Daddy Does Drawings

One of the joys of being a dad I'm finding is that I get to do creative things for my daughter. For about a week now I've been hard at work on some cartoons. Between the cartoons I draw other things, and one night I decided I'd do something special for my little girl; I'd do something that was just for her. She, like many a toddler, I'm sure, loves Finding Nemo, especially the scene with the whale. She goes nuts when it's time for the whale. I'm not kidding. She turns into a squirming, thrashing, squealing pile of crazy. It seemed like a natural choice for something to draw for her, and this is what I made.

When she got up in the morning I showed it to her. She took one sleepy look at it, then her eyes snapped open, she beamed her brightest little girl smile and yelled "oooh a whale!" Deep inside my heart my own inner child did a cartwheel. At some point during the same day my daughter was bouncing around the house and being generally disruptive because we'd run out of things for her to do, until I put the picture of the whale down on the scanner and printed out a copy. I handed her the image I copied from my sketchbook and a couple of crayons. She beamed that smile at me again and some secret little part of my soul where I keep my store of happy did a backflip. 

She took those crayons and the printed whale and did this:

I don't know if it's fridge worthy, but overall I'm pretty proud of it. 

After I'd drawn the whale it opened up a range of possibilities and sometime later that weekend, maybe the next morning, I was drawing a cartoon when my daughter crawled up into my lap to see what I was doing. The cartoon I was working on was a little more complicated than I could manage with a toddler all up in my business. I asked her if she would like daddy to draw an elephant. I don't know if she understood more than "daddy," "elephant," and that I was asking her a question, but she said, "yeah" and that was all I needed. I drew this for her in about ten minutes. 

Those of you who have toddlers or have had toddlers will understand that ten minutes is really the threshold for how long they can pay attention to anything, but I managed to get an excited exclamation of "ELEPHANT" before she scampered off to destroy something in her bedroom. 

Since then I've gone on to do a few more drawings for her in the same vein. Here they are. 

    

I really enjoy these, and more importantly my little girl really seems to like them as well. It's something I hope she doesn't grow out of too quickly, because I would like to go on making little cartoons for her. 

Geek Speaking of the Wealthy

Geek Speak: I Don't Pity the Rich

Which side of this do you come down on?

From the tone of the thing it should be pretty clear where I come down. I don't pity the "rich." To be fair, the few genuinely wealthy people I know don't want pity, and don't need it. They're doing fine without it. The point here is the wealthy of our country can take care of themselves. Public policy doesn't need to shelter them because they don't need government protection or special political consideration. They can take care of themselves. So, when I see wealthy people crying about the unfairness of "tax hikes," I don't feel anything but contempt for their naked selfishness. They should be asked to contribute to the system which has been manipulated to support their affluence and excess for the last thirty years.

The cartoon is in response to this photo which has been making the rounds on facebook. I've seen it posted by otherwise reasonable, rational, compassionate peole. This sentiment, however, is none of those things. To state that an entire group of people are less fortunate because of a shared characteristic or failing is not advocating a cause, it is trading in misinformation and prejudice and engaging in nothing less than bigotry.

For the idea on this man's poster board to be true demands that you accept the notion that people who aren't doing as well as someone who is wealthy, must not be doing well because they don't work as hard. This would be vastly untrue if the animosity aimed at those in this country who are struggling stopped there.

For the last several years corporations, the very wealthy, and the lobbyists they pay to influence public policy have been changing the conversation about income inequality and how most of us, but particularly those on the right, think and talk about the poor.

It makes me sick to listen to it, because it is no less than the language of hate. This kind of naked contempt didn't exist when I was growing up, and there has certainly been a division between the haves and the have-nots for longer than I've been around.

I was going to write a long vitriolic post on what I think of this, when I stumbled across this article on the Webcomics Overlook. The article itself is good, and I'd encourage anyone to read it, especially if they're interested in webcomics. For the purposes of this post I've taken the most relevant part and included it below:

5. Anyone can do it or Just put in lots of hard work and you’ll be successful.The latter first. If you truly believe that, then how come Tim Buckley makes way more money than David Willis? How come Chris Hazelton needs to run a kickstarter in order to do his comics full time after nearly ten years? As for the former, if that were true than we would have tens of thousands more people making a living off of their work. 

I tend to be optimistic but ‘just work hard’ is some of the most naive bullshit I have ever heard and it just pisses me off when pros out there imply others aren’t working as hard as they are.

As for anyone can do it, no. Not everyone has the ability to connect with an audience like some other creators. Rich Burlew isn’t your average writer. Jim Lee isn’t your average artist. They made better products than many of us could ever hope to and that is why people are willing to give them their money. Most creators are not interchangeable.

With apologies to the author I've included the full text of the excerpt so that no one can accuse me of doctoring his words to make my point. Yes, this is about webcomics, but the reasoning applies to any industry. The CEO of a corporation doesn't work any harder than the Spanish speaking woman on a work visa he pays to clean the office and bathroom. In fact she probably works harder keeping everything clean and scrubbing piss out of bathroom tiles than the CEO works all week. If all that was required to be successful was "to work harder" the CEO would be working for the janitor.

In the discussion of income inequality we need to accept that wealthy people and corporations in our country are doing fine. Corporate profits are at record highs. Income growth over the last three years has broken double digits for the top income "eaerners." We also have to accept that income for the middle and lower income brackets has not grown at the same pace. Income for those in the middle class has grown less than three percent and for those in the lowest income group the news is even worse. Their pay has actually contracted. 

The conversation needs to change again. Instead of allowing Washington to wrap its arms around the wealthy and corporations, we need to acknowledge those groups are doing fine. They don't need anyone's protection, and they can take care of themselves. Where we need to focus our efforts is on those working hard to provide for their families who don't pull down paychecks in the six (or seven, or ten) digits.

Will that mean ending some subsidies, closing tax loopholes, and taking away incentives like those that encourage American companies to outsource jobs overseas? Yes. Will that be painful for these corporations? Yes. But, and to end on a geeky note, in the words of Star Trek II: the Wrath of Kahn, "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few..."

There's no getting Away from Blue

Blues Clues: No Escape
My wife and I now have a two year old in the house, which is both fun and challenging. The big reason this age is referred to as the "terrible twos" comes from the child's tendency to test you...on everything. Here are some phrases you'll hear in the house throughout the day:
"Don't draw on the walls."
"I mean it don't draw on the walls."
"Do you want a time out?"
"No! I said no!"
"Don't play in the blinds."
"Don't balance vases on your head."
"The kitchen torch is not for little girls!"

