Saturday Morning Cartoons

My friend Steve Lafler has an extensive career overview/interview at The Comics Journal.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Three Balls and Two Strikes

Before I became an Internationally Known Independently Wealthy Cartoonist, I spent a considerable amount of time as a "worker", working for The Man, every night and day. At one of the day jobs, the international corporate fuckers tried some bullshit, in the name of maximizing profit, that was endangering the lives of us workers, as well as the general public. An attempt to change the situation got some good people fired. The workplace was "At Will", and the message was simple;" Boat Rockers and Whistleblowers will not be tolerated. You are At Will, and we can fire you at any time for no reason."

We got a new manager at work, and we Hoped that things would Change. After a number of months of trying to work with the new manager at solving some of the problems, we were told in no uncertain terms that if we didn't like the way things were, we could quit or we could get fired.

That was the last straw, and a group of us started the arduous task of forming a union. The company violated a number of labor laws in its opposition to our organizing effort, they spent a considerable amount of money on Union Busting Consultants, and more good people got fired. At one point, before we had the vote on whether or not to unionize, we actually went on strike to protest the firings and harassment of workers during the organizing effort. At Will workers went on strike before becoming a union. We brought the local branch of the international corporation to a grinding halt one day, and an expedited vote was scheduled after the intervention of Government Officials. We won the vote, and became unionized.

The act of striking, while still At Will Employees, took an enormous amount of courage. People overcame a great deal of fear in order to improve the workplace. We had Hoped that things would Change after unionizing, and they did. Things didn't become perfect overnight, they'll never be perfect, but things improved. The success of The Change we had Hoped for is directly related to The Strike.

And that brings us to Barack Obama and The Democratic Party. He's the Manager telling us we should be afraid if we don't vote his way. I'm the worker telling him, no, I'm going on strike with my vote if he doesn't Change. Voting is a political act, and so is the threat not to vote.

Baby steps to the front door, Bob, baby steps to the front door.

Fuck You

Fuck You, Obama, you arrogant fucking War Pig.

Fuck you, and the empire you rode in on.

The Authorities are hot on the trail of the fake pimp from the fake Acorn Video

Image from Comically Vintage

Wingnuts featuring Good Ol' Karlie Rove

My friend Mark Hoback at Fried Green Al-Qaedas is writing a funny series on The Secret Cabal of Republicans trying to regain control of the levers of power. Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here. I did this cartoon for Part Four.

This one's for you, Tengrain

Let's Roll!



Let's Roll!



Let's Roll!



Let's Roll!



Lets'Roll!








The "John McCain: Apocalypse Now Redux" T-Shirt can be purchased at The Zencomix Online Market.

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Colorado Coal Mine Scrip

If you search for Columbine Massacre, you see the top results are for a couple of high school kids shooting up their school. I was working in a school about 20 miles north of Columbine High when it all went down, and it was a truly spooky time.

However, the original Columbine Massacre took place about 20 miles north of Columbine High, and is now sometimes referred to as the Columbine Mine Massacre to differentiate it from the high school shootings.

At least two, and possibly three machine guns were available at the mine and miners later claimed their ranks were decimated by a withering crossfire from the mine tipple – a structure where coal was loaded onto railroad cars – and from a gun on a truck near the water tank. John Eastenes, 34, of Lafayette, married and father of six children, died instantly. Nick Spanudakhis, 34, Lafayette, lived only a few minutes. Frank Kovich of Erie, Rene Jacques, 26, of Louisville and 21 year old Jerry Davis died hours later in the hospital. The American flag Davis carried was riddled with seventeen bullet holes and stained with blood. Mike Vidovich of Erie, 35, died a week later of his injuries.

During my days in Colorado, I used to live next to an old coal miner. He was in his Eighties at the time, and when he got a couple of beers in him, he'd occasionally tell horror stories about working in the mines. He'd seen one too many guys die or get maimed, and quit the mines while he still had the use of his limbs.

The company town for the Columbine Mine was called Serene.

Serene was located on rolling hills just west of the present-day Interstate 25 on State Highway 7, north of the State of Colorado Historical Marker that commemorates the Columbine Mine Massacre. The area that once was the company town of Serene is now a public landfill in extreme southwestern Weld County, just outside the limits of the town of Erie and the city of Broomfield.

Wingnut Mardi Gras

A Few Words on Glenn Beck's Rally

Not enough brains at the rally for all the zombies.

