Bob Al-Greene's Cartoon Blog

Just Some Stuff

2010-03-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Been scribblin' away on my brand-spanking-new Bamboo tablet, here are a few of the results:

The meticulously colored Wolverine I gave a hint at earlier. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the background.

And some really rough digital sketches for a Superman concept I've been kicking around. Note: the costume is based on the principles of CMYK. Since print is such an integral part of Superman, and because his colors are already primaries, I thought this was the best choice.

Wolverine, colored

2010-03-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

Just doing some toolin' around on my new Wacom Bamboo tablet, and I thought I'd post it here. This is a little linework and coloring on top of one of the Wolverine sketches I uploaded last time. This makes lying on my mom's couch after having four wisdom teeth pulled out of my head almost worth it!

Done in Photoshop CS2.

X-Men

2010-01-31T20:11:00.000-08:00

Just keeping in line with one of my few New Years Resolutions to upload just about everything I sketch or draw in my free time to the blog, whether or not I think it's deserving. So here are a few sketches I did for a re-design idea I had for the X-Men a few weeks ago. I based the X-Outfits off of British SAS uniforms to give them a very militaristic look (except Wolverine, who would of course have no need of a uniform).

Cyclops

Wolverine:

Jean Grey:

More Wolverine:

And More Wolverine:

Villains

2010-01-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me that this piece is maybe the single piece of art I'm most proud of ever, so to keep it off the blog seemed pointless. From now on, any art I do I feel happy with will be uploaded to the blog (depending on my proximity to a scanner at the time of completion).

For those of you who haven't already had their ears talked off about this piece, the characters are Nightshift and Triage, two Batman and Robin analogs from the independent comic book "Villains" Christopher McLucas and myself are currently working on. It's very similar to this image: http://www.gaijinside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/1236744341867. because I wanted to give a little nod to the inspiration for these two characters. So, thanks to Frank Quitely (the original artist).

Anyway, this represents the highest level of hand-drawn and digital art convergence I've attained - it is literally the best I can do. Or at least, the best I could do when I made it. Every day, and in every way, I'm hopefully getting better and better. By the time Villains is a solid product, who knows what it will look like. I'll be excited to see.

Superheroes

2009-12-29T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a long time to finally post this because my Internet always ran too slow to upload images and I was impatient. But behold... with the magic of Google Chrome...!

I got paid to draw this, and that's awesome.

And for the record, that's R. Crumb sticking out of Batman's neck.

Doing things I'm actually proud of

2009-05-05T01:46:00.001-07:00

I busted a week-long nut in the DN Sports section a few weeks before the end of the year. Here's the raddest of the rad. I've never been more excited about a piece of art in ever. I mean that.

Thanks to Jon Crowl for conceptualizing it, Katie Briggs for putting it on the page, and Bea Huff for taking some of the credit but none of the money.

Andrew Lacy --- Maverick

2009-04-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

I felt like this one deserved its own post. Thanks to Noah Ballard and Andrew Lamberson.

March

2009-04-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

Spring is in the air at Bob's Cartoon Blog!
March saw the return of a fan-favorite character, the Recession Fish. Check out this cartoon pair - the first ran on Friday, the second on the following Monday, after I'd had a weekend to think about how awesome a Recession Fish encore would be.

Next up is another installment in that famous "CEOs are bad" series, about the GM/Chrysler guy that Obama forced out.

This one is in response to a story that ran in the Lincoln Journal-Star about a man who but his girlfriend's cat in a bong to chill it out. It speaks for itself.

After Spring Break, with a literal vacuum of ideas inside my head, I realized that was exactly what my cartoon needed to be about - my own desperation to be finished with the year.

This cartoon actually ran on March 1, and is in regards to my favorite new political term of the year.

Dear Barack Obama,
Nice job appearing on Jay Leno and saying the stupidest thing you've ever said publicly. Way to go.
Signed,
Professor X

I managed with this cartoon to lay a simple smackdown on National Fucktard Bill O'Reilly while at the same time exerting minimal effort. Yeah, those are all the same barrel. Have you met my friend Ctrl+v?

And this last cartoon is probably the one I'm most proud of out of the entire semester. You might think my point is that the war in Afghanistan is extremely comparable to Vietnam, but that's not really it. What it comes down to in this cartoon is just a reminder that war under any circumstances is never by any means a good thing. I think we forget that sometimes.

February

2009-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

February cartoons comin' atcha!
This first cartoon is in regards to a bill proposed in the Nebraska legislature to push the last call hour back to 2:00 a.m.

And this second one is in regards to Rush Limbaugh being, well, a douche. I paraphrased his speech bubble, but it wasn't much of a stretch.

And this one is in regards to Obama's plans for Afghanistan. You'll see me revise my opinion on this issue a few months down the line.

Okay, this one is in regards to that New York Post cartoon where they have two cops that shot a chimp and one's saying something along the lines of "Now we need to find someone new to write the stimulus bill." Crappy cartoon, admittedly, but I think the reaction to it was maybe a bit over the top. Thus, a cartoon is born.

And then finally, we have my two elephant cartoons from the month of February. Guess which one I put more work into.

Coming soon: March!!