One of the challenges of having a toddler in the house is keeping her engaged in something. We try not to be the parents who sit our kid down in front of the TV and let her zone out to inane programming full of garish colors and grating music, but every now and then you find yourself dangling from the fraying edges of the end of your rope and there's nothing to do but switch the idiot box over to something she wants to watch.

It is due mainly to that last part that Mildly Sensational and I have watched a lot of Blue's Clues. When I say a lot I mean that if someone mentions the show I immediately get the title song stuck in my head and it plays on an endless loop.

After watching so much of the show it occurred to me that you really should feel sorry for the main character, Steve (seriously, the first actor to star in the show's name was Steve). He appears to be trapped in a house that is seriously haunted, and the restless spirits have taken in on themselves to torment him by taking the forms of cartoon animals and household objects and force him to sing and play children's games.

I wondered what it would look like if Steve ever tried to reach out to the world for help. That led me to doing a rare full-color cartoon that turns some of the most beloved characters in the history of children's programming into evil, sadistic beings bent on tormenting an innocent captive. I can be a bad, bad man.

As grating as it can be after the hundredth time you've had to endure it, the show is very well done. It also seems to be good for our daughter, or so I tell myself to salve my conscience when I occasionally do break down and let her zone out in front of the azure puppy and the man in the verdant shirt.

Pineapples for Jim Lee and the Conning of Wonder Part Three

Geek Speak: Enhanced Groping from the TSA
A long while back there was a lot of fuss and bother in the media about the TSA conducting what it called "enhanced patdowns." These were essentially full-body searches in which TSA agents put their hands in some very intimate places. The whole thing was touched off by some guy who recorded an argument with a TSA agent, and at one point you can hear him say, "if you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested." I thought the whole thing was pretty ridiculous. Anyway, something about the whole idea of an "enhanced patdown" tickled me so I picked up my pencil and this is what came out of it.

WonderCon Anaheim 2013 Day 2
I will try to keep this shorter than my last couple of posts (and fail miserably), but I can't make any guarantees. On Saturday, day two of WonderCon Weekend I wasn't going to be meeting anyone there, and checking the schedule didn't show any panels in the morning that I was dying to get to. The earliest panel I wanted to see was a spotlight on Jim Lee that somewhat later in the morning. I figured I could take my time a little bit, make breakfast, and be generally more leisurely about it. At one point I started to second guess myself but shook it off. As it turns out I should have followed that instinct.

By the time I hit the road I'm pretty sure it was already about 10:30. I figured I was giving myself an hour and I'd probably have plenty of time and no problem finding parking. Its difficult to write this when I have this overwhelming desire to either slap myself or stand up and kick my own ass. Somehow I'd managed to forget that I live in Southern California and getting to Anaheim meant driving through downtown Los Angeles on "The Five."

Those who live here will understand the egregious lapse in judgement, for those who don't let's try a little exercise. Close your eyes and imagine a friend who lives in the same city you do, but at the other end of it. Now imagine that you have to get there in a bumper car and there are ten-thousand other people trying to get to the same place (your buddy is a popular guy). Now imagine the roads are made of graham cracker and paved with peanut butter and you start to understand (how much I need a snack apparently) how slowly traffic can move on a weekend heading to the city where people go to visit Disneyland. Actually, the Magic Kingdom is just down the street from the convention center.

In the end I didn't make it in time for the spotlight on Jim Lee, and I had to park in the Disney lot and walk to the convention center. Anyone not living here will scoff and say, "so you had to walk a little, big effing deal." Scoff all you like, but live here for seven years and then talk to me about walking...anywhere. There's a reason that movies joke about people getting in their cars to go to the end of the driveway just to get the mail. People really do crazy shit like that out here.

I had also forgotten my good camera, so I was stuck with whatever I could get on my phone. That's not a terrible limitation because it has an eight megapixel camera, but the lens is tiny, and the shutter is slow, and the camera app eats my battery like honey badger in an ant colony. When I realized I'd forgotten it I had already passed the point where I felt like turning around was even feasible, much less a good idea. Who wants to drive a bumper car over roads like a toddler's snack more than once on a given morning?

Since I hadn't made it in time for the spotlight on Jim Lee I walked around the floor for a little bit, waiting until one-o-clock so I could go to the Live Art Jam. The Live Art Jam was what it sounds like, there's a panel of artists, each one is given a challenge, and they take turns drawing on an overhead projector and talking about their craft. For this panel the artists were Terry More, Philip Tan, Frank Cho, and freaking Jim Lee. Yes, that, Jim Lee. The heavens parted and the choirs sang hosannas. There was an extra twist on the event in the form of an auction where those attending the panel would have the chance to bid on the pieces created by the panelists. More on that in a minute.

All of the artists on this panel were amazing. I was only really familiar with the work of Frank and Jim because they are two of the best known creators in the industry. I was in for a treat.

Terry was given the challenge of drawing Wonder Woman on her day off. He drew here with the magic lasso holding her iPad from the ceiling so she could watch her stories. She was drinking a beer, eating chips, and still wearing the tiara and bracers. Meanwhile outside is chaos and people are screaming for help, but, fuck 'em, Diana's taking the day off.

Frank is currently writing and drawing Savage Wolverine for Marvel so he drew a picture of Wolverine fighting Venom. Which is great because I really only know his work drawing busty, curvaceous women and from the comic Liberty Meadows. Listening to him talk was fun in a way because he doesn't moderate his speech at all and has no qualms about calling something "gay" or "retarded." The shock in the room was palpable and adults were giggling like middle-schoolers, which I'm pretty sure was the reaction he wanted. When he wasn't being offensive he really had some good insights into the craft of creating comics and the process. The most interesting thing he said was, "don't go to art school, it's a waste of money. I went to school to be a nurse, but I was always drawing and now I do it for a living."

Philip Tan was clearly the new guy on the block relative to his fellow artists on the panel. What he may lack in celebrity, he more than makes up for in raw ability. More on that when I talk about the auction. Philip was given the task of drawing Batgirl inside somewhere, and he chose to draw her out in the city at night.

