Donna Barstow Blog #2 Posts

I wrote the post below last February in my Griffith Park Blog. It’s a popular post, so I thought cartoon people would like to take a look at it, too.

I just couldn’t believe this article in the LA Times and many other papers today.

But for one day.? this Sunday, nearly a dozen cartoonists of color will be drawing essentially the same comic strip, using irony to literally illustrate that point. In each strip, the artists will portray a white reader grousing about a minority-drawn strip, complaining that it’s a Boondocks rip-off and blaming it on tokenism. “It’s the one-minority rule,” says Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha). “We’ve got one black guy and we’ve got one Latino. There’s not room for anything else.”

Blondie comic book cover
Let’s respect syndicates like King Features for not allowing registered and copyrighted characters and cartoons to be uploaded, I really do, but it makes my life as a comic reporter much harder. However, came across this blogger who has some very cool comic book covers for you to ogle and enjoy. Blondie is written and drawn by two very feminine men, I assume.

In the Biz The Others

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Prison Break had a very intense episode this week.? The title,”Greatness Achieved” apparently refers to my favorite character, Brad Bellick.? Formerly a very scary, mean prison guard in Fox River, who delighted in throwing together newbies and hardcore homos, some viewers hated him because he MAY have killed a cat belonging to one of the inmates. I am pretty sure that was never proved.

wadewilliams.jpg
Wade Williams as Capt. Brad Bellick. RIP. Photo from Wentworth Miller Fansite.

But because the super writers of Prison Break knew what a gem they had in the actor, Wade Williams, they found ways to keep him around in all the next seasons! Bellick was fired from the prison after the boys escaped, and he became a freelance bounty hunter chasing them. His team up with Geary was brilliant, and so funny! Then he got thrown in the Panama prison, Sona, along with everyone else. When we saw him there at the end of Season 3, he was on the floor, beat up and filthy, with only a diaper as clothing. Obviously he had been raped. The boss of them to the lowest of them. That’s drama!

I don't Watch TV That's not funny

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The Others

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I wanted to give a shoutout to two extremely talented and funny syndicated guys that work for a cause, and yet don’t get all preachy. And note the word funny, which most certainly does not describe most syndicated strips. Both of these guys aimed many of their cartoons this fall in support of Proposition 2, which just passed here in California! It will affect more than 19 million animals, Farm Sanctuary says, and will most definitely “persuade” other states that it is essential to treat farm animals as living creatures.


Image from HuffPo, which I assume got permission from Andrews McMeel. They are very strict about any kind of image use, as they should be.

A California initiative on the November ballot — Proposition 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act — will phase out the cramming of veal calves, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens into small cages and crates.

The Huffington Post has an interesting interview with  Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the comic strip MUTTS, which I just found now. Why now? Because I don’t believe in reading the Post regularly, when they don’t believe in paying their writers (over 2000 now), when it’s the BIGGEST BLOG in the world. (We won’t go into the fact that Arriana Huffington is a billionaire, too.)

MM: What inspired you to run a whole week of strips on the humane treatment of farm animals?

PM: Prop 2 is just too important to not tackle. Even though the reform will be modest, it puts a stake into the ground that the way we treat farm animals matters.

MM: Why is Prop 2 important to you, and what can your readers do to help?

PM: Because 20 million animals will be directly impacted, suffering less, if this measure passes. It will also send a clear message to the factory farm conglomerates that, once people are made aware, they will not tolerate the way most animals raised for food are treated in this country.

Patrick is also on the board of the Humane Society. Yay, Mutts!

The other cartoonist I wanted to give a bow to is Dan Piraro, of Bizarro fame.  

The Others

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For Illustration Friday. Subject: Vacant. Is he not vacant? Of course, it doesn’t have to be a man in advertising. Could be a hedge fund manager, too. The Drawing. I…

New Yorker cartoons

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Slate cartoons