January

2009-04-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

I'll be updating my backlog of cartoons by the month. I stopped midway through January, so that's where we'll start.
This first one ran two days after Obama was elected and represented my mindset on that historic day. Notice the Anderson Cooper pit stains.

And this next one is a generic "CEOs are bad" toon, which you can expect to see more of.

Stay tuned, true believers!

Illustrations

2009-04-15T17:43:00.001-07:00

First off, I'm posting the non-political illustrations I'm most proud of from this semester. Here they are:

From the top, they are:
1) An illustration for a story about football walk-ons.
2) The unpainted version of an illustration about the band The Show is the Rainbow (the bandleader has a history of taking off his shirt).
3) Full-page art commemorating the the 50th Birthday of Barbie.
4) An illustration of a story about the fallacies of using steroids. The only reason I included this fairly dull art is I was proud of how the digital shading turned out. I did it using only the Burn and Dodge tools in Photoshop.

My Response

2009-04-15T17:38:00.001-07:00

Bob Al-Greene's Cartoon Blog has not historically negotiated with terrorists or bowed to their demands, but the recent hostile hacking of this site has roused me from a semster-long slumber. So I'm back. With a vengeance. Get ready for some cartoons.

i really need to update this so my friends have something new to see

2009-04-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

your site has been hacked, and the hackers would respectfully request you update soon....

love,
Hacker D. McHackerson

The First Cartoons of 2009...

2009-01-14T12:46:00.001-08:00

...are a'ight. Y'know, I've probably mentioned this before, but I'm really going to miss drawing George W. once he leaves office. He's just so easy to caricature. Barack Obama, not so much.

I got a disagreeable comment on this cartoon on the DN website, but it was not ideologically based. Rather, the commenter claimed instead of not doing enough to fix the economic crisis (the point behind my cartoon), Bush was doing far too much in his last days in office, causing "11th hour mischief." Check out this link from CREW to learn more about why this is probably the worst administration ever:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/35829

Next up, a cartoon representing my ongoing frustration with the presence of Sarah Palin in the media. Palin is pretty easy to jaw, I mean draw, but I would rather go about my life not knowing she ever existed.

And finally, here's a piece I've been meaning to upload but couldn't: the front page of the last issue of the semester, which centered around paper dolls of the "Men of the Semester." Feel free to print off the image and put Barack Obama in a Joker costume, or Bo Pelini in a Monkey Suit. I think the Harvey Perlman doll works better in skivvies. As an added bonus, notice that the Space Ranger doll in fact has no skin showing, and therefore is unidentifiable no matter who is wearing the outfit. So really, the Men of the Semester are Obama, Pelini, Perlman, and a Space Ranger.

The Last Cartoon of 2008...

2008-12-15T01:01:00.001-08:00

...happens to be one of my absolute favorite from 2008 as well. The basis for this one comes from here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/14/bush.iraq/index.html
In one of the most symbolic goodbyes ever, Bush made a surprise last visit to Iraq and an Iraqi journalist at a press conference threw two shoes at him. Our president dodged them Matrix-style, but the point is made. Because time is running out on the Bush years, I decided I couldn't pass this one up.

Last Week of the Year

2008-12-12T11:48:00.001-08:00

During this last week, Dead Week, I did three cartoons. I'll have one more running next Monday, the last issue of the year, but I'll post that when it comes.

This week's cartoons covered a spread of issues, from the local to the national.

Monday's cartoon dealt with the Safe Haven Law's aftermath here in the big NE. Quick sidenote: is it just me, or does my stereotypical politician kind of oddly resemble Illinois Gov. Blagojevich? Keep in mind, I did this cartoon before I'd ever heard of someone named Blagojevich.

Next, this Obama cartoon. I drew our future president a bit differently this time around - I emphasized his gangliness a bit, and I made his head a little too round, maybe. I'm still trying to get it right.

This last one is one of my favorites ever, probably. This is an idea I had during the first week of school when Palin first got announced as McCain's running mate. Back then, and up to the first stages of drawing it, I planned to have Mike Huckabee in drag, but in the course of sketching it I realized Rudy Giuliani actually frequently dresses up in drag.

I'll leave you with this. Do a Google Image Search for "Rudy Giuliani" and this is what you'll find:

Cartoon a Week

2008-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, that's what I called it. At the time I only planned to do one a week, and that was a step up from what I had been doing in high school. The next semester I doubled my workload to two a week. This semester I doubled again to four. But now, because of coincidences and budget cuts, I'm back down to 2 cartoons per week. Most (if not all) of the people who read this blog will have heard me bitching already about what a crazy week the cartoonist section had this week, so I won't go into it. Needless to say, this is the only cartoon I want to post this week.

I have a question for anyone who comes across this post, though it might seem a bit morbid:

I've just finished watching Oliver Stone's "JFK" for the first time. What are your opinions on John Kennedy's assassination?

Palin 2010!

2008-11-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

Apparently the Opinion section is cutting back and there will be less room for cartoonists now, meaning I'm only going to be able to do 2 per week from now until at least the end of the semester. I'll be taking a cut in pay, but I won't be working as much, obviously. I have a lot of stuff I haven't posted yet, though, so let's get truckin'.

All three of these center around the election, obviously: The first ran on Monday, Nov. 3, the second ran on the day after election day, and the last one will run on Mon., Nov. 10.

