There is no doubt the best time to be an editorial cartoonist is during an election campaign. There is enough satire material to keep an army of cartoonists employed. The candidates are larger than life figures doing ridicuous things on a daily basis.

More than a year away from the US Presidential election in November 2012, republican pretenders are already getting into campaign shape. In this week’s edition of The Economist I drew my first election cartoon for the 2012 campaign (see above). I am looking forward to many many many many many more to come in the months ahead.

Last March I had the opportunity to visit Beirut. There I was able to see up close the impressive redevelopment of Lebanon since the war that devastated the country in the 1980’s. I was also keenly aware of the tensions that currently lie just beneath the surface of this beautiful yet potentially explosive land.

My visit helped inform this cartoon that I drew for this week’s edition of The Economist. There is no question that visiting the Middle East has made me feel more connected to the stories playing out in the region.

With Easter around the corner, I thought I would take this chance to post one of my favorite holiday cartoons from some years back. 

There is a difference between the two cartoons above. One cartoon (the bottom cartoon) ran in The Economist this week.  The second cartoon is being distributed to publications in the US and elsewhere through syndication.

HINT: American english and English english employ different spelling in some select words. If you cannot locate the difference between the two cartoons, take a break and pour yourself a whiskey, or is it whisky?

Here’s this week’s Economist cartoon. My recent trip to China was very much on my mind as I spent the day constructing and drawing this commentary.  You can find below some of the rough sketches that went into the development of the cartoon. The first are incoherent but eventually I found my way.