New Toon: Santorum of the Rings

click to enlarge

Santorum actually said eveything in the first panel, so this cartoon pretty much wrote itself.

New Toon: Back to the Dark Ages

click to enlarge

I wanted to post this today before this issue gets old. Plus I may have a second cartoon for Thursday.

The only thing preventing us from embryonic stem cell research is fanatical Christians. The only basis for actually opposing this promising science seems to be the concern that a clump of cells is a sacred life form with a soul. These people will no doubt want to share the benefits of the cure once we finally overcome their lunacy.

I'll post the Seattle Stranger strip tomorrow.

Judgement House

I have a new comic out that is a bit of undercover comic reporting from a Christian Judgment House. These are a new take on haunted houses which basically serve to convert you to Christianity by showing you hell and other scary sinful acts, or in their words, "just present you with some truth". You can read it online at campusprogress.org and at the Humanist News Network website. You can also catch it in print in the Buffalo Beast, Anchorage Press, Chico Beat, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle.

I also appear on the Humanist news Network podcast this month to talk about Judgment House for a few minutes.

You should definitely listen to the podcast, not for me, but for their interview with Julia Sweeny (famous for her SNL role as Pat). She has a new one woman show called Letting Go of God, about her journey from Christianity to Buddhism to New Age crap to Atheism. The audio samples on her website are great.

New Toon: Bush Intends To Follow Law!

click to enlarge

Rall posted a link to this Keith Olbermann video last week on the death of Habeas Corpus. I'd recommend this one, in which he goes through the Bill of Rights to determine which are left. It's a funny segment about the whittling away of the Constitution.

New Illustration

Her is a poster I designed for a comedian in New Orleans who is having comic artists do posters for his shows over the next year to help revitalize the comedy scene in New Orleans. You can see a whole bunch of the posters so far on his myspace page, including ones by Pete Bagge, Tony Millionaire, and Colleen Coover.

click to enlarge

Serializer.net

Serializer.net is back! Idiot Box will be appearing there on Thursday, same as here. I recommend Tom Hart's daily, Hutch Owen. Here's a complete list of the comics:

MONDAY
Jen Sorensen, “Slowpoke”
Rick Smith and Tania Menesse, “Shuck Stripped”
Spike, “Templar, Arizona”
Eric Millikin, “Fetus-X”
Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
Ryan North, “Dinosaur Comics”

TUESDAY
Metaphrog “Louis: Lying to Clive”
Jenny Gonzalez, “Too Negative”
Casey Sorrow, “Feral Calf”
Phil McAndrew, “Bean” and/or “Hug the Cactus”
Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
Ryan North, “Dinosaur Comics”

WEDNESDAY
Renée French, “micrographica”
Sam Henderson, “The Magic Whistle”
Spike and Ainsley Seago, “Blikada”
Sean Bieri , “Jape”
Jonathan Larabie, “The Minibar Bill”
Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
Ryan North, “Dinosaur Comics”

THURSDAY
Matt Bors, “Idiot Box”
Matt Feazell, “Amazing Cynical Man!”
Jason Turner, “True Loves”
Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
Ryan North, “Dinosaur Comics”

FRIDAY
Patrick Farley, “Apocamon: The Final Judgement”
Joey Comeau and Emily Horne, “A Softer World”
Merlin Goodbrey & Douglas Noble, “The Rule of Death”
Spike, “Templar, Arizona”
Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
Ryan North, “Dinosaur Comics”

NOTE THAT:
Joda Thayer, “Few and Far Between,” will start daily around the week of Nov. 6
Nick Bertozzi will be joining us in a couple months after he finishes a text book illustration project where the deadline got bumped up.

New Toon: Grueling Celebrity Decisions

click to enlarge

Left Behind

I have a full page comic in this week's Boston Phoenix about the new video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces. The comic can be found here. The website for the game here.

New Toon: The Frontiers Of Science

click to enlarge

Finally something not political! I realized just how long it's been since I did something independent of the news cycle lately...and who doesn't want to make fun of the New Age movement and Alternative Medicine? Well, maybe you, I don't know. Most people believe in at least one kooky idea. It's hard these days to find someone who is truly skeptical and acknowledges empiricism as the only process of determining truth. I'll be making an attempt over the next few months to do more non-political strips as I have quite a few written that I like.

