oconnorcartoons blog

LA Weekly Wrap

2011-12-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

This week's cartoon is my last print cartoon for the LA Weekly. I've been on staff since January of 2009 and it's been an amazing experience. All the best to the Weekly and all the talented folks who put it together. We might continue to work together in another capacity....creating online creating animated shorts...but more about that later. So, here's a roundup of my last batch of cartoons. Enjoy!

Big 'Ol LA Weekly Post

2011-10-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been way to damn long. Time is really flying. So, let's catch up with several months of LA Weekly cartoons. If you don't get the joke it's probably because that local LA issue long gone by now...but hey--look at those funny characters and pretty colors!

LA Weekly

2011-05-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Mother Dough review

2011-05-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a great review of Bez in the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-find-mother-dough-20110428,0,2990547.story

September 14, 2001

2011-05-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

The Art of Mother Dough

2011-04-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

Looking for an awesome restaurant to go to this weekend? Mother Dough is authentic Neapolitan pizza and they're now open!!!! The food and atmosphere are excellent. And guess who did their design work?

A friend of mine from my old job contacted me last fall and said her husband was opening this pizza shop and asked if I would design their logo. After a lot of trial and error, and their input, this is what we settled on:

In addition, they asked if I would design some characters for the t-shirts the cooks and servers would wear. Of course I would! They wanted the characters which are in the food wearing a pulcinella mask, a classic character of Italian puppetry and a symbol of naples.

I also designed the menu and wine list. I hand-lettered each item and assembled it in Photoshop:

They also asked for a primer; some basic information about the food and its origins. Originally it was intended to be on the back of the menu but there just wasn't any space. So I came up with the idea of putting on the placemats:

The owner, Bez, has done a wonderful job designing the restaurant. He did almost everything himself including these wall fixtures, which are old railroad spikes in different pleasing arrangments:

The center piece of mother dough is the wood burning oven, imported from Italy:

And if all this weren't enough....can you see the wall in the hallway in the upper right corner of this photo? Bez wanted that wall to look old and tattered. He also wanted a design of Diego Maradona, one of the most famous soccer players of all time, stenciled in the hall. There are images like this on the streets all over Latin America. The Italian connection is Maradona used to play his club soccer for the Naples club team. The entire wall needed a scenic treatment so I called in my brother, an amazing scenic artist, and we made the wall look 100 years old. I did a stencil of Maradona and placed strategically at eye level.

So, make the trip to Hollywood and try some of this awesome, authentic, Neapolitan-style pizza! And enjoy all the cool art and design.

www.motherdoughpizza.com

More LA Weekly

2011-04-06T21:46:00.001-07:00

LA Weekly

2011-01-27T09:35:00.001-08:00

Some recent cartoons from the Weekly. Enjoy.

Common Ground

2011-01-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been so far apart from someone on something that you couldn't agree on anything? Even the littlest thing? It could be an argument about religion, politics, or a film you didn't like. It could be a relationship between two people, groups, states or countries. Whatever the case may be, there is a chasm, a split, a break, two separate realities that don't see eye to eye.

This is a visual theme I've explored for a number of years in cartoons, drawings and sketchbooks. I like the idea of somehow getting to that bargaining table in the middle of the gap.

From time to time I get into printmaking. I like the way each step of the process builds an image. Here is print I pulled at Josephine Press in Santa Monica.

And here is the original zinc plate.

In the end, maybe we should agree to disagree.

Mike and Me

2010-12-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

The first time I met Mike Tetrault I thought he might bite me. He kind of snarled at me a little and the look in his eye said "I'm gonna eat you, kid." I had just walked in the editorial department of the Los Angeles Daily News with some boxes of pens, paper and sketchbooks. I was just starting out and Mike had nearly 20 years under his belt as a reporter, editor, and letters editor.

Some may not be aware, but editing the letters at a newspaper is no simple task. The sheer volume of material is wide, deep and crazy. The viciousness of the readers and their reactionary tendencies would pour over Mike's desk. He read all of it. Most often, the reader was wailing at how stupid we were, the reporters, writers, editors and the cartoonist. He would correct spelling and grammar of these tirades, call the writer, verify they in fact wrote their letter, and inform them they would be published in the following days paper.

