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Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013, A Life In Comics

Published Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:03:19 -0500

Last updated Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:00:42 -0500

I grew up drawing Margaret Thatcher. Mostly copying Steve Bell, but making those eyebrows into horns, my schoolbooks were full of sketches of her. British Prime Minster for 1979 to 1990, she was our most cartooned Prime Minister, aside from Churchill.

Here are some favourites, in comics and cartoons.

From Hellblazer #3 by Jamie Delano and John Ridgeway, John Constantine tortured upside down by free market demons, watching the third election of Margaret Thatcher.

This scene from Alan Moore and John Totleben in Miracleman echoed what would happen years later in 1990 when Thatcher was forced out of office by the Conservative Party.

Grant Morrison and Paul Grist's St Swithin's Day, a young man dreaming of gaining fame by assassinating Margaret Thatcher.

And in Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes' Dare, in which Thatcher in the form of Gloria Monday collaborates with The Mekon. And meets a sticky end.

Hunt Emerson has spent half his life drawing her, recently in Dante's Inferno.

But she really came into life with Dave Sim in Cerebus, a character who would appear for years.

From the beginning, as Education Minister, she was always caricaturable.

And had a physicality that was a gift to the cartoonist. The hair was a real treat.

As was the nose..

In fact, all of her.

And she was… always there.

Spitting Image was defined by Margaret Thatcher, and their critical portrayal of her probably increased her popularity.

And even after she was no longer Prime Minister, her legacy lived on in cartoons, portraying other Prime Ministers or Conservative leaders in her fashion.