Last laughs

Faced with a choice between an eleventh-hour shot at a Pulitzer Prize-winning stroke o’ genius and a little holiday-season R & R, most editorial cartoonists took last week off. This probably meant that Benazir Bhutto received fewer graphic obit tributes than did, say, Ike Turner or Barbaro, and that those obscene year-end Wall Street bonuses may go largely un-fulminated-upon. Still, Mike Peters proved again that he’s ever alert to a hilarious juxtaposition, and Nate Beeler returned to a classic holiday setup to take down a presidential hopeful or three. I didn’t completely drop the ball, although my New Year’s Eve gag was more pinot-in-a-box than champagne. Maybe if I’d had a shot at a $50-million bonus, I’d have come up with something better.

-- Joel Pett