Judging from my traffic increase in the last year, at least half of you reading this have not even seen the strips in my first book A Pamphlet For Torture Enthusiasts. You should consider buying one. Now that I expended even more of my copies at SPX the supplies are getting low for both of my collections, especially the first one. After they are gone I doubt I'll make more. The contents of both books are not archived on the site so if you dig the strip, get one!

Serializer is back!

Serializer.net, a popular site for webcomics, will be relaunching October 22nd with a giant cast of great material. Some of the comics are only available through subscription and won't appear anywhere else on the web. Idiot Box will be included as a free strip along with fellow CWA cartoon Slowpoke (check out her latest by the way). Here's a partial list of the lineup:

• Nick Bertozzi, As Yet Untitled Experimental Comics, then “Drop Ceiling”
• Matt Bors, “Idiot Box”
• Patrick Farley, “Apocamon: The Final Judgement”
• Matt Feazell, “Amazing Cynical Man!”
• Renée French, “micrographica”
• Jenny Gonzalez, “Too Negative”
• Merlin Goodbrey & Douglas Noble, “The Rule of Death”
• Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen”
• Sam Henderson, “The Magic Whistle”
• Jonathan Larabie, “The Minibar Bill”
• Phil McAndrew, “Bean” and/or “Hug the Cactus”
• Metaphrog “Louis - Lying to Clive”
• Eric Millikin, “Fetus-X”
• Jen Sorensen, “Slowpoke”
• Casey Sorrow, “Feral Calf”
• Joda Thayer, “Few and Far Between”
• Jason Turner, “True Loves”

Weekly Woof

The Weekly Woof, a kids comic I do for BlackDog.net, is Halloween themed this month. If you don't check it out, you'll never know the answer to "what kind of wolf doesn't know where he's going?"

Amtrak

I rode the Amtrak back from DC Sunday evening in what was supposed to be a 9 hour ride to Alliance, Ohio. But when a 60 year old drunken hillbilly stole a tractor and left it on the tracks for us to plow into at full speed, it delayed the trip a bit. I was a bit pissed off so I found a 60 year old drunken hillbilly passenger and made him share his whisky with me. 60 year old drunken hillbillies. I love 'em.

I've been busy ever since I got back from SPX early Monday morning busting my hump to get some comics done. I'll be posting a cool new one-pager later this week. Some new products and Holiday deals on existing products are coming in the next month starting with my Johnny Cash shirts, which should be available to purchase by Monday.

New Toon: Gay Republicans

click to enlarge

Dan Savage, the Editor of the Stranger, famously redefined Santorum's name in a column back in 2003.

New Toon: Scandal Infighting

click to enlarge

The level of denial Republicans are in over the Foley Scandal is amazing. August says it pretty well here. A post over at ThinkProgress deserves some attention for perfectly displaying the methodology of these assholes. In the clip, a Republican Congressman on CNN starts spouting nonsense about a Liberal conspiracy:

BLITZER: Do you have any evidence at all that Democrats or others might have been behind the timing of this scandal?

MCHENRY: Look, let’s be honest…

BLITZER: Do you have any evidence to back that charge up?

MCHENRY: No, no, actually, if the Democrats had any issue with saying this, putting all the facts out on the table, they would say, certainly, I’ll testify under oath that I had no involvement in it. They’ve said no.

BLITZER: Well, you don’t have any evidence, though, right?

MCHENRY: Well, look at the fact points.

BLITZER: Yes or no, do you have any evidence, Congressman?

MCHENRY: Do you have any evidence that they weren’t involved?

BLITZER: I’m just asking if you’re just throwing out an accusation or if you have any hard evidence.
(there's video)

The burden is on the Democrats to testify under oath because people with websites and this guy say so. This is what passes as political discourse in this country. It's the same arguments that the creationists use: make claims without evidence and declare them correct when people can't prove you wrong.

What the fuck are "fact points" by the way?

And I'm off to DC! The home of all the men ruining the country. Stop by Politics and Prose Thursday Night or the Small Press Expo in Bethesda on Friday and Saturday!

The Amazing Mike Lester

This cartoon astounds me on so many levels.

New Illustrations

Another cover for the Anchorage Press. This one is a lineup of their three candidates for Governor

click to enlarge

And an unpublished one for the Boston Phoenix. It was for a cover story about tricks the GOP might pull before election.

click to enlarge

Toons to check out

• Slowpoke plays Two-Party Monte
• Ted Rall follows up Flat Daddies with Plastidads
  
• A Softer World watches whales die
• Mikhaela shows us other Republican IM conversations
  

New Toon: Afghanistan

click to enlarge

Afghanistan is just coming along swell, isn't it?

