Cartoon Portfolio of Jeffrey Dean

A note about my work.....

 

I don't consider myself a "political cartoonist." I have no shortage of opinions on everything (just ask me!) and politics just happens to be one of those things. I tend to stay away from political themes* because they are often pretty low-hanging fruit, and they rarely make a point that changes the view of a reader with the opposing viewpoint. When I choose to do a political cartoon, I try to find the eye of the storm, and poke my pen in it.

*I think that I do stay away from political themes, anyway. However, when I went to assemble this portfolio, I found that may not be true. Or it is. I don't really care.

Current Events: April 2025

Probably one of my darker cartoons carries with it the dark absurdity of our times.

Not a current event in the world, per se, but certainly one at my house.

Current Events March 2025

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Yes, it's too clever. But the five ancient earthly elements AND high prices? GOLD!

My first cartoon in 15 months after recovering from surgery. It was nice of the world to go bat shit crazy for my benefit!

My regret is that the school superintendent looks like a preacher.

Current Events 2018-2025

I have a particular fondness for this cartoon. It's my love letter to newspapers and journalism.

I'm not a football fan. Mockery, derision and sarcasm are my sports. And I'm a Hall of Famer.

A dirge of fire & ice

My hometown has a drinking problem

Hamburg NY had a crossing guard shortage

Mars is starting to look a lot like Earth

Yes, I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU, deep blue, far left unapologetic Lefty, but stupid is bipartisan and I call out shenanigans with glee. Don't get me started on malarkey, either.

I once saw someone on TV recommending people put an emergency kit in their cars, with foods like candy bars. Seems like a good idea, if you don't live with me.

Technically, this is a COVID cartoon, but it's sort of all-weather

I drew this before shortly before Andrew Cuomo left office. The day after Cuomo resigned, the folks on the right began calling out for Hochul's "impeachment." As I predicted, signs popped up almost overnight.

I really hate drawing well-known people, so I try to avoid it. Caricatures are not my jam. 

I mean, at least they're reading!

This is one of my most interesting ones in my opinion. You could read it as "wow, the things we think are important when places like Ukraine are being invaded" or "wow, that Oscars slap made news EVERYwhere." 

In 2018, there was a proposal to turn paint the watertower along the NYS Thruway in Hamburg (the claimed "birthplace of the Hamburger") to resemble the foodstuff. Just one little glitch...

Sometimes I think the newspapers should embed stories of genuine importance below headlines announcing price increases at the Erie County Fair.

I wasn't prepared to draw this complicated cartoon at the time, and I recall it going on forever. The joke was that post-pandemic lumber prices were so high that thieves were bypassing the copper plumbing. Still a pretty good joke, and I'm thinking I may get a redo with the tariffs. Yay.

Canadian cannabis legalization. This got a lot of laughs with my social media fans -- it was HA-HA'd by all three! 

Another one that was far more complicated than my talents at the time allowed. Another one that I am sickened to say I'll probably get to redo.

This one is titled "I did this."

General Humor (Or so I like to think...)

Cartoons/comics were a major part of my childhood. I had no patience for the exposition of comic books and superheroes. I wanted my comics in short punches to the funny bone. When I decided to teach myself cartooning, one-panel gag cartoons were the perfect opportunity to practice economical writing and drawing. Sometimes, it even worked!

My wife and I spent years picking over mid century modern junk in search of Arts & Crafts period gems, which, at the time, were hot, hard to find and expensive. I recall joking that we should start buying up MCM stuff because it would be the next big thing. We didn't. It was the next big thing.

Over that New Year's Day holiday, I think I drew 8 weight-related gags. Instead of going to the gym.

This was a fun one. It seems like a dig at modern art, and though I love modern art, I guess it is. But why I love it is that I used a friend's little girl's drawings as the models for the paintings on the wall.

I used to tell bullies my dad was the "chief of police" to keep from getting pummeled. He was a tile setter. 