Which brings me to Jim Lee. What can I say about Jim Lee? In five words, "the man is a genius." He would be drawing and taking questions from the audience and would stop what he was doing to answer a question about the best way to approach drawing the human form foreshortened. The way he answered it was to explain how anatomy breaks down to basic shapes, and then he took a brush with ink on it and held a piece of paper in his hand and drew out the concept, with the brush, in paper he was holding in his other hand, while looking at it backwards and upside down. In explaining that concept and in touching on three-point perspective he broke the ideas down in such a way that novices who've never been exposed to it could grasp it, but more experienced people could still benefit. He actually reminded me a lot of my dad who was an artist and teacher and had the same kind of ability to break things down.

Jim was given the challenge of drawing Catwoman in a litter box. Hilarious right? I think he was third to the podium with its microphone and by the time he got there he was done except for finishing touches. In the time it had taken two other people to draw and talk, and even with taking the time to answer audience questions, he had finished a fabulous drawing of catwoman lying in kitty litter tracing an outline that looks like Batman. The expression on her face was knowing and seductive, and Jim Lee finished it so quickly that the moderator asked him to do another drawing. This one of the "new 52" Superman.

As I said, at the end of the panel the artists' work was auctioned to the audience. Here's how it broke down:

Terry Moore - Wonder Woman on her day off with the added bonus that Terry himself would add the snack food item of the winner's choice to the drawing - sold for $700. Respectable, right?

Philip Tan - Batgirl. This was the only piece that when the finished work was placed on the overhead projector caused the audience to gasp. There were oohs and aahs and people whispering. Philip's work was print-ready stuff. It was this moody, lustrous drawing of Batgirl in the city at night, swinging on a rope and looking serious, and easily the most gorgeous piece presented at the end of the Live Art Jam. It sold for a mere $800.

Frank Cho - Savage Wolverine fighting Venom - sold for $1,100. Wow, right?

Wait for it.

Jim Lee - Catwoman in kitty litter - sold for $1,600. Holy flaming balls!

Wait for it

Superman by Jim Lee - sold for $1,700, and it took him probably ten minutes to draw it.

After that the panel session was over and people started filing out. As he was leaving I managed to catch Jim Lee and get this picture on my phone.

If I look less than enthusiastic, it's because it was well after noon and I was absolutely starving. I must have sounded a little off kilter to Jim, too, because I tend to run at the mouth when I get really hungry. Sorry, Jim. Still, as odd, or as fan-boy-ish, as I must have sounded, he was incredibly cool. I didn't know what to expect when I got the chance to meet him. I just hoped he wasn't going to be a dick. He was the furthest thing from it. He was clearly trying to rush off to another event, or a meeting, or to the batcave, but he took the time to talk with fans, take pictures, and to seem like he was genuinely having a great time. I'm glad that I got to meet him for the little while I did, and recommend that anyone who can get the chance to hear him talk should go. It's worth it, especially if you're the least bit interested in comic books or the comic book industry or the art of comics.

This is going long so I'm going to wrap it up. The rest of the day I more or less spent wandering the exhibit floor, especially in artist's alley. I picked up four prints. Three for me and Mildly Sensational, and one for our daughter. I talked with some amazing artists and attended a the Spotlight on Jeff Smith panel, where he talked about creating Bone, his most recent project RASL, and announced his upcoming project Tuki which he is planning to do as a free webcomic. I'm reading Bone right now. If you haven't picked it up, do so. It's technically geared toward younger readers, but it's an amazing read and Jeff's artwork is worth the price of the big, one volume tome that collects all nine books of Bone.

Right near the end of the day I managed to track down Philip Tan at his booth in artist's alley. He was very cool when I asked him if he could do a quick drawing for me, and asked me to come back in an hour so he could finish up a commission he was working on. When I got back I asked him if he could do a quick drawing of my daughter from a photo reference. He was very humble and self-effacing and insisted that he really wasn't very good at portrait or caricature. I told him not to worry because I didn't want either of those things, I brought that image to him because I wanted Philip Tan's version. He was still very humble and said he would do the best he can. In minutes he threw down a drawing of my daughter that I wish I could do with careful planning and an afternoon. 

Here is the original.

Here's the Philip Tan

For all his hemming and hawing, and all his self deprecating talk, the man did an amazing job. I'm really glad to have this and it's going to be something that is always really special to me.

This concludes my entries on WonderCon. I'm sure there is much rejoicing in the lands (plural as it seems there are people in Turkey and the UK who are reading this, leave me a comment I'd like to hear from you).  

WonderCon left me with a feeling that can be described as "uplifting" if you're given to understatement. I told a friend today that I think I found myself at WonderCon. I'm going to try to run with that. 

Doodling Flerpy Woops and More Conning Wonder

Work Doodle: Must be Wednesday
A couple of weeks ago I had a rough day at work. Between being antagonized by our company's CTO and issues with a fairly large development project, my Wednesday was not going well. In the middle of everything I sketched out a quick doodle that pretty much summed up the entire day.

Close Quarters Eskrima

I don't like using this space to brag, but, darn it, sometimes (and I mean sometimes) I can be pretty badass:

WonderCon Anaheim 2013 - Day1 - Part 2

When last we left our heroes, or in this case Benni and me, we were finishing up with lunch and ready to go tackle the convention floor. The exhibit hall was spectacular. It was a maze fitting Greek mythology, and I think there was even someone wandering around dressed as the Minotaur. The pathways of the labyrinth were constructed of booths and vendors selling comic book related merch ranging from t-shirts, to miniatures, to posters, to collectible mugs. Even the Christian Comic Arts society was manning a booth, though they must have felt like missionaries in Gomorrah. 

By far my favorite place on the exhibit floor, and where I spent the majority of my time, was artist alley. Each booth presented very different artists with very different styles. Most of it was right up my alley (so to speak) some of it not my cup of tea. The most exciting thing about wandering artist alley for me was the opportunity to meet one or two of the artists I regularly follow on Deviantart. Both of whom were insanely cool, and as the day went on they got to be insanely busy. I think Dark Kenjie might still be icing a hand-cramp. 

We wandered for a bit, right up until it was time to go to the first panel even I attended over the weekend, Quick Draw! This was kind of "Who's Line is it Anyway" meets "Pictionary" for cartoonists. The panel included three cartoonists who would take suggestions from the moderator and from the audience and do a quick drawing of whatever was thrown at them; hilarity ensued. The artists on the panel I attended were Jeff Smith, Scott Shaw, and Bobby London. I took a few pictures.

