Cartooning is a serious business, perhaps never more so than when issues of war and violence are brought to the drawing board. The past 30 years have witnessed many occasions when peace has been threatened throughout the world. During such times the role of the cartoonist is sometimes to allow us to laugh, but mostly to inform and help us reflect.

Throughout his career Larry Pickering produced a number of hard-hitting cartoons about threats to peace. Early in his career his work discussed the Vietnam War, and later looked at issues such as French nuclear testing and the reign of Idi Amin in Uganda. The decision of some Australian athletes to attend the 1980 Moscow Olympics sparked many of Pickering’s strongest political comments.

Covering the past 25 years and continuing into the present day, Geoff Pryor’s career has seen ample opportunities for discussions about violence, war and terrorism. His work on these issues reminds us of the power of cartoons to strip back complex debate to raw fundamentals.