World War 3 Illustrated was already known for its commitment to grimfaced,
reality-based cartooning. For the magazine’s artist-editors, the events of 9/11
could be understood and represented within preexisting visual and narrative frameworks.
For visual humorists and satirists, however, 9/11 posed a special set of problems.
The syndicated humor cartoonist Ruben Bolling, for example, initially found
it difficult to put pen to paper: