Toon: Indefinitive

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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

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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

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.

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 Miéville.

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

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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)

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

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

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!

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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

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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”!

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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!

New England keeps getting more awesome!