Pushing the Envelope got a lot of accolades for its originality. Unfortunately almost nobody found it very funny. As one reviewer noted, "Although I do give the blog author major credit for regularly coming up with original cartoons from his viewpoint of the political landscape, I just didn't find them that funny."
| Category | Score | Points |
| Content | 5.69 | 40/70 |
| Writing | 5.77 | 3/5 |
| Web Design | 6.77 | 3/5 |
| Intangibles | 6.08 | 3/5 |
| Read Regularly | 0.77 | 1/10 |
| Frequency | 8 | 4/5 |
| Total |
| 54 |
Percentile Rank: 28 Some quotes from our reviewers:
The only reason I wouldn't go back is that I can't post comments because I don't have a Blogger Account... I won't return to sites I can't comment on! Otherwise an enjoyable site.
NICELY original. I was very impressed, and think this blog has a LOT of potential! I may not have laughed out loud while reading this material (because I didn't always think it was especially funny), but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the content or appreciate this blogger's creativity.
I like that the cartoons don't seem to be bound by political lines, but they are lacking in bite a bit.
I don't know if I'm qualified to say if this stuff was funny, since I'm not as informed about politics as I should be, but the cartoons are really cute.
This blog steps into the tricky realm of cartoon political punditry. Although I do give the blog author major credit for regularly coming up with original cartoons from his viewpoint of the political landscape, I just didn't find them that funny. He does get points for originality though.
Political humor has to be awfully darned funny for me to pay any attention. Pushing the Envelope certainly has its moments, but in generally it's not hilarious enough for me to want to visit back frequently. Unfortunately, many of the cartoons don't stand on their own and require the author's commentary above them for them to make any sense. I might like it more if the cartoons could carry the blog.
I don't necessarily enjoy political cartoons and political humor; but that's not to say the stuff isn't quality. There were some amusing things in there. And as far as "eye appeal," I didn't enjoy the colors that the artist chose to color the illustrations.
Clever graphic humor by someone who spends as much time as I do following politics.
I have lots of nice things to say, but one bad thing: this blog is not funny. All set up, no punch line.
One of the few blogs I've read so far on this site that actually does something original and works hard at it. Some of it is amusing and I think the author should keep at it.
I can appreciate the effort, but I really like to chuckle when I read a comic, and there were no chuckles elicited here. Plus I'm just not much on politics.
It seems like I'm always telling people in these reviews that their posts need more "punch," and I feel compelled to do it again here. Dry, sophisticated humor is great, but every kind of humor, from
The Three Stooges to
Candide HAS to have punch. I'm no expert in writing political cartoons, but I know enough about humor writing to know that in a two-panel political cartoon,
your second panel has to be all punch. You can't spend the second panel explaining the joke. All the explaining has to be done
before the last panel. Otherwise you're not delivering a punchline in the last panel -- you're delivering a punchline wrapped in bubblewrap nestled in styrofoam packing foam inside a big cardboard box of explication.
That's why the cartoons come across as "amusing" and "original" but not funny. My suggestion would be to come up with jokes that need less explanation (easier said than done, I know), or go to a four panel format where you can get the explanations out of the way before the final frame.
Again, this blogger gets BIG kudos for coming up with 100% original material and being committed enough to post regularly. It's much easier to copy and paste other people's material than it is to come up with stuff like this on a regular basis. I just wish it had a little more...
punch.