I've done a ton of staff art recently, too.

I dig the style on the Political painting, and I like the unsaturated feel of the deer sights, but the pills were honestly just no fun to do.

Aaaaawwwwww

2008-10-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Isn't that cute?

We had a slow week here in BobLand, folks. I only did one cartoon since apparently there was a backlog of 'toons from my fellow artists. I would ordinarily have a problem with this, but I've been secretly wishing for a little break.

Anyway, here's my one cartoon from this week:

And here's another piece I did for the Opinion section tonight to illustrate a Point-Counterpoint piece.

Look for more next week!

BLAARRRGGGHHH

2008-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was sick as a dog this week, so I only got to do one cartoon and some art not worth posting. Ta-da.

2 Weeks

2008-10-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have two weeks' worth of cartoons to post, so in the interest of time I'm just going to post them en masse. Direct any questions or comments towards your friendly neighborhood Bob Al-Greene.

Note: The Obama headphones image and the colorful Nebraska image were not cartoons, but staff art for the paper.

Week 4

2008-09-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your wigs and keys, ladies and gentlemen. This week I've got what we refer to in the business as a crapload of art to post for your viewing pleasure.

First, the cartoons.
At the Nebraska football game last Saturday, Husker fans did the wave while a player from the opposing team was down, possibly injured. This is not the first time such a thing has happened, and my editor felt I should comment on it.

This is a reference to the country's "most influential evangelical leader" James Dobson, who before the DNC asked his supporters to pray for inclement weather in Denver so Obama would get rained out. What a dick, amirite?

Part 2 in a continuing series. You have no idea how hard it was not to draw a 'fro on Obama. Hold on, that gave me an idea. Note to self: 'FrObama.

I kinda stole this idea from a comment Jon Stewart made on one of last week's episodes of "The Daily Show." I shouldn't watch those shows - they're too damn insightful.

Okay, now, Misc. Art and Illustrations:
I did this one Sunday night, a night I don't usually work, but I was there scanning in my cartoon and the art staff was short a guy, so I helped out. This accompanied a story about a hypnotist who did a show. ...Or something.

This accompanied a story about upcoming UFC fights in the Omaha/Lincoln area. "Hey! I didn't sign up for a cage match! Take the chain off! Unlock the thing!"

Accompanied a sports feature about three girls who went to a soccer camp or something. Since all the ideas the art staff could come up with bordered on pornographic lesbian images, I drew this.

This went with an Arts story about the apparently popular game "Spore." I couldn't care less.

I thought maybe I was bordering on copyright infringement with this baby, but my editor said as long as I wasn't tracing it from anything, it was fine. Thanks, BAH!

Okay, that's enough for one week. Sorry I was late posting - I'm sure it'll happen again. To make up for it, I'll give you a special treat, which I posted over at Spoiler Alert already, but I think it needs an even wider audience. Enjoy!

Joss Whedon Vs. Garth Ennis

2008-09-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, remember that movie reviews blog I started up this summer? What ever happened to it?

Well, right now I'm working on an essay about everyone's favorite summer blockbuster: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" and how it compares to other parodies of the super hero genre. If you think that kind of thing would float your boat, you can shimmy on over to "Spoiler Alert" right now to check out Part 1.

If that kind of thing doesn't float your boat, well, then, I don't really have much to say to you.

Week 3

2008-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a little disorganized, folks, but I've got a rundown of art I did for the DN last week, and I'll do my best to give it to ya.

On Monday, Sept. 8, this cartoon ran:

Originally, the caption read: "On the eve of a game day..." because it was supposed to have run on the previous Friday but got bumped.

Then on Tues., this ran:

I'll comment more at the end of this post, but I believe this cartoon is symbolic of a shift in the style of my cartoons. I think it's pretty significant, and a little funny, too.

The same with this baby, which ran Wednesday.

This may become the first in a series. Like the Gender Card one, I think this is a shift in my style. Note: the kitten and the knife were added in after the cartoon had already been drawn. Thanks to my Art Boss Bea for providing the word "BLAST!"

Quickly, here's a piece of art I did for the Arts section on Thursday night.

As a sidenote, I should tell you there will be no more Staff-Ed Art running in the DN, which depressed me and Chris Rosacker pretty bad.

And finally, here's my last cartoon from last week, which was supposed to run Thursday but ran Friday instead.

We're finally getting a concrete schedule, so hopefully there won't be a lot of these bumps in the future.

Okay, back to what I was talking about: my change in style. I'm not referring to change in artistic style, though that may be happening as well. I mean change in humor style. Early this semester, I conferred via Facebook with Neal Obermeyer about what I could do to make the jump to 4 or 5 weekly cartoons smoother. He told me I would start to see articles differently, and my style would change, resulting in some of the most personally satisfying work of my career. He also told me the best work was the most spontaneous, which I have to agree with.

Anyway, what I'm aiming for with this rant is that for the first time I can remember, I'm consistently churning out cartoons that I find funny. Not necessarily biting, or overly insightful - just funny. I'm speaking here of the use of the words "Egad" and "Blast" in last week's cartoons, along with Osama's knife and kitty. These things make me, and hopefully others, laugh. I am, after all, a cartoonist. That's not to say I won't be doing serious pieces as well - there are always topics that can't be covered with a funny caption. I realized I skipped doing some somber 9/11 tribute cartoon last week - my compadre Dan did it instead, while I turned in the "Kim Jong ILL" 'toon which ultimately got bumped a day.

