Some good things happened in May, but I can’t think of that many right off the bat. Mostly I was dealing with having my cartoons stolen and used in certain liberal hate websites. I certainly haven’t finished with that yet. And then being called the R word (r-acist) in those hate sites. (I told an editor at the LA Times that this crap had happened and that I was being called the “r” word. He said, “What do you mean?” I blushed a little (even though it was on the phone) and said, “r- acist“, and he said, “Oh. I thought you meant Republican.” Those wacky LA Times editors! Oh, and it was Tony Pierce. :) )

• I did do some excellent new cartoons for Slate. Always happy when I like my own work.
• I got Wonkette to stop using my cartoons, after weeks of the most vicious, vile, sexist comments there, in the usual spewing Gawker way.  Also, their hotlinking is not cool,  and is theft of bandwidth. Actually, I notice Wonkette hardly links to anyone. Great, non-2.0, selfish policy you got there, people.
• I got to go on John & Ken! You can listen here: podcast or here
• I gained 5 pounds this year, which is most decidedly NOT good, and I know it’s because of the stress of adding on political cartoons, and Slate. But I’ve lost one of those pounds, and hope I’m on the way down now.
• I’ve always been impressed by the outspoken, beautiful rabble-rouser, Jill Stewart, and she wrote a little something on me in the LA Weekly.

Also, because I ignored most media for a while, I got to concentrate on my new blog, The Opposite of Wrong, my political and editorial cartoons.

I really love designing new WordPress blogs! It’s very frustrating at times, but so much fun to kick it into what you want it to do, and want it to look like.  I love the way this new one turned out – uses fonts as a big part of the design. I had been thinking for a while that I wanted to separate my political cartoons from general gag cartoons. Really, they’re two different genres! And after the maelstrom last month, when the bad libs decided they should find out everything about me they could – including the name of my CANARY – I decided I really want to separate the two. This is my New Yorker cartoons and whatever entertains me. That is my political cartoons. Okay.

By “friends,” I mean my favorite TV shows, but no, I’m not exaggerating. I look forward to certain shows all day or all week. And then I get a little nerdy, and run over to TWOP (Television Without Pity) to see what those guys have to say about it. (Diff shows draw different commenters. Some are smarter than others. You have been warned.) I love my TV shows.

Life on Mars is dead and buried.  Prison Break has been pronounced dead by Fox for 3 months now, with just a few shows left, moved to the always dead Friday. I’ll write about them later. But Reaper, the rare show that works as both a comedy and a drama, and is totally, always compelling, has just recently been pronounced dead by Hollywood Reporter. I think it’s a premature burial, and still very much alive. Let’s work to save the one that still has a chance to live… (Full disclosure: before I became this cartoonist person, I worked in the studios for a few years, and so I analyze behind the scenes as much as in front of the screen.)

About Barack Obama: “I can’t believe it’s been 100 days and he’s still standing. Do you think it’s like Reaper, and he made a deal with the Devil?” © D. Barstow 2009, All rights reserved.

If you liked The Screwtape Letters, (yes, by the same C. S. Lewis who wrote the Narnia books, which are much better than the movie The Chronicles of Narnia – although I haven’t seen the movie :) ), you’ll love Reaper. Read more »

“Thanks to Obama, we’re not ENDANGERED in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, UT, OR, WA, etc. We’re target practice.”

The subject this week for Illustration Friday is “intricate,” and I found these wolves to be just so very detailed and particular.

As it happens, this was also today’s cartoon I did for Slate, so kill 2 with one stone, and all that good stuff!

The Cartoon

This took a long time to draw! I had to study how wolves look different from dogs or coyotes, and how they stand, their fur, nose, etc. And put a bunch in, crowded. And figure out what accessories they could wear. I have to say, as I drew the little one with a potted plant on his head, I got tears in my eyes, he was so cute. Usually I crack myself up, but this went in the opposite direction… Can you tell I love the way these wolfies turned out?

Here in the blog it really needs an outline, with all that white in it, but in the space they give me in Slate and GoComics, it looks fine. (Gocomics has comments.)

The Story in the News

Right after Obama took office he cancelled Bush’s plans to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, affecting wolves, among other animals. I took note of that, thought of this idea, but then put it aside because I wasn’t sure if it was definite. Once you have to write about the news – and believe me, as an editorial cartoonist I’ve become a better journalist – you notice how much of the news is really stuff that might happen, or will happen. Then they report it all again when it actually does happen, as if it’s fresh meat! Read more »

“Melissa, rejected from the Bachelor, joins cast of Dancing with the Stars…and we get our first sonic boom from reality tv.” (A different version of this is here.)

Why I Did It

It’s a brand new world. Now I have to read the newspaper – I mean the bits besides interesting murders, the funnies, and local stuff that makes me mad. Because my syndicate, Uclick, is waiting for more, more, more cartoons, with hungry maws. (and I just used that word in a cartoon recently.)

And I have to send in the cartoon by 6 PM my time, so there goes my Sunday afternoon, unless I do it in advance. Today I didn’t know yet what I would do. I had some ideas: that wolves can now be killed in many states (Obama said he would protect them with the ESA, which lasted, oh, about a month) , Obama’s continual pouring out of money into sinkholes, etc. But you know what I was most excited about today?  TV reality news, people! ABC did a mashup of The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars.

About the Cartoon:

One of the things that I’m loving about my new gig is trying different styles. I didn’t want this cartoon to be too busy, as it has two panels already, and text in each. I could have colored each item, but why? And how fun to just have this red jagged sonic boom thingy (pointing at the words sonic boom) and really making the whole black and white thing pop! I’m really pleased with this one!

More: People leaked the new “Star” in Dancing with the Stars, Season 8! It’s Melissa Rycroft, the rejected one (well, engaged, and then rejected) bachelorette from the latest Bachelor!

Rycroft, 25, is to fill the slot vacated by Access Hollywood host Nancy O’Dell, who had to withdraw from the competition on March 5 due to a knee injury. According to a source close to the production, the Dallas beauty, who has had only days to rehearse, is expected to perform live on Dancing’s Monday premiere.

(TWO stars were injured before the Season even starts on Monday, March 9; Holly Madison (from the The Girls Next Door Playboy show) is believed to be taking over for singer Jewel.)  Read more »