Oliphant’s world

And the lifetime achievement award goes to ... Pat Oliphant. Among cartoonists, there is really only Oliphant and everyone else. No one else could capture that dreary soup-kitchen line and its foreboding background with such sad, stark clarity. Or as antiseptic an operating room invaded by such ridiculously villainous blaggards. And only Oliphant’s unique combination of whimsy and genius could elevate the Blago-Gandhi gag to Zen perfection. Genius has its quirks, though, and one of Oliphant’s is that he refuses to be considered for the major journalism awards, giving the rest of us a chance to lay claim to second-best.

-- Joel Pett

Joel Pett is the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of the Lexington Herald-Leader. His work also appears in USA Today.