Another of Mike's duties was selecting, organizing and picking the editorial cartoons to run on the letters page and Op-Ed. He loved cartoons and we bonded after I realized he really didn't want eat me. He would stroll in my office, a big smirk on his face, cartoon in hand and say "Look at this!" I would sketch four or five rough editorial cartoons each day and Mike, who sat two feet outside my office, was always my first stop. I could tell instantly if I was communicating clearly by the expression on his face.

At the time I was a heavy smoker and so was Mike. We took frequent smoke breaks outside on the patio and would discuss the news of the day, politics, art, music, film, literature and history. Mike read more than anyone I have ever met or think I will meet. He would bring in books for me to read; Twain, Joyce, Thurber, Orwell, Vidal. Mike was always handing me a news story, opinion piece, New Yorker article or essay. We would talk about the theme's and deeper meanings of the stories. His memory was razor sharp and his opinions on every subject were deadly.

Mostly though, Mike was a fantastic story teller. The tales of his youth in Maine; military training and service as an Army Ranger in Vietnam; living in San Francisco after the war and playing slide guitar in rock band; working as a cowhand in Montana and a shepherd in Paso Robles; covering just about everything one could imagine as a journalist. Trips to the hospital turned into hilarious episodes of escaping outside to smoke cigarettes and battles with doctors and nurses. He went to every rock concert my generation wished they had gone to in the 60's and 70's. He once shot a moose as a boy in Maine and accidentally shot a tiger in the jungles of Cambodia.

A little secret in our office was the guitar in the photo studio of the photo department. It was there for anyone to play. I would often go back to find Mike plunking away, double thumbing a song or flat picking. I too would take breaks and play guitar, just to learn something new or get a song out. Mike would stroll in, sit down, smile and listen. Then he started bringing his Gibson acoustic to work and that's when Mike started teaching me songs "knee to knee." He taught me counterpoint on the guitar, which means you play a bass line with your thumb and the melody line with the fingers. He taught me songs by Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Reverend Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and old folk ballads that were passed down from generation to generation. Mike would burn CD's of great blues, jazz and folks records, bring them in a just give them to me. We would discuss the music, its history, its structure, its meaning.

Mike and I sat in countless meetings with flacks, political hacks, wannabe power mongers, superintendents, mayors, governors, police chiefs and all manner of cronies you could imagine. He would emerge from these meetings groaning deeply about the state or our affairs. For me meetings were a time to shut off my thinking brain and draw people in the room. Half-listening I would caricature these folks in my sketchbooks, and that's when I began to fashion my image of Mike.

On one memorable occasion I looked over and caught Mike writing down every cliche that was coming out of mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's mouth. There were so many it filled an entire yellow legal pad page.

The demise of the newspaper business was hard on both of us. Mike was laid off after 25 years of service to the Daily News. I myself went several months later. We still kept in touch and he would come over to my house and to talk, play guitars and he would stand on my balcony and smoke (I quit some time ago). Mike beat cancer three times in his life and lived through more pain than I could ever imagine. The fourth time was one too many. He died Sunday night at home with his family by his side. He was 66.

Mike was a patient teacher, knowing mentor, gifted colleague, and most importantly, a dear friend. I will miss him.

Cuomo In A Can

2010-11-30T17:08:00.001-08:00

From Sunday's Los Angeles Times. You can see it and read it here.

Leftovers

2010-11-27T12:36:00.001-08:00

Pilgrims and Indians

2010-11-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! It's always been my favorite holiday. All you have to do is cook and eat. Nothing more is expected. Maybe watch some football. Here's a cartoon from a few years ago. I stumbled upon an old sketchbook with the initial doodles for this cartoon. Also, a strange drawing of old boats on the horizon in pen, ink and crayon. I always seemed to gravitate toward Pilgrims and Indians. It was never sharing a meal in harmony as you might expect. The focus was their first encounter seeing one another on the beach. Somehow this seemed like a nice opportunity to comment on immigration.

Zombie Government

2010-10-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Just in case you run into your Los Angeles City Councilman this weekend......

And just in case you want to dress your kids up at Prop. 19......

Haunted California

2010-10-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

From today's Los Angeles Times. Pretty scary.

