Boiling Point Blog

Toon: The American Family Health Plan

2009-06-29T23:41:00.002-04:00

It's a classic.

Toon: Fun Times at the Supermarket

2009-06-29T23:39:00.002-04:00

I'm off to Seattle and the annual AAEC editorial cartooning convention. In the meantime, I leave you with this tasty morsel.

Mark Fiore: "Obama vs. Obama"

2009-06-17T22:44:00.002-04:00

Great Flash animation by Mark Fiore, "Obama vs. Obama."

Toon: Barack Obama, Fierce Advocate of LGBT Rights!

2009-06-16T00:03:00.003-04:00

Click to enlarge

Disappointed, yes. Surprised? Not really.

For more angry venting, you must watch and/or read the bad-ass speech my pal Jaclyn Friedman gave at the Boston Dyke March on this topic. A sampling:

That Presidential Proclamation? It would sure sound sweeter if it were backed up by actual action to end discrimination against gay, lesbian, bi and trans Americans willing to DIE in service of our country's military whims. And it would be more than a little helpful if Obama would stop caving to the religious right and start condemning marriage discrimination, instead of defending it like he did today.

Of course, marriage rights themselves would be a lot less important if quality, competent health care was available to every person in this country regardless of marital status, income, age, race, sexual orientation or gender identity. But who needs universal health care when you've got a shiny proclamation that proves the president knows we exist? He likes us! He really likes us.

Even the HRC is getting feisty about Obama's odd�Clintonian, even!�interpretation of "fierce advocacy."

P.S. Rachel Maddow is so rocking this topic:

What's Good for GM...

2009-06-15T23:50:00.001-04:00

Click to enlarge

I drew this cartoon about the GM plant closings (about plant closings in general, but specifically with the Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan in mind.

Oddly enough, before I even got a chance to post it today, I received a nice email from the webmaster of UAW Local 735, saying that he had been given a copy of an earlier cartoon of mine on the effects of plant closings ("Jane Reaction") and asking for permission to run the cartoon on their site (which I of course granted).

I'm not from Michigan myself, but I am from Lowell, a historic manufacturing city in Massachusetts that has had its share of ups, downs and plant closings aplenty (the American Industrial Revolution, anyone?). More recently, we used to be known as Spaghettiville, even, till Prince left town in 1997 taking hundreds of jobs with it.

Toon: George Tiller, a Tribute

2009-06-15T23:35:00.001-04:00

Click to enlarge

(Drew this several weeks ago when I first heard the news, the day I got back from Europe).

It's less a cartoon, and more an angry illustration trying to cut through all the mainstream media crap about how he was a so-called "controversial abortionist."

Here's a quote from a piece by Carol Joffe at RH Reality Check on Tiller's legacy

In simplest terms, many of those who came to George Tiller's clinic for late second or third trimester abortions were women (and their partners) who were carrying much wanted pregnancies that had gone horribly wrong. These were women in many cases who had already set up cribs and had baby showers. Some of these women had fetuses with heartbreaking anomalies, that were discovered only later in pregnancy, such as anencephaly, a lethal birth defect in which most of the brain and parts of the skull are missing. Other women had themselves become very ill in the course of a pregnancy, such as the onset of cancer, which demanded a course of chemotherapy. Tiller, himself a practicing Christian, had set aside a space in his clinic -- a Quiet Room -- for grieving parents, who could if they wished, be counseled by a chaplain on staff, and participate in a baptism or other blessings for the lost pregnancy.

In a perceptive piece written immediately after Tiller's death, the journalist Michelle Goldberg points out the irony that many of the procedures that he performed, for wanted pregnancies that had gone terribly wrong, "are as far away from the much-reviled concept of 'abortion on demand' that one could get... Almost anyone of childbearing age could end up needing Tiller's services."

Barbara Ehrenreich on the real toll of the recession

2009-06-14T17:18:00.001-04:00

Ehrenreich has a must-read Op-Ed ("Too Poor to Make the News") on the lazy journalism of the recession, and its obsessive focus on the recession's effects on the rich and middle-class. I particularly love this opening paragaph:

THE human side of the recession, in the new media genre that?s been called ?recession porn,? is the story of an incremental descent from excess to frugality, from ease to austerity. The super-rich give up their personal jets; the upper middle class cut back on private Pilates classes; the merely middle class forgo vacations and evenings at Applebee?s. In some accounts, the recession is even described as the ?great leveler,? smudging the dizzying levels of inequality that characterized the last couple of decades and squeezing everyone into a single great class, the Nouveau Poor, in which we will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches.

