It's always a little weird to read editorial cartoons fifteen years after they first appeared. Many of the political figures are still prominent today, but so many have fallen along the wayside and are fading from memory as are the events in which they figured. It's amusing to see what angered the cartoonist then and think, "Oh, buddy, you have no idea how much worse it's gonna get."

Still, it's good to remind oneself of even relatively recent historical events in order to see the continuities, the places where history is always repeating itself. The conservative vs. liberal back and forth is as regular and reliable as the black and white spies from Mad magazine. The conspiracy theories are always spiraling and the culture wars rage on over abortion, Christmas, and children's education.

Tom Tomorrow's cartoons are dense and wordy, but I easily identify with the liberal anger and sarcasm dripping from every page. ( )

There's something about political cartoons and penguins that strikes a chord; besides Sparky, we have Oliphant's little penguin and Opus from "Bloom County", and probably one or two others. But Sparky here is the most darkly sardonic of the Penguin trio, and Tom Tomorrow's cartoons, while brilliant sendups of Republican (and sometimes Democrat) craziness, are sometimes a pale mirror of the real thing, which is pretty sad. ( )