Cheap Halloween Costumes

2010-10-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine over at BargainBabe.Com asked if I would do some spot illustrations for her WalletPop video. She asked if I would draw a few of these ideas. If you're looking for last minute for cheap halloween costume check out her video here.

LA Weekly

2010-09-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

Here a are few cartoons from the past few LA Weekly's. Enjoy!

Wedding March

2010-08-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out this cartoon in today's Los Angeles Times.

Happy Birthday Obama!

2010-08-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Today is President Obama's birthday and that means his sign is Leo. Here's a really funny piece that ran in the LA Times today. This is the illustration I did to go with it. Sort of a Lion King Obama kinda thing.

These two are rough sketches of other ideas during the concept phase. They liked them all but went with the more graphic image. I had to agree and think that thick, strong blacks look good on a newspaper page. The lion at the podium is just me being silly.

Hair Flap

2010-07-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

This ran as a full page in the LA Weekly a few weeks back. Had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for hairstyles. In case you missed the flap here is a link to the bad hair comment made by Carly Fiorina.

Here's how it looked on the page....

Cuter In Bunny Ears

2010-06-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Cuter In Bunny Ears, a really funny blog run by my soccer buddy Ryan Green. He's a gifted storyboard artist, is co-owner of Bluefoot stuidios, has a great beard, and is really tall. This drawing is up on the blog now. I guess I just miss our good ol' Dick.

A Dick For All Occasions

2010-06-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering what Dick is up too.

Stalker

2010-06-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Apparently this writer is up in Alaska, stalking Sarah Palin. A dark task indeed. Here's the illustration I did for this weeks oped piece in the LA Times. You can read the savage article here.

Ahhhh, Reform

2010-05-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

A Dream Round

2010-05-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Who wouldn't want to be a fly on the golf cart for 18 holes of Rush and Obama? This illustration is in today's Los Angeles Times accompanying this article.

Drill Fish Drill

2010-05-11T07:39:00.001-07:00

Today's Times

2010-05-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

This illustration appears on the oped page today in the LA Times accompanying this article on the ugly, oily truth. Drill, baby, drill!

More Weekly

2010-04-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a few LA Weekly cartoons from the last few weeks.

Supergraphics

2010-03-22T16:26:00.001-07:00

Outdoor advertising is Los Angeles has reached such outrageous proportions the city attorney is going to start prosecuting so-called "supergraphics." He's going to be busy.

Sketchbooks

2010-03-15T22:46:00.001-07:00

I have always kept a sketchbook. It's something I keep with me most of the time and I feel a little naked without one. For me, the best sketches come from sitting in a meeting and not really paying attention or doodling while half-listening to someone talk on the phone. I suppose it goes way back to early school days and long boring hours sitting in a classroom. Some people doodled in the margins. I drew in the middle of the page and took class notes in the margins. The point is that some ideas come from a place that's hard to define, the subconscious.
At first I began using yellow legal pads for my daily sketching. When I had a stack two feet off the ground I realized this wasn't the best format if I wanted to hang on to these things. They just didn't hold up to the daily wear and tear. So, I switched to leather, hard bound sketchbooks. I used big ones, sizes 8.5 x 11 in. and horizontal ones in similar sizes. I have an entire bookshelf of these sketchbooks and they take up space quickly. Then, I found Moleskine. Small, portable, durable, they come in all sizes and paper weight. Some are lined notebooks, some even come with storyboard panels on them. Me, I like the simple, blank, 3.5 x 5.5 in. and 5 x 8 in. Life has not been the same since I began using these sketchbooks.
The above drawings are from the pocket size book I'm carrying around right now. I'll be digging through some of these old sketchbooks and posting some drawings from the past very soon.

Tan Tax

2010-03-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

That's right. There's talk of taxing tanning beds. Makes me think of the Beatles song "Tax Man." This ran with an accompanying piece in the Los Angeles Times last week. You can read the article here.

LA Weekly

2010-02-26T11:58:00.001-08:00

I'm now drawing a cartoon each week for the LA Weekly. Be sure to pick one up....they're everywhere and they're free! Somewhere between plastic surgery, medical marijuana and asian massage parlor ads is a news section and that's where you can see my cartoon. I was asked to draw local Los Angeles material so that's what I'm doing every week. So, no Obama, elephants, donkey's or any of that nonsense. The above is a sampling of recent work.