The first challenge was "draw the best possible version of yourself, draw yourself as you wish you could be." Jeff Smith drew himself with a mustache ala Sergio Aragones, Bobby London drew himself with Popeye arms and great hair. Scott Shaw's idealized self-portrait was...different...He promised that if you stopped by his booth later he would show you what was behind the black bars. My morbid curiosity was screaming about how awesome that would be, but my desire to leave without having to tear my eyes out eventually won the day. 

The next challenges was something I'm pretty sure I've seen on "Who's Line is it Anyway?" The challenge was "If they Did 'It.'" The idea is what if these two cartoon characters, one male and one female, got together and had offspring, what would they look like.

My favorite was Bobby London's who took "Olive Oil" and "Batman." There's a broody little girl who randomly will start singing "Gotham needs me, it needs me, it needs me..."

The next challenge was for the cartoonists to draw what they think is the biggest misconception about being a cartoonist. My favorite from this group was Jeff Smith, in no small part because he worked his most well known character, Bone, into the joke. The highlight of this challenge for me was turning to Benni and saying, "One of them is going to draw a giant dollar sign," I then pointed out Bobby London, "and it will probably be that guy." Sure enough he drew a giant "money bag" with a little doodle of himself looking all happy at the riches being a cartoonist has blessed him with (which it really hasn't). 

The next challenge, and the last one I'll put here, was "what would controversy in Popeye's life look like." The clear audience favorite here, even for all the groans it solicited, was Bobby London's. To be fair, he did draw the regular Popeye comic strip for a number of years. He was apparently fired from that position, which I didn't know until he quipped, "and now you can see why I was fired."
Still, this is hilarious, and as my wife says, "they are an older couple."

It bears mentioning that when Quick Draw! was over Benni and I left the panel room and took an escalator down where we immediately ran into this. The only thing I can say about it is this is categorically something you don't see every day. What this had to do with comic books, I don't know, but it was a fun, surprising thing to walk into. 

After the Quick Draw panel Benni and I left and hit the floor to go buy stuff, and there was lots of it to be bought. At one point we ended up at a booth selling half price trades and I bought a stack of trade paper backs. 

I had a lot of fun taking several more photos of costumes, and for the most part the cosplayers had fun getting their pictures taken. The best cosplayers had obviously invested a lot of time, passion, and money into their outfits, and they were thrilled when people showed an interest.

One of the first cosplayers I photographed once we were inside was this woman in a classic Jean Gray costume. This is old-school Uncanny X-Men from back in the 60's, long before she was called "The Phoenix" and was dying ever other issue.

 There were a lot of Whovians present, myself among them. Where I was wearing a shirt bearing an image of the TARDIS and the words "You never forget your first Doctor," this woman actually dressed up as the TARDIS. There were a couple of other TARDIS costumes wandering around, but I was only able to get the one. When the TARDIS is in human form I believe she prefers to go by "Sexy."

Who doesn't love LeeLoo? Seriously? Not only is this one of my all-time favorite science fiction characters, but the woman wearing her outfit from early in the movie freaking nailed it. The best part was when the guy sitting next to her at the booth started complaining about how all she does is talk about how great chicken is and how much she looooves her multi-pass. Always nice to meet someone who's a fan of the same things you are. 

Let's get this out of the way now; yes, her boobs are epic. Now I've said what everyone's thinking and I can talk about the photo. There were other women dressed as Power Girl wandering around the Con, and all of them were profoundly...endowed...to one extent or another, but this woman's costume really caught my eye. Power Girl is supposed to be Kryptonian from an alternate earth with all of the powers of Superman, and of all the women dressed up as Power Girl that first day, the one seen here was the only one with the physique to really pull it off. Also her costume was spot. on. I asked her about it and she made everything herself. My favorite part about this photo is something I didn't see right away. The cosplayer is standing behind a drawing of Power Girl in the same pose she's striking, which is propped up over a photo of her in the Power Girl costume. Overall it's a very cool effect. 

There were a few guys on the floor dressed as Ghostbusters. The guy pictured here was the first one I ran into. Like all of them the proton pack was something he made himself, and it featured blinking lights and LEDs that made it feel really authentic. He was really funny and when I asked him how long it took him to build the proton pack he said, "not counting the years of my childhood spent wishing I could build one?"

Another pair of classic costumes. This time it's Rogue and Psylocke, two of the all-time-great female heroes in the Marvel Universe. 

Not everyone was faithful to the comic books. Some, like the two women pictured here, put their own spin on classic characters. There were other "girl Loki" costumes on the floor, but this one was by far the best, and "girl Thor" was hilarious. 

This may have been my favorite costume all day. This photo doesn't really do her outfit justice, and I'll get to the reason why in a bit, but everything she was wearing was handmade, even the goggles. Most of her costume was leather and lace, both of which are tricky things to work with. She was even carrying a modified Nerf gun made to look like a steampunk revolver. The thing that caught me, though, were her eyes. The contacts really made her stand out, so much so that I first noticed here eating lunch when Benni and I went to grab a cup of coffee. I didn't want to bother her at lunch so I just kept an eye open for her the rest of the day and finally managed to catch her just before the convention staff kicked everyone out for the night. 

That was the end of my first day at Con. I left feeling tired, sore, and definitely lighter in the pocket book, but better than I've felt in a long time. Being in that environment with people who share my interests, passions, and who want the same things I do was a profoundly emotional experience. I left feeling truly, deeply happy for the first time I can remember in a long time, and with an overwhelming sense of belonging. These are my people, and I wish I could spend every day around others just like them. 

Geeky Ring Girls and Conning Wonder from Comic Books

Geek Speak: Come in from the Rain, Ring Girl

This is going to be a long one, so I'm putting the cartoon up front. This was drawn, I kid you not, while I listened to the open enrollment presentation where I work.

If it looks a little odd it was drawn freehand in my notebook, so I didn't get an opportunity to layout proper panels and you can still see some of the "rules" from the notepaper. 

WonderCon Anaheim 2013, Day 1 - Part 1

No blog post about my time at WonderCon this year would be really complete without mentioning my friends Phoenix and her husband Benni. Phoenix is a good friend and fellow artist who was able to register with ComicCon as a professional, which comes with a couple of guest passes that she was generous enough to share with me and my wife, Mildly Sensational. Thank you, Phoenix and Benni, it's possible your generosity has changed my life. I could write several blog posts about how I felt at WonderCon, and the surge of joy I get when I so much as think about walking the floor and attending professional panels, or about the overwhelming sense of belonging I felt, but enough of that, it's time to talk about the Con itself.

