Bad Cartoonist

Over the last few years, more and more editorial cartoonists are ridiculing their own profession. I'm not sure if this happens in many other communities, but we specialize in wielding brickbats so why not on ourselves? The best example is Ward Sutton's weekly cartoons in the Onion, which parody a hack cartoonist.

The latest critic is an anonymous editorial cartoonist that started a blog called Bad Cartoonist ripping on work, sometimes with some personal attacks thrown in. He (it's almost certainly a man) is definitely a professional cartoonist with personal knowledge of the people he's attacking so it's whipping up a firestorm of speculation. The Daily Cartoonist has an interview with the unknown blogger and a growing comment thread with a lot of pros responding. Justin Bilicki already has a comic about it.

Internal criticism is sometimes hard to take, but editorial cartooning desperately needs it. The artist should have started the blog with their name on it, but whatever. I guess it's more exciting this way. Everyone gets to call each other and rampantly speculate! Maybe we can out him like Larry Craig.

I've been told that some artists have floated my name as a possibility. It's not me.

I have been critical of the state of political cartoons though. The first time a lot of people saw my work was when Cagle posted this cartoon on his blog on 2005.

The Bad Cartoonist brings up a lot of embarrassing characteristics of "mainstream" comics--the cliche driven metaphors, the random cross hatching thrown behind word bubbles for no apparent reason, and the Jeff MacNelly style that so many cartoonist derive their work from.

The blog is enraging some pros because of the anonymous nature of the criticism (and the ad hominem attacks). I understand their beef. But I think the blog points out something important about this diminishing profession: There's simply too much unoriginal work drawn in very similar styles.

It's the fault of the artists as well as their editors. The decades-long drive to get an editorial cartoon that appeals to all readers has lead to safe, homogenized, and uninspiring cartoons that most everyday people can't even differentiate. Many editors are fearful of any cartoon that takes a partisan position and instead reprint safe political gag cartoons (as exemplified by the cartoons run three inches wide in Newsweek).

I just don't see the excessive labeling and holiday metaphors (cupid shooting arrows at whomever is in the news near Valentine's Day) as resonating with people in 2008. It's time to move on from that.

The anonymous criticism within our ranks may spawn resentment and paranoia but hopefully it will embarrass some people to do better work.

Standards

I think the New York Times made a mistake placing so much emphasis on McCain's possible romantic relationship with a lobbyist. It looks like he very well may have been messin' around, but there just wasn't enough solid evidence for such an explosive allegation. The real issue, his longstanding hypocrisy in dealing with lobbyists, became overshadowed as we recoiled in horror at the thought of having sex with John McCain.

It's funny to see people like Sean Hannity denouncing the Times for their lack of evidence and anonymous sourcing while still peddling conspiracy theories about Vince Foster. That level of cognitive dissonance should be studied.

The muslim smear on Obama is here to stay and hopefully will only affect morons who wouldn't have voted Democratic in the first place. My dad told me a coworker of his pulled him over and showed him the photo of Obama in Kenyan tribal gear. "He's wearing what the enemy wears!" he said. Yes, these people are real.

Monday: Ralph Nader

contact

I just found out the e-mail I have on this site hasn't been working since I switched over to a new server. I'll switch the info when I get a chance, but if you'd like to contact me use: comics -at- mattbors -dot- com

Go Postal

The USPS announced another rate increase.

A First-Class Mail stamp will be 42¢. Customers can continue to use the Forever Stamps that they purchased prior to May 12 at 41¢, even after the price change. We will have 5 billion Forever Stamps in stock to meet increased demand before the price change.

It's only going to get worse as time goes on. Just remember what I told you.

Doodle

Gitmo Graves

Sorry for the late update. My head was sore after watching Tim Russert be an asshole during last night's debates and thus needed to go immediately to bed without updating. Why was Russert so obsessed with linking Obama to Louis Farrakhan?

The comic is basically what I posted about last week. We're going to bury detainees there in a muslim-friendly grave. I'm sure they'll be pleased by the hospitality.

Speaking of Wasting Money...

The New York Times, horserace style, on donuts:

Among the Republicans, John McCain trailed Mitt Romney — $923.70 to $992.91 — in Dunkin’ Donuts bills, but spent $116.79 on Krispy Kremes in Reno, Nev., to put him ahead. Ron Paul’s doughnut bills totaled $108.07. Rudolph W. Giuliani’s campaign didn’t itemize doughnuts, but listed a $5,100 bill at Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas.

Madrassa Veterans For Truth Strike!

uh oh.

The Clinton camp is clearly plagiarizing my work. Just days after releasing this comic, Clinton incorporated my mocking of Obama into her stump speech, saying "The Sky Will Open, The Light Will Come Down." Exactly what happened in my comic.

