This is just an in-joke for me (and for you folks), but I’m pleased by the store sign in panel one, which is blocked by both a telephone pole and a word balloon. It says “Obscured Signs Inc.”
In real life, I love urban environments and am seldom in nature – or even in a park. But city scenes are much harder to draw, which is why so many of my cartoons feature park walks. Although it’s time-consuming, it’s also fun. It still feels like magic to me that I can lay down a perspective grid and then — abracadabra! — draw a scene that just looks right.
(And it also looks just awful. It’s an old story for me — I love my drawings, and I’m constantly frustrated by my inability to draw nearly as well as I’d like. I often wonder if the people whose drawing skills blow me away have these same feelings. Bill Watterson, if you’re reading this, please let me know!)
The “victims to monsters” trope made the news in November 2025, when an old quote from Zohran Mamdani’s father, Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani, surfaced: “The survivors of the Holocaust in Israel: yesterday’s victims turned today’s perpetrators.” He said that in 2002, but I’ve heard that sentiment recently expressed in quite a few internet discussions.
I’ve said that many of Israel’s defenders and groups like the Zionist Organization of America have been far too quick to call criticism of Israel antisemitism. I still believe that.
So is it hypocritical for me to create this cartoon? I don’t think so.
“The victims are now the monsters,” when said about Jews or Israel, has long been a pet peeve of mine. I think people are drawn to this trope because it suggests a clear and comprehensible storyline — oh, the irony! — which is more appealing than the foggy reality.
I’m very much a critic of Israel. But it’s true that some critics of Israel do conflate Israel and Jews in a way that’s antisemitic, sometimes purposely, and sometimes just thoughtlessly (both kinds are bad).
It’s possible to oppose the genocide in Gaza and oppose rhetoric that criticizes Jews in general rather than the state of Israel. (I put the black-haired woman in this cartoon in a “Free Gaza” t-shirt to make this point.)
TRANSCRIPT
A four-panel cartoon. Two women walk along a city sidewalk. One woman is fat, with black hair in a bun, hoop earrings, a flower tattoo on her upper arm, and a T-shirt reading “FREE GAZA.” The other is thin, with curly reddish-pink hair, large round glasses, and a black sleeveless top over a blue top.
PANEL 1
The redhead strides along with both arms thrown dramatically upward. The black-haired woman walks beside her, looking unimpressed.
REDHEAD: What gets me about Israel and Gaza is the irony! The people who were once the victims have become the monsters!
PANEL 2
A closer view. The black-haired woman turns toward her companion, who listens with a wary expression.
BLACK-HAIRED WOMAN: You know, only about 1% of Israelis are Holocaust survivors, and they’re all at least eighty years old. Netanyahu was born after the Holocaust.
PANEL 3
The two continue walking. The black-haired woman gestures as she talks. The redhead raises both hands defensively.
BLACK-HAIRED WOMAN: So why blame Gaza on Holocaust survivors?
REDHEAD: I didn’t mean Holocaust survivors.
PANEL 4
The black-haired woman facepalms. The redhead stands with her arms folded, annoyed.
BLACK-HAIRED WOMAN: Please tell me you aren’t saying Jews are the monsters?
REDHEAD: Stop asking me to think about the implications of what I say!
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
PANEL 1
The store is called (unreadably) “Obscured Signs Inc.”
A historical plaque reads: “On this site in 1987 a plaque maker got like soooo stoned.”
A poster on a utility pole says: “God is watching. For God’s sake at least try to be more interesting.” Another says, “Graphic that has nothing to do with my band,” with a sort of splitting eggshell cartoon face. Another says “No Import.” A rat dressed like an arteest is painting a rat Mona Lisa on the bottom of the utility pole.
A dental-office sign reads: “Dental office / You show ’em we’ll pull ’em / Every ninth one pulled is free!”
A homeless man slumps next to a sign reading: “Please help / I’m drawn completely out of scale.”
Gomez Addams (as he was originally drawn in Charles Addams’ cartoons) is looking out a window. At the upper right, a man in a distant tiny window is grinning and making a thumbs up.
A bumper sticker on a car at the far right says: “My other car is also a drawing.” A spilled bottle on the sidewalk is labeled “Whoa Baby! Booze.”
Graffiti includes “JETS” with “Sharks” written over it; “BG” for background (that one’s also in panels 3 and 4); “Hey look! Graffiti!”; and a couple of onomatopoeias (whoosh, zap).
PANEL 2
More graffiti! It’s almost all more onomatopoeia: Bang, achoo, awooga, mwah, tick tock, cuckoo, honk, hoot, buzz, bamf, bebop. Also, a tiny mouse lounges against the wall reading a smartphone.
PANEL 3
A store poster advertises: “Sale! All your hopes! Buy 2 hopes get 1 dream free!” Fine print adds, “No returns once dreams turn sour.” Even finer print says, “See terms and conditions in your soul.” Another says, “Cry for me Argentina.” A poster for “Boom Soda” boasts “93% sugar!” Another poster says “WOW great prices!” and in small print “is what you’d say if our prices were much lower.”
A utility pole includes a pedestrian crossing sign where the little figure is a devil, a flyer that says “Guitar For Sale – turns out I’m less talented than I had hoped” and a “Roommate Wanted” flyer with a picture of Ernie from Sesame Street.
Graffiti says (in a high spot) “I Own A Ladder!”; “But what the graffiti says is changing from panel to panel, what gives?”; “Hi there”; a cartoon face waving and saying “Arf”; and the ubiquitous “BG.”
The building has a little cutaway at sidewalk height, with a pair of eyes staring out.
PANEL 4
The pedestrian crossing sign now has the pedestrian walking the wrong way. Ernie on the “Roommate Wanted” sign is now wearing sunglasses. A flyer with little paper tabs at the bottom says “FREE: Little paper tabs. Take one. Useful in all sorts of common applications.”
Graffiti includes “It must be AI!”; “sigh”; “Vroom”; the cartoon face is now unhappy and says “I am not AI”; a cartoon Frankenstein’s monster; and some cartoon bugs.
At the far right edge, a sad-looking Bert from Sesame Street peeks around the corner of the building.
The Implications Have Become The Monster | Barry Deutsch on Patreon
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