Although she provided the professional registration and secured the passes, Phoenix was unable to attend herself. Benni was only able to attend on Friday, so agreed to meet and spend the day at Con together, which was a bit of a relief to me. As much as I love comics, and in for all the years I've lived in Southern California, I've never been to a comic book or science fiction convention. I hadn't the foggiest clue how to go about attending a Con, so it was nice to know I'd be with someone who could show me the ropes even if it was just that first day.

I should back up and mention that it was not at all certain that I would be going to WonderCon until the week before it happened. Around the same time that all of this was being planned Mildly Sensational and I found out we're expecting a second set of little hands. When we found out I immediately set about adding her to my insurance, which caused us some stress, but that's the subject of another blog post. In the end I was able to get her on my insurance, but any visits to her doctor in March would be out of pocket. This financial set back would have meant there was no possible way for me to go to Con, but then our tax return cleared. Although I made enough money this last year to kick us into a new tax bracket, the money we got back from the government was still substantial, and more than enough for me to go to Con without being overly worried about finances.

The first day of Con was Friday morning and I was supposed to meet Benni at the professional registration desk at 9:00. Those who don't have children will have a hard time really understanding how impossible it is to keep a schedule when you have a two year old to provide for. Between diapers, and feeding, and dressing, and playing I didn't get out of the house until almost 9:00.

As I was leaving I made sure to let Benni know I was running a little late. No problem, as it turns out he wasn't going to be able to make it. As it turned out I didn't need to be in such a rush.

My getting into WonderCon came with its own drama. As soon as I arrived I found my way to the

professional registration counter where I got into the line. You can see the photo off to the right here. As long as it looks it paled in comparison to the line for the regular guest registration. That line went out the doors I came in, up the stairs down into the hall, out the doors to the convention center and wound around the courtyard outside. Insert your own joke here about waiting in line so long your children are no longer eligible to be covered on your health insurance.

When I did get to the counter I told the person handing out badges that I had been registered as a guest of a professional and gave them Phoenix's name. Without blinking the guy said, "I can't do that. She has to pick them up." I asked him if that meant I couldn't collect my pass if she didn't pick them up in person and he said "yes" and looked behind me at the next person in line. Thus dismissed and beginning to panic I slipped out of line and sent a quick message to Benni along the lines of "The rooster is not in the hen-house, I repeat, the rooster is not in the hen-house."

We agreed to meet outside before getting back in line to give it another try. Worst case scenario I would just spend the weekend pretending I was Phoenix as her name can be given to males as well. As it turns out we didn't have to do that, Benni was able to secure my actual guest pass by explaining Phoenix's situation (who was at a wedding) and we were on our way to Con!

That's when we ended up in this line. The one behind the weird viking guy in the "coexist" shirt.

There were a few bright spots to waiting for Benni outside, then waiting in line to get into WonderCon. I did get to take some photos of particularly good costumes. Here are a few of the shots I took outside.

I took a photo of this group because I really liked the one in all black with the claws. For those not really familiar with Marvel's line up of heroes this is X-23, Wolverine's daughter by way of genetic cloning and a surrogate mother.

This woman's costume is spot-on for X-23. The other two costumes I feel like I should know, but it's also a case of, "this kids today and their crazy damn cartoons. In my day we didn't have mystic vampire foxes."

I took a picture of this guy because I like that he's dressed as Captain Hammer. I also think it's hilarious that he looks kind of like what the character from that web-series by Joss Whedon that everyone should watch would look like if he let himself go for a while.

There were several guys at Con who were dressed as characters played by Nathan Fillion. This guy's outfit was one of the best I saw all day.

I talked with him a little bit and he said most of what he was wearing he'd bought over several weeks. Some pieces were easier to get than the others. It was worth it as the results are pretty authentic.

In fact I'm pretty sure I saw this guy later being pursued, sweat faced and panicked, by a group of cosplay Kaylees and Inaras.

I saw them later. I didn't see him again. I don't want to know.




It wasn't too long before we were able to get inside. By this time it was afternoon and we were both so hungry we were about to faint. We made a beeline for the concessions where he got a dodgy looking hot dog and I got slightly less dodgy looking pizza. Dodgy or not we scarfed down the grease and calories and headed out onto the floor.

That's where I'm going to have to leave it for now, as this post is already a lot longer than my usual. More to come soon. I promise.

Easter Blasphemy with a Side of Chocolate Bunny

Geek Speak: Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

Many of the Christian holidays are a little silly, at least the way they're observed today. Easter is especially ridiculous to the point of hilarity. What chocolate bunnies hiding colored eggs have to do with the Resurrection is beyond me. Mildly Sensational and I were walking with our little Sparkle and tossing jokes back and forth about what we would put in a "Zombie Jesus Day" cartoon. Here are a couple of the ideas we came up with:

• The newly risen savior is shambling toward a group of people who spot him and flee shouting the usual, "he's come back to eat our brains." The last panel is just Jesus quite innocently saying, "Actually, I'm starving for schwarma."
• Jesus, newly risen is walking with now small degree of tenderness on feet ruined by the nails used to crucify him. He laments, "I hope thousands of years from now my suffering and sacrifice is honored with a fitting icon!" In the last panel he's joined by an adorable bunny in a bow tie sitting next to a basket full of brightly colored eggs. Jesus' response to this is a completely understandable, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

Ultimately what we came up with was the idea that Jesus gets up on Easter morning and is confronted by the Easter Bunny; a creature he detests. Here's the final cartoon:

There are two small things in this strip that I had a lot of fun coming up with and drawing. The first is "Bless This House" on the wall behind Jesus and Mary Christ. You'd think that was a given. The second was the pepper grinder on the counter. There's something quirky and oddly endearing about the idea of Jesus Christ owning a pepper grinder. I had the most fun drawing the bunny and his expressions ranging from hopeful to terrified.

So there you have it. A mildly blasphemous little cartoon for Easter. Enjoy.

Geek Speaking Wonders and the Power of Audacity

Best quote I've heard in a while
"It's too early for sexy Pikachu."

Which was followed shortly thereafter by:

"It's never a good time for sexy Pikachu."

Geek Speak - The Force is...well if we're being honest, and I think honesty is best, The Force is fictional.

This is an older strip that I've had floating around my head for a long time. It's more-or-less self explanatory, but at some point I had the thought, "how awesome would it be if we could work using The Force." You'd just flex your hands a certain way and stare at the middle distance. Before you could say "Jedi" there'd be this swelling soundtrack and your keyboard would start hammering away on its own. That would be glorious, but I can't help thinking you'd end each day with the worst headache of your life.

