Sept. 29, National Coffee Day!

Super Hero, or super villian?

Mirror, Mirror....

So... 'W' says that Iraq is like Vietnam after all... (in a weird sort of way). Well guess what 'Dub? History repeats it self in all kinds of ways...

I juxtaposed Ronnie and Dick just for the fun of it.

The Colonel

Inspired by a report on where Senator Fred's major support would be coming from. I keep trying to improve my printing, especially because veteran cartoonists, experts and editors (like Daryl Cagle) frown on using actual computer fonts that look like cartoonist printing. But I'm still very self conscious of my penmanship. Maybe I need a bolder pen or even a felt tip marker. I guess it's just like how people hate to hear their voice on recordings. Ick.

NOTE: This cartoon didn't run in the PRESS. I don't know what the issue was, room, time, lost the file, or editorial prerogative- but in hind sight I think it may be a little over the edge. Not because it accuses Southerners of being sexist or racist, or because it uses the word "colored," but because cartoons usually accuse politicians of things, this one accuses you the reader. So if you feel accused of liking Fred Thompson because he's a male, white, protestant, conservative- sorry, but do examine your own heart and remember, "walks like a duck, quacks like a duck..."

Stupidity

I was listening to the radio around Aug 27 and I swear I heard a sound byte of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley saying something to the effect that "you don't just fire someone for being stupid."
The next day I tried to google the quote but all that any newspapers are running is "he did a lot of stupid things," but left out the good stuff.

This was one last chance to take a stab at the now former Attorney General who's been a favorite target of mine. It was the first time I tries to draw Grassley, who has a wonderful, wrinkled, complicated, Iowa farmer kind of face. He reminds me either of Dr. Seuss's Grinch or one of the weird aliens in Jim Hansen and Frank Oz's fantasy sci-fi movie, "the Dark Crystal."
I was proud of this cartoon, but of course, they run a week later so they're old news. Gonzo resigned on a Friday, this was in the news Monday, I drew it Tuesday but that same Tuesday the gay Senator from Idaho soliciting a cop in an airport bathroom eclipsed it in the news. But I guess that won't be news by the time it reaches readers mailboxes two Thursdays later.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Well, they finally went and did it. They combined the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig LEADER into their flagship, Mapleton PRESS. I threw this scan up here in case web readers don't know or believe that I'm actually published in a real newspaper.
I hope/think that readers will like the new paper. I like that it's a heafty 14 pages as opposed to 4 or 6. Except that we didn't have color, I think it stacks up pretty good next to about any other weekly or biweekly I've seen.

I have to admit, however, that it's kind of intimidating. For one thing, I went from two newspapers with around 500 subscribers each to one that (before the merger, already) had a circulation of about 2,535 with an estimated readership of around 5,070. I realize that the Denison papers are over 7,000 and the Des Moines Register is in the neighborhood of 302,896, which pales by comparison to papers in Chicago, L.A., D.C., and New York, but it's still intimidating to me.

I'm also intimidated because Mapleton is where my wife works. Now, not only can she be embarrassed by me in front of her relatives and neighbors, but her colleagues, administrators, students and their parents may occasionally say something to her about her obnoxious, over opinionated husband.

I guess this all hit me when I got my copy and opened it up to page 6. Everything was so huge! For years I felt bad because my cartoons were squeezed into a 3.792 inch space atop of a two-column wide column. So now, a full 5.750 inches seems ENORMOUS. And, in what Garrison Keillor would tell us is typical Midwestern/Lutheran fashion- I feel like I don't deserve it. It's so conspicuous that I feel a little guilty. It LOOKS just like a major metro daily. Yikes.

Well, guess like the Country band 'Big and Rich' like to sing, I'm livin' in the big time. Well, okay, so it's still not the big show, this is still the Farm Leagues, but it is probably like going from the B-Leagues to "AA." I sure hope I'm up to this. Hope I can fill the space and prove myself worthy. I just wish I wasn't feeling so scared about just continuing to do what I love doing. Let's face it, it may be a dream to make it big, but basically it's just a hobby.