Attitude 1 + 2 MOCCA party in NYC April 29
Meet Ted Rall, Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Scott Bateman, David Rees, and me, among others

Here's the announcement:

Hang out with more than a dozen of America's funniest and most brilliant alternative cartoonists at a special night to celebrate the release of ATTITUDE 2: THE NEW SUBVERSIVE ALTERNATIVE CARTOONISTS. On hand will be 14 cartoonists from ATTITUDE 1 (2002) as well as ATTITUDE 2. Meet David Rees ("Get Your War On"), Mickey Siporin ("America Outta Line"), Tom Tomorrow ("This Modern World"), Mikhaela Reid ("The Boiling Point"), Neil Swaab ("Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles"), Ruben Bolling ( "Tom the Dancing Bug"), Emily Flake ("Lulu Eightball"), Jason Yungbluth ( "Deep Fried" ), Peter Kuper ("Eye of the Beholder"), Scott Bateman, Ward Sutton ("Schlock 'N' Roll"), Jen Sorensen ("Slowpoke"), Tim Krieder ("The Pain—When Will It End?") and Ted Rall ("Search and Destroy").

Copies of ATTITUDE 1 and 2 will be available for sale and signing. There will be prodigious amounts of food and drink, media gossip and, of course, did we mention food and drink? And cool cartoonists. Whatever is there will be in abundance.

Artwork by the various ATTITUDE artists will be on display. Enter a raffle to win original cartoon art by ATTITUDE cartoonists, books and other prizes.

Thursday, April 29th, 7-9 pm

MoCCA
594 Broadway (between Houston and Prince)
Suite 401 (Fourth Floor)
New York, NY 10012

$5

Map to MoCCA

By subway:
6 to Bleecker St or Spring St,
N, R to Prince St,
F, V, to B'way-Lafayette St

RSVP: 212-254-3511 or info@moccany.org

Attention Lowell (Mass.) Shoppers
Get signed copies of Attitude 2 in the Barnes & Noble at 151 Merrimack St.

When my grandmother was sick, I promised her I would get her Garry Trudeau's autograph (Trudeau and Wasserman were her favorite cartoonists, after me, of course). So yesterday I went downtown to get some Phoenixes with the Melba and Me cartoon in them and pick up a copy of "Got War?" (I'm still going to get it signed for her). Imagine my surprise to see five copies of Attitude 2 on the New Releases table. I signed them all and they put those little "signed by the author" stickers on them, so... get them while they're hot, folks.

New Cartoon: In Loving Memory of
Melba Ruby Reid (1931-2004)

My grandmother died yesterday. I was originally working on this cartoon as a get-well present, but it became a memorial instead. Here is her obituary, and information about donating in her memory:

Melba Ruby Reid (born Shipman), beloved wife of Gordon Marsh Reid, who predeceased her, passed away on March 23, 2004 after a long struggle with lung disease. She died at home, in the arms of her family.

Melba was born on January 31, 1931. She was born in Pickwick, Hardin county Tennessee and was the daughter of Garland Shipman and Nellie Drue McKinney.

Melba was a veteran of the United States Air Force and served during the Korean Conflict. She worked as a bookkeeper following her discharge from the service, up until the time of her final illness. She was an ardent book lover and knitter, and followed politics with passion.

She is survived by her sister, Nellie Roseman Simmons of Pickwick, Tennessee. She is also survived by her four children and their spouses, Beryl Reid and her husband, Paul Katler of Lowell, Mass., Rebecca Reid and her husband, Robert Coyne of Monument Beach, Mass., Michael Reid and his wife Rosemary Reid of Solon, Maine, and Melinda Reid and her partner Danny Oliver of Solon Maine. She also had seven grandchildren who were the light of her life; Mikhaela Blake Reid, Max Reid Katler, Rob Reid Coyne, Myles Taylor Reid, Cassandra Lynn Reid, Caleigh Lynn Reid-Oliver, and Jesse Daniel Reid- Oliver.

Funeral arrangements are private, as per Melba’s request. Donations may be made in her memory to the American Lung Association-The American Lung Association, 61 Broadway, New York, NY 10006.

Please visit the Idiot Box
...thank you.

Anyway, I got a nice email from fellow political cartoonist Matt Bors, who tells you how to get a job, sees the future, and makes speculations about Fred Phelps, among other things. Check his stuff out, it rocks.