Olivia Speaks

2010-02-10T12:29:00.001-08:00

My daughter Olivia is learning new words every day. Her vocabulary has exploded in the last few months. She's almost two and I think her verbal skills have to do with 1. Very talkative parents 2. Reading to her a lot.

Getting Creative

2010-02-08T10:33:00.001-08:00

This illustration appears in yesterday's edition of the Los Angeles Times accompanying this article. Job creation is not the most riveting of topics but I somehow managed to come up with more than one idea.

This illustration appeared on the same page with this article. As one of the 400,000 in the LA area who lost a job in the last year it was amusing to get an assignment illustrating ways to create more jobs for the region. I'm holding my breath!

Creative Thinking

2010-01-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's just easier to think inside the box, ya know?

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

Now that it's 2010 let's take a look at the last decade in cartoons! My very own Cartoon Decade In Review! This is a page I put together for the Daily News with some of the biggest moments in cartoons of the last ten years. It's very LA-centric and there are many moments that could have only happened here in Los Angeles. The space at the top was left open for the masthead at the top of the newspaper page.

My resolution for this year is....drum roll please.....to BE A BETTER BLOGGER! That's right, I resolve right here and right now to maintain this blog on a regular basis, posting more and more work. So, watch out. Lots cartoons and some of my other projects will be coming at you in 2010!

Turkey Day Warm Up

2009-11-19T15:12:00.001-08:00

Late Night Spot

2009-10-19T13:24:00.001-07:00

TakePart.Com asked me to do a cartoon on World Food Day, which was friday of last week. A topic that normally wouldn't lend itself to a cartoon but I took it as a challenge. If you'd like to learn more about the ongoing food crises all over the world follow this link.

You're In Good Hands

2009-10-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Check out this cartoon at TakePart.Com!

Guido Guy

2009-09-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Check out this character I designed! Positively offensive!

Get Real

2009-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Pick up today's Los Angeles Times and you'll find this cartoon on page A35. I was told they're going to post this on latimes.com so I'll link to it there when it's up!

Survivor: Wasilla

2009-07-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting more of these cartoons soon. You can view the weekly cartoon at TakePart!

Human Nature

2009-07-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

This cartoon appears in today's Los Angeles Times, page A21. It was fun for me to exercise my editorial cartoon muscle after not using it for so long. I dusted off the cobwebs and got down to business though. I did at least four different cartoons and this was the last. The caption really didn't come until the end, right as I sent it out. Sometimes it's the process of doing the thing that produces the end result.

Here is a poster I did commemorating the death of MJ. Follow this link if you're interested in buying it!

Story Muscle

2009-05-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve always felt that drawing was like any other form of exercise; the more you practice the better you become. It’s hard to get worse at something if you practice enough. Except for, maybe, golf. It turns out that coming up with cartoon ideas, or story ideas, sort of works the same way. The more you exercise that muscle the stronger it gets.

I recently took a storyboarding workshop with Karl Gnass at the Animation Guild. The point of the session was to create stories through gestural drawing. Specifically, by setting up 1-2-3’s, or an Action, an Effect, finished by a Result. Most stories, short and long, work in this fashion. The evil guy concocts a plan, drinks the evil potion, and turns into a monster.

Karl brought in an actor and he did a wonderful job modeling. He had a suitcase filled with simple costumes and changed them frequently. He’d hold a pose for a few minutes so we could capture the gesture. If we were told this was the “first” position, we would then take a few minutes and draw the second and third actions from imagination. Likewise, if we drew the last pose then we’d take a few moments and draw the first and second poses, simply making them up.

I found this a fun way to exercise that creative muscle. It forces you to imagine something that wasn’t there before--- a story! With a beginning, middle and an end. No matter how simple. The other great thing is that the drawings don’t have to be great. They just have to convey movement and energy.

I think the clown costume was my favorite.

