The main thing I noticed about them is that they're all about subverting the reader's expectations, and then subverting them again and maybe even once more afterwards. IE: The policeman doesn't have shoot the 'murderous man' he was only stabbing a puppet... but wait, the policeman is a puppet too, being held by the puppet the man was about to stab?!
The vibrant colour palette, the often dark subect matter, the similar and simple looking characters and recycled facial expressions all add to the surreal nature of Cornell's comics. This is something I was eager to experiment with.
Here I tried lampooning one of the big movie twists: The reveal that the planet of the Apes was actually Earth all along. In this case the planet of the cats is revealed to be the Earth all along, but then suddenly the statue of liberty's mask falls of, revealing a giant mouse inside, much to the cat's horror. I feel like the double subversion of a classic movie twist, coupled with the bright colour palette and recycled expressions (tricky when the two characters are of a different species) really adds to the surreal nature of the comic. I also feel like I finally managed to get the simplicity side of the illustration right for once.
From what I've learned doing these experiments, I feel like the most important part of any comedic illustration is simplicity (unless the detail is part of the joke). Nothing should get in the way of the joke. If detailed facial expression adds to the joke, then do it. If a wild colour palette adds to it, then do it. But these things shouldn't be done for their own sake. They might make the illustration nicer, but it could be at the cost of losing it's message.
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