• New York Comic-Con, April 18-20
• Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, San Antonio, June 25-29
• San Diego Comic-Con, July 23-27
• Small Press Expo, Bethesda, Maryland, Oct. 4-5

Members of the White Rose student group who resisted the Nazis:

I’ve had this old wacom tablet in the closet for years that someone gave me, and never tried to use it. I don’t know how. Now I think it might be useful! Here’s my very first attempt at making a drawing with it:

I recently got a booklet of Safeway coupons on “earth-friendly products.” Conserving natural resources is “at the heart of” their business, it says. If I were a trusting sort, I would think this must obviously mean they don’t sell anything the production of which harms the planet. But alas, I would be disappointed. In the business world, conserving just means destroying not quite as wantonly as usual, and feeling deserving of congratulations for that restraint.

Safeway celebrates the fact that since 1990, more than 150 billion Pepsi containers have been recycled. “That’s a big number but we know it can be much bigger,” the booklet says. It’s big, all right — real big! 150 billion! With a “b”!

They generously offer $1 off of two twelve-packs, so we can recycle even more Pepsi cans. Don’t you feel all green and fuzzy now? Let’s get out there and buy plenty of Pepsi!

More from the Safeway coupon booklet. Did you know that Campbell’s soup is good for the environment? As implied by the accompanying photograph of a happy family running on grass, it makes people healthy (you’d be less likely to run and laugh if you’re not well-nourished, or if your soup had toxins in it, wouldn’t you?), and good health is of course a function to environmental sustainability, so…. we’re left to figure out that connection ourselves. Presumably the cans don’t have that poisonous plastic lining that most cans have? We don’t know. The ad doesn’t mention this. What it DOES say is that because the soup is condensed, the cans are smaller than they would be if it wasn’t, so 130 million pounds more of metal per year would have been used if the soup already contained the water that customers add at home. But they put it a different way. They say this 130 million pounds of metal was “saved.” (Left in the ground? The mining companies said, “let’s not mine this last 130 million pounds of metal because Campell’s soup doesn’t need it”?) Let’s not think about how much metal was USED, more metal that would have been “saved” if people made soup from ingredients not purchased in cans. Let’s focus instead, as we’re supposed to, on all the metal that *wasn’t* used, that could have been, if Campbell’s was not condensed. Let’s focus on the drawing of the Earth with leaves coming out of it behind the image of the soup can, and the words “earth-friendly” at the top of the ad. $1 off on 4 cans!

I’ve been practicing all last week with Illustrator and the wacom tablet. Illustrator is much more forgiving of a shaky line than Photoshop is. But then there are all those confusing line fragments and handles for curves and other mysterious things. I love the way it responds to pressure though! The line looks like real pen and ink. I have a lot to learn, but I think I’ve made some good progress. Here’s part of a page of a graphic novel proposal I’ve been working on:

Back in January I was laid off from my full-time job at a newspaper, and since I couldn’t pay for my home any more, I moved out and currently I’m staying with my mom. She’s very kind to me.

It’s time to get rid of a bunch of possessions. I’m starting with two 7-day ebay auctions, for a label/postage printer, and a 10 lb. digital scale. Anyone need these items? Here they are (click on photo to access auction):

There will be more soon, including artwork.

* * * * *

I’ve been heartbroken about losing my yard, trees, plants. I’ve cried a bunch of times over it.

Here’s my last photo of a harvest several months ago. After that, I also dug up a bunch of sweet potatoes, but this is the last big diverse harvest, with papaya, carambola, moringa pods, sugar apple (that tree suddenly and mysteriously died recently), purslane, holy basil, neem, and tangelos.

Goodbye, beloved flora friends.

Each Sunday the webcomic “Unshelved” runs a book review comic. Today’s Unshelved is a guest comic by me, about “Endgame” by Derrick Jensen. Here it is:

Unshelved

Later it will appear in the Book Club archives.

Thanks Bill!

The comics on this site run one day behind. Click on the fragment below for today’s comic at comics.com: