Download color pdf of this artwork here: Buchanan artwork 2024.
Decoder for 2024 Year-in-Revue Holiday Card
1. Wicked. Because 2024 has been boisterous, turbulent, and beyond belief, the new musical fantasy movie Wicked is the perfect theme for our law firm card this holiday season. It is the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, and the rise of the Good Witch of the North, Glinda. In our version, the future (The Wizard of Oz (1939)) meets the past (Wicked (2024)), propelling us back in time to an earlier era where everything is extraordinary, vibrant, and spellbinding. Dorothy Gale of Kansas, her little dog, and new pals trek across the Land of Oz to Emerald City. The story seems so familiar, yet nothing is what we had expected it to be. What we had thought was wicked turns out to be good, and what we had thought was good isn’t.
2. Wurst Accusations. During the presidential debate in September, we heard that French-speaking newcomers moving to a small town in Ohio really enjoy hot dogs. In the frank discussion, one of the soapbox orators claimed, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs!” Later, the town’s mayor said the rap wasn’t true. Here, we witness a Springfield resident grilling a few wieners. Looking at the meat package, these are a special dog from the ranch of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Toto and the cat watching the roast seem a little nervous.
3. Pride of the Lions. In the NFL, the Detroit Lions are a team that has disappointed its loyal fans year after year. They are often blessed with talent but have a habit of losing in big moments and coming up short. However, everything at Ford Field has magically changed with two back-to-back winning seasons. The team, which hasn’t won this many games since 1954, is predicted to reach the Super Bowl for the first time ever.
4. Stealing Signs. In January 2024, the University of Michigan Wolverines football team was crowned the number one college team in America after a perfect season. Under head coach Jim Harbaugh, the team compiled an undefeated 15 – 0 record and won the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines finished the season with the College Football National Championship. But not without a few warts. The Big Ten suspended the coach for the final three games of the regular season to punish the program for allegedly decoding hand signals its opponents used to call plays from the sidelines. Here, we spy Harbaugh tiptoeing off to his new NFL head coaching job in Los Angeles.
5. Games Wide Open! The 2024 Paris Olympics in July and August did not disappoint, showing the world the best France has to offer, its creativity, and its avant-garde spirit. Paris lived up to its event’s slogan of “Games wide open!” and got a gold medal for naughtiness. Highlights include special correspondent Snoop Dogg blowing five Olympic smoke rings standing near the Eiffel Tower, a pole vaulter’s package getting snagged depriving him of a medal, a bespeckled U of M gymnast, nicknamed “Clark Kent,” winning pommel horse with his eyes shut, and the world’s best breakdancer scoring zero points for her kangaroo hop set. Here, we see the Greek god of wine, festivity, and chaos who welcomed the world to the Paris games during the opening ceremony.
6. Defying Gravity. This year we witnessed the weirdest and most unhinged, polarizing, and wicked presidential race in US history. It featured jury trials, assassination attempts, lots of senior moments, a last-minute candidate substitution, and disclosure that a brain had been eaten by worms. We heard the pols on every popular podcast and talk show, and saw one selling digital trading cards, gold sneakers, and $100,000 watches, and cosplaying as a McDonald’s fry cook, a music DJ, and a garbage truck driver. Thankfully for the nation’s sanity, it’s finally come to an end. Here, we catch a glimpse of Elphaba (Kamala Harris) and the Wizard (Donald Trump) squaring off in the UFC octagon ring. Nikko (Tim Walz), commander of the Flying Monkeys, waits for a tag to join the match.
7. Real Housewives of the Supreme Court. In May, Justice Alito’s wife caused a stir when photos leaked that she had flown an American flag upside down – a signal for stop-the-steal – over their home in January 2021. The Justice said his wife was protesting a neighbor’s political yard sign. Here, we see the Alitos’ mailbox alerting the mail carrier that a letter is ready for pick up.
8. The Heiress Tour. In March, Iowa Hawkeye basketball player Caitlin Clark became the biggest star on the planet– even bigger than Taylor Swift – during the NCAA March Madness tournament. The “Caitlin Clark effect” generated over $82 million in consumer spending. Here, one of Clark’s high arcing basketball shots passes between the earth and the sun causing a total solar eclipse, like the one on April 8, 2024.
9. It’s Joe’ver. In July, 81-year-old President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for a second term and wandered off the national stage. No president has done that since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968.
10. Up! The price of a home in 2024 is largely considered out of reach for most young home buyers, particularly for millennials and Gen Z. Here, we see even a small home is sky high.
11. Hurricanes and Cyclones and Twisters! Oh My! 2024 was among the stormiest years on record, with Hurricane Helene (a Category 4) and Hurricane Milton (a Category 5) cutting wide canyons of destruction through the southeast in September and October. Helene alone spawned over 20 tornadoes. Closer to home in Michigan, a tornado ripped through Portage in May destroying homes and businesses. Life imitates film. Hollywood released Twisters in July, a sequel to the 1996 disaster movie.
12. We’re Not in Kansas Anymore. The Biden Administration’s policy added thousands of new US housing starts to its accomplishments. In the spring, this new “temporary” housing popped up almost overnight on college campuses across the nation (over the Gaza-Israel war) just in time for graduation. Here, we see dozens of tents in the quad of Shiz University.