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An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration or comic strip containing a political or social message.

Editorial cartoons can be very diverse, but there is a certain established style among most of them. Most editorial cartoons use visual metaphors and caricatures to explain complicated political situtations, and thus sum up a current event with a humorous picture.

Over the years, certain common metaphors and symbols have been repeatedly used by many different cartoonists. Examples include the use of a donkey and elephant to represent the United States Democratic Party and United States Republican Party respectively, Uncle Sam to represent the United States, a bearFor other meanings, see Bear (disambiguation). Ailuropoda Ursus Tremarctos Arctodus A bear is a large mammal of the order Carnivora, family Ursidae . The adjective, ursine is used to describe things of bearlike nature. Physical attributes Common character to represent RussiaThe Russian Federation ( Russian: , transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija , or Russia (Russian: , transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. With, a dragonThe Chinese dragon (; pinyin: long2; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. Long a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art, it is the embodiment of the concept of yang and associated with the weather and water as th to represent ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute, and so forth.

In modern political cartooning a division has started to emerge between two styles of cartooning. The tradtional style, involving visual metaphors is described as the 'nasti' style, named after Thomas NastThomas Nast ( September 27, 1840 December 7, 1902) was a famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century. He was born in the military barracks of Landau, Germany (in the Rhine Palatinate), the son of a musician in the 9th regiment Bavaria, an American cartoonist generally considered to be the modern founder of political cartooning. The second style is a much more text heavy 'alti' style that tells a linear story, usually in comic strip format. This style is becoming more popular, especially among left wing cartoonists, but is often denounced by traditionalists as being little more editorial columns desguised as cartoons.

Editorial cartoons can usually be found on the editorial page of most newspapers, although a few, like Garry TrudeauGarretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist. He attended St. Paul's School and then Yale University in the late 1960s, where he developed his most famous creation, the daily comic strip Doonesbury. Doonesbury is syndicated to's DoonesburyDoonesbury is a comic strip by Garry Trudeau, popular in the United States. The title comes from the name of one of the main characters, Michael Doonesbury, a character Trudeau originally modeled after himself. The character's name is a combination of the are sometimes found on the regular comics page.