davemerrill

This week's Stupid Comics - http://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics554.html - is one of those comics that isn't really that stupid, but sorry, that's the name of the feature. It's about a shaman and his elk familiar and a reanimated fox and a sexy Native American and a lady cyborg and how they all get mashed together in some nicely drawn landscapes to make a New Agey comic that really doesn't accomplish anything other than remind us that comparative mythology is a tool that can be used wisely or unwisely.




I don't go into this at all in the Stupid Comics piece, but this is one of those mid 90s alternative comics where a lot of other cartoonists are roped into doing guest panels here and there. James Kolchalka does a strip. Dave Sim did some guest panels in a previous issue, and apparently Sim and the cartoonist are still correspondents, as a little Googling turns up, and that's interesting, considering Sim's 1995 anti-feminist editorial and subsequent statements, and this particular Stupid Comic being about "the females" exerting influence on "the creator". What I'm trying to say here is that there's something going on in the background of this whole thing and I don't know what it is, but I want no part of it.

There was a time in the 80s- 90s when I was buying a lot of independent comics, and at some point the culture shifted from the 80s Weirdo-Neat Stuff-Hate-Eightball-Cud axis of smart-ass social commentary humor to a different culture, more SPX-Bone-Oni Press genre-influenced material that was less art school and more comic book store, if that makes any sense. Anyway, while this particular stupid comic doesn't rely on SF or super hero comic tropes (it relies on New Age iconography instead) it fits into that late period indy-comic world nicely, right down to namechecking the Team Comics names. I still sort of see this going on with small press cartoonists today, a lot of artists working on their own take on popular genres (here's my Batman, here's my Star Trek, here's my Flash Gordon) and doing guest pinups in each others' books and wondering why they can't move past drawing their own Batman, and eventually quitting comics to host crowdfunded podcasts and YouTube videos where they talk about Batman. What I'm trying to say is that super heroes / genre comics are poison. Is that what I'm trying to say? Maybe not. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of cartoonists out there who don't really have any stories they want to tell with their cartooning, but by golly they want to be cartoonists.

Kung Fu? Cultural appropriation? Shark punching? Stupid Comics? Stupid Comics!!

http://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics529.html

this week's shocking new Stupid Comics asks you to choose between slavery or electricity! You can't have both!





Get in formation and march to the commands of General Electric this week at Mister Kitty!

Horrifying nationwide crimewave fought by 2 shapely bundles of female ninja-sword gas-huffing dynamite in this week's Stupid Comics!



It's the kind of comic book that's so inept, such a shameless, grasping, clueless pandering mess of over-inked, half-baked nonsense, that it makes all comic books everywhere seem bad merely by proximity. As someone that draws comic books occasionally it makes me want to quit drawing anything just to avoid even the chance of adding to the pile of bad art flooding the world's eyeballs. On the other hand, it does wrap up with a house ad for a pre-doomed Pog-themed comic book, so there's that.

If there's a better way to sell mattresses than a superhero comic, I don't want to know what the millions of them are!



You'll thrill to the adventures of "The Sleepy's Man" as he calmly smiles his way through exciting superhero action and restful slumber! How long before he faces Galactus? EXCELSIOR TRUE BELIEVER! It all takes place in Stupid Comics!! Now if you'll excuse me this comic is making me sleepy.

We return to the world of KASCO to bring you this important commercial announcement!!



Yes, it's Kitty Kasco and $uper-Hen battling the forces of International Communism! Well, okay, Kitty just does farm work while $uper-Hen does all the battling. And it's not communism, but a fox. But still! Don't miss the exciting $uper-Hen action at today's Stupid Comics!! And now it's time for my breakfast, a heaping big bowlfull of Kasco Human Chow. Mmmm-MMMM!

There's nothing like a weird-lookin' stuffed dog that changes expressions to make children feel protected from things that go bump in the night. Don't believe me? We've got a whole comic book to prove it!



Yes, not even free promotional comic books are free from the baleful gaze of Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics. Apologies to any whose childhood memories were scarred by our sarcastic mocking.

Learn all about STUPID COMICS today from AOL NEWS! That's right, the mass media finally wakes up and takes notice of one of the most vital sources of information available today - Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics!!

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/a-look-at-the-worlds-stupidest-comics/19645056

Will this lead to book deal, TV show, movie, inevitable cocaine-fueled downfall, tabloid lawsuit, comeback, self-aware cameo role, footnote in history for Mister Kitty? Stay tuned!

The SF/Anime Flea Market went well yesterday. The weather was perfect, the construction around the library has finished so parking is a lot easier, the crowds were in a buyin' mood, I sold a bunch of stuff that's no longer taking up space in our place, and a good time was had by all.

What I enjoy about selling stuff at these things is the people-on-people interaction. Namely how somebody will agonize over a $1 purchase way more than is necessary. Come on fella, they're 2 for $1 comics, just get 'em and go!

I was selling a pretty neat toy for $20. It's mint in box, retail is more than $70, I figure $20 is a reasonable price. One guy looks at it. Walks around the room. Comes back and looks at it, takes it out of the box, looks at the accessories. Puts it back in the box, walks around the room again. Comes back and asks if I'll go $10. I say no, I'll do $15 but that's as low as I go. He looks at it some more, walks around the room again. Comes back. Will I do $12? No, $15 is the firm price. He looks at it some more, walks around the room again. Spends half an hour talking to the table next to me. On his way out the door asks if I'll be willing to sell it for $10. WHAT PART OF $15 DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND. I felt like I was talking to Chris Rock in the film "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka".

I usually complain about dealers who won't come down on their prices, but right now I understand their frustration with customers.

Anyway TIFF is in town and so far my celebrity sighting has been seeing what may have been Tom Green trying to get a cab on Queen West. I would have given him a ride, but there was a hand truck and a bunch of boxes in the back of the car. Anyway it would have just led to a lot of awkward questions about Drew Barrymore.

Speaking of tires there's a new STUPID COMICS today and it's all about America, football, capitalism, teamwork - and tires!



Actually it's been up since Friday but I've been really busy since then with things and stuff so I haven't been able to announce it here. I hope to have a Zero Fighter strip tonight as well, and I have a bunch of video editing to complete also. We'll see what gets done!

It's a red white and blue explosion of values this week as Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics takes a look back at comic books that took a look back at the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence. Some of our favorite super characters were actually there!!



Next week there will be more patriotic bicentennial comics, so stay tuned to your wood-grained commemorative 1776 style computer device for further updates!

Speaking of Stupid Comics, we were contacted by our contact from AOL News to get some commentary on Wonder Woman's new costume. Because apparently when super hero characters change their clothes, it's news. I was up front about my feelings; namely, Wonder Woman has been a supremely boring character ever since they lost the weird bondage angle and the crazy folk art, and that was sometime in the 1940s. I have never known a time in which Wonder Woman has not been a complete token, a cut-and-paste figure inserted into various DC Comics publications strictly to keep things from being a complete sausage fest. Go ahead and put her in a Shriner fez, DC; nobody cares.