Cartoonists With Attitude

*THANKS FOR ALL THE HOLIDAY ORDERS…
I just got a fresh supply of “Strange” in from the Top Shelf fellas. So all orders are being filled over the next coupla daze.

*S’FUNNY HOW FOLKS THOUGHT THIS WEEK’S K CHRONICLES WAS TRUE..
No, there aren’t real women giving birth in the front yard of a Bel Air mansion’s Christmas display. But thanks for asking. Wanna buy a bridge? Or name a star after somebody?

*LOOKING TO DONATE TO A GOOD CAUSE THIS HOLLA-DAY SEASON?
It’s a tax write-off! ! It makes ya fell good!! It’ll come back to you two-fold!!
-826la
-826Valencia
-Cartoon Art Museum
-Just Think Foundation
-Planned Parenthood
-ACLU
-Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

*OHMIGOSH!! SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS!! LOOKIT ALL THE BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO’VE DONE STEROIDS!!
I remember coming home from San Francisco in ‘91-’92, and seeing a few of the fellas in my ‘hood who were a year or two younger than me and my buds. They’re bodies had ballooned to completely abnormal sizes of muscle. They had Popeye arms. Necks the size of elephant calves. It was insane.

So if those guys were on steroids that far back, YOU KNOW the pros were on ‘em even earlier than that.

Kovak! I told you Clemens was on ‘roids years ago.

*HAVEN’T POSTED FOR A BIT..
First off..To those of you who subscribed to the K Chronicles and (th)ink on the go.comics/Uclick website, my contract with them was up in September, and I didn’t renew. That’s why there hasn’t been a new comic posted since mid-Sept.

Apologies for the confusion, but the strips will be up on a new subscriber-site soon.

*BEEN WORKING ON A SUPER-SERIOUS PROJECT..
..that will be making its debut in early 2008. What is it? Well, let’s just say I’ll have to change one of the FAQs on the website. Stay-tuned for more details.

*I’M SICK THIS WEEK..
..So a K Chronicles Klassic is being run this week. From 1996!!

*IN THE MEANTIME..
The calendars are flying out the door…And for those of you interested in a personalized Life’s Little Victories original piece of art, for yourself or a loved one for the holiday, act now. I’m gonna take as many orders as I think I can fill, & then I’ll take some New Year’s orders.

*MORE LOS ANGELES NEWS..
I was drawing in my local cafe when I struck up a conversation with an elderly man about a big influence, Jules Feiffer. Another guy approached and told me his friend was doing a documentary on the influence of Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, another huge influence. He invited me to be interviewed for the film.

This project just started and the filmmaker is looking for more folks to talk to. If you love Calvin and Hobbes and want to be interviewed, this guy may be coming to your town. Email me and I’ll put you in touch.

Cheers!!

Keef

Quick list of articles for this week’s ‘toon:

• Check out a damn funny article, by a City Pages writer who attempts to spend a whole week inside Minnesota’s Mall of America. He’s warned at the beginning, “spend too much time here, and you’ll go insane.” In the end… yeah, he basically goes insane.
• I haven’t seen the new Morgan Spurlock-produced “What Would Jesus Buy” yet, but I’ve seen some clips and read a few articles. While I’m a fan of Spurlock and I definitely agree with the message of this film (discouraging out-of-control Christmas consumerism), I don’t think I’ll bother to watch this one. I’ve never really been a fan of “prank humor,” unless the purveyor is damn good at making some kind of comment about why the victim of the prank is a moron (think Borat or the Daily Show), and not just making the victim look like a moron for the hell of it. In this case, the prankster is a New York performance artist who calls himself “Reverend Billy” and walks around with a megaphone and a mock church choir hassling the $5.85/hour kids working the counter at Starbucks. I think this kind of satire would be better suited for a commentary on televangelism; here, it just seems pointless. Plus, Reverend Billy is not all that great at articulating the message. The interview he did with the always subdued and businesslike Amy Goodman was painful to watch (he called her “sister Amy” repeatedly, and she never cracked a smile).
• Check out some great commentary on the enigmatic phenomena known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and why the media is complicit in forcing these corporate-invented pseudo-holidays down our throats.

Cartoon for December 15

The auction is tomorrow! Bid early and bid often.

Click on the cartoon to make it bigger.

Cartoon for December 17

Mitt Romney really, really, really wants to be president. Really.
Really gross.

Click on the cartoon to make it bigger.

In case you don't follow the war as closely as you should, the enemy is in retreat and the forces of freedom are winning. If we would have listened to the critics and cut funding and pulled out, our enemies would be gloating right now.

Yes indeed, Bill O'Reilly has declared victory in the War on Christmas.

So a day after posting it, the pope comic is by far the most popular thing I've ever done.

If anyone in interested in a signed print of it, you can grab one here.

When I did my cartoon on cultural histories I thought I linked to the most ridiculous titles in my blog post, but it turns out I missed the motherload. ToothPick: Technology and Culture was released in October, written by Henry Petroski, the author of--and I kid you not-- The Pencil.

A magazine ad I saw last night alerted me to this book, declaring that this "useful and ubiquitous tool finally gets its due!" To give you a glimpse of how exciting this book is, Publisher's Weekly says, "Petroski occasionally offers a first-person perspective, describing the unpleasant feel of a bamboo pick or confessing that sometimes he'll resort to a mechanical pencil."

At the bottom of the ad it it has this:

Consider the Toothpick:

• Anthropologist have found evidence of groves on fossilized teeth of Neanderthals that resulted from rough-hewn toothpicks.
• In Spain, a young señorita used the instrument to protect her virtue from someone trying to steal a kiss.
  

The phrase "jumped the shark" refers to the moment a good trend or TV show goes bad--it started when Fonzie jumped a shark on Happy Days. But what about when they continue and there's just this moment where you realize not only how bad it is, but that the badness has reached such levels that it should be forcibly stopped--by law if necessary. I propose "toothpicked," as in "cultural histories have toothpicked--time stop making them and pulp the ones that exist."