It's That Time Again

2009-05-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Time to cower in the darkness; the only light present is the soft glow of fear emanating from the little box. Remember SARS? Bird Flu? West Nile Virus? Killer Bees? There's always something new to be afraid of. Better go out and buy something.

Internet Vacation

2009-04-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m all tanned, rested and reinvigorated from my Internet vacation! It feels so good to be back. I nearly forgot every username and password I have.

I’ve been drawing more than ever and will provide info on the different types of projects I’m working on soon. I'll be back blogging regularly in no time! For now here’s a couple items:

I’ve been doing some illustrations for the Los Angeles Times! Most editors and management at the Daily News had an unhealthy dislike for their crosstown rival. I always thought it was a far superior paper and have enjoyed it for a long time. So, it feels good to see my work on the Op Ed pages. The above is one of the first illustrations they asked me to do of California senator Dianne Feinstein.

Here is another of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On another note......

It’s Earth Day tomorrow and I wonder, does the planet know it’s Earth Day? Is it celebrating deep within its fiery core? There’s no way to know, I suppose, without throwing yourself into a volcano to find out. Here is an Earth Day cartoon for the globe and everyone living on it.

I'm also drawing one cartoon a week for TakePart.com, a social action blog. This cartoon will be up all day tomorrow so be sure to check it out!

Red Carpet

2009-02-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

In case you were wondering what the stars will be wearing this year......

Darwin Day

2009-02-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

Today we are celebrating 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin. Much maligned by the religious and true believers he is certainly one of humanities greatest thinkers. Here's a nice piece about the origins of Darwin.

Corporate Ladder

2009-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

Bunny Madness

2009-02-05T16:21:00.001-08:00

So, the first thing I thought I'd do with my unemployment from newspaper cartooning was take a red-eye flight to New York, put on a bunny sock puppet and play a multi-colored baby piano.

This is from a scene called "Bunnyland" in which a rabbit goes to heaven and finds a crazy bed with two sock puppets having sex next to a piano. The rabbit has gone to this place because he's been eaten by a large green monster with purple horns.

All this bunny madness was for a video my brother was making. A monster chases a bunny through the woods and he lands in a graveyard and makes his way into the heavens. Sean came up with the concept and I helped design some of the sets. He and small crew of talented individuals painted the sets and built puppet monsters and rabbits. Curious Pictures were kind enough to let us invade their studio for a weekend and shoot this crazy thing. Here's a sketch of the graveyard:

And what it turned into:

Here are some headstones I desined for the bunny cemetery and what they turned into:

I also helped assemble all of this. It was a ton of fun as you can imagine. There's a cut away scene in which some sock puppet bunnies are cowering in fear in the middle of the woods. I designed this one and my brother painted it beautifully:

The cool perspective came from the way it was laid out:

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I met and worked with a lot of really talented people, got to make some new connections and catch up on some old ones, and otherwise create interesting things. All the footage will now go into the editing room and hopefully something will come out on the other end. I'll be sure to post it here as soon as it's finished.

Top Chef

2009-01-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

The Good Ol' World Sandwich joke! Ha!

Big Dick

2009-01-15T20:49:00.001-08:00

MR. LEHRER: Okay, okay. Why do you believe that the public approval, at least measured by the polls and other things, is so low – in your case, almost historically low?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Have you checked it recently? I don’t know what it is.

MR. LEHRER: I have, I have. The – in terms of history, polling goes on 70 years. The only vice president that’s ever had a lower approval rating is Dan Quayle.

Can you believe that? Cheney is more popular than Quayle?!!!! Clearly something is horribly wrong with this world. If you want some more Dick you can read the transcript from the here.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night!!

2009-01-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

Because we the people of these United States suffer from a uniquely American case of amnesia, George W. Bush and his cronies will all be but a faded memory in a matter of months. Memories of a political time so rotten, so insipid, so filled with emptiness--they must purged from our collective mind. Yet, their policies of greed, torture, corruption and imperial ambition will endure for generations. The destruction they have wrought all across the globe and at home will not be so easily forgotten among those whose lives have been destroyed.

So, let’s celebrate their departure!!! Let us rise up and thank Providence that their reign of terror has ended. Send the Yellow Rose of Texas back to the dusty little Crawford town where he belongs! Send the greatest villain in American history back to his job at Halliburton! But mostly, let us say goodbye to the worst presidency ever to befall this great nation and let us vow to never, ever, let it happen again.