The Wonders of Con
This year I had the unbelievable good fortune of being able to attend WonderCon through my good friends Phoenix and her husband. To put this in the proper context it's necessary to understand that I am, at heart, a passionate comic book geek. There was a time in my life that no one in my group of friends new as much about comic books or, more broadly speaking, sequential art than me. As long as I have been interested in comic books I have wanted to go to ComicCon. The annual event in San Diego has long been my idea of Mecca. I've never been able to attend. One thing or another always prevented me from going until this year when I'm attending not just WonderCon, but ComicCon as well, through the generous gift of guest passes from friends who are registered as professional attendees.

WonderCon is not ComicCon. It's not as big, it doesn't have the big-money vendors like Sony or Warner Bros., and it doesn't get the media attention, but (and this is important) while it is smaller, it is substantially more focused on comic books and their creators. In this way, as a comic book convention, it's "purer" (for lack of a better word) than ComicCon.

I'll do another post on my Con experience, but I wanted to say something else here. The last several years have been incredibly trying and frustrating ones for me. Most of each day I spend in an environment that has turned gradually more stifling and pushed me into a mold for which I'm not the most natural fit. The extent to which this was causing me to be unhappy was something I was only dimly aware of until this weekend (it's important to note this is one aspect of my life, a big one, but there are other things in my day that actually make me very happy).

WonderCon thrust me into an environment where I was surrounded by people who share my interests, my passions, and around whom I'm not the oddball. In an epiphany that almost made me fall out of my chair I realized after the first day that, for the first time in several years, I was able to spend an entire day being myself.

That seems like an odd statement when taken out of context. To understand it you need to know that most days I work as a business and technology professional. I'm a project manager heading up a team of five software developers. Project management was not a role I had envisioned for myself, but fell into when the person who'd been hired by my company to be our "certified project manager" was unprepared for calls and causing clients to ask for another project management "resource" (in this business you are not a person, you are a 'resource'). The lack of leadership was so profound that I realized no one was going to take the lead if I didn't. Years later I was promoted to project manager to make the job I was already doing more official. To do my job every day I have to adopt the persona of someone who is a business and technology professional; someone who is not me.

I don't feel as though I am exaggerating much when I say at WonderCon I rediscovered who I really am. It almost feels like I turned a corner and ran into a version of myself from seven years ago who then tells me, "Hey there! Remember me? I'm here to remind you that you were once happy, and passionate, and engaged in things that mattered to you. You can have all that again." He then walks off, fading as he recedes into the distance, leaving me to ponder what he said.

If WonderCon has taught me anything it's that you can do the things your passionate about, even be successful at them (though there are many ways to measure "success") if you have the audacity to pursue them. I work hard already, so my work-ethic isn't a problem. I have a strong sense of my responsibilities and dedication to my obligations, so being responsible isn't a problem. I know when it's time to set play things aside and get to work, so discipline isn't a problem (well, not a huge problem, again, honesty is important). If I'm lacking anything, it's audacity; the daring to take a risk on doing something that fills my heart, even if it doesn't fill my bank account.

Maybe it's time for me to be a bit more audacious.

Geek Boobs on Random Novels

Geek Speak - A Game of Boobies
I haven't had much exposure to "A Game of Thrones," either on HBO or the books themselves. The few times that I have been around when someone was watching the series my eyes have almost fallen out of my head. It's like the show can't go five minutes without some gorgeous, large busted young woman getting out of her clothes and on top of some ruggedly handsome medieval dude. With all the talk about "winter" you'd think people would be more concerned about...I don't know...keeping warm, maybe? Anyway, that was the inspiration for today's cartoon.

Random Thoughts
The downfall of our civilization won't be taxes, war, or the final season of The Simpsons. It will be the rise to power of a generation that uses the Internet chat acronym "LOL" in regular conversation...without irony.

Linux is like the weird kid next door. The disciples of Apple and the apostles of PC both look down on the Linux community as the kid sitting next to you in class who eats paste and colors outside the lines. In truth some version of Linux is used to run just about everything Windows and Mac don't. From your digital watch to your TV to your smartphone (even iOS was built on a Unix Kernel), everyone uses a device that depends on Linux every day. Linux has more market penetration than a Wall Street hooker.

NaNoWriMo Excerpt

This is from my recent attempt to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. I didn't finish, but I didn't really expect that I would. I like the tone I've set here.

Rain had come to Uptown and a ripple of excitement ran through Undertown. At the first drops from above, the dwellers of Undertown stopped what they were doing and made for the nearest open space. Some stopped in the middle of haggling over the price of bruised, week-old apples, others fighting a brawl that no one could remember how it started stopped mid-punch and went out to the streets. Happy children ran away from their parents, to come skipping back at their shouted names. Those unable to get to the streets went to the tops of their buildings. Everyone, absolutely every man, woman, and child stopped where they were and turned their faces up. 

The drops came slowly and unevenly at first as the ingenious rigging of pipes and bins high, high above their heads collected and distributed the water. When the pipes filled to a predetermined level, the rain began. The drops began to fall tentatively, then in a steady drone of water slapping the jigsaw mash-up of pavement and bare earth. Water striking their upturned faces, the residents of Undertown, rich and poor, brutish thug and bloodied victim, Fathers and daughters, raised their arms to feel the cool drops on their skin. As one they closed their eyes and dreamed of the sky. 

Your Vote Counts, the final chapter

Random Thoughts
Eve of the Election Ruminations

Vote tomorrow because it is the right thing to do, not so that you can use your vote as a way to shame others or to feel superior.

On the eve of the election I propose this: the choice we have to make is not black and white (so to speak). There are great divides in the ideology of the top major party candidates, and some would say that you have a basic choice to make between free-market-capitalism represented by Mitt Romney, or big-government socialism represented by Barack Obama. I don't think Romney is a good choice by any measure, but on this count specifically I suggest that it is possible to believe that one of the roles of government is providing services for the people such as a retirement guarantee or support for the elderly, health care, and public assistance for those who are struggling right now, and still maintain a thriving free-market based economy. I don't believe that providing a social safety net and capitalism need to be mutually exclusive.