MC 900 Ft Penis

One of the 5 year old Ken Mehlman cartoons I did suggested that Ann Coulter was actually Ken Mehlman in drag. Some people were offended and suggested I was somehow belittling gays and transexuals. That certainly wasn't my intent, and ultimately the cartoon is a failure for not clearly making the point I wanted it to make.

I'm all in favor of equal rights for everybody: gays, lesbian, transexual, transgender, Senators that like to wear diapers during sexual escapades, etc....

The cartoon was trying to illustrate that the people claiming some kind "Family Values" and "Moral Superiority", and who were actively suppressing the rights of the aforementioned groups, have their own "Dirty Little Secrets". The cartoon was about the double standard that exists within the "Ruling Class". For example, there's the "Marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman, so we must deny the opportunity to gay people" bullshit. How many sacred bonds has John McCain had? Rudy Giuliani? Newt Gingrich? Rush Limbaugh? Ken Mehlman chooses to work for these people. Paging Senator Ensign, paging Senator Vitter, paging Larry Craig, paging Mark Foley, your table is ready!

So, yeah, Bravo Mr Mehlman, for coming out of the closet. Are you going to use your surge in popularity to rectify the ills you helped to spread during your work with the Republicans, or are you just going to write a book, give a few speeches, and cash in while the market is hot?

Ken Mehlman Totally Nude Sucking Cock

Want to hear something really funny? I get comments emailed to me, and today I checked my email and there was a comment on a 5 year old Ken Mehlman cartoon, "The Unbearable Lie-ness of Being Ken Mehlman." Now, I haven't been too active posting, and I've only been averaging about 100 or so hits a day, mostly google image hits. I checked the site meter to see if there were any other people visiting a 5 year old Ken Mehlman cartoon, and as of 5:00 pm, there are 1929 hits and climbing. Let's see if the Sandy Underpants Hit Generator Strategy can amplify the hits.

Let's throw in a couple of bonus "Ken Mehlman Naked Ass Fucking" and "Ken Mehlman Topless Man Boobs" for good measure.

UPDATE: Ken Mehlman Sex Tape!

Under John Bolton's MilkyWhiteWood

Mosque Rat Love

Bonus Points: Captain and Tennille singing to war criminal Henry Kissinger!

Ricardo Montalban Died For Your Corinthian Leather Sins

Traveling down the Linkage Road one day, I ended up at Tumblr. After poking around a bit, I thought I'd give it a spin around the block.

Meanwhile, Comixed is fun in a Beverly Hillbillies Meets Richard Nixon kind of way. It's a quick pressure release valve for some of the ideas that bubble up from my brain, when there isn't enough time to translate it into a drawing. It's like Photoshopping, but text is your only tool.

Shorter Ross Douthat:

Straight Marriage! It's Thickerer!

"Gin Drinkers Are A Breed Apart."

If Liberal Media Bias Truly Existed...

Rand Paul, Up in Smoke!

Rand Paul,The Aqua Buddhist

The Aqua Buddha at Mock, Paper, Scissors!

Nixon!

Nixon Noxin Dioxin Toxin

Justice Kagan

I am aware of all Interstate Commerce Traditions.

If there really was a Liberal Media, would you have heard of Andrew Breitbart?

Kidlat Tahimik

I first visited the Philippines in 2004, in the month prior to their election. Campaign vehicles drove around with loudspeakers mounted on their roofs, selling their candidates like the Blues Brothers announcing a gig.

I've been back to visit every 2 years since then. A lot of things have changed; a new president, new road construction, new housing and business construction. But a lot of things haven't changed. If you cut all the trees on the mountainside and build concrete hollow block homes, the mud still slides.

The polished marble floors of Montalban are still down the street from sheet metal shacks, the machine guns for the bodyguards are still stacked in the mayor's dining room , the 12 year old kids are still in the streets selling cigarettes a single stick at a time, because who can afford to buy a whole pack? The stray dogs with swollen tits are as ubiquitous as the diesel smoke. Some enterprising young lad dreams of milking the dogs for his dirty ice cream business. Waiter, there's a dog hair in my soup! No Extra Charge, Sir! The old lady is still standing in the middle of the Manila expressway traffic hawking pot holders, a dollar a dozen, and how she doesn't fall down from diesel smoke asphyxiation is a fucking miracle. Maybe she did fall down and her daughter inherited the business. I've been gone for 2 weeks and I'm still coughing up green lung cookies speckled gray with diesel soot.



Ashes to ashes and mud to mud, some of the mudslides still claim the bodies of people. "One day you will come to know the quiet strength of bamboo."





