Punch; or The London Charivari needs little introduction to readers of this journal but, as Amy Matthewson asserts at the start of Cartooning China, the usefulness of Punch’s cartoons to historians of the Victorian period, for buttressing an argument or to illustrate a point, results in an inevitable selectivity. Not only does such scholarly selectivity have the propensity for obscuring political complexity or underestimating diversity of opinion, but the relegation of satirical cartoons to supporting material detracts from the value of these works as a resource in their own right. An acknowledgement of cartoons as being worthy of focussed historical scholarship is the impetus behind Routledge’s new series Global Perspectives in Comics Studies, of which Cartooning China is the inaugural publication. Matthewson’s focus is the role played by Punch in the creation and circulation of attitudes towards China and Chinese people. She concentrates on what were known at Punch as ‘Large Cuts’, the most important cartoon in each weekly edition. Only topics ‘hot’ enough in the daily press would merit a Large Cut, a full-page image with accompanying witty text. Who or what would ‘make the cut’ was a decision thrashed out by the magazine’s staff members at convivial Wednesday dinners over brandy and cigars. Each man, with his own, often very divergent opinions or political leanings, jostled to have his idea accepted. The illustration had then to be commissioned and completed by Friday night when it was sent to the engraver. Given that the decades of Victoria’s reign were a fairly tumultuous time for Sino-British relations, encompassing two Opium Wars and the Boxer Uprising, it is perhaps surprising, taking the Large Cuts as indicative of what most preoccupied Punch, that interest in China remained relatively minimal until the First Sino-Japanese War (1890–1895). Matthewson’s survey demonstrates a massive spike in the 1890s and she concludes that with the unexpected emergence of Japan as an imperial contender, Britain’s standing as a global power vis-à-vis China was of far greater concern than any relationship, socio-cultural or political between the two nations. This observation in itself makes an excellent case for studying cartoons as primary material.