SlowpokeBlog

With all this talk of whether the media was soft on the Bush administration during the buildup to the Iraq war, I thought this cartoon from March 2003 might prove a refresher.

Veronica over at the Viva La Feminista blog has posted a nice review of my book. To quote her, "This is some of the funniest shit I have read in a long time."

She also points out a startling resemblance between Lil' Gus and Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich:



SEPARATED AT BIRTH?!?

I think this one speaks for itself.

I started writing this one on the bus ride back from New York. I listened to my iPod a lot -- it's the only way I can cope with the strangely unself-conscious people babbling into their cellphones, the shrieking toddlers, the overpowering fast food aromas (which had been concocted in the very New Jersey chemical plants we were passing), and the flatulence that follows. Okay, an iPod can't actually inure you to bad smells, but it can help you escape to a happier place inside your head.

Anyway, every time I retrieved my iPod from my jacket pocket, the earbuds were ridiculously tangled. I don't know how that happens, as I'm quite careful to tuck the buds away in a gentle, orderly fashion. Hence the first panel and the premise of this cartoon.

Readers in these two cities, take note: I'll be doing my slideshow thing at Robin's Bookstore in Philadelphia on June 4 at 6pm. I don't presently run in a Philly paper or know that many people there, so if YOU are there, please come by and say hello! If you get a book, I'll draw anything you want in it... well, almost anything. More info here.

I'd been trying to figure out what to do locally, when lo and behold I was invited to appear at Charlottesville's brand-new WriterHouse, a gathering space for the scribes of central Virginia. I went to their opening reception last week and was very impressed with the offices (in the building behind Bodo's on Preston). On June 11 at 7pm, I'll do a slideshow and signing there; check out their site for more details. If meeting me isn't enough, I hear a rumor there will be light snacks.

Here are a couple shots from my event at The Tank in NYC last week. It was a splendid affair with comedians Baratunde Thurston, Lee Camp, and Katie Halper warming the crowd up for us nicely. That guy in the gray shirt facing away from the camera is Ruben Bolling, who gets a giant Slowpoke salute for appearing with me.


This shot is a little blurry, but has nice gesticulation:


Another Slowpoke salute goes to Robert and Elizabeth of Ig Publishing for hosting me. Ig has lots of cool political books and edgy fiction in their catalogue, so check 'em out.

A reader sends this still from the Clone Wars cartoon series:



It appears Mr. Perkins has been moonlighting without telling me.

I know I haven't rapped at ya in a while, as Jim Anchower would say. My recent travels have caused me to fall behind on my virtual-world responsibilities.

The e-mail described in the cartoon has been around for a while. I first read it in a small-town newspaper a couple years ago. It was popularized by then-Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden in his column of December 30, 2003. (For those of you not familiar with the Washington Times, it is a laughable right-wing rag owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Moonie cult, who has referred to gays as "dung eating dogs.") Judging by my conversations with other people, the e-mail has gone remarkably viral over the years. You can read a version of it here. I love this line from the original:

We fell out of trees, played with BB guns until we got a .22 rifle on our 12th birthday, fought "war" with dirt clods, broke bones, lost teeth, stepped on nails and caught fishhooks in noses. Nobody's daddy had a lawyer.

I know I was certainly shooting my .22 rifle all over the place when I was twelve. Good times!

The e-mail in question was recently sent to me by a dear family member who is most definitely not a right-wing nut. I think the message of letting kids be kids (as opposed to pampered, overscheduled little brats) appealed to him, and it appeals to me too. But there are memes in there that need addressing, and my duty as a cartoonist called.

It goes without saying, but those of us who survived a lack of seat belts, air bags, lead paint, and (god forbid) rifles in the hands of 12 year-olds are the lucky ones. Plenty of kids didn't, or were harmed along the way. Lead paint is still a problem in poorer housing areas. If anything is responsible for the end of idyllic neighborhoods filled with roving bands of frolicking children, it is suburban sprawl designed around the automobile. The minivan-driving, "playdate"-scheduling parent is a result of the destruction of walkable communities. Kids are hardly having their childhood ruined by safety features in cars, which still kill 45,000+ people every year. Not far from where I live, five people just died in a horrible car accident. They were drinking and not wearing seatbelts.

And anytime you hear a wingnut complaining about lawyers, consider how they never complain about corporate attorneys, who can be very aggressive about using (and bending) the law to their benefit. It's always the lawyers for the little people that they hate. Hell, the 2000 election was won very dubiously by lawyers. And not the kind that you or I could afford.

My cartoon slideshow extravaganza with Ruben Bolling on May 14 is listed here.

It's a classic Slowpoke this week, due to my recent travels out west. The tour was fun -- I saw many friends; special thanks to Ashley B., Amy B., Clint C., Andi Zeisler, my in-laws, and cartoonists Lloyd Dangle, Matt Bors, Abell Smith, Barry Deutsch, Kevin Moore, and John Lustig.

Here's a pic of me signing books at the University Bookstore in Seattle.


The event drew a nice crowd that asked lots of interesting questions.

Since returning, I've been digging my way through the mountain o' crap to do that piled up while I was gone. It's amazing how a couple weeks away from your normal routine will cause such towering formations.

Thanks again to all those who pre-ordered my book. If you haven't gotten it yet, please proceed directly here and click the "Add to Cart" button. Your support means a lot! Also, if you own the book, consider writing an Amazon review.

Attention Slowpoke fans in the NYC area: I'm doing a "Laughing Liberally" event with the legendary Ruben Bolling of "Tom the Dancing Bug" fame at The Tank, Wednesday May 14, 8pm. That's at 279 Church Street between Franklin & White, below Canal. It's free! There will also be a couple standup comedians. I think one of them is going to interview me.

More info here.