A cartoon is a type of two-dimensional illustration. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to (a) a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic artistic style of drawing or painting, (b) an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or (c) a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. An artist who creates cartoons is called a cartoonist.
Political cartoons can be humorous or satirical, sometimes with piercing effect.
The target of the humor may complain, but can seldom fight back. Lawsuits have been very rare; the first successful lawsuit against a cartoonist in over a century in Britain came in 1921, when J. H. Thomas, the leader of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), initiated libel proceedings against the magazine of the British Communist Party.
Thomas claimed defamation in the form of cartoons and words depicting the events of "Black Friday", when he allegedly betrayed the locked-out Miners' Federation. To Thomas, the framing of his image by the far left threatened to grievously degrade his character in the popular imagination. Soviet-inspired communism was a new element in European politics, and cartoonists unrestrained by tradition tested the boundaries of libel law.
Thomas won the lawsuit and restored his reputation.