Comic Strip Review: Cartoons by Guindon by Dick Guindon
During my teen years, one of the delights of reading the newspaper was the cartoons of Richard “Dick” Guindon. Born in Minnesota, he had returned to the Twin Cities in the 1970s to draw his satirical cartoons.
Mind you, it was pretty mild satire, but folks liked his pokes at the foibles and culture of the Upper Midwest. This particular volume was published in 1980, just before Guindon moved to Detroit to work for the Detroit Free Press.
Many of the cartoons here are observational humor, which has aged pretty well. Others are very much rooted in the fashions and fads of the 1970s and might be indecipherable to younger readers. And there are some pieces that are just absurd.
Some favorites: A woman talking to a child: “We don’t talk about Star Wars at the dinner table, Dear, because Mommy and Daddy hate Star Wars.” A bank robber with a gun backing away from the hostages: “OK, I’m leaving now, and the first person who says ‘Have a nice day’ stops one.” A man in a plaid suit at what appears to be a very dull party: “How many people do you know who have actually READ their entire insurance policy and are prepared to discuss it intelligently?”
It’s also interesting seeing the hints that gay people were inching towards general acceptance, at least in the cities.
Mostly of interest to Midwesterners who have memories of the 1970s, and those curious about what people of the time found funny.
