Editorial cartoonist Steve Sack on 36 years of commentary, caricature

Steve Sack has been drawing editorial cartoons since the Reagan administration.

He's captured six different presidents — as well as countless other politicians — in all their caricatured glory: their noses, their ears, their hair...

"Basically, my job description is to read the paper, crack a joke, draw a picture and turn it in," Sack told MPR News host Tom Weber.

If there is one politician he truly misses from the headlines, it's Jesse Venture, the wrester-turned-governor.

"I miss Jesse. He was always fun to draw. He's a walking, talking, living, breathing, harrumphing cartoon of a man. He came with his own costumes: feather boa, bandana, sunglasses, patterned pants."

Sack just put out a book, the clearly labeled "First and Only Book of Sack," which looks back at 36 years of his drawings for the Star Tribune. The collection includes the work that won him the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning in 2013.

The book also captures how Sack's style has changed over time, from pen and ink to charcoal to digital devices. Now, he said, he draws entirely on his iPad.

The newspaper has given him a lot of freedom over the years, even as his cartoons take on the political and the controversial. "They've never told me what to draw or what not to draw," he said. And editors have only killed a handful of his cartoons. "That's very rare."

The drawings in the collection weigh in on far-ranging topics, from pipelines to state budget deficits to the current administration.

"I am the kid who sits at the back of the class and draws pictures of the teacher, and I don't want the teacher to catch me," Sack said. "But here I am now, showing my work to the class."

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