Maybes: APE in San Francisco this year; new LGBT cartoon collection

2009-06-14T17:13:00.001-04:00

Masheka and I may go to APE (Alternative Press Expo) on October 17-18 in San Francisco this year. If we do, I plan to put together a collection of my LGBT-themed political cartoons (which I've been meaning to do anyway).

"Free speech" doesn't equal "free from criticism and consequence"

2009-06-10T08:21:00.001-04:00

Great post by Barry (which he calls "horribly earnest") about the bigoted radio DJs who called for violence against transgender kids.

My only small quibble is that I don't see why we have to support the pencil manufacturer if we don't like his/her views (why couldn't we buy pencils from someone we like better?) See my cartoon "Victims of Gay Rage" for more on this.

Don't you hate it when thriftiness clashes with politics?

2009-06-09T23:41:00.001-04:00

Like when a book is 40% off on Amazon, but you could buy it full price and support a cool progressive bookstore that needs your help? (via @jaclynf and @jennpozner on Twitter)

I'm trying to resolve to buy less often, but put my dollars in more progressive/sustainable places when I do buy. But I'm such a book fiend! (In the end I gritted my cheap teeth and paid the full price to help support the indie bookstore--I can always get the other books that were on my wishlist at the library!)

Reminder: At MOCCA Art Fest this weekend

2009-06-06T10:15:00.000-04:00

Masheka and I are at this year's MOCCA Art Festival sharing a table with our Cartoonists With Attitude pal Brian McFadden and the talented Melissa J. Gibson (Made by Melissa). We have mini-comics (new), books (old) and dolls and T-shirts.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets
When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm
Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend
MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

Back from Europe!

2009-06-04T22:57:00.001-04:00

Just got back from a 2-week+ trip to the UK, France and the Netherlands (a "short holiday" by the standards of the guy at passport control, a very long holiday by my sad American standards!) Will be at MOCCA this weekend with Masheka. Was horrified to return to awful news of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller.

Toon: Indefinitive

2009-05-17T15:28:00.002-04:00

Click to enlarge

I was going to call this cartoon "change I don't want to believe" but Masheka wisely counseled me otherwise. Seriously though, I really wish I hadn't had to draw this (in the sense that I wish Obama hadn't made the awful decisions that led me to draw this.)

Toon: The HETEROmance Wedding Package

2009-05-17T01:41:00.007-04:00

Click to enlarge

A Tasteful New Tradition for Old-Fashioned Couples!

Inspired by this ridiculous photograph of a couple getting married as part of an anti-gay protest. Can you imagine this couple showing their grandkids the wedding album thirty or forty years from now? "Grandpa, how come you were against equality?"

Some questions about this photo:

Why are these bigots so damn happy? Does it really give them that much joy to be joined together in matrimony as part of a "screw you" to same-sex couples?
Why did the NYTimes caption this picture "A protest on Wednesday over the Washington City Council�s vote to recognize same-sex marriages from other states included a traditional wedding ceremony" (emphasis mine)? What part of any traditional wedding ceremony involves gay-bashing signage? That totally wasn't in the wedding planning manual I used...

Sugary new heights of giggle

2009-05-16T22:39:00.001-04:00

The cartoon I'm drawing about antigay weddings is actually making me giggle out loud. Especially the line "soar to sugary new heights of one man, one woman love."

This is a refreshing change from my usual expression while drawing--the sleep-deprived squint.

Random Book Love: Aya of Yop City, James Tiptree, Jr.

2009-05-16T20:30:00.010-04:00

I read. A lot. Mostly science fiction, but some non-SF, some fantasy, some nonfiction, some graphic novels. Generally 1-4 books per week.

Some books (comics and non) I've read (or reread) and loved lately:

Aya of Yop City (pictured above) by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie. The second graphic novel in a light-hearted series about the adventures of three young women growing up in 1970s Ivory Coast. Abouet's writing and characters are a delight and I could stare at Oubrerie's lovely line- and colorwork in envy all day.

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips. I read this amazing, dense, beautifully-written 400+-page biography in a several day fever-dream ending in eyestrain and tears. Publisher blurb:

James Tiptree, Jr., burst onto the science fiction scene in the late 1960s with a series of hard-edged, provocative stories. He redefined the genre with such classics as Houston, Houston, Do You Read? and The Women Men Don't See. For nearly ten years he wrote and carried on intimate correspondences with other writers--Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, and Ursula K. Le Guin, though none of them knew his true identity. Then the cover was blown on his alter ego: "he" was actually a sixty-one-year-old woman named Alice Bradley Sheldon. A feminist, she took a male name as a joke--and found the voice to write her stories."

