Kirkus Reviews QR Code
WINNERS AND LOSERS by Art Hartz

WINNERS AND LOSERS

In Words And Cartoons

by Art Hartz ; illustrated by Aleksandar Jovic , Mike Wolfe & Heroud Ramos

Pub Date: Feb. 22nd, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79759-770-6
Publisher: Self

In this cartoon collection by the author of The Slings and Arrows of Mundane Fortune (2019), the concepts of winning and losing are unpacked, tongue firmly in cheek.

“Those who are admired—whether for their success, brilliance, beauty, talent, or charm—are winners,” writes Hartz in his introduction. He adds: “They are valued, their faults tolerated, and their kindness exaggerated.…By contrast, the nonwinners—the losers—struggle for appreciation and companionship, and their mistakes are viewed without sympathy.” So begins this collection of single-panel cartoons and aphorisms deconstructing what it means to be a winner—or the opposite—in modern American society. Businessmen, athletes, and Hollywood stars dot the pages, as do the insecure, the poor, the ostracized, and the vaguely disliked. (One caption reads, simply, “Losers know they’re losers but not why.”) Hartz focuses on the ways society motivates us to be winners or to perceive others as such. In one cartoon, two people regard a mansion and a sports car, with one saying to the other, “All my fame and fortune mean nothing unless my brother hates me for it.” In another, two statues of Michelangelo’s David stand side by side, one typically svelte and the other more realistically paunchy. The caption: “Sympathetic. Not Sympathetic.” In addition to cartoons, aphorisms appear throughout the book, some funny and some simply thoughtful. “Beauty and intelligence are considered essence, not ornament,” reads one. The cartoons—drawn by Jovic, Wolfe, and Ramos—are imbued with frolicsome energy. Appropriately, the entries aren’t all winners—some fail to elicit a laugh, and a few are just head-scratchers. The cartoons have a better success rate than the aphorisms, some of which feel bumper sticker–ready (“EQUATION: Status = achievement X marketing”) while others could have used another draft or two. There are plenty of gems here that ask the reader to consider the arbitrary or downright unjust manner in which winners and losers are chosen. The result is a sense of nihilism that is half liberating and half depressing. As one cartoon featuring a mournful picture of a teenage nerd against a black background reads: “And then they came for me, but there was no one to speak for me because why would anyone do that.”

A mixed bag of gags and witticisms revealing the hollowness of both victory and defeat.