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This cartoon was inspired from a class at college where we read Nietszche's "Birth of Tragedy." The Apollinian and Dionysian aspects of the human character was presented (here in simplified form, at least as I remember it) as rationality versus primal instinct. So somehow I latched onto the idea that in modern times, this could be illustrated as family man and homeowner Apollo versus punk-rocker Dionysus. The family man enjoys certain things in life (a beautiful wife?), but look at that boring haircut. In what has become a motif in my life, I drew him mowing the lawn, as that represented control and order. I think I tried to oversell Apollo's life, with the girl and the cocktail drink, because it seemed too easy for me to associate with the punk as living the more romantic, visceral existence.
Anyway, if anyone actually got this cartoon, I never met them. All of my friends seemed fairly perplexed or uninterested. But I think it was my favorite strip from college.
Hmm. One day maybe I'll try and write a semi-cerebral and esoteric cartoon.
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I don't think the joke of this cartoon is particularly funny. It's at about the level of a pun. But I had fun drawing it.
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This strip was one of my first's for the Daily Trojan at USC, and the idea sort of has a goofy charm. It's not making fun of anything really, certainly not shaved heads, but it's still funny, I think. In fact, if I didn't cut my own hair I would go to Bob's salon because I am so cheap I consider Supercuts too expensive given one needs a haircut every month and a half or so...
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I grew up reading a book of Aesop's Fables, and liked them a lot. So this was my ode.
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I showed this strip to a few people and got a confused reaction. It was never published. I guess nobody else apparently used to gaze out of the car window and pretend they could somehow travel on the power lines instead of on the highway.
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This is possibly the first cartoon I drew for a regular publication, the Central Echoes newspaper at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona. This little editorial panel presents my view of a school where gang violence was not uncommon, and fights would break out on campus often enough. We had a number of burly security guards who didn't seem to do much all day, but could be seen galloping across campus when the APB rang out on their talkies about a massacre on the football field or whatever. They were never very effective at stopping minor bouts of bullying or cars getting messed with in the parking lot.
From the looks of this cartoon, apparently I thought they were downright negligent. I guess I also thought we should have had more lunch carts around campus.
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In high school, I essentially acted as an editorial cartoonist. This panel serves as commentary on the institution of "prom." Prom is all about asking a date to a dance, but the fact that this ritual ends up needing to cost a fortune is ridiculous. Kids/parents spend huge amounts on everything surrounding this lame event, where all anyone really does is get their picture taken, which also costs a fortune.
all rights reserved, 2005
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