Exit Interview

2009-01-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

My exit interview has taken place at The Daily Cartoonist. Check it.

President Burka Abeam

2009-01-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

I could go on all day about the problems with newspapers, journalism and cartooning. This photo appeared in the Daily News a few weeks ago and to me the caption sums up what's wrong with newspapers today.

"Federal prosecutors allege that Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, left, conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate office vacated by President-elect Burka Abeam to the highest bidder."

That's right folks, in less than a week the first black man ever to be elected president of these United States, BURKA HUSSIEN ABEAM will take the oath of office. And what a historic day it shall be! The Abeam presidency will spark confidence in troubled financial markets and shine the bright light of freedom on dark corners all around the globe!

Clearly, this is a case of Spell Check Gone Wild. The point is that there was no one to check this before it went to print. The entire chain of command has broken down at a newspaper when someone elected president has their name mangled so pathetically. "Abeam" is so far away from Obama...it's not even close. Not even the same neighborhood, ballpark or sleazy strip mall. And "Burka"....well, I'm sure we all love to hear the pleasant arabic sounding tones of that word. The quality of the newspaper product has suffered so severely that the damage is literally beyond repair.

Saying Goodbye

2009-01-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

It was fitting, I thought, that this would be my last cartoon to appear in print for the Daily News. After eight horrendous years we finally bid farewell to the Bush/Cheney junta next week. They will leave office declaring themselves a total success, of course.

Subconsciously, I must have been drawing a self portrait here. Bush could be me, suitcase open, looking around wondering what to pack from the rubble. Like me, all the walls have crumbled, revealing the cold, wintery world outside. Perhaps the scowling Cheney in the corner is my own ego, wounded and bitter.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Freud famously said that "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Well, maybe sometimes "Cheney holding a shotgun is just Cheney holding a shotgun."

Layoffs Department

2009-01-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

I was among many newsroom staffers laid off from my position at the LA Daily News on thursday. To be honest, I'm really surprised I lasted as long as I did. A staff editorial cartoonist is an expensive luxury in the small, feeble minds of corporate tightwads in newspaper front offices. After eight years of trouble-making The Suits decided they'd had enough.

All in all it was a good final day, I think. I said goodbye to the few newsroom staffers who are left at the paper and we had a nice lunch at the local pizza joint we've frequented over the years.

My trip to HR was uneventful. Got the forms in a sleek looking folder with Los Angeles Newspaper Group plastered on it. The woman who officially signed me out was nice enough. She had just returned from vacation. There was a stack of unemployment forms on her desk an inch thick. She gave me my severance check and I looked to see that the government had withheld nearly HALF in taxes. Uncle Sam always gets his. My portion probably paid for a toilet seat in Iraq or an hour massage for some pampered corporate executive with a big fat bailout.

Speaking of pampered corporate executives, it turns out Doug Hanes, the publisher of the Daily News, was laid off the day after I was. Finally! Someone who deserved it! After all he's done to destroy the newspaper I'm sure his severance package was a little better than mine.

After my trip to human resources I came upon the dumpy little man who has always wanted my head on a platter. He's one of The Dark Lords inside the company, reigning over his disintegrating fiefdom. "How are you doing?" he said as I walked by. "If there's anything I can do for you just let me know." If my hair and clothes were on fire and I was rolling on the floor screaming in pain and agony this guy would have watched with sadistic pleasure. I wanted to tell him that there wasn't anything a man like him could ever do for me. Someone who thinks it's intelligent to destroy other people's livelihoods could never be of any real service to humanity. I wanted to grab his double chin, put my knee into that fat tire around his old waist, slam him against the windows and scream at the top of my lungs "FUCKYOUMOTHERFUCKERCOCKSUCKERPIECEOFSHITASSFUCKWADPISSBITCHASS!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU COME NEAR ME OR MY FAMILY EVER AGAIN I WILL REIGN DOWN A SHITSTORM ON YOU!!!!!!!!!" Instead, I smiled pleasantly, looked him in the eye and said "Oh, and if there's anything I could ever do for you...."