Mass. Legislature Approves Anti-gay Amendment
...but the vote was preliminary, all hope is not lost, and wedding bells will still ring May 17

Yeah, so, the bad news is that the Mass. Legislature (by a vote of 121 to 77) gave the first round of approval to Finneran and Travaglini's so-called "compromise", or Leadership amendment, which bans same-sex marriage but allows for civil unions. The good (or at least, less bad) news is that even if the amendment makes it through the final rounds of approval, it still won't show up on ballots until November 2006 at the earliest. And in the meantime, same-sex marriages are still scheduled to begin May 17... though not if Gov. Romney can help it. From the Globe ("Convention may be overture to long debate"):

First, legislators will reconvene on March 29 for a final vote on whether to take up the amendment again at their next Constitutional Convention in the 2005-06 session, when it must be approved to be placed on the ballot in November 2006. There is speculation on Beacon Hill that gay marriage opponents will use the opportunity at the end of the month to replace the amendment with one that waters down the civil union provision. The amendment's prospects could also be affected by this fall's elections, which could alter the composition of the Legislature. Furthermore, even though the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Massachusetts must allow gay marriages effective May 17, Romney is considering a plan to ask the SJC to block issuing marriage licenses until voters have a chance to weigh in on the issue... . Also, the governor has vowed to campaign for Republican candidates, and gay marriage may become a pivotal issue in some races.

In other words, anti-gay candidates for the legislature are using the marriage issue to defeat their pro-gay opponents. Great. Just great. I can't say that puts me in the most optimistic of moods. And I have to say that the approval of the amendment still smells like a defeat to me, although Boston Phoenix writer Kristen Lombardi goes so far as to argue that it's a huge victory for gay rights activists--I'm still not convinced, but her argument is worth reading.

Update: my dad says I'm being way too pessimistic, and points me to a Globe analysis ("Accord said to lack firm majority: In gay-marriage fight, lawmakers' votes fluid") suggesting support for the amendment is shaky:

The comfortable margins by which the amendment passed on Thursday reflect short-term strategies employed by gay-marriage backers and opponents. Gay-marriage supporters were attempting to deflect rival proposals they viewed as more harsh to same-sex couples, while their opponents were maneuvering to keep the debate going and their future options open. Neither group can be counted on to ultimately back the amendment, the analysis suggests.

New Cartoon! Haitian Worries

Warning, kids, this one is depressing. I'll post some links with all the other stuff I want to say about the current Haitian situation if I get a chance.

The Real Flip-Flop Man

Scott Bateman has a great cartoon on the bizarreness of Bush accusing Kerry of flip-flopping on the issues. (Which isn't to say Kerry doesn't seem to have a Clintonian fondness for waffling, but Bush has no room to talk).

Speaking of Scott, did you know that he is now taking preorders for Scott Bateman's Sketchbook of Secrets & Shame?

It's here! It's here!
And you can buy it from me, sort of!
Possible New York book-signing party in April, I think...

I think I'm going to faint. Yours truly, in a real book?!!! A book with Keith Knight, Alison Bechdel, David Rees, and Aaron McGruder (of Boondocks fame)!?

Attitude 2 includes cartoons I did for the Boston Phoenix (such as Wartime ABC's) as well as some I did for Bay Windows and the Harvard Crimson.

The book also includes cartoons by and interviews with Jennifer Berman, Max Cannon, Barry Deutsch, Emily S. Flake, Marian Henley, Justin Jones, Tim Kreider, Kevin Moore, Stephen Notley, Eric Orner, Greg Peters, Mikhaela Blake Reid (yeah, that's me), Neil Swaab, Brian Sendelbach, Tak Toyoshima, Shannon Wheeler and Jason Yungbluth.

Anyway, if you know me personally and/or live in the New York area, please order the book from me (I get a cut that way, and you get an autograph). I'm going to set up a Paypal link for that soon, but until then, email me to let me know how many copies you would like. Otherwise, you can hopefully buy the book in your local bookstore or comic book shop, but failing that, you can already get it on Amazon and should soon be able to order it from Powells. (Update: reader J. Honn tells me you can buy it online from St. Marks Bookshop, a great independent NYC bookseller...)

There should be some group book signings soon (there will definitely be one at the MOCCA Art Festival June 26/27).

Tom Tomorrow's History of Marriage

A little historical education from This Modern World.