What’s this?

The great cartoonist Bill Mauldin had an influence on me and my work in several ways. One influence was minimalism. In his books and in interviews, he repeatedly voiced the idea that a cartoon should contain nothing superfluos, no line that doesn’t serve a purpose. Of course, this is an ideal, and Mauldin himself struck a wonderful balance between intricate drawing and concise story telling. I would like to think the above cartoon illustrates what Bill was talking about. With black and white space, a basketball and a wisp of net in the first panel, the action and its setting are made unmistakable. Of course, the impish Mr. Mauldin might have been tempted to put it another way: no cartoonist likes to work more than necessary.