Cartoonists With Attitude

I read aloud a short story for Podcastle: “Hall of Mirrors” by Bruce Holland Rogers. It’s a funny piece, and only about 14 minutes long.

This is the third story I’ve read for Podcastle. Previously, I’ve read “On The Banks of the River of Heaven,” by Richard Parks, and “Gordon, the Self-Made Cat,” by Peter Beagle.

Podcastle is edited by Rachel Swirsky, who in her secret identity as Mandolin is a blogger and moderator here at “Alas.”

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This summer, Americans made GI Joe and Transformers 2 blockbusters. Of course, many fine films that weren’t for retarded man-children also came out this year. I’ll talk about them when I finally see them; probably in the fall, while I’m in the throes of swine flu.

TOMORROW: Slideshow with me and Keef at the Burren, in Davis Square. 4-7pm. It’s right off the Red Line, and far away from the Kennedy-Craziness on Mission Hill. I’ll be showing proto-Big Fat Whale materials, some of my favorite cartoons, plus a first look at next week’s comic.

Next Week: Back-to-School Supplies

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Drew this a few weeks ago after my parents encountered some unpleasant characters with Obama-Hitler signs at a town hall. If I had drawn more recently he’d be toting a bunch of machine guns.

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Staving off the Envirapocalypse, One Nanosecond at a Time!

For more on why I drew this cartoon, see this rant and this rant. And yes, of course I recycle and bring reusable bags.

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I did this front-cover tribute illustration for Bay Windows’ special Kennedy tribute issue. The idea was Kennedy as an LGBT rights hero, so I looked to vintage superhero comic book covers for inspiration:

The editors tell me the reaction to the cover was so positive they’re framing it and sending it to the Kennedy family.

And here’s the final cover with logo on top:

Holy crap! This is cool. And yes. I did the animation.

It’s almost wine o’clock and time to head to the Sapphire (my local bar) for some red and reading. I was going through one of James Thurber’s old collections in which he drew a bar called the Sapphire. He also had a cartoon of people looking at art with one saying “he knows art but he doesn’t know what he likes” which I unknowingly plagiarized in one of my own cartoons.

I spent the day animating vampire sperm in a uterus. Complaining about it to a friend got the response ” the day you’re tired of drawing vaginas is the day you grew old!” which makes me want to draw that as a t-shirt.

While Googling images of bustles for an upcoming Slowpoke cartoon, I came across this Australian steampunk blog containing the lyrics to Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “I Like Big Butts” — had it been written in the 1880s:

The courtiers like big bustles and they cannot lie.
No gentleman doth deny.
When a fair maiden strolls in with a diminutive waist
And a bustle in your face…

There’s more.

A new cartoon has appeared on In Contempt. How it got there, I don’t know. But it’s kinda cute. I think I’ll keep it around. At least until it bores me, then I’ll trade it in for an upgrade.

Speaking of which, I put a hundred smackers down on a guitar on Monday; after two more months, it’s mine! Lay-away rocks! Except that it’s only a few days later and OMFG I WANT IT NOW! Aaaagh! Patience, grasshopper. Patience.

Mike Miliard and I chatted, and he converted my ums, ahs, and grunts into an article about Big Fat Whale, Saturday’s slideshow, and the state of alt-weekly comics.

Also in this week’s issue, Mike has a funny interview with John Oliver, of The Daily Show and Bugle fame. He’s in town for a show at the Wilbur Theatre tomorrow.