#55: Legal wows

Hello legal eagles,

Today’s the day. The day for some medium-to-top-notch cartoons.

This week we see a court case from the judge’s perspective, and see another from the witnesses perspective. But none of them are as you would think them to be.

Telling the truth,
Chris

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Caption: “Short straw gets Trump this week.”

How does one man have so many court cases? Like, how?

And, how do the judges feel? Are they just as exhausted as everyone else? Do they wonder when it’s going to be their time to have him? Do they run and hide?

I know that I wouldn’t want to be at that table.

A little artist’s note: So, the New Yorker have been doing some very very good daily cartoons around the Trump court case and, while I’m not part of the New Yorker world (yet), it did inspire me to make my own court case cartoon. Because, what judge would want to have to deal with any of his cases?

Visually, when I showed the first draft of this cartoon to my partner, her immediate response was ‘Are they supposed to be journalists?’. And she made a fair point. Where I had assumed that the people being clad in black would be enough to show they were judges, she had other assumptions. So, with the second draft of this cartoon, I added the scales of justice on the wall behind them. It still doesn’t all out scream ‘these are judges’, but hopefully it does enough to make it clear what is going on.

But I’ll let the court of public opinion decide that one.

Caption: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth ... from a certain point of view.”

If Obi-Wan Kenobi took the stand, what do you think he would say?

Would it be the truth? Would it be a truth that he thought was plausible? Would it be a truth that omitted certain details? In honour of May 4th, Star Wars day, I give you how I think this would play out.

I don’t trust Obi-Wan. Would you?

A little artist’s note: This idea has been in my notepad for months. It’s always been such an interesting line in Return of the Jedi. And part of me always wondered if it existed because it needed to cover up the plot hole created by the revelation at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. But whatever the case may be, it’s a line that has stuck with me, long after the more popular quotes have faded.

This is also my first foray into a cartoon which references something in popular culture, and I’m not sure how that will actually go. Did I make it clear enough that it was Obi-Wan Kenobi? Will I get a call from Disney asking me to remove it because it mentions the character’s name? I doubt it, but these are all the things that go through my mind when I’m making something like this.

Also, I hope it’s funny.

Thanks for reading MiddleSquiggle!

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