Here is this week's In Contempt cartoon. I switched out the pickups and the tuners, installed a Bigsby tremelo for greater sustain, and filed down the nut. Now it plays like a dream, tone for days and the leads just SCREAM!

This cartoon was made for walking.

This week I started drawing at a new studio space I am renting near my house. I have wanted a studio outside of my house for so very freaking long, so I was glad to hear from friend, fellow Cartoonist With Attitude Barry Goddam Deutsch that a space was available for less than $100 a month. In my neighborhood. Near a Lebanese restaurant and a comics shop. I practically spooged.

This should up my productivity, fo sho. I am going to start doing pages of Wanderlost soon, too. Seriously. And I plan to finish it. More details on that later. I'm just glad to have the opportunity to get out of the house, write and draw without distractions from dishes and laundry. That shit is crazy-making.

New cartoon is up and ready for viewing. You may laugh, if you wish. If not, then remember all the soldiers who fought and died for your right to not laugh at political snark. Yeah, who's laughing now? Thought so.

BTW, I can't believe I drew Glenn Beck again. I really want to avoid that in the future. If we still remember him in 30 years, we will not have grown as a culture.

Uh, I done did it uh-gin. I tweeted and facebooked, but I forgot to blog the posting of yesterday's In Contempt cartoon.

I'm feeling a little over-extended these days - which is amazing, since I haven't had a work shift in 3 weeks. Lots of child care, housekeeping, volunteering at school, and wotnot - trying not to go stir crazy. The arrival of the rainy season promises future cabin fever, so this should be a, um, what did my temp job bosses call it? An "opportunity for advancement"? A "challenge"? They always delivered such euphemisms with appropriate tones of sarcasm. "Ha-ha, this will suck - but not for me! Ha ha ha!"

Pulling out of my funk, I posted a new cartoon (as I warned on twitter and FB, it's tasteless and unsubtle - suitably, I think) that I have been stewing on for two weeks about the Pentagon's request for troop escalations in Afghanistan. Oddly I thought this would be a bit post-date, but today Obama met with his National Security team and yesterday with Congressional leaders - reportedly spitting venom with Senator John McCain, who apparently wants a hundred years in Afghanistan, too - on the Pentagon request. War is always timely, alas.

I'll be posting once a week for the rest of the year. I have a lot of personal stuff to sort out, distracting me from cartooning, but I need to maintain at least this low-level regularity to keep me happy. What readers/fans want plays in my mind, too, and if I could, this would be a daily strip. Please bear with me during this period. Much thanks for keeping with me this far.

A new cartoon has appeared on In Contempt. How it got there, I don't know. But it's kinda cute. I think I'll keep it around. At least until it bores me, then I'll trade it in for an upgrade.

Speaking of which, I put a hundred smackers down on a guitar on Monday; after two more months, it's mine! Lay-away rocks! Except that it's only a few days later and OMFG I WANT IT NOW! Aaaagh! Patience, grasshopper. Patience.

I have a new cartoon at In Contempt. It is called "Gender Confusion." It is a nice cartoon. You should read it. It is funny. It plays nice with other cartoons. It has been properly house-trained and all its shots are up-to-date. One day, it might grow up to be President. A parent can only dream.

Coming Thursday at In Contempt: historical ironies.

Today's cartoon addresses the Thomas Jefferson quote that, combined with a openly carried side-arm, turned William Kostric into the poster boy for tone-deaf gun enthusiasts. He might even run for Congress.

Today's cartoon is about -- what else, the health care "debate"!

I enjoyed drawing this one. Granted, I enjoy drawing most of the toons, but this one has a lot of slaptstick and silliness that squeezes the ventricles of my cartoonist heart.

For Thursday, I think I'll do a weeping Les Paul guitar. I want a Turdie!

In the production notes of In Contempt cartoons I tend to heavily source references made in the cartoons themselves. Today's strip is an extreme example, half the phrases link to news or blog articles providing FURTHER PROOF THAT THESE THINGS HAPPENED!

(Naw, I ain't neurotic ur nuffin.)

Today I feel obligated to source my caricatures. Waving the magic Google Image Finder wand, I came across two photos of Glenn Beck that were so expressive of my dramatic intent, my drawing added little more than a few stylistic mannerisms and cartoony simplifications. Beck is such an obvious clown, there's not much to add, really.

In the first panel, Glenn appears in his weepy mode (a favorite target of Tom Tomorrow), which honestly cannot be exaggerated.


Source: Gawker.

In the last panel, Glenn's creepy mode. Again, no exaggeration needed.


Source: Movie Eye.

Weepy and creepy. That about sums him up, don't it?