Maybe this is a phase, maybe this is some absurdist style I'm slipping into as a result of lack of ideas - I don't know. What I do know is that I am perceiving my cartoons differently and... I'm not unhappy with it.

Your Momma's Goin' on a Date, Ya Dig?

2008-09-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Allow me to reintroduce myself...

2008-09-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, we've almost reached the end of week 2 and it's time for another update. With my increased workload this semester, my posts on this blog are obviously taking on a different character - no more does every cartoon get a post and special attention - there's too much to put up. Instead, I've got to do these bulk posts, but that's cool with me if it's alright with you.

We'll start with cartoons. This first one ran at the end of last week, actually. Just as I couldn't resist nabbing Hillary one last time, taking pot shots at Bill Callahan is like taking candy from Trig Palin. I immediately regret typing that.

Anyway, as photog Andy Lamberson pointed out, Callahan is actually doing very well for himself. I could give a shit.

Next is the cartoon that ran yesterday, Wednesday, my first of this short week (no school Mon., someone else took Tues.). I got more comments on the DN website for this cartoon than any in recent memory.

As some have been wise to point out, McCain and the Republicans have in fact been very tactful in withholding the race card so far. But if Obama loses in November, I will go to my grave believing race was the most significant factor in this election.

And here's the 'toon that ran today. Pretty self-explanatory, not very impressive, but I could see it becoming Part 1 in a "Double Standard" series.

And now for the non-cartoon work I've had in the DN in the past week. I can only post two because the other two, which are full-color, are for some reason showing up as color-inverted images.

I drew this first image to accompany a poll running in the Opinion section of the DN basically advertising the upcoming "Lincoln Calling" concert series. I decided to reproduce the cover of The Clash's "London Calling," but due to fair use standards, couldn't include the words "Lincoln Calling" in the final image and had to crop them out. As a result, the whole image of Paul Simonon smashing his guitar on stage couldn't be shown either. Quick sidenote: Did you know the cover of "London Calling" was intended as a parody of the cover of Elvis Presley's debut album?

This second piece is Staff-Ed Art for an editorial which ran today about the GOP's whole "Sarah Palin's family is off-limits" schtick and the hypocrisy Mitt Romney and others have shown repeatedly in attacking Michelle Obama. I had actually planned a cartoon about that very point, so I basically just simplified it and molded it into this art.

Well, that's all for this week, folks. Check in again next Thursday or Friday.

I Want You So Baaaa-aad It's Driving Me Mad

2008-08-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Quite a night at the DN tonight. I've got a lot of stuff to upload, so bear with me. Above is a piece of art I did which obviously will be running to solicit students to write in to the DN. I was going to try ink wash, but we have art supplies down at the paper now (thanks to my awesome editor!), including a full spectrum of gray markers, so I used those instead and I think it turned out pretty well.

I also used the markers on this bit of Staff Editorial Art, which accompanied an editorial about UNL volunteers:

As for cartoons, I have some news. I met my fellow cartoonist Dan for the first time tonight. His cartoons ran in the paper today, I'm not sure why, but the point is I obviously haven't dominated the week cartoon-wise. That's alright, though. Dan's had some sad news in his family recently, and he can take all the time he needs.

I've been trying to stay one day ahead on cartoons - knowing at all times that I have the next day's cartoon completed already, just in case. Well, it's a good thing, because they needed two cartoons from me tonight. So I got to use this cartoon, which I did for the summer review in the Back-to-School issue but which didn't see print:

I've had the idea in my head for months, ever since the first news broke about Ernie Chambers suing God. The timing seems off, but I don't care 'cause I like the cartoon.

And finally we have a cartoon about the Nebraska State Trooper who was recently arrested as part of a prostitution sting. People with a memory will remember Robert Henderson, the State Trooper who was fired three years ago for belonging to the Ku Klux Klan. These guys just can't catch a break.

Props to Jeremy Buckley for recommending the story to me as a cartoon idea, and props to Zach Pluhacek for suggesting another idea about Joe Biden as a mad dog being led away from a pet store by Barack Obama. I was going to do this cartoon, but then I started to feel bad for making fun of Biden unnecessarily and because a cartoon which literally matched Zach's explanation exactly showed up in the Omaha World-Herald. What the butt?

For those of you keeping count, I've been in school for 3 full days now, and have completed 5 cartoons, 1 piece of Staff-Ed Art, 1 picture of Uncle Sam, and 1 illustration (not posted here).

As NPH would say, "It's gonna be a bumpy f***in' ride."

New Year, New Responsibilities, Same Lame-Ass Cartoons

2008-08-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation I am back in Lincoln and have reclaimed my spot as "Cartoon Mongrel" in the ranks of DNers. I was coming back with the knowledge that I would be taking on more work, at least cartoon-wise, because the masterful Katie Nieland and Karl Spurzem have gradu-ma-tated and moved on. It was going to be up to just me and this guy Dan to tackle the five weekly cartoons (I would be doing 3, an increase of 1 cartoon a week). However, when I finally made my way to the DN offices on Sunday night, my new editor Cyndi informed me that apparently Dan has a family emergency and won't be able to contribute for the time being.

