A new book about cartoonist Thomas Nast may introduce him to the current generation of journalism and visual storytelling fans. Imagine what he could have done with a modern graphic novel — or Pixar animation!

Back in 1941, Cavalcade of America had to rely on word-pictures alone to describe Nast and his work to the radio generation, in a broadcast titled Mightier than the sword.

Nast and his editors took on one of the most powerful political bosses in American history, the head of New York City’s Tammany Hall in the 1870s.

Rather than spoil the radio drama, I will just stop there for now. Let’s just say that Nast’s images were not too subtle.
For more samples of Nast’s cartoons, take a look at Wikpedia’s Thomas Nast page and its link list.

Wikimedia Commons was the source of the Nast image above. The charming Boss-Tweed-as-vulture image is from The World of Thomas Nast page at OSU. Hmm. I wonder if that image is where Batman’s creator got the idea for the Penguin.