Thanks to journalist Beth Schwartzapfel for the tip about the biography--she's not even a science fiction fan at all and she loved this book!

By the way, Sheldon inspired the annual James Tiptree, Jr. Award for the best gender-exploring science fiction.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wonderful young adult book about kids in a dystopian far-future who are forced to compete in a brutal battle-to-the-death reality show for the amusement of the rich. (Yes, it's similar in plot to Battle Royale and The Long Walk, but totally original in execution).

The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick. The life of a changeling girl in a brutal post-industrial have-and-have-not fairyland. I have read this book four or five times and I never get sick of it. I can't believe it's out of print!

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Another beloved reread. Science-fiction classic about a complex planet called Winter, whose people are genderless except during their mating cycle.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; illustrations by cartoonist extraordinaire Ellen Forney. Alexie's first YA book is the story of Junior, a wouldbe cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

And a few of the 170+ books on my urgent to-read list:

So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy. Anthology edited by one of my all-time favorite SF writers, Nalo Hopkinson.

The City & the City by China Mi�ville.

Nation by Terry Pratchett. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel.

Filter House Tiptree-Award-winning short story collection by Nisi Shawl.

P.S. Sadly, Masheka and I were unable to attend the always-awesome East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention this year, but I plan to check out many of the books nominated for Glyph Awards (Aya of Yop City being one).

Sick kitty again

2009-05-16T13:49:00.001-04:00

Click to enlarge

Scrawny little Riley is home from his dental surgery and recovering. Here he is in Masheka's lap! He seems to have his appetite back now that his broken infected tooth is out.

New Hampshire! (almost)

2009-05-14T15:31:00.001-04:00

New England's still on a winning streak for marriage equality. Rhode Island might be a while yet, though.

Re: Obama's change of heart

2009-05-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

On the bright side, at least all those indefinite detainees won't have to worry about the release of embarrassing photos! But seriously: WTF?!

NYC event: Mikhaela & Masheka at MOCCA Art Fest June 6-7

2009-05-13T09:00:00.002-04:00

Mark your calendars: Masheka and I will be at this year's MOCCA Art Festival sharing a table with our Cartoonists With Attitude pal Brian McFadden and the talented Melissa J. Gibson (Made by Melissa). We will have mini-comics, books and possibly dolls and T-shirts.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets
When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm
Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend
MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

Doodle fabric designs!

2009-05-13T01:42:00.002-04:00

Click to enlarge

Masheka and I spent the evening making fabric designs out of some of his doodles. Fun, no? We're going to order the fabric through Spoonflower to make stuff for this year's MOCCA art festival (June 6 and 7 in NYC).

The War in Afghanistan's REAL Victims

2009-05-12T18:43:00.003-04:00

Click to enlarge

In the wake of a U.S. airstrike that killed more than 100 Afghan civilians, the mainstream media wonders: "How will those dead kids harm American PR?"

As FAIR puts it in their analysis of mainstream coverage: "One has to wonder about the values of a press where U.S. taxpayer-funded slaughter of civilians elicits journalists' concern not about victims, but about the war's popularity with the population having record numbers of bombs dropped on them and how that might hamper U.S. strategic goals."

By the way, Obama's top security adviser says he has no plans to halt the airstrikes because �we have to have a full complement of our offensive military power when we need it."

For my previous cartoons on this subject, see "War Marketeers!" and "Milly Jones: America-Hating PR representative".

The National Organization for Marriage�s �Rainbow Coalition�!

2009-05-12T18:27:00.003-04:00

Click to enlarge

Drew this after those ridiculous NOM ads first popped up on YouTube.

The actual quote I'm referencing from NOM's ridiculous gay-bashing "Storm is Coming" ad: "But we have hope...a rainbow coalition of people of every creed and color are coming together in love to protect marriage."

Marriage Equality in Maine!

2009-05-06T12:49:00.001-04:00

New England keeps getting more awesome!

Two Left Feet: A (Mostly) True Story

2009-04-27T22:54:00.004-04:00

Click to enlarge

The true part is that I rebroke my foot recently while Masheka was still in his left foot cast. The not-true part is that it was intentional--having a broken foot SUCKS. And HURTS!

Note: I rarely use photo references when drawing myself, but I needed them here--these are quite accurate recreations of how I broke my foot, the giant stack of pillows (complete with cats) I used to keep it elevated, etc. I even donned a wool coat in 80ish degree heat to pose for panel three!

P.S. Yes my foot is all blue and nasty under the cast--or it was last time. I'm sure it will be again when they remove the current cast.