Puztoons and bepuzzlement.

This wednesday's cartoon was a puztoon! Puzzle-cartoon. My cartoon sits next to a quiz on the back-page of The Age, and it really is that kind of page. You know, the the light entertainment section that feels very accessible when sitting on the train home with a toasted brain and and a backpack of world weariness. You're begging for some distraction but reading the world news would make your soul ache.  What do you need? A puztoon! A combination of relevant daily issues (pronounced ISH-hoos) with some not-too-hard-bepuzzlement. You feel in touch with the topics of the day and you get a sense of accomplishment from solving a puzzle! Fantastic! Might have to make the bepuzzlement aspect a bit trickier though. The average punter wouldn't get much sense of accomplishment from the puztoon above. ("There is no resolution for the reader" says the black spectacled editor in my head.)

Survival as a freelance cartoonist is tough, print newspapers are using freelancers less. You've got to have an edge. With more puztoons published I can argue that The Age are getting loads of 'bang for their buck'.

Yeah, puztoons ....