Halloween cartoon I did for Double X (which is the girly side of Slate.)

For Double X I do some cartoons that are current events and political, but also pop culture. Even fem, on occasion!

I think Octomom would fall in the category of pop, or pup culture. Boy, did she wring the public on that one. At first I was angry with how selfish, self-centered, and sick she was – and it still really pisses me off that she is on the dole and leaching off of LA and the state. But now I do understand how mentally ill she really is.

At least her doctor is taking some responsibility for his recklessness, although I feel bad for anyone losing their job now. From PuffPost:

Dr. Michael Kamrava was kicked out of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine last month, group spokesman Sean Tipton said Monday.

Tipton said Kamrava has repeatedly violated the group’s standards. He declined to provide details but said Kamrava was not expelled because of his work with any single patient.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

But you know what’s worse, Octomom? You’re boring. So take that, and on your way out, go get sterilized.

The cartoon caption: “I was going to go as Octomom, but I didn’t think it was fair to bring that many candy bars into the house…”

I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I assume 14 illegitimate children, each with his or her cute little pumpkin bucket, could score a lot of chocolate.

Gosh, the man looks ticked off, doesn’t he? Methinks he wanted some of that grub.

For Illustration Friday: subject is frozen.

Well, it would have been understandable, and all too easy to do ice cream for this subject. But it’s almost Halloween! And this is a very very cold…drink.

You know what the waiter is about to say, right? Cold as a witch’s toes in a brass bottle. Isn’t that how it goes?

This cartoon is part of my Daily Special feature, for some of the top newspapers in the country.

The Caption: I make a martini as cold as…well, it’s very cold.”

Yup, I got away with this line! Doing these cartoons every week really taught me a lot about how to draw for newspapers, in a small space, and how to make black and white pop.

For Illustration Friday: germs.

This was part of my restaurant feature series, Daily Special, running in several papers. It’s usually in their restaurant section, but sometimes it’s in the entertainment one. Papers still love good features!

I love doing cartoons on restaurants, even though I don’t get to go to that many nowadays – I feel like I’m one of the chosen people when I do. I think I love the menu the most. Then having someone cook for me, and then the company I’m with. (Sometimes these priorities do get switched around. You’ll know if you’re one of the chosen ones.)

I’ve known a couple of obsessive-compulsive people. In both their cases, it included germs. But then, I wash my hands every time I come inside, so who’s judging?

For Illustration Friday: topic is Welcome.

What better way to welcome a judge to a new case than a bouquet? Defense attorneys have it tough anyway, because they have to defend guilty people.

Cartoon Caption: “From the defense attorney, Your Honor. Just because.”

Even, or especially, if he’s a very bad man?

But enough about me. Let's concentrate on saving the wetlands, or alternative energy sources. ©D.Barstow

Topic for Illustration Friday: modify. Well, that’s not good enough for me, so I’ve changed it to change, or in this case, rehabilitate.

I’m serious about the title: I really want to know if people change. In the myriad of self-help and relationship books I’ve read, the only answer I can recall is, yes, but glacially. As I say in my about me page, I’m an impatient driver.  So glaciers aren’t fast enough for me. But maybe that’s all there is. In any case, there isn’t a man on God’s green earth who would ever voluntarily stop talking about himself, so this prisoner is a con man, that I know.

I watched and fell in love with every Prison Break episode, even when it went on life support in the last season. And I think the character Teabag changed, so that gives me hope. I wish the writers had let him go be a damn salesman…

I wrote this cartoon when no one cared about the environment at all – except for me, it seemed. Remember when they called “those people” treehuggers? Over here, that’s me.

I think the wash turned out very well in this drawing, with the texture of the paper peeking through; nope, it’s not Photoshopped! It’s the real thing.