So...

This means I'll be doing cartoons every day for the foreseeable future. That's five this week, four the next, and then five per week for I don't know how long. As far as I know the DN is actively searching for cartoonists, and we do have a hugely talented art staff to fill in for me should I need help. But all that aside, this means I am now the sole editorial cartoonist for the Daily Nebraskan.

How balls is that? As Neil Patrick Harris would say... "Bring it."

First I'll post the cartoon that ran last Thursday in the DN's Back-to-School issue.

Some of you might have already seen this'n, because I turned it in to the Youth Vote '08 Blog I was yammering about last time. As I explained to my contact at UWire, Stephen Veres: "I was thinking about the issue of offshore drilling that has come up recently in the election and all the promises being made by McCain and now Obama too. Everybody's worried about getting more oil. Meanwhile Al Gore is out there campaigning to actually CHANGE the system and get us off the fossil fuel dependency altogether, but nobody's listening - he's getting drowned out."

Next up is the cartoon that ran today, Monday, the first day of school.

Two UNL wrestlers were recently dismissed from the team for posing for a pornographic web site - it's apparently against NCAA bylaws to receive compensation for their likeness. My mom insisted I do a cartoon about this topic. For those of you who don't know, I lost my Regent Scholarship to UNL this summer, but I keep telling her it could be worse.

And finally, here's tomorrow's cartoon. I couldn't resist taking one last stab at Hillary Clinton.

I gotta give Clinton credit, though - she's apparently really releasing all her delegates to Obama (if they wish to). Clinton will be supporting Obama herself, which should help. Goddamn better help, because CNN.com reported today that McCain and Obama are in a "dead heat" right now, post-Biden introduction. This is not the news I've been hoping for, as you might assume, and it's got me worried about the future. I don't believe a McCain win is inevitable, nor do I believe Obama is losing steam. Nothing is certain. I guess all I can do is Hope, as cheesy as that sounds.

"In this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are, and what direction we want to move in."

Anyway, I'll stop before I get too preachy. Either way, it feels good to be back.

Youth Vote '08

2008-08-19T16:49:00.001-07:00

So, I'm now officially a contributor to the Youth Vote '08 Blog run by UWire through CBSNews.com and WashingtonPost.com. You can check out my stuff there (follow the link to your right) and see my smiling face. I took my mugshot with my MacBook at the last second, which is why I look like the Bronze Medalist in the Louis Anderson Look-Alike Competition.

I'll give you updates along the way as I continue to send my childish scribblings to the YV Blog.

And don't forget to check out my movie reviews blog, where I'll turn my vicious wit and sagacious wisdom upon modern cinema classics such as "PIneapple Express" and "Hellboy 2."

Spoiler Alert Reviews

2008-07-08T00:07:00.001-07:00

To anyone who happens upon this cartoon blog, I just want to let you know that I've started in a new blog dedicated to movie reviews. It's called Spoiler Alert, and you should check it out. As of now I've got one review up, but more are on the way. Check out the link on the right side of this page or just go to:

www.spoileralertreviews.blogspot.com

Check it out, comment frequently, submit your own reviews - let me know what you think. I'll be updating my cartoon blog once the school year starts again, but I'll be doing reviews for the rest of the summer and beyond, hopefully.

See ya in the funny papers!

Last of the Year

2008-05-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has come for my last art of the semester. I thought maybe the crucifixion cartoon (or CruciToon for short) was going to be the last, but I forgot the DN had one more paper to put out on the Monday of Finals Week, which starts today. So I was at the DN finishing an illustration and a cartoon I had to do on the fly. First, the cartoon:

I've got to say I owe this one entirely to my editor Chuck, who showed me a story on HuffPo about the U.S. plans to start sprucing up the Iraqi Green Zone (which remains without a sewer system and subject to rocket attacks). Apparently they've got a deal with Marriott. So, good for them. Chuck was also the one who came up with the basic idea for the cartoon, so it's his cartoon, not mine. I'm gonna say that's why I didn't sign it, when really it's because I just forgot. Gimme a break, I finished this thing at 1 in the morning.
On a side note, I'm considering making that little terrorist guy a re-occurring character in my cartoons. Do you think that would be in bad taste?

This one is all mine, though. To anyone who's wondering, yes, this was a legitimate piece of art I got paid to draw for the Daily Nebraskan. This illustration ran with a top-ten list of the best comic book heroes and villains on the front page of the Features section. How awesome is that? I couldn't think of a better way to end the year.

Hoo boy...

2008-04-27T22:29:00.001-07:00

Well, not everything I do can be cute.

My latest cartoon isn't a giggler, as I eloquently once put it, but a wincer. I chose to deal with Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s recent statements about being "crucified" over his supposedly controversial sermons and some well-used excerpts which have dealt a blow to the Obama campaign.

The cartoon as I originally conceived it can be seen above, but after my editor Chuck saw it he told me I needed to make some changes, clarify my point and justify with words an image as powerful as the crucifixion of Barack Obama.

