CarTOONS

Cars are so much a part of our American culture that we can't seem to get enough of them. Very often, they even show up in our entertainment and take on a life and popularity of their own. Who (of a certain age) doesn't remember the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, or KITT from Knight Rider?

Contemporary audiences are probably familiar with the commercials featuring the talking cars from Chevron, or the various cartoons and comic strips where cars are heavily represented:

• Speed Racer and his trusty automobile Mach 5 made their debut on American TV in 1966, but even pop culture junkies today continue to reference the first commercially successful anime cartoon in the U.S.

• In the popular Batman series of comic books, cartoons, and TV shows, The Batmobile was practically a character itself. Today, fans continue to write about the evolution of this spectacular car through its history.

• Cars, the recent animated feature by Pixar, has no human characters at all. With voices by Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Cheech Marin, and Michael Keaton, the film gives cars a personality all their own.

Because we are so enamored with our automobiles, it makes sense that we would also find a lot of humor in them. Driving and owning a car are shared experiences that affect most of American adults today, regardless of geographical location, economic status, race, or gender.

Cartoons related to cars and driving are jokes that most of us can laugh at. Who hasn't had a hard time with a pushy salesman, or experienced a breakdown on the freeway, or had a fender-bender at some point?

Check out the following links for even more car-related comedy:

• Automobile Cartoons

• Cartoonist Group's Automobile Cartoons

• Off the Mark Car Comics

• Cartoon Room's Car Toons