{"id":27427,"date":"2024-09-09T14:42:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T21:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=27427"},"modified":"2024-09-18T13:17:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T20:17:20","slug":"comic-election-year-squishy-progressive-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=27427","title":{"rendered":"Comic: Election Year, Squishy Progressive Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This cartoon is less self-portrait than it is self-parody. ((Testing the footnotes plugin.)) It was conceived shortly after Joe Biden announced that he won’t be running for re-election, around when Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz, and like practically everyone else I was feeling very happy and optimistic. We might win! Look at all that joy! Look at this adorable video<\/a>\u00a0of Walz joking around with his daughter named – get this – “Hope”!<\/p>\n

This year’s sudden soar from pessimism to hope was extreme, but I feel something like this almost every presidential elections season. For a while – if only briefly – I found a reason to like<\/em>\u00a0politicians like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden – even thought I knew perfectly well that if they were elected, they would do some things I hate. (Especially but not exclusively in foreign policy.)<\/p>\n

Because even though every Democratic administration has done things I disagree with – things I’d even call evil – the Republicans are objectively just as bad, or much worse, on every issue.<\/p>\n

(By the way, contrary to panel ten, I don’t do volunteer get-out-the-vote phone calling, because I did cold calling for a living for a couple of years when I was young and I’m still not over it. Instead, I do get-out-the-vote postcarding<\/a>, but for this cartoon I made it phone calling, because that’s an easier activity to convey in one small panel).<\/p>\n

When I thought of this cartoon, my immediate thought was “oh maaaaan, twelve<\/em> panels!” But I thought it was doable and wouldn’t be a confusing mess to look at, so long as I kept the panels simple and clear. I’m actually really happy with how the comic came out, especially the seasonal color scheme.<\/p>\n

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cartoon is a twelve-panel grid, with each panel labeled in large letters at the top with a month – January, February, and so forth. For this transcript, rather than labeling the panels “panel 1” and so on, I’ll use the name of the month.<\/p>\n

In addition, there’s a tiny kicker panel under the bottom of the cartoon. Each panel shows the same character – a fat dude with round glasses, a circle beard (the name for “a chin strap and a mustache that meet to form a circle”), and dark hair held in a short pony tail. Put another way, it’s my self-caricature, so I’ll call this dude “Barry.”<\/p>\n

JANUARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry, wearing a long black coat and a scarf, is standing on a sidewalk yelling to the sky, his hands clutched in fists.<\/p>\n

BARRY: The Democrats are sell-outs!<\/p>\n

FEBRUARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry stands outside, wearing a heavy coat with a hood and (again) a scarf. It’s snowing hard. Barry’s arms are crossed and he has a “don’t try talking to me, I already know everything” expression.<\/p>\n

BARRY: They’re owned by corporations, just like the GOP!<\/p>\n

MARCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a floral patter over a black t-shirt. He looks angry and is waving a fist in the air.<\/p>\n

BARRY: F#&@! the Democrats!<\/p>\n

APRIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is talking into the phone, smirking a little.<\/p>\n

BARRY: Democrats want my money? I’d rather donate to cancer.<\/p>\n

MAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is explaining something to a somewhat impatient looking friend (or maybe just an unfortunate person who wound up at the same bus stop, who knows?).<\/p>\n

BARRY: We so desperately need a third party!<\/p>\n

JUNE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is standing in a living-room type room; there’s a window in the background, and an armchair. Barry’s talking on the phone, a concerned expression on his face.<\/p>\n

BARRY: Yes, Republicans winning would be a disaster.<\/p>\n

JULY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry sits at a table, head resting on his palm, looking at an open laptop.<\/p>\n

BARRY (thought): Actually, the Dem candidates are pretty good. On some issues.<\/p>\n

AUGUST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is standing outside, in front of a stone wall lined with flower boxes on top, talking to a friend (or, again, maybe just an unlucky passerby). Barry has both arms raised in the air jubilantly.<\/p>\n

BARRY: I still hate them but I really like them!<\/p>\n

SEPTEMBER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry stands looking pensively out a window.<\/p>\n

BARRY: Hate? Like? Hate? Like?<\/p>\n

OCTOBER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi, I’m a volunteer for the Democrats. Have you made a plan for voting?<\/p>\n

NOVEMBER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry, looking extremely anxious, is standing and looking at a computer monitor, hands pressed against the sides of his face, sweating.<\/p>\n

BARRY (thought): Please please let the Dems win…<\/p>\n

DECEMBER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry is walking on a sidewalk past a hillside. It’s dark out, and Barry is wearing a long coat and a scarf again. He’s talking on his cell phone with an angry expression.<\/p>\n

BARRY: God, I hate the Democrats!<\/p>\n

TINY KICKER PANEL BELOW THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

A woman is talking to Barry.<\/p>\n

WOMAN: So you’re saying hypocrisy is bad?<\/p>\n

BARRY: Sorta bad, sorta useful.<\/p>\n

CHICKEN FAT WATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Chicken fat” is an old cartoonist’s expression for unimportant but possibly amusing details the cartoonist sticks into the art.<\/p>\n

JANUARY: A flyer taped to the wall shows a glaring bunny with a cigarette dangling out of its mouth. The text says “BEWARE evil bunny.”<\/p>\n

FEBRUARY: A snowman in the background appears to be a snow alien, with three eyes and two antenna.<\/p>\n

MARCH: Barry’s t-shirt has a picture of the evil bunny, surrounded by letters that say “evil bunny 1968 world tour.” Barry has a tattoo on his arm which says “I Have No Tattoos.”<\/p>\n

JUNE: A man wearing a black fedora is peering in the window at Barry. On the wall is a framed picture of the evil bunny. A cat sits in the armchair, slouching like a human and looking at a smartphone it’s holding in its front paws.<\/p>\n

AUGUST: Barry’s t-shirt has a drawing of the Death Star from “Star Wars,” and under the Death Star is a caption saying “Cici n’est pas une lune.” This is a real t-shirt that was described to me by Packy Anderson in the comments of a previous cartoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SEPTEMBER: Barry’s t-shirt has the planet logo from the covers of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” book series.<\/p>\n

OCTOBER: Barry’s t-shirt says “your ad here.” The place on the back of the laptop where the manufacturer’s logo usually goes has a picture of Saturn.<\/p>\n

NOVEMBER: Barry’s arm has a tattoo of Beaker from the Muppets. I’ve snuck Beaker into a lot of my cartoons because I just like him.<\/p>\n

DECEMBER: A bird in the air in the background has Richard Nixon’s head instead of a bird head. A piece of paper lying on the sidewalk says “Last Panel. Phew! 12 panels is a lot.” And in the background, near a tree, is the evil bunny, smoking a cigarette.<\/p>\n

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Election Year, Squishy Progressive Style | Patreon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This cartoon is less self-portrait than it is self-parody. ((Testing the footnotes plugin.)) It was conceived shortly after Joe Biden announced that he won’t be running for re-election, around when Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz, and like practically everyone else … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics","category-elections-and-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27457,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27427\/revisions\/27457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}