Dave Sim's blogandmail #436 (November 21st, 2007)

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Fifteen Impossible Things to Believe Before Breakfast That Make You a Good Feminist

1. A mother who works a full-time job and delegates to strangers the raising of her children eight hours a day, five days a week does just as good a job as a mother who hand-rears her children full time.

2. It makes great sense for the government to pay 10 to 15,000 dollars a year to fund a daycare space for a child so its mother - who pays perhaps 2,000 dollars in taxes - can be a contributing member of society.

3. A woman's doctor has more of a valid claim to participate in the decision to abort a fetus than does the father of that fetus.

4. So long as a woman makes a decision after consulting with her doctor, she is incapable of making an unethical choice.

5. A car with two steering wheels, two gas pedals and two brakes drives more efficiently than a car with one steering wheel, one gas pedal and one brake which is why marriage should always be an equal partnership.

6. It is absolutely necessary for women to be allowed to join or participate fully in any gathering place for men, just as it is absolutely necessary that there be women only environments from which men are excluded.

7. Because it involves taking jobs away from men and giving them to women, affirmative action makes for a fairer and more just society.

8. It is important to have lower physical standards for women firepersons and women policepersons so that, one day, half of all firepersons and policepersons will be women, thus more effectively protecting the safety of the public.

9. Affirmative action at colleges and universities needs to be maintained now that more women than men are being enrolled, in order to keep from giving men an unfair advantage academically.

10. Having ensured that there is no environment for men where women don't belong (see no.6) it is important to have zero tolerance of any expression or action which any woman might regard as sexist to ensure greater freedom for everyone.

11. Only in a society which maintains a level of 95% of alimony and child support being paid by men to women can men and women be considered as equals.

12. An airline stewardess who earned $20,000 a year at the time that she married a baseball player earning $6 million a year is entitled, in the event of a divorce, to $3 million for each year of the marriage and probably more.

13. A man's opinions on how to rear and/or raise a child are invalid because he is not the child's mother. However, his financial obligation is greater because no woman gets pregnant by herself.

14. Disagreeing with any of these statements makes you anti-woman and/or a misogynist.

15. Legislature Seats must be allocated to women and women must be allowed to bypass the democratic winnowing process in order to guarantee female representation and, thereby, make democracy fairer.

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STOCK INTRO INSERTION #2 - As you are reading this, Dave Sim is quickly running out of things to do on Secret Project #2 that fall into the "intellectual exercise" category and is, consequently, coming up on the point where he is going to have to decide if the project is a Go or a No Go. Fortunately, he also needs to be doing the Blog & Mail so, at least for the moment, he is able to use that as an excuse to postpone making a decision. Please stay tuned as he makes his way through the Day Prize submissions one at a time. Somewhere up ahead he has to make up his mind about Secret Project #2 – in the next week or two weeks, tops.

L'IL DUDE is a digest zine created, written and drawn by Randolph Gray II out of Louisville KY, two daily strips to a page (and printed by a printing traditionalist where each page faces "out" whereas comic strips always work better if you can just read two and two top to bottom). Not quite a slick enough finish (yet) but good iconic newspaper strip style character designs and some genuinely funny strips with an edge to them as well as Family Circus-style fun for the whole family. I really liked this one. http://lilduecomics.comicgenesis.com

Two mini-comics from Kris Lachowski's Mean Goat Comics, one a 24-hour comic called CHEETAH STORY ("his third one so far because he is a masochistic idiot"). Doing an all-animal 24-hour comic? I'd have to go along with the masochistic idiot thing. NEW VENUS is a more finished piece, 14 pages with colour cardstock covers and good use of computer graphics. He knows what he's doing. John Buckenmeyer came up with the original concept. Check out more of Kris's work at www.webcomicsnation.com/krislachowski

Clint Basinger's BACKSEAT DRIVERS is issue #1 of a four issue mini-series from his Cosmic Moustache Comics (edited by Tonya Northernor, asst. editor Ross Boswell). It stars a 1,000 year old Viking Hero, The Cosmic Norseman (he of the star-bespangled cosmic moustache) and including The Laundry Archer ("Are my space retinas failing me? – or was I knocked from the sky by a stinky tube sock?"), Dr. Herman, The Foxez. A very funky Alex Nino drawing style. "See pics and get updates at www.myspace.com/clintbasinger" issue 2 was supposed to be out in the winter of 2006 so caveat emptor.

SAKI THE PANDA by Stephen Plczynski. Digest zine. I've got issues 2 and 3 here, "Stork Raving Mad" and "The Mother of All Problems". Good funny, all ages, all-funny animals title as Saki tries to go on a date and to get the local Rave Culture venue to turn the volume down. As with Randolph Gray II, the "finish" isn't quite there yet, but the expressions, storytelling, story density, etc. are really good. Great colour cover on issue 2 by Jill Habing. www.sakithepanda.com

APE Entertainment's OMNIBUS #2 collection (APE is keeping Chad Lambert's POINT PLEASANT in print, wonderful 32 page self-contained work that no comic store should be without) contains one of Chad's two submissions for this year, "Possum At Large: The Origin of Flyboy". I've got to give Mike Hall the Managing Editor credit, all of these entries are at least semi-pro. The Possum at Large story introduces the Incontinent Five, including Men's Room, the iconic black male figure used to designate a men's room. Don't want to give away the ending but, it's pretty funny. www.apecomics.com for their complete catalogue.

Chad also submitted "Bliss" a short story printed in Digital Webbing Presents #16 with art by Amanda Morley who does a very creditable job. The rest of the stories and the cover aren't too shabby either. Check them out at www.digitalwebbing.com

Chad ALSO submitted "American Patriot: The Enemy Within" (with great art by Ryan Scott) as his contribution to HOPE NEW ORLEANS, a nearly 200 page anthology of stories and art to raise money for flood relief in New Orleans. 80+ creators. The one I have is a Wizard World Chicago 2006 Convention printing. Chad's is about the best contribution in here, in my opinion and worth the price of admission. Find out more at http://www.ronin-studios.com





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If you wish to contact Dave Sim, you can mail a letter (he does NOT receive emails) to:

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Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 4R2

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