Let me make myself clear: it is never my attempt to stir up controversy with my images, simply to get a point across which may or may not be unpopular or which can only be expressed through harsh words and images. Part of my job is dealing with haeavy issues without being insensitive or sensational. As I've mentioned before, I have recently feared that I am somehow losing my edge by molding my craft to fit popular opinion and avoid controversy instead of confronting it when need be.

That said, I wholeheartedly agreed with Chuck that the above cartoon was unacceptable as it was. So I retooled it in Photoshop and came up with this:

I'm much happier with the finished product. I'm somewhat sure it will garner no praise from my adoring public (quite the opposite in fact), but I'm okay with that. This is the cartoon I set out to do, no matter how long it took me to complete it, and I'm as proud of it as anything else I've ever done.

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

2008-04-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your wigs and keys, ladies and gentlemen, because you're looking at a rarity - three luscious Bob Al-Greene cartoons in one week.

First up is this cartoon about the soaring national price of gasoline combined with the recent addition of a 1-cent gas tax here in Nebrasky. I swear to God, gas prices keep starving journalists eating.

...And here's a cartoon about Hillary Clinton (you can tell from the claw-like thumbnail) and the Pennsylvania Primaries (you can tell from the words "Pennsylvania Primaries" on the life preserver.

For more on my feelings about this, check out the Daily Show clip from April 24 on comedycentral.com.

I Couldn't Find His Legs!

2008-04-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

The whole Rambo/Pennsylvania Strategy thing came to me almost as soon as I heard the story about Obama's "bitter" comments. I wasn't sure, though, whose head I would put on Rambo's shoulders. I thought maybe it would be Hillary's new strategy, but I think I've ribbed her enough recently and I didn't want to draw her in a tight black wifebeater. I also thought about McCain, but he's not even really competing with Obama yet, and plus he was actually in Vietnam - I didn't want to draw too many parallels. So Obama it is, and I think it fits.

I'm 'Bout to Call Bovice

2008-04-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is the main art for the Features section I did for Thursday, April 17. It accompanied a story about a recent series of political films showing at the student theater on campus. I originally planned to do a much more boring image, just a side shot instead of the 2/3 angle shot. I'll tell you something, projectors are fun to draw. Well, not so much fun as tedious and overly difficult.

HEY!!! What if... HEY!!!

2008-04-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Magnetic awareness ribbons spark conflicted feelings - Opinion

Hey everybody, Harry Caray here! Well, as you know, 1997 was quite a year! A lot of things happened: some good, some bad. Mother Teresa died. That wasn't good. Unless you hated Mother Teresa. I, myself, was not a fan of hers, don't ask why! We were like oil and water; we didn't mix. In the world of sports, Mike Tyson bit a man's ear off. I don't know what all the hoopla was about. I've actually bit a man's ear off on several occasions! And I'm not proud of it, but it helped me out of many a jam! In Scotland, they cloned a sheep, which a lot of people thought was fun. Hey! What if... HEY! If I was a scientist, you know what I would clone? Hot dogs!

Think of all the possibilities, Norm! Imagine, a world with... Imagine...hold on! Imagine a world of - with an endless supply of hot dogs! You could have a hot dog anytime you wanted!

They'd be so abundant, they'd become our currency! 20 hot dogs would equal roughly a nickel. Depending on the strength of the yen, I'm not quite sure, but...you know what, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just keep praying that we can clone one of these hot dogs.

HEY! If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?

...I know I would! First, I'd smother myself with brown mustard and relish. I'd be so delicious!...So would you? Don't jerk me around, Norm! It's a simple question! A baby could answer it! If you were a hot dog, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?

It may not be a word, but it's definitely a virtue

2008-04-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Bob Al-Greene: Making 1-cent increases in the gas tax to account for increased infrastructural funding (is that a word?) interesting since 2008.

From my Cold, Dead Hands

2008-04-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the cartoon I mentioned conceptualizing in my last post. Doing a "Pearly Gates" cartoon is a bit of a milestone for me, an aspiring young artist. A cliche, maybe, but at least I didn't draw this:

Because that would just be downright insensitive.

In other news, the rumors are true: I DO have new markers to work with, since I stopped off at Blick while I was last in Omaha. Whereas I used to be limited to 20% or 50% gray, I'm now operating at 30% and 70% levels. DREAM BIG!

I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.

2008-04-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

I came up with this idea last week and didn't get a chance to put it on paper until today. I was hoping Hill wouldn't drop out of the race before I got a chance to do it, but of course she didn't.

However, Charlton Heston did die. And I probably should have done a cartoon about that, but I couldn't think of anything not horrible.

I think I'll be doing a Heston cartoon on Tues., and if anybody has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

High School Turned Me Into a Pussy by Bob Al-Greene

2008-04-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

So tonight I had a conversation with Chuck, my editor, about my latest cartoon, the Hillary Clinton one (which I was less than enthusiastic about). I told him I was worried maybe I had overstepped my boundaries by depicting a presidential candidate being shot at. Chuck said he liked the cartoon and had heard other people commenting about it positively, and said I was far from overstepping my boundaries. I could depict a candidate being shot, if I cared to, as long as it wasn't TOO graphic.

So I found myself on the side of restraint, a side I'm not exactly proud to be on. And I wondered how I got the idea in my head to pussy-foot around topics for fear of offending. Well, I can tell you. High school.

