Happy New Year. I’m still saying it on account of mine being off to nice relaxed start for the first year in a few.
On the last work day of 2022 I was granted permanent residency in Canada. I can ‘t tell you what a relief it is to not drag this issue with me into another year. This was the end of a two year process that involved a lot of paperwork, being rejected once on a technicality, and generally navigating an already-complex bureaucratic system hampered by massive pandemic slowdowns.
So with that and other time-sucking, stress-inducing matters off my plate, I’ve started this year in a great place and am devoting some time each day to new projects I hope to get off the ground in 2023. One is the second volume of Justice Warriors I’m plotting out with Ben Clarkson. The other would be familiar to any longtime readers, but I don’t have enough progress to make any announcements just yet.
One thing that happens for sure this year: The Justice Warriors collection will be released on February 21st. You can order that through your local comic shop, Bookshop, Amazon, and elsewhere right now. Though if you’d like to order a copy directly from me, I will open up pre-orders in my next newsletter.
I’m going to be doing a lot of promotion around it, including sharing some choice panels from my six page backup comic I drew exclusively for the book. For now, enjoy some inks from issue 4 from Ben Clarkson. Ooh la la.
Oh, and if you’re on any of the newer social media platforms people have been migrating to, you can catch me on Mastodon and Hive. I largely cross-post the same thing everywhere and am devoting less time in general to social media, and more time to writing and drawing, which I imagine is the thing you might actually want more of from me and that I want more of from myself.
Signed copies of Justice Warriors
Readers have been writing me since Justice Warriors was coming out about where they can grab my covers or pick up a missed issue to complete their run. Today I have a very limited quantity of my variant covers for the series I’m putting up for sale—signed, bagged, and boarded all at cover price plus shipping. One issue per customer over on my website. There’s very few copies here, so grab ‘em if you want ‘em!
These are only shipping to the US from within the US from Bors family associates. If you are in Canada or elsewhere and want to get your hands on some copies, I have some with me in Canada. Please reach out directly to arrange.
Back in Stock: We Should Improve Society Somewhat
Also available: my 2020 collection of political cartoons from Clover Press is back in stock. With 184 pages collecting the Trump era, my wasteland comics, and assorted evergreens from way back, this book gathers the last years of my 18 year run as an editorial cartoonist. Grab a copy here in The Nib’s bookstore.
Go Read: The Secret History of The Pinkertons by Sam Wallman
For The Nib magazine’s Work issue, Australian cartoonist Sam Wallman created a feature on the history of the infamous Pinkertons, a private security agency entwined in anti-union activity throughout modern history—an agency that still exists to this day. Read it here.
Wallman’s new book, Our Members Be Unlimited, is also worth your time. It’s a history of unions and why we need them, all drawn in Wallman’s dazzlingly unique style and rooted in aggressively working class politics.
Honey Got Me Hooked
Last year I mentioned I’d designed a label for a small personal honey operation run by a fine reader who wanted a wasteland-inspired label. Who was I to deny him? Here is a shot of one of the bottles of La Cretsa Gold. The honey tastes great and has an unmistakable hint of anise. I asked the honeyman what accounts for this and he says it’s not intentional but likely due to the bees diet. I do regret to inform Gorm fans that this brand cannot be found on store shelves.
RIP Pope Ratzinger
Former Pope Benedict, aka Joe Ratzinger, died recently. He was a foil I enjoyed using for cartoon fodder. His legacy is covering up sexual abuse, railing against gay people, atheists, and abortion as civilizational threats. Just a nasty little man with a black heart whom we will miss dearly.
I posted the first comic below on social media after the news of his death. It went viral when I created it back in 2007, at time when “viral” meant meant millions of people read and shared something and online atheism was more of an actual thing people identified with. Someone commented, “Holy cow I remember finding this comic in high school!” which reminds me, I’m turning 40 this year.
I really like the following one for its cartoony action and absurdity.
Quittin’ Time
Zach Bryan is the latest indie country boy I’m into, part of a listening trend over the last few years that includes Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Charlie Crockett, and Paul Cauthen. Bryan blew up in 2022 with his 34-track major label debut American Heartbreak and has been extremely prolific since he first recorded in 2019—pumping out albums, EPs, and singles at a clip most musicians simply couldn’t.
Where a Childers or Cauthen are part of a new outlaw trend, Bryan comes off more as a sweetie who has never touched a line of cocaine or cheated on his woman. His songs are emotional, even cheesy, odes to life, love, loss, and (rural) working class life. A lot of his best songs feel like they are written to be belted out on the open road—where I find myself more these days having moved to rural Ontario.
Bryan is also a vocal enemy of Ticketmaster, vowing to work around the system this year to combat the “huge monopolies [that] sit there stealing money from working class people.” He dropped a surprise live album on Christmas, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live at Red Rocks) to emphasize the point.
It’s Friday, so I leave you with the after work anthem “Quittin Time.” Enjoy the weekend.