This is actually one of the first gags I wrote, but didn't draw for two years. Living in Western New York, you want to get out ASAP to work in the yard, but it's always just a GIIIAAANNNNT MUUUUUUD PIIIIIIT!"

This is, I believe, my first cartoon featuring two characters. I recall that drawing the masks was ridiculously hard. In just a short year or so, I'd get plenty of training.

Would you believe that this cartoon is actually about my wife's navigation skills when I'm driving somewhere?

Inspired by actual events. God, I miss Cruisin' Crepes.

At an estate sale, I found a yearbook with my grandfather in it. I excitedly said "I found a yearbook with my grandfather in it!" I asked the attendant how much it was. "Well, it was $1, but since your grandfather's in it, let's make it $3."

Hands-down, my favorite of my own work.

Holiday

If political cartoons are low-hanging fruit, holiday cartoons are the apples on the ground. Soooo many puns. But, they give me a chuckle anyway.

If you have to explain it, it ain't funny, I suppose. Still, if you ever had a Christmas tree go dry... or, I guess, alcoholic relatives around during the holidays....

As I said....puns.

My wife is my best critic -- she hates almost everything I draw. But she LOVED this one. 

COVID, or remembering the good ol' days...

In the early days of the pandemic, as a way to help ease the fears of children and to give everyone something to do, folks were asked to put pictures of rainbows in their windows as part of a little scavenger hunt. This taped taped to the front door for many months.

I love this one -- yes, the crazed fella who returned with his quarry, and of course the woman who was about to sacrifice her "retirement investment," but my favorite is the guy on the TV screaming that there's no $#%@ toilet paper shortage.

One of my top faves, from early 2021 I believe.

Weirder than most...

"You got a weird sense of humor, Dean." I've heard it a few times in my life, and it's never been offered kindly. I am blessed to see humor in almost anything; I am also blessed with a very, VERY good filter (and a LOT of empathy) that allows me to keep from saying, writing or drawing things that might upset. When I get a bee in my bonnet my only aim is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. But still, sometimes things get weird. I probably write a few gags each week that are just too twisted. Over the years, I have drawn them anyway, just for my amusement. This portfolio is missing many, many efforts I felt were unworthy. Here now, however, is the best of the worst....

This needs some explanation. At the time Amazon had a commercial where the boxes were smiling. The concept was, now all of these sentient boxes were watching their comrades being disemboweled for the treasures inside. My only regret is the boxes all look disappointed more than horrified.

This one was such a funny concept. You ever wake up from a great dream, like maybe you invented a new gadget and when you wake up you start thinking about how you could make the gadget real, and suddenly you realize that it really was just a nonsense dream. That happened while I drew this. Also, I couldn't draw a proper hand, so...

The caption is "Where lost weight goes." You go to LA fitness, Planet Fitness and the Y, and you lose weight. Well, from a physics standpoint, the weight goes SOMEwhere. Yes, Mr. Wizard, I understand where the weight really goes. But let's just imagine it gets filtered out of the air, coagulated, pumped into tankers, and taken to factories where it gets made into tasty treats, okayyy?

Good concept, poor execution. The message is that our perceptions of ourselves are what drive us. The older woman imagines she is far more graceful than she is, and is therefore enjoying her skate; the young woman gliding around with agile ease imagines she's as clumsy as a polar bear on skates, to her dismay.

I send this to every friend who goes for a colonoscopy. 

Another Favorite, from the pandemic when everyone discovered that we had parks, and the parks were outdoors, and the outdoors was filled with things that eat you.

White tail  revenge

In my cartooning studies, I have found that two of the most common cartoons that every cartoonist tackles at some point (we're not talking tropes, like "man on a desert island" and such, but one specific scene): Big Bird being cooked for Thanksgiving, and the Old Banana and the Green Banana. I'm including it because I think the art is really good. I have a Big Bird one too.

The END.....?

No, of course not.