Dying is easy, comedy is hard

It's almost October. Time to draw lots of tombstones and skulls and monsters. And otherwise tap into the fears that drive us all...

It's all in the wrist

This isn't exactly autobiographical. I use the term carpal tunnel as a shortcut. I actually have RSI - repetitive stress injuries in my wrists and shoulders. But that doesn't roll off the tongue as well as carpal tunnel. So for cartoon purposes, there you go.

But whether this cartoon is 100% truthful or not, it does lead me to this: the pain I live with almost every day is actually pushing me to adapt, change, and recreate my art style. That has resulted in this cartoon -- and all of the others that I'm running this month. I think today's drawing is the epitome of what I'm trying to accomplish now, and I'm happy to share it with you here today.

Pain won't stop me. It just pushes me forward. 

9 out of 10 dentists do not approve of this cartoon

TV rots your brain

Addicted

Look inside yourself

Here's the first of 8 brand-new cartoons for September, notable for several reasons:

1. Did I mention 8 new cartoons? When was the last time that happened?
2. They're all experiments in style and tone. None of them look or sound anything like any cartoon I have ever drawn before.
3. They're mostly dark. Dark, dark, dark. To be honest, I'm a little scared to show some of them to you. But they're all queued up in the Blogger systems, so I'm going for it.
4. They were all drawn super-fast. I spent about three hours writing, drawing and scanning the whole set. I wanted a certain energy that I would not have been able to achieve with my normal methods, so I picked pens and styles that would just flow. Consider this entire month a grand experiment all around.

I hope you enjoy 'em. Or at least don't try to have my committed after reading them.

From the archives: Smoke 'em if you got 'em

In 1990, R.J. Reynolds introduced two new cigarette brands -- Uptown and Dakota -- that were marketed exclusively to so-called "urban" customers. Here's an editorial cartoon I drew that year, taking it to the next logical level: