Tom the Dancing Bug on the Virginia Tech Shootings (2007)

Sneaky peek at this week's tom...

cute, huh?

Bend it like Beck

As much as I revere Jon Stewart for so many things, he's never really distinguished himself as a impressionist.  He'll do little "heh heh hehs" for George Bush and a hunched "wak!" for Dick Cheney, and they very effectively and humorously fit into his style, but I never saw him even attempt a sustained impersonation.

Last night's caricature of Glenn Beck was a virtuoso performance.  If you totalled all the time I've ever watched Beck, it might equal the seven or so minutes of this piece, but I somehow recognized all the pitch-perfect inflections, gestures, and histrionics that Stewart hilariously evoked (not to mention the substance of the satire).  He doesn't lose himself in Beck, the way a master impressionist would, nor does he try -- he's still Jon Stewart acting like Glenn Beck -- but who cares?  It's very, very funny.

Well played, sir!

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This week's comic

The Adventures of God-Man

This week:  The Penultimate Chapter of "The Nefarious 'X'"

This week's comic

"The Fugitive," Directed by Roman Polanski. 

Do I know how to pick 'em, or what?!

Via "news from me":  a chart showing what's happened to newspaper circulations since I started my newspaper comic strip.

"The Fugitive," Directed by Bill Clinton

Here's a comic from 2001, about Bill Clinton pardoning fugitive Marc Rich, that I thought I'd post today.  No reason...

A Public Thanks

Thanks to those who sent me items from the Wish List -- it's been a lot of fun.  And if you haven't yet, please do send me a note with your snail mail address, and I'll send you your sketch.

Quick note about this week's comic...

This comic, a Louis "Great Imaginary Conversations" installment, is one of the rare ones that I wrote well in advance of its publication date.  I wrote it a few weeks ago, so that was well before I read Looking for Calvin and Hobbes -- at the time I wrote it I had probably just gotten involved in the MoCCA event for the book.

But the fact that it came out on Salon the same day as the Calvin and Hobbes event is remarkable.  I didn't even realize the similarity between the comic and Calvin and Hobbes until that day.  There are less charitable ways to look at it, but it does show the influence Watterson had even on a strip as unlike Calvin and Hobbes as Tom the Dancing Bug.

Looking for MoCCA

Well, Bill Watterson did not show up and participate.  Todd Bridges, who did, claimed the prizes.  Todd, unfortunately, was remarkably uninsightful when discussing Calvin and Hobbes.

Seriously, a great time talking C&H with Nevin, and thanks to those who came and sat, stood, and otherwise squeezed in to attend.  A good, good time was had by all.  And we all learned something too:  if you come across a dead animal in the woods, don't touch it.