon has got quite a bit of depth to it, and you would be excused for not completely understanding my main angle. I have the contention that tobacco companies are aware that plain packaging will be effective, which will decrease the sale of cigarettes. A decrease in cigarette sales means a decrease in the number of people smoking, meaning that ultimately the health of many smokers will be increased, and for comical purposes, the Grim Reaper will have less work. And while tobacco companies are against the legislation, they don’t have any strong arguments against it, since cigarettes are part of what has been described as the “death industry.”

The legislation will take effect from October 1 and from December 1 retailers will have to ensure all the tobacco products they sell are in the new packaging or risk heavy fines.

 

SMUSH COMIC #2

SMUSH COMIC #1