Political cartooning and topical illustration? Those are some mighty fancy words.  Can you back them up? I sure hope so. Here are some examples, with the first two from The Bagram Illustrated Diary:

And here's a couple of original pieces as seen in good old  Loompanics Press:

Pen and Ink illustration in distinctive style- if desired, the original art can be colored by hand or electronically for various end-uses - be it print media or electronic use. Michael's political cartoons (under several different pen names) have been featured in various national publications throughout the years. Standard industry rates apply for single panel BW commercial art, special rates available for 501(c)3 organizations.

and we can't forget our old friend Agnus....  here in pen and ink with digital color:

Longtime Jinxmedic Studios client, Agnus MacSheepslayer, sez:

"Here be artwork to keep a few extra shillings in me sporran!"

What is "Topical Illustration" exactly?

Well, it's somewhere between a proper full fledged political cartoon (like the two in the middle of this page) and a relative "doodle on a napkin" (like poor Agnus down below).

Topical illustration is a way of conveying a period in place and time in a somewhat editorial manner, but not in such a way to gather pointed criticism from those that are in a position to do so in a detrimental fashion to the creator of such work, hence it forms a relatively safe way to conduct a particularly specific form of COMBAT ART.

Frequently confused with COMBAT ROCK or PIRATE SATELLITES, COMBAT ART frequently can depict rocks, satellites, or even pirates- all as an editorial expression of real life events, all while skirting the real-world constraints of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the United Nations codes regarding international freedom of expression, and other socio-political constraints as they may appear from time to time.

Political Cartooning, however, is exempt from all such constraints. The gloves are off. Pseudonyms are on. Let the chips fall where they may, ---mmmm....    ...chips...  it's a fairly safe bet that if one bothered to read everything in this column up to this point, that I can pretty much write what I want in here and it won't really matter in the grand scheme of things. But in any event, coining a specific genre entitled "topical illustration" is how I plan on staying out of trouble. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

If you were reading this thinking I was talking about "Tropical Illustration", that's a different subject entirely, and you stand to be dissapointed. My apologies.