Yeah, that’s why there ain’t no new toons today. I have a couple of paying projects that really demand my attention for the next 6 weeks. June 30th is their deadline, so I time pressure squeezes out any time spent drawing angry reactions to, say, Nancy Pelosi’s claim that she believed the CIA when they lied to her. Cuz goodness knows, they’ve never lied to Congress before. When it comes to transparency and a respect for oversight by democratically elected government bodies, no one holds a candle to the good old C. I. of A.

See? It’s hard to resist. Hiatuses (hiati?) like this kill me. So much good material, so little time.

I’ll be back on June 30th. Honest. Promise.

I hate to do this, but too many demands lately force me to refrain from posting new cartoons this week. I have two big projects for work that require my attention. I hope y’all understand. There will be fresh cartoon snark next week.

In the meantime, please enjoy this caricature of Hillary Clinton with a gun.

If you are in Portland and love comics, then drop by the Stumptown Comics Fest at the Red Lion Inn on Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19, 2009. I’ll be there with Little Dee and Bruno creator Chris Baldwin at table 114, selling my latest book along with other comics I have created over the years. I’ll sign, do sketches, and give out candy. And talk politics, of course. Or other random things. I’m pretty easy. So come on by.

Hope, Change and All That Crap — a new collection of In Contempt comic strips — is available for purchase through Lulu.com. The book collects strips published between August 2007 and January 2009.

The specs: 108 pages, 7.5″ x 7.5″, perfect binding, cream interior paper (60# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-color exterior ink

Product description: 2008 packed a lot of history. Bush’s last days, the divisive Democratic primaries, the ridiculous Republican primaries, Sarah Palin, the waterboarding of civil liberties, endless war(s), an economy built on hot air, Obama’s glib equivocations — these and other good times are treated the only way cartoonist Kevin Moore knows how: with contempt. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Moore publishes In Contempt, a comic strip devoted to satirizing politics with venom. New strips appear at www.incontemptcomics.com.

Here’s the press release:

March 16, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
Kevin Moore
In Contempt Comics
kevinwmoore@gmail.com
http://incontemptcomics.com

Kevin Moore Releases New Book: Hope, Change and All That Crap

Portland, OR March 16, 2009 - Cartoonist Kevin Moore has published Hope, Change and All That Crap, a collection of In Contempt comic strips through Lulu.com for immediate sale. By the book directly Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/content/6079963

Collecting strips published from August, 2007 through January, 2009, Hope, Change and All That Crap covers an eventful period in American politics and world history. The last days of the Bush administration, revelations of torture, the primary contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the collapse of the global economy — these and other topics fall prey to Kevin Moore’s sharp satirical treatment.

Cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall praises Kevin as “a visionary” and a cartoonist “whose brush coughed out caricatures of presidents as easily as sketches of animals (as any cartoonist will tell you, critters are tough to draw)” and simply “damned good.”

Samples of In Contempt strips can be found at the www.incontemptcomics.com. Kevin is available for interviews any time during the day. Please contact him via e-mail at kevinwmoore@gmail.com.

Hope, Change and All That Crap offers a unique time capsule of American and world history, viewed through the pen of a biting satirical wit. By the book directly Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/content/6079963

Kevin Moore has been drawing In Contempt since 2001. He is also the creator of Wanderlost, currently hosted at www.moderntales.com.

Just goofing around with Flash CS4. I took an old image and created this very crude animation, based on my rudimentary knowledge. That said, I think it’s cute. I saved it as an animated GIF, just cuz.

Here is the original:

If you have dropped by in the last couple days you may have noticed ad space. Indeed, there are ads right now, sitting quietly above the banner on the main page as I type this blog entry. This is the first time in the entire 8-year history of In Contempt that I have sold space for ads. For all that time I used the site as a giant ad for the comics, hoping to attract regular gig at weekly alternative newspapers.

Well, a funny thing happened. The newspaper industry, daily and weekly, began a slow death spiral when I launched my little strip, and nowadays it is teetering on the brink of the abyss. So they ain’t taking any more cartoons. In fact, friends of mine are losing clients left and right (well, mostly left, as it were), and there’s even been some speculation that the Old Grey Lady will kick up her heels and croak. Or at least go the way of HuffPost, which is a dubious half-life, fer shur.

So obviously the only recourse I have is to Sell Out to the Man. Actually, no, I took up a more lucrative career as a community college librarian. We are soooo rolling in the dough, we community college librarians. It’s like while everyone else is selling pencils from tin cups and queuing up for greasy soup ladled from giant Salvation Army vats, we royalty of the Academe lounge on silken pillows as slave-boys peel our grapes and keep our pedis nice and cured. Clap, clap! Dance for me, girls, the seven veils!

I think the ads might pull in enough revenue to pay for the cost of hosting this site. That is my wildest fantasy right there. I might add some more ad space as I learn how to use Project Wonderful more intelligently. I really doubt that there will suddenly appear ads promoting imperialism or militarism or 70% off sale at WalzMurt. That isn’t PW’s style. More than likely other comics creators, gamers, lefty activist organizations and other like-minded folk will find my site a hospitable place to hawk their wares. I hope so. It’s certainly a nice way to start building community.

So join my hand and skip with me to a land where the rivers run free, or the horses run free, or where lots of things are free, but a few people are trying to scrape up enough dough to afford a table at Stumptown.

Just letting y’all know that cartoon posting will resume on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. The site management software is all updated and tweaked to my liking, with more 2.0-pian widgets and crap to allow for interactivity and sharing and holding hands and singing Kumbayaaaaaah.

Can you tell I quit smoking? Makes me kinda punchy.

Oh, and - happy new year. Let’s hope 2009 will less stupid than 2008. But I don’t think anyone in the Middle East is currently listening.

It’s about time I updated to the new releases of WordPress and ComicPress, improve the look of this site, and make it even more shareable, readable, syndicate-ready, etc.

So expect some hiccups in the next week or so. But hey, it’s the holiday season. You won’t be reading webcomics, anyway. You’ll be fighting your way through blizzards and sudden freezes and idiots who can’t drive on frozen streets. You’ll be getting into arguments with your relatives about politics, or cringing at your grandma’s latest attempt to convert you, or groaning at your uncle’s jokes (”What? I got plenty of friends from that tribe!”).

Come back after Xmas and you’ll find a spiffy new site. Honest. Until then, keep moderately sloshed and load up on carbs.

I created another page of sketches drawn while watching election coverage on CNN last night. Enjoy.

Above is a sample of sketches I have done recently on the election and posted to a special Election 2008 Sketchbook Page. I am too freaked out right now about all the things that could go wrong today, so I can’t really think straight. So in lieu of an actual political cartoon, please enjoy these sketches. A real cartoon will appear Thursday.