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.



underground comix, comix, political, cartoons,political cartoons, parody, satire, Republicans, GOP, comics, comic strips, webcomic, Bush

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President Pope Benny Dick

I tried posting this the past couple of days, and I kept getting bX-ypdv0 and bX-9x4b53 errors, obviously biblical code for "Repent Sinner". Yeah, apparently Jesus messed with Blogger code in an effort to block the heathens from blogging against theocracy. Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.

Meanwhile, The Blogswarm Against Theocracy carries on. Blue Gal has a Blog Against Theocracy movie , Tengrain is running a Pin The Tail On The Theocrat contest, and the inimitable Darkblack has the crime scene photo.

Meanwhile, check out The Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm site for plenty more links, and if you feel like swiping my cartoon for your blog, you are free to do so.

Zencomix

Directly From My Heart To You

Thanks to Mark at Fried Green al-Qaedas for the Photoshop

February Blues spill over into March

It's been a rough month or so...The 18th of February was the one year anniversary of my Dad's death. We miss you Pops!




About a month ago, my buddy Nate died. He killed himself. Nate was a great friend, poet, songwriter, drummer...he struggled with bi-polar as long as I've known him, almost 30 years. All the pills, prescribed or otherwise, all the smoke and drink couldn't ease the pain and insanity of chronic depression. Manic Depression is a frustrating mess. R.I.P. NateDog...



Last month was the 9th anniversary of the death of one of my Tai Chi teachers, Jane Faigao, from Rocky Mountain Tai Chi Chuan. We burned her body at Red Feather Lakes, an open air, public cremation. I have a burn hole on my coat from a piece of Jane's floating embers. I think about her life everyday when I'm practicing Tai Chi. Every February I think about her death.



And last night, there's more bad news, Jon Swift died.

Jon's real name is Al Weisel and I first encountered Al through the Blogroll Amnesty Day he helped start with Skippy.Like many readers of his blog, I never got the chance to meet Al in person, but he was incredibly generous with us internet folks.

How generous was he to me? He nominated me for a Weblog Award for best comic strip. Believe me, the nomination by Jon Swift was much more prestigious than the actual award.

Al was an incredibly funny writer, and his generosity in linkage to other blogs is the gold standard. He is deeply missed.


My heart goes out to Al's family.

Lead Free Comix #3

This one's for you, Tengrain!

UPDATE: Greetings Crooks and Liars readers, I hope you enjoy the short little video.

Thanks for the link, Mike!

Tiger Woods Press Conference

If the condom doesn't fit,










Then you must acquit.

Dreck Girl

While taking a short break from writing my graphic novel, I decided to draw this cartoon that I've had kicking around in my head. The marketing of politics and politicians has been one of my recurring themes, and much to my delight, the wonderful Driftglass/Bluegal podcast took the marketing of Teabagger politics and Sarah Palin to its natural roots.

For those of you too young to remember, this cartoon is a mashup of a couple of shampoo TV commercials, Pantene and Breck.

Sarah Palin, John Bolton,Dick Nixon, John McCain, Bill O'Reilly, Karl Rove, Sam Alito, Pantene Shampoo, Breck Shampoo, Comix, comics, comixx, comic strips, editorial cartoons, cartoons, comic books, underground comix, satire, parody, Republicans, political cartoons, John Poindexter, Ollie North, G. Gordon Liddy, John Bolton, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman, Zappadan, Frank Zappa, Richard Nixon, Bible Study, Bill O'Reilly, Zippy The Pinhead
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Pena Lynn Cards

Pena Lynn Cards

Blogroll Amnesty Day

Music by Who Be Dat?-- "Mr Policeman's Face" from the 1988 release "Be Careful", featuring the late Nate Solod on Lead Vocals and percussion, Frank Swart on Bass, Jeffrey Clemens on Drums, Percussion, and vocals, and Robert Holmes on guitars. T-shirt by Dominique Zar

Rest in peace, Nate.




Feel free to use the cartoon and video on your own blogs for the Blogroll Amnesty Day festivities.

The roots of Blogroll Amnesty Day are explained at Jon Swift's blog. Please come back, Jon!


Some linky love for :

Penalynn Cards
Chewing The Bacon Fat In Iowa

Black Dog Red

Tarc's Blog

Steve Lafler

If I'm on your blogroll and you would like to be on mine, just drop a link in comments!

R.I.P Nate Solod

My friend Nate was a drummer, a singer, a poet, a songwriter, a cook with keys, a roadie.

Nate Solod was a working man, and he used to load that Econoline van, a sparkle was in his eye, but...

Bong Hits 4 Jesus

So, let's get this straight. With the Supreme Court decision in Citizen's United, the Activist Judges of Conservative Persuasion want to allow corporations "Free Speech" rights when it comes election time. Corporations are "people" and money is "speech", or so they would have you believe, and Freedom of Speech is sacred, so let the spending begin!