Now they are "circulating" this picture of Obama in the muslim terror garb of his rancid relatives. See my Madrassa Veterans For Truth comics here and here where I lay out the blueprints for this attack that the Clinton campaign technocrats have shamelessly stolen and used, without attribution or approval, for their partisan political purposes.

Shame on you, Hillary Clinton. Shame on you.

Cartoons...good/bad

The best two cartoons I spotted this morning over at the AAEC site are from Jen Sorensen and Ann Telnaes--two of the best political cartoonists working today. (And some of the only females). Why don't they have staff jobs?

(click here to view)

Ann Telnaes Cartoonists & Writers … Feb 25, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

(click here to view)

Jen Sorensen Village Voice, C-VILLE Weekly Feb 25, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

And the McCain scandal has given lazy cartoonists a day off. Mike Luckovich draws McCain in bed with lobbyists. You see, this is better than the usual depiction of a politician/Uncle Sam/Elephant in bed with a fat man labeled "lobbyist" because McCain may have literally been in bed with lobbyists. Maybe it's meta-commentary on bad cartoons. Who knows?

(click here to view)

Mike Luckovich Atlanta Journal-Constitution Feb 25, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

And this one is kind of awkward.

(click here to view)

Jimmy Margulies The Record Feb 25, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

no farting in the tub, Hillary!

Joe on Torture

Joe Lieberman is a despicable little turd of a man. Like his close friend John McCain, he recently voted against banning waterboarding, saying “It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological.”

First, Joe judges the severity of torture programs against the practice melting people's flesh off with white hot coals. So there's that.

Then there's the notion that psychological torture isn't a big deal, which reflects are country's lack of understanding and caring for mental health. Destroying someone's mind and personality is crime and violation of human rights. And you can do it without being violent. After years of isolation, sensory deprivation and mind games, Jose Padilla--an American citizen that was held as an "enemy combatant" and denied a trial for years--is said to behave "like a piece of furniture." Lieberman isn't just a traitor to his party, but to the Constitution.

I'm looking forward to him doing a Zell Miller this year at the Republican Convention.

Duct Tape Power

Appearing today in The Oregonian.

Portlanders get so crazy about reserving a spot for the Grand Floral Parade every year that they start taping off sections of the sidewalk a week in advance--mostly folks from the suburbs who can't get their lazy asses up early enough to reserve a spot on parade day and call the practice a "tradition." It's so out of control City Council is getting involved to fine people that do it.

Most city dwellers can't stand the practice and understand the absurdity in staking a claim to public space.

Faith

news

War Is Boring will not be appearing again for a while. David and I are looking at ways to get it published into a collection once we have enough material. I am continuing to draw pages but they are for longer stories intended for a future book and won't be appearing as serialized bi-weekly installments--at least not for the time being.

The ACLU comic, Civil Discourse, will begin as soon as the ACLU tech people get the little mini site up and running for the strip. Should be sooner rather than later.

Comics

Nicholas Gurewitch has decided to stop creating his popular strip The Perry Bible Fellowship, which runs in the Guardian and a number of alt weeklies.

In a letter to his clients he writes:

"I'm making this decision for a variety of reasons, but mainly because I want to do other things besides be a cartoonist."

Who would want to do other things besides be a cartoonist? oh well.

Update: The Comics Reporter points way to this piece, which quotes Gurewitch as saying the strip will continue and be produced at "undetermined intervals."

In other news, some magazine names cartoonist Mr.Fish as one of ten people to watch this election cycle. While I caution against listening to the top ten lists of men's magazines, you really should be reading his comics.

(via aan.org)

Speeches

In tonight's speech Clinton started the "Yes We Will!" mantra to combat the "Yes We Can!" of Obama. Hillary, you can't beat the hope machine at his own game.

Goods

The first mini-comic collection of my strips is sold out and I only have one copy of The Sluts Of Guantanamo Bay left. I plan on getting a proper collection of my strips out this year, but most of these comics won't be in it. Last Chance.

I also only have one copy of Attitude 3 left. If you buy it through my site I'll do a drawing inside it for you of whatever you want.

Order them both in the store.

UPDATE: Sold.

Backseat Humping

Here's an illustration I did recently for the Portland Mercury's Sex Issue.

I do it

Harper's Magazine latest Findings section finds "One third of Americans Google themselves."

Gitmo Trials

When Lord Reagan took office the TV showed the Iranian hostages being released on a split screen. Perhaps the executions for the 9/11 trials could be shown while John Sidney McCain III takes his oath of office.

The detainees will need to be executed on the island. U.S. laws don't apply there and we've thrown international law into the trashcan so they could really come up with some creative and entertaining methods to get rid of them like in Stephen King's The Running Man and The Long Walk. Those books were set in the "near future" when they were written and are more overdo than hover cars. It would be far more entertaining that the revived American Gladiators.

