After I had drawn this cartoon, the last panel began to nag at me. Eventually I figured out why… check out this panel from Dave Sim’s comic book Church and State, which came out in the 1980s and is one of my favorite comic books. ((This was before Sim became a misogynist nutball. Although before or after that point, his cartooning skills are amazing.))
Big lean to the left: Check. Big, craggy, rectangle-shaped word balloon: check. Sim’s version is better, of course, but there’s no doubt that there was some unconscious swiping going on here.
Oh, well…
Love the last panel. I can see why it might nag at you, but the square balloon combined with the previous oval-like ones seems to emphasize anger/frustration, and the left lean helps it along. If it really bothers you, perhaps you could have him shaking his fist in the other character’s direction, instead of a sharp lean, or add it to the lean? Dunno, really
Oh, I’m gonna leave it as it is. I think it works as it is, and as Dave Sim once said, “if it’s done, don’t finish it.”
I’m more amused than bothered by my accidental homage; I have no problem admitting that I’ve been influenced by other cartoonists, and Sim in particular has been a big influence on me.
Panel in the upper right hand corner is particularly amusing, albeit not in the way you meant it. ‘Cause governments that don’t practice free trade NEVER crush demonstrations….
Brilliant! That sentence is going to be running through my head for the next week or three, Amp!
I’m somehow reminded of the thing I saw on the news today about all the lead-y toys at Wal-Mart, and all these poor parents realizing that by trying to a few bucks they’ve been giving their kids lead Barbies, or whatever.
(In short, I really like this one.)
Hm. In the 2nd and 3rd panels it makes it sound as if signing a free trade agreement with the U.S. (which I agree may not be in a given country’s best interests) is what gives a 3rd world country’s government the freedom to supress free speech rights and labor and environmental rights. Seems to me plenty of them do that already. Or am I misinterpreting the cartoon?
RonF, I think Ampersand’s point is that they may possess the freedom to machine-gun demonstrations, but they don’t usually exercise that freedom until free trade benevolently gets the people marching in the streets against its consequences.
Have you ever heard of “IMF riots”?
I’ve heard of IMF riots, but I seriously doubt that riots over free trade are the first time that those governments have attacked protestors.
Nice comic!
I’m more amused than bothered by my accidental homage; I have no problem admitting that I’ve been influenced by other cartoonists, and Sim in particular has been a big influence on me.
Just saw THE ISLAND last night, and some people are just fucking shameless in how they steal. Good lord! I hope the Wachowskis’ legal team is on the job! (Poor Aldous Huxley is long dead and can’t sue.)
Anyway, I think it’s sweet (by contrast) how you worry about “unconscious” borrowing, when all these outright thieves are stealing right and left. :)