But when it comes time for an individual, a high school student, to express religious beliefs during a field trip, the Same Activist Judges of Conservative Persuasion want to outlaw the students rights to Freedom of Speech!

Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007) was a school speech case in which the United States Supreme Court held that theFirst Amendment does not prevent educators from suppressing student speech, at a school-supervised event, that is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use...Majority opinion. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, concluded that the school officials did not violate the First Amendment. To do so, he made three legal determinations: first, that "school speech" doctrine should apply because Frederick's speech occurred "at a school event"; second, that the speech was "reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use"; and third, that a principal may legally restrict that speech—based on the three existing First Amendment school speech precedents, other Constitutional jurisprudence relating to schools, and a school's "important—indeed, perhaps compelling interest" in deterring drug use by students.

Apparently, all speech is equal except some speech is more equal than others.

"Commercial Free Speech" is a funny concept! How much money does Free Speech cost? There's your Zen Koan for the month. Speech sent over the public airwaves is regulated and censored everyday. Hello George Carlin! Some people find pornography obscene, and"Obscenity Laws" exist to restrict pornographers' Free Speech Rights. Let's just declare Corporations Spending Money On Political TV Commercials and Other Election Related Activities to be obscene, and prevent them from "Speaking" the same way you prevent Hustler Magazine from "Speaking" during the ABC After School Special time slot.

Comix, comics, comixx, comic strips, editorial cartoons, cartoons, comic books, underground comix, satire, parody, Republicans, political cartoons, John Poindexter, Ollie North, G. Gordon Liddy, John Bolton, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman, Zappadan, Frank Zappa, Richard Nixon, Bible Study, Bill O'Reilly, Zippy The Pinhead
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Walk like a Cat

As part of an anniversary celebration, The Comics Journal did a series of "conversations" between cartoonists. The conversation between Ted Rall and Matt Bors struck a chord with something I've been mulling over in my mind. How to make any fucking money in the cartoon business.

About a year ago, I posted about the Print Comics Apocalypse and the increasing difficulties of trying to make a buck from creating art. Editorial cartoons have a short shelf life, and syndication is a shrinking outlet.I don't even try anymore with that avenue. You can tell from the archives when I stopped trying.I started drawing stuff like this Denny Hastert Cure for Republican Sex Scandals.



Only a handful of diehard fans will ever purchase a collection of single panel type editorial cartoons. But maybe one day I'll be motivated enough to put my favorites in a book, just for the hell of it.

If you check the archives, or have a copy of Grill Rats #1, you can also see where I stopped trying to create a strip that might be considered for syndication, or publication in a print newspaper, (Hello, Daily Iowan!). It's the point where I stopped using the "F@#K%$" type euphemism...



...For the actual word "Fucking".






I've kept Zencomix ad free for 5 years. It would seem pointless to start now as I don't generate enough traffic. Placing ads may even drive traffic down as pages will take longer to load. At Blue Gal's Salon the other night, we briefly chatted about ad revenues, and money from ads seems to have dried up. So, what's left?

Books. Ye Olde Graphic Novel. Comic books. Mini-comics. Cartoons with stories have a wider appeal in book form than the one shot editorial cartoons in book form, so that's where I'm headed. I've been drawing Grill Rats for the blog, and compiling it in book form, but I've decided to draw directly for the book. The only way to possibly make any money is to stop giving it all away for free on the blog. Giving it away for free on the blog is a great way to gain exposure, but there is no incentive for somebody to buy a book when it's all there for free on the blog.

I'll continue drawing the occasional one shot editorial cartoons, and posting them for all to see for free. I'll probably post some excerpts from the comic books also. One of the benefits of drawing for the book instead of for the blog will be the tightening up of the story. As the need for daily continuity has been disposed of, I can spend more energy on advancing the story, developing a character, or working more on backgrounds and layout of pages. Maybe develop a treatment for an animation series. Who knows? Freeing myself from my own blog shackles is the first step to advancing as an artist. It is more important for me to be a cartoonist than a blogger.

So, anyways, I'll still be around, still commenting at other people's blogs. Still posting cartoons occasionally, but it's time to stop acting like a dog pulling the sled that is zencomix and time to start acting like a cat hunting its prey. I'm going back underground with my comix.

Fearless

Healing Voodoo

Are We Having Funk Yet?

Lagniappe:


Small Town TV News Anchor Segue Small Talk!


Comix, comics, comixx, comic strips, editorial cartoons, cartoons, comic books, underground comix, satire, parody, Republicans, political cartoons, John Poindexter, Ollie North, G. Gordon Liddy, John Bolton, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman, Zappadan, Frank Zappa, Richard Nixon, Bible Study, Bill O'Reilly, Zippy The Pinhead

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