Random Thought
Cross the goddamn street already
Los Angelenos I beg you, please, for the love of god, when you're crossing the street, please, walk like you have a fucking purpose. After work the other day I was driving to the Trader Joe's and had to turn onto Victory. The car in front of me, my car, and at least three cars behind me were held up almost to the point the light turned yellow while a family of four meandered across the street. They were obviously enraptured and taking in the awesome fucking grandeur of the intersection of Victory and Verdugo.

We see this all the time in Los Angeles. People just lazily ambling across the street like they're on some kind of fucking zen pilgrimage. Not so much in Denver. I think it has something to do with how cold it can get in winter. People walk like they're on a mission all year long because they've been conditioned to think "If I don't get out of this cold soon I"m going to freeze my dick (or tits) off." That conditioning never goes away. It could be the dead of summer and a guy wearing flip flops, shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt in ninety degree weather would still, at some level, be worried about frostbite on the fun stick.

The Matchbox Read My Mind
Two dear friends recently got married. At their wedding they had these adorable little matchboxes which had been wrapped with tiny children's book covers. We were sitting at the Fantastic Mr. Fox table, so that's what we got by default. In each little matchbox were a handful of refrigerator magnets. Between the two of us my wife and I could combine our magnets to come up with something meaningful, if abstract, but on our own they just didn't make sense (which is actually a kind of nice metaphor for our marriage). 

Fast forward a week or two and I'm at a mutual friend's place with the newlyweds to watch a couple of scary movies and they brought a bag with extra matchboxes, so I snagged The Cat In the Hat and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have to admit I forgot about them for several days until tonight when I happened to see them in my laptop case, fortunately none the worse for wear for my daughter using the laptop case as a trampoline (the laptop is ok, too; I'm using it to post this). I shook the magnets out of "Clifford" and what should fall into my hand but this? Truer words never tumbled out of a children's-book-matchbox.

NaNoWriMo

I haven't done this in a while, but a part of me really wants to take on National Novel Writing Month again. Partly it's to get the creative juices going again. Partly it's an exercise in cathartic escapism that might prevent me from beating the shit out of some people who desperately deserve it. I see this as a win-win. 

Joking aside I have not had an opportunity to really sit down and write for a long time. This is something I used to find genuinely rewarding and I need to do something to get back into it. Don't get me wrong, I love cartoons and cartooning, but my first and most enduring passion has always been writing. 

It's always been the one thing I could do that set me apart from other people. In college when I decided to study acting I had professors who would say things to the effect of "You are a fine actor, but I really like your writing," or "it seems like you're almost a better writer than you are an actor." Maybe I should have seen the signs, like how you know your kid has been sniffing the dry-erase markers. 

Basically I'm putting this out there to let those of you who read this know that I'm going to try it. I don't have high hopes for finishing. No one trying to write with a young child in the house is really likely to get very far unless they're J.K. Rowling level brilliant (or a lousy parent). That said I could use your support. Ask me how it's going. I'll post excerpts here. Tell me what you think. Tell me to keep going. I could use some good will. October was a lousy month. I'm still on my feet, but in the same way Rocky Balboa was on his feet after fifteen rounds of being tenderized by Apollo Creed. 

Your Vote Counts, Two!

Romney Policy review continued

• The Deficit - This is a boogeyman the Republicans trot out every four years to scare Americans with threats of "your children's, children's, children will be paying your debts!" Unfortunately Romney's plan cannot...let's look at that again...CAN NOT be done in a way that reduces the deficit.
  
  The plan is to cut revenue, while also cutting programs and somehow arrive at a balanced budget. This doesn't work without introducing crippling austerity measures that would crush the economy in its current fragile recovery state. In addition, the Romney plan is to dramatically increase the military budget. Lower revenue, increased military spending, while making the Bush Era tax cuts permanent...in what way does this not balloon the deficit?
  
• Women's issues - Romney has been all over this issue. He's pro-choice as a governor, then immediately shifts to the right when he starts running for president, then tries to appear moderate when he gets the nomination. He can't be trusted on this. period.
  
  The Romney platform is simple 1.) Appoint justices who will roll back Roe v. Wade. 2.) End Title X Funding for family planning and preventative health services. This would seriously impact Planned Parenthood's ability to service low-income women and those without insurance.
  
  Two personal notes here; first, before my wife and I were married, and for years after, we depended on Planned Parenthood for subsidized birth control. Neither of us could have afforded it on our own. Planned Parenthood really helped us to avoid getting pregnant before we were ready. Second, my mother in law speaks in no uncertain terms about how bad things were before Roe v. Wade, when every major hospital in every major city had a septic abortion ward to treat women who had used coat hangers and worse to end an unwanted pregnancy. Conservatives say that won't happen again, but it already is in states like Texas and Arizona where they've instituted draconian laws that restrict access to a safe medical abortion. Make no mistake, a Romney presidency would be a bad thing for women.
  
• Global Warming: Romney's position on this is just as mercurial as his position on Women's issues. In the last year he's been on the public record saying he believes global warming is caused by man, and he's been on the public record saying that no one (really? no one?) knows if man is really contributing to global warming. It's politically savvy of Romney to take this position as his campaign and Super PACs are getting huge sums of money from organizations such as Americans for Prosperity that are vehemently outspoken against climate change science.
  
• Healthcare: There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, and there is a lot of heated debate about the Affordable Healthcare Act. Much of the derision for "ObamaCare" comes from those who view it as socializing our healthcare system, or creating a system of "social medicine." In the end "social medicine" is a pejorative term with no real meaning that is typically used by conservatives to throw fire on progressives trying to make real change to our health care system.
  
  In fact the United States has had a social health care system for decades. It's called the Veteran's Health Administration. This is a government body that operates government owned health care facilities and employs health care professionals. That's the closest thing to true "socialized medicine" practiced by any modern, industrialized nation.
  
  The Affordable Care Act is actually a step toward a publicly funded health care system that is privately administered, what's known as a "single-payer" system. It's actually much closer to the the way the Canadian system operates than it is to, say, the British National Health Service.
  
  In fact the United States is woefully behind in this regard. Ours is the only western industrialized country, the only real power in the world, that does not currently provide some kind of a public option as a step toward creating a universal healthcare system. I'm sure conservatives of all stripes will proudly puff out their chests and strut about while chanting the mantras of free market economies and competition leading innovation and the dignity of being self-reliant. To what end? In a ranking of life expectancy by country the United States was 38th in the world after such socialist hellscapes as England, France, and Canada.
  