I'm currently reading "Kapwa: The Self in The Other" by Katrin De Guia, a book about the" worldviews and lifestyles of Filipino Culture-Bearers". One of the artists in the book is the filmmaker, Kidlat Tahimik, creator of the film Mababangong bangungot, or Perfumed Nightmare, Winner of the Berlin Film Festival International Critics Award and a Blue Ribbon at the American Film Festival.


The 1977 movie tells the tale of a young Filipino man's infatuation with the American Space Program, and his subsequent disillusionment with "progress" after traveling to Paris with an Americano to run the Americano's gumball machine business. The movie is a scathing critique of colonialism.

I cringed upon hearing the voice of Henry Kissinger talking about Africa.

Part 2


Part 3

Part4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Who will be Miss Supermarket of 1976?

Part 9

"When the typhoon blows off its cocoon, the butterfly embraces the sun. The sleeping typhoon must learn to blow again."

I thought this lady was dead.

Sometimes the words float through the reduction valve in my mind, sometimes the pictures.

Above are the pictures that passed through my mind while reading Tengrain's post.

And these are the words that quickly followed:

C. Phyllis.
C.Phyllis run!
Run, C. Phyllis, run!


Also, Too...... Blue Gal! taps into the Cryptkeeper vibe!

The Stone Faced Jeepney Drivers Know

Image copped from Fried Green al-Qaedas


On my way back from a month in the Philippines, I spent a 6 hour layover in a Chicago airport. While I remained offline for most of the past month, I had been largely unaware of American Media Junk. And then it all came back to me. Six unrelenting hours. There's nothing like being greeted back to the States by an ejaculating Wolf Blitzer. Who decides what channel the airport TVs broadcast, Homeland Security?

The Sherrod Thing, for lack of a better a name, is the Obama equivalent of a Missing Blonde College Girl story. You think the Obama People were "snookered" by Brietbart? Really?! hahaha!

Pay no attention to That Man Behind The Curtain!

Pope Ratso Rizzo

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday called abortion and same-sex marriage some of the most “insidious and dangerous” threats facing the world today…



Tip O' The Hat to the Holy Taco and BlackDogRed

And now a word from our sponsors...

So, what's going on in the world of Zen Comix? I'm not posting regularly, but I'm writing some stuff for a longer, offline project. I'm going outside to smell the strawberries and apple blossoms. I still visit some of my favorite , funny sites, and if I'm motivated enough, I might even comment.

I find myself agreeing with Chris Floyd's take on the American War Machine.




The cognitive dissonance on the right (Don't read Miranda warnings to "terrorists" and strip them of citizenship, but allow them unfettered access to munitions. Also, too, show us your papers before purchasing over the counter cold medicine) is equaled by the refusal of the left to admit that it's a war crime when Obama does it, just as it was a war crime when Bush did it.

I really should, but I can't summon the energy right now to draw caricatures of the cast of characters in Obama's Ring of Fire, hence the recycled cartoons of Republicans.The names and faces may change, but we're still bogged down in wars.

I'm spending more time outside with the plants and birds. Every time I grab the shovel, the robins follow me around like puppy dogs. They're practically tame. If I tried hard enough, I could get them to eat the worms from my hand.


Meanwhile, my mind keeps returning to this. The sole comment on a post about Tibetans being beaten by cops in New York City looks like Chinese spam. Capitalism, baby, fuck yeah! Who OWNS you? Next time, the Tibetans ought to hire some locked and loaded Teabaggers as security escorts. Or maybe when The Dalai Lama is playing golf with Mick Jaggar, he can ask him if he still has the number for the Hell's Angels.




When it's a white guy flying a plane into the Government's IRS building, or blowing up Government buildings in Oklahoma, it's your lone gunman explanation. When it's a brown guy trying to blow shit up, it's a conspiracy!





The US military is killing civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. How would you feel if people from Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq retaliated by killing American civilians here? Where is your Moral Clarity? How does the cycle end? The people with a vested interest in perpetuating the cycle are the same people that order the cops to beat the shit out of a bunch of flag waving Tibetans. Nothing new under the sun.



Health Care Reform?



Health Insurance Reform?

Meanwhile, The Gulf of Mexico is totally fucked. Why didn't BP have the containment thingie ready to go from Day One? The same reason they didn't have a remote shut off valve? The clean up of the Gulf will be cosmetic, at best, and won't really begin in earnest until the winds whip the oil slick ashore and it lands on...





The gravy sucking pigs who want to shrink the Government until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub full of oil slicked sea water are the first ones in line begging for the spoonful of Gummint Sugar Tits to help the medicine go down.

Don't shit where you eat, my friend.



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