2009-01-08T23:19:00.001-08:00

The holidays come and go like whir. Then a real storm hits.

2009-01-02T13:42:00.001-08:00

2008-12-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

Let the shopping begin.

Orwell

2008-11-24T21:21:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, Orwell. I think he is perhaps my favorite writer. Beyond "1984" and "Animal Farm" his best works are certainly his essays. A new collection has just re-published classics like "Shooting an Elephant" and "A Hanging." If you have the time by all means at least read these two fantastic essays.
After the long election season we now fade into the holidays and our cultural amnesia sets in. The collective memory fades into the dark months of winter leaving an empty void. Who was elected? What was that about? Change? George W. who? Economy, stupid? Huh? Whadidyasay?

2008-11-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

#44

2008-11-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

It's a new day in America.

It's the Economy, Stupid Part II

2008-10-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's getting scarier and scarier out there.....

Here's a quick sketch of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

It's the Economy, Stupid.

2008-10-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a collection of grim economic cartoons from the last year or so.

2008-10-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

Watercolor 11 x 17 in.

2008-09-07T16:44:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness the conventions are over. Yet, we still have to endure another two months of campaigning. Aaaaaaaggggggrrrrrrhhhhh!!!!! I don't know if I'm going to make it. Here's two pretty good cartoons from this week. They were both picked up and ran in the New York Times Week In Review on Sunday.

2008-09-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

A photo illustration I did for this weekend's Opinion pages following the DNC. In the end the Clinton's came off more gracious than anyone probably ever thought they would.

2008-09-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I really wish they'd put Dick Cheney on a coin like this. Perhaps so that we might never forget?

2008-08-15T11:20:00.001-07:00

Remember the flap about the New Yorker cover by Barry Blitt last month? No? Has your American Amnesia set in already? Before I went on vacation I did this mock cover. I turned off my phone and didn't check my email for a week. Unbeknownst to me the cartoon was picked up and ran in the New York Times Week in Review and the Washington Post!

2008-08-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a week at the ocean!

2008-07-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Thug o' the Month

Third World African Dictator Robert Mugabe gets this months award. Mr. Mugabe's destruction of Zimbabwe has lasted nearly 30 years and in a recent election he literally BEAT the opposition. A campaign of fear and intimidation forced his opponent to withdraw from the election. Now it would seem efforts to challenge his iron-fisted grip on the country have faltered.

2008-07-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

"Rat shit, bat shit, smelly old twat. Sixty-nine assholes tied in a knot. Hurray! Lizard shit! Fuck!"

Summer

2008-07-04T11:41:00.001-07:00

To me, summer is about watermelon. Nothing tastes quite the same on a hot, steamy July day.

Cheney of Arabia

2008-06-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

One of the great villains in our nations history.

2008-06-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

This was a lot of fun and took up the entire page of the Sunday Viewpoint section in the Daily News. I occasionally do these longer narratives and find them quite amusing, albeit it's a ton of work. I had the idea approved on Wednesday, laid it out and finished the dialogue and inking by 4 am Thursday. Spent all day Friday coloring in photoshop. Not a lot of time to do a full page color cartoon. I thought it turned out pretty well and the tomatoes really have my sympathies by the end.

Sunday Business Illustration

2008-05-16T09:06:00.001-07:00

Here is a fun drawing I did for the Sunday Business page about taming the beast within your checkbook. With economic times being what they are we all have to deal with our own spending monsters.

Arbitrary Numbers

2008-04-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

I think I got most of the administrations slogans in here. I'm thinking about adding some color and turning this one into a T-Shirt. The media like to focus on the numbers, especially body counts, during war time. It's a pretty morbid practice when you think about it. Of course, the Bush/Cheney junta and the Pentagon doesn't want to hype 'arbitrary numbers,' like how many fine young men and women have been killed in our latest imperial adventure.

It's 3 am.....

2008-03-17T21:17:00.001-07:00

A recent cartoon referring to the now famous Hillary Clinton ad. Funny the way there always seems to be some kind of a 'break-out' advertisement that captures the public's imagination every election season. Mushroom clouds and little girls, anyone?

Popping Cherry

2008-03-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

My very first post here on blogger!