ABSTRACT
Political humor, specifically editorial cartooning, is an appropriate communicative response to political situations and can help to construct the political landscape. Editorial cartooning as a medium of political and social communication has been studied by scholars from many disciplines using a variety of methods. This essay reviews studies that deal with mostly single-panel American political cartoons designed for quick consumption. The review indicates that editorial cartoonists give meaning to facts and help to construct social reality, but exactly how they go about this, what messages are embedded in their work, and the impacts they have are not completely understood.
