The mayor-elect and Wonder Woman
It’s been a long time since a Montreal Gazette front page has stirred up so much buzz.
The main visual element on it after Sunday’s municipal election showed a cartoon version of Valérie Plante zooming through the air in a Wonder Woman costume, complete with shiny metal gauntlets and a weaponized gold tiara.
“MADAME LA MAIRESSE” the main headline screamed over the editorial cartoon by longtime Gazette caricaturist Aislin, the pen name of Terry Mosher.
We tweeted an image of the front page just after midnight Sunday, when it became clear that Plante had scored a surprising victory over incumbent mayor Denis Coderre, and the thrum on social media began.
Most of it was positive. “What a great cover,” wrote one. “Quelle magnifique une!!” another tweeted (“What a great front page!”).
But some castigated Aislin and the Gazette for what they saw as sexist stereotyping. One reader expressed outrage at the notion of our incoming mayor being dressed as a comic strip heroine in what looks like a bustier. “Had the cartoonist prepared an equally sexist cartoon in case of a Coderre win?” she asked.
Like everything in the nuanced world of political cartooning, it’s complicated. Aislin has drawn several political figures as over-muscled superheroes in the past, and he drew Denis Coderre as a cartoon character — Fred Flintstone — on several occasions during his four-year term.
At an event in the lead-up to Sunday’s election, Plante was reminded of those Fred Flintstone drawings and asked how she would like to be portrayed by the legendary cartoonist. “I’d like to wear a cape and be a happy warrior,” she said.
Someone attending the event sent her remarks to Aislin. Those words came back to him as the deadline for the print edition loomed late Sunday. The result: the ebullient warrior in Wonder Woman garb readers saw on Monday’s front page.
The deadline also led to a rare omission on Aislin’s part. The cartoon was based on a comicbook cover by Australian artist Nicola Scott. In the past, Aislin has made a point of crediting the origins of such images. He neglected to do so last night. When that omission was pointed out, Aislin posted the following note on Facebook:
An apology is due here. A popular way of delivering cartooning these days amongst many of my colleagues all over the world is called “satirical sampling” (much as in music). You’ll find examples everywhere, and it is defined as the recontextualization of found images on the Internet to generally be used in a unique comic way.
Last night, while cobbling together the election cartoon of Valérie Plante that the Gazette used on the front page, I chased down a wonderful DC Comics image of Wonder Woman and manipulated it to incorporate Plante’s face. I should have added an “Apologies to…” as we usually do when artists make use of another’s work in some way to enhance their own — but with the pressing one-hour deadline, I simply forgot.
Aislin has contacted Nicola Scott to let her know about the omission, and credit has been attributed in online versions of the cartoon.
Thank Hera for that!