WE WELCOME a new contributor to this Forum section of Variety today, Lucas Storts. Luke is a graphic artist in our advertising department, and we asked him the other day to create a cartoon for us to use in connection with our Liberation Day edition.

He did, and later said he really enjoyed putting that piece of art together, adding that if we had any more ideas, he’d love to work on them. His second effort is on this page.

Editorial cartoons have always been a traditional part of newspaper journalism. Printerinks.com points out that the history of the United States can be traced through political cartoons. Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” in 1754 is considered to be the first American political cartoon. Does this form of social commentary work? Have editorial cartoons influenced politics?

Again according to Printerinks, Ben Franklin’s cartoon snake became the symbol of a revolutionary cause. During the Civil War period, political parties and politicians provided plenty of fodder for the cartoonist’s pen. Perhaps the most famous example of a political cartoonist’s influence on American politics is Thomas Nast’s open war against New York’s “Boss” Tweed and Tammany Hall.

Most major newspapers have one or more political cartoonists on staff, and there are several syndicated sources of current political cartoons to which smaller papers can subscribe. We use one of those, which supplies us with a variety of cartoons every day of major events and national politics. Generally we have at least two of them as part of our regular Forum format. But we’ve always hoped to have an “in house” cartoonist to satirize and comment through art on Guam’s local issues and personalities.

Now we think we’ve found one, and we’re delighted. To the right of this editorial is his second effort. We would love to get your thoughts and comments on Luke’s work. You may comment on this editorial to let us know what you think. Luke won’t be able to provide us with a fresh cartoon every day – he does have his regular job as a graphic artist to do.

You may also want to give us some ideas he could work on for future editions. Add those ideas to your comments.

We hope you enjoy Luke’s work. We welcome him to our Variety team.