Most of the people who read this will know what the journalistic environment has been at Omaha Central High School for the past few years - an environment of fear, with the constant phantom of censorship hanging above the heads of student journalists. During my final year at Central, I had more than one run-in with the principal, Greg Emmel, about what he considered appropriate to run in the school newspaper versus what I considered appropriate.

And unfortunately I found myself frequently on the losing end of our little battles. For instance, when we were forced to keep a series of controversial photographs and a suggestive photo-illustration from seeing print.

Or, even worse, when, towards the end of the year we chose not to run a cartoon which we knew he would not approve of. This cartoon would have been my last to see print, and would have put a cap on my entire high school career. Instead, we kept it out of the paper... because of fear, when it comes right down to it.

The cartoon (below) would have accompanied an editorial about a bomb threat and how many students took it as an opportunity to skip school.

As you can see, it made a bold point. Some could argue that it would be TOO graphic, though I would disagree.

And yet now I find myself exhibiting the kind of fearful behavior principals and bad advisers instill in student journalists across the country. I don't like it. And neither should you.

Meh

2008-04-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

I may come across as modest, but I do like most of the art I do. But every once in a while I do a cartoon I really just don't have a lot of pride in. This is one of those cartoons. Maybe that's something I shouldn't be telling you, but it's true.

On top of the fact that I don't really dig this cartoon's message, I think it's insensitive to have a cartoon depicting a presidential candidate being shot at, and ESPECIALLY insensitive to do this on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination.

But hey, I get paid, don't I?

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

2008-03-31T15:43:00.001-07:00

I'm now being syndicated by U-Wire, the university wire service that the DN gets most of its AP stuff from. Today marks my first appearance on the site, with my McCain cartoon. Here's the URL - you aren't going to see anything new, it's more like proof that I'm not lying.

http://www.uwire.com/2008/03/31/cartoon-slow-and-steady-wins-political-race/

Fact: McCain's Legs are Dreamy

2008-03-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm getting better at drawing McCain, I think. I'm not getting any better at tackling complex issues and making pointed arguments, but I'll get to that eventually.

Maybe.

Probably not, though.

My Thanks to Mr. E. Adam Winkelstein

2008-03-27T13:42:00.001-07:00

This is what it's like when a week goes right here at Bob's Blog. You get a cartoon on Monday, another cartoon on Wednesday, some spiffy staff art on Thursday, a decent column somewhere in the mix, and maybe some extras. Today it's the column, so as Chris Frantz would say, CHECK IT OUT!!!

Political ideals not grounds for ostracism - Opinion

Number 1 in the Hood, G

2008-03-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

Ay yo, I know this dude, right
Carl, he wore tight blue sweats but wasn't glued too tight
All he had upstairs was a crude light
You think that's weird? He lived next door to a food fight

Howdy Danger, much obliged for the beat God
Even though you still eat lard, by the Meatwad
Mesquite charred, speakin of which or who
Voice all squeaky like they tuned it up a pitch or two
A cuhnk of burned up witch's brew, get your crew
See if they can't get pat the stench of the stew
It stank like a septic tank full of big poo
He mostly only turned into a frank or a igloo

Switch your view to the brother with the fried dreads
Not to be confused with the incense selling thai heads
His name rhymes with Mike-Cock
You could call him livewire, eye sockets, Frylock
Able to shoot electricity through his eyeballs
And blast all through your single sided brick and drywall
More interesting than professional wrestling
When he's online, you can find him on Instant Pestering

What's up with your boy? He's not a soft or hot drink
Whoever don't like it could suck his straw, it's hot pink
On some junk like Gucci on a classy ho
Might splash you in the face with nuclear pistachio
Make a fast break, or that'll be the last mistake
that ass'll make is what you get for messin with Master Shake

Look out, don't block the screen son, lunge across
Tryin to watch Adult Swim, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE!
Rock this cult hymn, sock your mean younger boss
Psht - Adult Swim, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE!
He often wondered, should he get the logo tatted to his woody?
He could be Number One in the Hood, G.

At least it wasn't another dude.

2008-03-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

In a surprise move, I'm not waiting a week to upload my cartoon this time. No, I'm actually uploading it here before it runs in the paper tomorrow. Consider this a sneak peek. This is your prize for being a reader of Bob's Law Blog.

For those of you who don't get this cartoon (and that's been just about everyone I've shown it to), Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (pictured above at last year's Cedric the Entertainer look-alike contest) has gotten into some trouble for allegedly lying about a relationship he had with his Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty (hence this blog entry's title). The relationship may be proved thanks in part to a series of text messages. I was originally thinking of doing a split-panel approach with a car crash on one side labeled Teens and a caricature of Kilpatrick on the other side labeled Mayors, but I thought the one-image worked better, so I just labeled the car with his name.

Happy Birthday

2008-03-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

5 years, 4,000 soldiers dead.

January 20 is sooner than you'd think.

Nelsonzilla

2008-03-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

This piece of staff-ed art accompanied an editorial about Ben Nelson helping out with new infrastructure (i.e. bridge) funds. But really, it just looks to me like some sort of monstrous leviathan resembling our former governor rising from the depths to topple a doomed bridge as he begins his plodding trail of destruction towards Tokyo.