100 years

In future presidential races candidates may take note of John McCain's run and decide not to say we will be in conflicts for "100 years" or that "there's gonna be other wars, I'm sorry to tell you, other wars." It's just not the sunny optimism voters want.

Civil Discourse

My new strip for the ACLU, Civil Discourse, could begin as early as next Tuesday. I've been mentioning it here for a long time and were inching forward to the launch. I already have a small stockpile of strips ready.

A full press release will be issued by the ACLU when it launches. I'll post that, a link to the strip and any other pertinent information when the day arrives.

First Black President

For all practical purposes Obama is black. If people don't vote for Obama because they're racist, it's because they see him as black. But he's half white. And I wonder if this country will ever elect a president that has two black parents. If so, will they be referred to as our "first black president?"

Bill Clinton was also our "first black president" and, amazingly, Barack was asked whether or not this was true at a CNN Debate.

Gitmo

Looks like the Guantanamo detainees who are being tried for their (alleged) role in 9/11 could be executed on the island. Doing so on our soil would entitle them to something other than a military show trial. Something caught my eye in the AP article:

The condemned men could even be buried at Guantanamo. A Muslim section of the cemetery at Guantanamo has been dedicated by an Islamic cultural adviser, said Bruce Lloyd, spokesman for the Guantanamo Naval Station. Among those buried elsewhere at the cemetery are U.S. servicemen.

They have an Islamic cultural adviser? How nice of them. Have they asked him about all the torture or does he just prep the graveyard?

Obama

The two remaining Democratic candidates are frustratingly similar, but to talk to their sycophantic followers you'd think the differences span the gulf between Mao and Lord Reagan. I've got plenty of problems with Hillary, but Obama definitely suffers from a cult of personality. I fear he will not properly use the bully pulpit of the presidency to bat back Republican opposition.

Ending "partisan bickering" sounds great but we all don't agree about the "changes" necessary. Talking about universal health care in bromides won't make right-wing opposition to it any less fierce (not that Obama is offering true universal health care anyway).

The "Yes We Can" so-called song by Will.I.Am released recently captures precisely what I hate so much about his campaign. Many people find it inspirational but it makes me gag. It's about a celebrity made by celebrities. And it's clear a lot his followers have projected their greatest desires onto him.

In Will.I.Am's (does this guy have a real name?) post on the his obligatory celebrity blog at the Huffington Post he explains why he wrote it. Instead of a straight forward grammatical structure with complete sentences, it's written in a bizarre, pretentious poem-like ramble:

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech...
like many great speeches...
that one moved me...

Do people lose all skepticism of politicians when they talk a good game? (see The History of Mankind for the answer). What you really have here is a campaign speech that was carefully crafted by speech writers to be broad, inspirational and lack substance. Then a bunch of millionaires got together, laid down a guitar track and sung the speech, all while staring earnestly into the camera.


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You've probably seen it all over the internet, but the McCain parody of that video is brilliant.

Quote of the Week--in Monday morning's paper!

Huckabee on it being mathematically impossible at this point for him to beat McCain:

“I didn’t major in math, I majored in miracles”

Wieners

Cloned Beef will be appearing on the American market soon since the FDA has recently approved it. Despite lacking a single scientific reason, a lot of people worry that cloned beef will somehow be worse than normal beef that is ground up in a slaughterhouse. Alec Baldwin, who for some reason has his thoughts put on one of the most popular political websites in the world, the Huffington Post, cites worries such as "Many in Congress also oppose the FDA ruling," which is not a good indicator of anything. Many in Congress opposes stem cell research and the idea of human rights.

Beef isn't healthy for you and I don't eat it. I hardly eat any meat. I also don't think cloning is weird. Factory farming is incredibly wasteful (not to mention unnecessarily cruel). I'm looking forward to the day when we can produce meat on giant trays, without bodies attached, and rid ourselves of the moral quandaries and environmental costs of producing meat (it's being worked on). We could make it healthier, in whatever colors are in that season and taste like mint chocolate chip ice cream! I, for one, am quite excited about the Brave New World!

We can also make this Bob The Angry Flower strip become a reality. And I want to do that as often as science permits so I hope someone smart is on top of it.

uh huh

So this is basically what I said in the fifth panel my latest comic while attempting to parody Ann Coulter:

"I know that [he was a POW]," Coulter declared, "because he mentions it more often than Kerry mentions he was in Vietnam. There were hundreds of POWs and we are not going to make all president. Can't we find a POW who doesn't want to shut down Guantanamo."