  For me it has never been stated more clearly or succinctly than it was by a doctor who was interviewed about volunteering for a free clinic in Los Angeles. She had done the same for free clinics all over the state, and also volunteered for Doctors Without Borders. What struck me was when she said that she and the other doctors see hundreds of patients at the free clinic events, and people still end up being turned away. She said the need in this country is as great as some third world countries where she's worked.

This is the United States. We can do better.

Your Vote Counts!

This started as an email to my sister but started running way too long to send her the thing in its entirety, so I decided to put it here. I don't usually like to do this, mostly because it opens me up to smug condescension from people on the conservative side of the spectrum. I decided to go ahead with this because I think this is important and there needs to be an honest, hard look at the candidates. It's wonky and long, and I apologize. I hope that after the election I'll get back to writing about comic books and drawing cartoons. 

The subject is meant to be glib, but in your case it's really true. Colorado is a battleground state this year which means your vote actually counts for something. If I were to vote for...I don't know...my neighbor's dog, and convince everyone I know to do the same, and they convinced everyone they know to do the same, and they convinced everyone they know. It would amount to squadoo in California. My state is so strongly Obama that were I to make a dedicated effort to get out the vote on the Labrador Party candidate it would result in a statistical blip at best. 

You on the other hand, and the other voters in Colorado, could actually affect the outcome of the race. Not as much as...you know...Ohio...but more so than California. 

That said, I have to follow it up with this, I don't understand why anyone who didn't drink an entire bottle of NyQuil before going to the polls would vote for Romney. Here are a few of my general thoughts about the GOP candidate:

• Don't judge a person by what they say when the cameras are rolling, when they have scripted questions to answer, and when their campaign has had an opportunity to coach the interviewer on what questions not to ask. Judge a person by what they say when his answers haven't been prepared in advance or they're not aware the camera is rolling. Romney fails this test of character time, after time, after time. From the infamous "47% of Americans don't want to be responsible for their lives" remark, to telling a student asking about federal funding for an education that he should "shop around and get the best education he can afford," to "I'm not concerned with the very poor." There have been dozens of others, but these comments really reveal Romney to me; an out-of-touch, rich, white plutocrat who's only out for himself.
• Judge a person by their ability to say something and stick to it. Romney is laughably bad at this. Laughably. It's not for nothing that he's called the "etch-a-sketch candidate." He's taken every imaginable side on just about every major issue you could name. Try it some time. Pick an issue than do a search on YouTube for both sides. I'll tee one up for you Romney believes in global warming (climate change is a euphemism created by the right to downplay the severity of the problem) AND Romney does not believe in global warming. Try this with any issue you can think of. I can all but guarantee you will find Romney making arguments on both sides. Incidentally, cap and trade was originally presented to congress in the 1980's as a way to address industrial emissions that were causing acid rain. The group that presented it was the Environmental Defense Fund, and consisted of a coalition of free-market-Republicans and environmentalists. It goes back further than that, but the argument can be made that the origins of cap-and-trade as a political concept were in the Republican party.
• There are volumes to be read in what's left unsaid. This goes back to Romney not releasing his taxes. I'm sure you're tired of this, but you should know that his father, George Romney, released five years of taxes when he ran for president. The elder Romney was also a very successful, very wealthy businessman, and yet felt it was appropriate as someone who was running for the opportunity to influence tax policy to disclose his own tax history. It shows integrity and honesty, virtues Romney lacks. When he ran for Governor he was caught lying about filing his taxes as a resident of Massachusetts.  

Those are kind of personal objections to Romney. The next points are all policy. 

• Foreign Policy - Libya: let's get this out of the way first, according to the Vienna Convention host countries are responsible for providing security. America provides its own security because we've learned the hard way that we can't always rely on the host country. A big part of the problem here is that prior to the attacks in Libya congress voted to reduce the budget of the Diplomatic Security Service by almost half-a-billion dollars. Paul Ryan voted for that reduction and neither he nor Romney have really acknowledged his part in that. Syria: Romney called it Iran's path to the sea, it's not, Iran has hundreds of miles of coast and their own Navy. If a man is going to be responsible for influencing the policy for dealing with the region he should probably know at least something about the fucking geography. China: He wants to label them a currency manipulator. In truth every candidate going back several elections, including Obama, have made this promise "I will immediately declare China a currency manipulator!" For the most part they all find upon taking office that A.) America does not (surprise surprise) dictate Chinese economic policy B.) The Chinese know they're doing it and frankly don't give a shit what we think, and C.) To label them a currency manipulator could seriously upset trade relations with them. The best way to affect Chinese economic policy, by far, is to provide incentives for American companies to make their products here instead of overseas. 
• Iran: Both sides claim to have a hard red line on Iran creating a nuclear device. What's worrisome here is Romney has all of the same foreign policy advisers as George W. Bush. It's not too far fetched they would lead Romney to decide on a preemptive strike on Iran. This would not be like attacking Afghanistan or Iraq, not remotely. Iran is a prosperous country with a well-equipped, well-trained, modern military. They also have powerful allies with vested interests in Iran's security. That said. Iran is most likely not going to be come a nuclear armed state. The minute Israel has actionable intelligence that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon they'll reduce Tehran to a smoking crater. Not a great move for global peace or security, but understandable. Iran has been outspoken in their desire to make Israel go away.
• Terrorism - Romney claims that Obama has allowed al-Qaeda to proliferate. While it is true that al-Qaeda affiliates exist in several countries and pose a threat, it's also true that in four years the military, CIA, and law enforcement have killed or captured more key leadership figures than at any time in Bush's presidency. Most of whom were hiding in Pakistan, as the president mentioned in the debate. While they are recruiting all the time, this kind of "brain drain" has a cost. Bin Laden is just one on a list of terror leaders who is no longer a threat thanks to the efforts of the military and intelligence communities under the leadership of the Obama administration.
• Economy - Romney wants to make a flat reduction to tax rates to the tune of 20% across the board. This is not a new concept. In almost every election someone, usually a Republican, tries to sell the country on a flat tax, or a flat reduction, or "leveling the playing field." There are two reasons this has yet to find traction with voters and/or politically 1.) It won't make filing taxes easier for anyone. It doesn't matter what the tax code is, you still arrive at the numbers using the same calculation. 2.) It explodes income inequality. In a flat tax system the very rich end up paying substantially less as a percentage of their income, while the middle class, and especially the low-income classes, pay more. Romney's plan is no exception to this. 

Romney dancing on the graves of our honored dead