Cartoon Autopsy: Exhibit A

I’m pretty sure this was the first gag cartoon set in a courtroom that I ever drew. Court scenes are a common trope in gag cartoons. We’re all at least somewhat familiar with basic ideas about courts and trials, probably most of us from TV and movies, though some of us may have had the dutiful displeasure of being on jury duty or being in a trial. So they can make for good fodder to screw around with in a cartoon.

More than likely I came up with the idea for this cartoon by using my handy list of common tropes. It’s basically a combination of two unrelated tropes smooshed together. Put The Wizard of Oz and a courtroom together and what do you get? Let your brain meander around that for a while and it doesn’t take long to get to the idea that Dorothy‘s house killed the witch and so, I’m guessing that would probably be considered manslaughter? And Thus, Dorothy finds herself on trial.