Go See It:

Jesus Camp. The most frightening movie I have seen in my life.

Nietzche Family Circus!

Nietzche Family Circus! Hit refresh for more of Billy's wisdom!

New Toon: Invade Sudan

click to enlarge

In a few weeks I'll be doing some one page comics including a "Get To The Polls" board game for Ohioans and some first hand comic reporting from a Christian Judgement House!

Book Signing and Convention Appearance!

I will be leaving my cave this month to sign books and sell comics in the DC area. With any luck I'll have new stuff including my "Cash Rules..." shirts.

Oct. 12 at 7 p.m
ATTITUDE signing at POLITICS & PROSE.
Featuring Ted Rall, Mikhaela Reid, Matt Bors, Jen Sorensen, Masheka Wood, August Pollak, Ben Smith, Stephanie McMillan and Brian McFadden
At Politics & Prose bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008. (map)

SPX Oct. 13-14
I will be tabling with CARTOONISTS WITH ATTITUDE
Matt Bors, Brian McFadden, Stephanie McMillan, August Pollak, Ted Rall, Mikhaela Reid, Ben Smith, Jen Sorensen, and Masheka Wood will all be there. Everyone will have books, art, and merchandise for sale.

If you don't know what Cartoonists With Attitude is, it's a collective of "alternative" cartoonists that have appeared in the Attitude series. SPX will be our inaugural event. We are banding together at conventions when possible and running a group blog here

Conservative Christians Speak

Tony Perkins speaks on why Congressmen want to have sex with teenagers:

When we told up tolerance and diversity as the guideposts for public life, this is what you end up getting.

Who wants to be a part of a movement where "tolerance and diversity" are considered bad--contrary to the teachings of Jesus? Answer: Conservative Christians who worship the guy. Go Figure.

And the recent string of school shootings is to blame on teaching evolution, according to a father of a Columbine victim who has been completely deranged by his faith. (via ThinkProgress.org.)

What is so bad about America today that religious fanatics hate? By "fanatic" I mean the majority of the nation who believe in creationism and that homosexuality is morally wrong. What point in our past was better? the first century? Dark Ages? the Colonial days of starvation and disease (but with a strong faith in God)? the 50's was a great time to be alive...if you were white. Just when is it that we have declined in our morals?

Our society is not falling apart. Our current culture of sex and violence in movies is not depraved. Slavery was depraved. And it was supported by Christians citing verses from the Bible that support the practice (who were defeated by Christians from the North who had the "correct" interpretation). They have resisted every single advance in our society, including the understanding that the Earth is not, in fact, flat.

And yet these people benefit from every advance in the Science that they fight against. Makes me sick how much airtime they get.

New Toon: Crizbolca

click to enlarge

We have debates in this country over whether or not a man running for Senator sawed off a deer's head and stuffed it in a black family's mailbox. There's a reason why Republicans only get 10% of the black vote. Every Republican--and perhaps every elected official--seems to be some combination of racist, child molester, womanizer, closeted gay, drug addict, money launderer, and liar.

Other people doing cartoons on Allen include Brian, Jen, and August.

For a great run through of the GOP's racist Southern Strategy, check out this episode of the Blast the Right podcast.

New Toon: Culture Warrior

click to enlarge

Bill O' Reilly is the kind of bloviating moron that should just be ignored, but a post on ThinkProgress.org last week got my blood boiling. In his new book, Culture Warrior, O'Reilly details what secular progressives and Al Qaeda have in common:

Both outfits believe that the United States of America is fundamentally a bad place.

…The bedrock belief that America is, and has been, an evil country is crucial to understanding the secular-progressive point of view when it comes to the war on terror.

Yes, people who don't want the Ten Commandments on our public land share similar worldviews with the muderous fanatics of Al Qaeda. Isn't it conservative Christians who think America is an evil place rife with the sins of pornography, sex, obscene music, violent movies, gay rights, and abortion? Isn't our Liberal and free society why they attacked us according to the Religious Right?

I can't wrap my brain around this fight against secularism. Exactly what kind of country would Mr. O'Reilly prefer we live in?

New cartoons Tuesday and Thursday