Tom The Dancing Bug Blog

Was the ghost of King Kirby here? Why can't he stay?

How did my portrait of Dwight Eisenhower, in my latest comic, somehow end up looking like a face Jack Kirby would draw?  I have no idea, but I'm very happy about that strange occurrence.

What I Saw

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking around these streets of New York, and, for the first time in my life, I was shocked by a movie poster.  It was for the movie "Saw V."  There, at eye level for any toddler in a stroller, was the huge image of a man, with his face covered by the skin of another man's face. 

Now, while I'm no fan of this brand of gruesome, sadistic horror genre, I have no problem with what anyone wants to watch in a dark theater once they've paid their twelve bucks.  But I was literally stopped in my tracks when I saw this image foisted on every passerby regardless of age or sensibility.  I tried to imagine the filmmakers, the marketers, the advertising company, and the ad space owners all agreeing that this is a perfectly fine image to shove in front of the faces of children.  And the elderly.  And librarians.

I just learned about the controversy surrounding the poster for Kevin Smith's new movie, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."  Apparently the original poster was rejected by the MPAA in the U.S. (I didn't even know that the MPAA had jurisdiction over movie posters).  It had featured photos of Rogen and Banks, while fully clothed, positioned suggestively.

So the movie company instead devised a poster picturing two stick figures, one male and one female, in front of a movie camera, with the text:  "Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks made a movie so titillating that we can only show you this drawing."  But even this stick-figure version was banned at bus stops in Philadelphia because it contains the word "porno."

If there are entities that regulate what images are allowed to appear on movie posters (and I'm surprised to learn that there are), shouldn't their chief concern be protecting children from a nightmare-inducing image of horrific murder, torture and psychotically sadistic mutilation?  And what does it say about our society that we're more concerned about our children seeing something that's mildly suggestive of sexual pornography, than an actual example of torture-pornography?

 

Newsflash: Obama is NOT a Socialist! Disregard my last comic!

On Larry King last night, McCain admitted that Barack Obama is not a Socialist!  Whew, I can put down my pitchfork and torch.

Of course this won't stop McCain's campaign from saying that Obama IS a Socialist.

For example on the William Ayers "issue," McCain has repeatedly said that he "doesn't care" about a "washed-up" terrorist like Ayers, and he's said that Obama is "a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."  He's consistently said that he only raises Ayers because he feels that Obama has not been honest about that relationship:  "It's a factor about Sen. Obama's candor and truthfulness with the American people."

So when his campaign issues robocalls -- interrupts people in their homes in order to convey one urgent thing to unsure voters -- are they about McCain's plan to improve the desperate financial situation?  Do they clarify McCain's health care plan?  Do they even say that Americans shouldn't trust Obama because he has misled them about his relatioinship with a guy named Bill Ayers?  No, they say that Obama "has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans."

This week's comic:

My last comic before the election:  From the files of the "Investigation Into Anti-American Elements in U.S. Government."

You know, I wrote this comic over a week ago, and I was really worried that by the time it was published, this ridiculous Obama as Socialist thing would have totally disappeared.  I thought that the notion that his tinkering with the tax rates -- basically back to the levels they were at only eight years ago -- amounts to Socialism, was so transparently goofy that it would surely be a campaign argument that would pop up and then peter out after a day or two.

But here we are, a week later, and it's not only still around, it's one of McCain's central themes.

Mad Men

I attended a preview showing of the Heritage Auction Galleries' upcoming auction of "The Mad Magazine Original Art Treasures."   These are the 50 or so original art pieces saved by the editors of Mad over the years, to adorn their halls and offices, that are now up for sale.  What a collection -- many amazing covers from the 50s, and 60.  The collection can be seen by the general public ONLY TODAY, from 10am to 5pm at MoCCA in New York City.

The picture on the right is the first true Mad picture of Alfred E. Neuman (earlier images of that face published by Mad were copies of existing advertising pictures), painted by Norman Mingo for the cover of Mad #30 (1956),  The auction house estimates the value of this painting (together with a painting of the back of his head, used for the back cover) at "$30,000 - up."  If it really goes for $30,000, someone got a bargain.

By the way, the painting on the left is by Kelly Freas, from the cover of Mad #43.

My favorite may have been Mingo's cover painting for Mad #171.  There are many, many reasons for me not to even think about putting in a bid for this, but man, it would be a dream to own this.  We noticed that the tax form Nixon is holding is a photocopied (and reduced) actual 1040 form, pasted onto the painting, with the "TAX PAID" note pasted onto the photocopy.

UPDATE:  Alfred E. Neuman's name is now spelled correctly, thanks to alert readers!  (How could I have misspelled that name?!)

If Fox News Had Existed Throughout History

Just came across this...  click on the picture for the full piece.

Talk about mixed reviews...

I'm interested inCharlie Kaufman's new movie, "Synecdoche, New York." The early reviews are about as varied as you can get.

From The New York Times' Manohla Dargis:

To say that Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" is one of the best films of the year is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now.

From The New York Observer's Rex Reed:

No matter how bad you think the worst movie ever made ever was, you have not seen Synecdoche, New York. It sinks to the ultimate bottom of the landfill, and the smell threatens to linger from here to infinity.

This week's comic.

Joe Sixpack and Joe the Plumber.  Plus a bonus Joe Lunchbucket.

I was going to add Snoopy as Joe Cool in the background, but thought it was a bit much.

People are going to great lengths for Obama...

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

via News From Me.

Whassup, Nashua!

A Google search just turned this paragraph up, in the Nashua Telegraph's Encore (Okay, yes, I google myself!  You caught me!):

You’ll also see I’ve cut upcoming ticket sales on Page 3. That’s where you’ll now see Buzz to catch up on your local news and our cartoon, “Tom the Dancing Bug.” To be honest, I thought “Tom” may be disposable, but e-mails from readers convinced me that no one was ready to part with “Tom,” so it’s back in. (And you think no one listens.)

I didn't know they had cancelled the comic, but thanks to Encore's readers for speaking up!

("Disposable."  Don't they know words can hurt people who google themselves?)