Skycity Fire in New Zealand - Editorial Cartoon

I created this editorial cartoon because I assume that no one I know from the US keeps up with news from New Zealand. Unless it's on breaking news, the US doesn’t know about it. I want to poke the bubble that New Zealand lives in and share its stories with people in the United States. 
I created two panels in my editorial cartoon to show the fire in Skycity, Auckland, which occurred a few weeks ago. I used labels such as “Sky City” and “Auckland, New Zealand” to show that this was a new setting. I added to this by adding buildings including the Skytower in the background. I used exclamation marks around the blowtorch to show that it was left on and dangerous. Although this was a serious fire I wanted to include some New Zealand slang and humor, so I made the construction man who starts the fire say “Fish and Chips for lunch, mate?” to add a little light to the situation. There is dramatic irony in the cartoon as the man is completely oblivious that his blowtorch is off, yet the reader knows that it is left on and is dangerous, due to the exclamation points. There is an exaggeration in the story because I needed the reader to understand that the setting was in a construction site in Auckland, otherwise it would be confusing and hard to read. What I’ve learned from editorial cartoons is that you don’t have to just write to share your opinion on a subject matter, you can draw it too. I’ve learned that writing is not the only form of political journalism and that there are many ways to share your ideas.By Mackenzie Ward