I unfortunately read her columns every week and I think they are basically a comedy routine--there's nothing remotely informative, just banter targeted at the most unthinking of the right wing. Her columns don't read like a normal op-ed. A Kristof, Krauthammer or even a Kristol column is rooted in some form of internal logic that makes it cohesive even if they are entirely wrong or based on a fantastic notion. Coulter just throws out one liners with no purpose other than to offend and baffle, like a political Andrew Dice Clay.

"The only way I can promise that I won't vote for Hillary Clinton is if John McCain appoints her as his vice president." [...]

As for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani: He "enthusiastically supported torturing terrorists," she said to great applause. "McCain hysterically opposes dripping water down the terrorist's noses."

And what if the unthinkable happens, and President McCain is inaugurated? I've led an impeachment movement before, Coulter said, and "I can lead another one."

I recant what I said earlier about her just wanting to sell books. She is disturbed and must be committed to an institution as soon as possible.

Valentines

Big Fat Whale's annual Valentines are up. Check them out.

Right Wing Revolt

The Right-Wing's revolt over John McCain surprised me. I know the man doesn't follow conservative orthodoxy on everything but he's solidly right, a government destroyer, a social conservative, war hawk, will nominate Justices "of the character and quality of Justices Roberts and Alito" and has come around on walling off the southern border. The man's image as a war hero and maverick will play well in a general election and he represents the best chance they have at retaining the White House after eight years of disaster.

Gail Collins summed it up thusly: "Once again, the reason for everything terrible about American politics for the last 20 years becomes clear. These people are nuts."

That's it really. They're insane. A man who wants to take us to war with Iran and stay in Iraq for one hundred years is not tough enough to Ann Coulter because he opposes torture. I think her and Rush realize they can make millions selling anti-Hillary screeds for the next 8 years and worry that under McCain their invective would be less needed.

Watch out for Romney's return. It seems clear this guy will run again. I think him and Newt Gingrich are waiting in the wings for a democratic administration so they can swoop in as a savior and return the party to its conservative roots.

Point, Counterpoint

Just what did cause those tornadoes?

Standing Wednesday amid the debris field of twisted metal and pink insulation, Carmon Lagunes struggled to grasp why God would take her sister.

"That's his wrath," she said, looking toward the wreckage. "For some reason, he's not happy right now and this is. ... Nobody understands God's will. I sure as hell don't understand it.

Said Anita Goodnight, the sisters' aunt: "God didn't do it. Satan did."

Doppler radar confirms the second theory.

Key Endorsement

Obama's soaring rhetoric can be nauseating at times. (I must be one of the cynics he's always referring to). I want to write little more about his overly rosy ways, but work calls so I'll get to it later.

The Tattooed Bandit

I did this comic for the opinion section of The Oregonian on Sunday--my first comic on a local issue for them.

Sheriff Bernie Giusto is barely hanging on to his job. The list of ethical violations he has committed is too long to go into, but a recent one is laid out in the first panel so you can understand the comic even if you don't known who the guy is. The last panel is a reference to Portland's recent crackdown on fare dodgers on the light rail.

It felt great doing something on a local topic. All of my comics are on national issues and it's hard to imagine Bush and all the presidential candidates seeing my work. A local comic is pretty satisfying because the target has a chance to read it.

I'll be doing local work for them from time to time and will post it here.

Obama vs Coke

According to this Super Bowl ad with James Carville and Bill Frist nothing ends bipartisan bickering quite like a Coca-Cola beverage. I'm sure Obama would incorporate this into his message somehow if it didn't risk ostracizing Pepsi drinkers.

A good finishing touch to the ad would have been Frist trying to deliver some Coke to Terri Shciavo in her hospice and Carville saying, "Oh you silly Republican you. Let's go drink more Coke!"

Democratic Hopefuls

My expectations for what the Democrats are going to deliver in this election are slowly diminishing. In fact, I'm worried that they might not even be able to deliver a victory against John McCain. I don't put much past a country that reelected Bush.

War Is Boring

#29 is up over at David's site. The next installment won't be for a month as I'm doing a quick project for David in the meantime.

John Edwards

John Edwards was a great candidate. He was willing to be more direct in pointing out the sources of inequity in our society and actually mentioned poor and homeless people--something politicians don't usually do because they have no money to donate and barely vote. One thing I liked was, unlike Obama and Clinton, he said corporations don't get a "seat at the table" when deciding policy. Obama and Clinton just want them to have fewer chairs. Why the citizens who control corporations should have any more influence in deciding public policy than the average person I'll never know. Edwards seemed like he was ready to start closing that gap.

He still had some flaws that really bugged me. For someone who was engaged in this fight his "whole life" he really blew the opportunity to actually do something about it when he had power in the Senate, voting for the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, Bankruptcy Bill--just about every major piece of horrible legislation. He seemed to come around on all those, but what information does he have now that he didn't then? I also never want to hear him mention what his father did for a living ever again.