We Named the Dog Indiana

2008-03-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

This marks the second time this semester I've resorted to quicksand imagery in a cartoon. I wanted to do a cartoon expressing the public's interest in stories like the McCain Lobbyist "Scandal" and the Eliot Spitzer thing because of that omnipotent sex element. Some things never change.

Unfortunately, in the hours of the early afternoon I was unable to come up with the precise metaphor I wanted to use, and so this cartoon came to be. I'm still happy with it, just not as much so as I could have been.

And no, that's not supposed to be Indiana Jones. It's supposed to be the American public.

I'm looking for Ray Finkle... and a clean pair of shorts.

2008-03-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

So I was recently called out at a get-together and it was intimated that I don't update this blog enough. While I would argue that I have better things to do with my time than incorporate my middle initial into my blog title, I have to agree that I've been shirking my responsibility to you, the reader, by not uploading the pieces of art which have been making me a rich man in the last month. So read on, loyal Bobfan, and discover graphic delights beyond thy wildest imagination.

First off is a piece of art I did for the Features section which accompanied a story about Lincoln writers and poets putting their work together in some sort of anthology. What it boiled down to was a story about a book, and therefore a piece of art about a book, which would make the second time I've had to make art about a book (I decided not to post the illustration I did for a story about Ted Kooser's Valentine poetry book). I opted for this idea, which turned out much more pink than I would have imagined.

Next up is a cartoon in response to a recent story which ran in the DN about the student section at UNL football games being moved, pushing many seats towards the nosebleed section. Honestly, this is a topic I'm not too concerned about, but I know other students probably are. Thanks to Steve Scharf for inspiration on this one.

Eh, looks like I waited a little too long for this one to still be topical. If anyone remembers Mike Huckabee, he was the guy running against John McCain until the bitter, bitter end, and this was my uninspired cartoon which ran just in time to make fun of him one last time before he kicked the Presidential bucket. Quote of the week for this cartoon goes to my editor Chuck: "McCain is one jowly motherfucker."

On a related note, I remember learning in grade school about the shape of a man's profile and body that is made by the states of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana (the boot) as well as a section of Minnesota cut off by the Mississippi river. I remember it looked like an elf when we learned about it, but I don't remember his name. Does anyone else remember him? ANYONE??

So Bush endorsed McCain for the presidency, which I'm sure doesn't stir any negative feelings between the two of them. Yes, that is supposed to be GWB himself hugging it out with Johnny B. Goode, but I messed up somehow apparently because it doesn't look like the Prez to anyone else except me, really. Oh well. I was psyched about this cartoon anyway.

Regardless, Bob's Cartoon a Week Blog is holding a competition for anyone who wants to enter: Post on the response board something you think would be funny to put in a thought balloon above Dubya's head, and I will personally go back and pen it in, then post it some time in the future. Here's your chance to be a part of history.

Okay, here's where I think things might turn around. For those of you who don't live inside my brain, you don't know that I've been a little disappointed with the quality of my cartoons recently, even though my markers are adding a new level to my work (a level I haven't quite mastered yet).

But this cartoon got more of a response out of the people at the DN than any cartoon I've done before - Chuck said he liked it and handed it off to the news desk where it elicited pedophile laughs galore. And then the entire newsroom crowded around Johnny Perez's computer to watch that famous footage from 9/11 where GWB continues to read "My Pet Goat" after he's told the country is under attack. To quote Johnny: "It's funny because 3,000 people died!"

So there you have it: a veritable cornucopia of artwork produced in the last few weeks to entertain you. Until next time, you remain the falcon. And I shall remain... Bob Al-Greene's Cartoon Blog.

I drew this in high school.

2008-03-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

...No, I didn't.

Cup and Squeeze

2008-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

I drew these hands for a spread the DN did about community outreach (get it? reaching out?) and nonprofit organizations, etc. I used my new awesome markers, which make my work look much ballsier than it really is. Thanks, Prismacolor!

Also, I wrote a column about Ralph "Cap'n Crunch" Nader after he came out. Uh, as a candidate, not as a gay man. He hasn't done that. ...Yet. I think. I have to check CNN.com.

Anyway, my column. Click here to read it.

Como estoy?

2008-02-21T20:42:00.001-08:00

So, Castro stepped down. That doesn't happen every day. Or even every half-century. I got to commemorate it with a cartoon. And not just any cartoon - my first cartoon with my gray Prismacolor markers, which do wonders for my work, I think. Crosshatching be damned, I'm in love.

I feel like having these markers will give me a greater ability to fill up space in my cartoons more in the future, which has been a big part of my disappointment in my most recent work. I hope this is a turning point.

I also had a new column which ran last Friday. As the Beastie Boys would say, Ch-Ch-Check it Out. And as Heath Ledger would say, I'm gonna go get some sleep.

Americans identify with underdog spirit - Opinion

Smigel Strikes Back

2008-02-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the cartoon I did after the strike ended (ran last Wednesday). I didn't get around to uploading it, it must've gotten buried on my desk. Either way, this cartoon marks the return of my writer character, who was modeled after Robert Smigel but looks more like Kevin Smith this time around. I guess he decided to eat nothing but donut holes for three months as a showing of solidarity.

2008-02-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

New Cartoons

2008-02-11T18:29:00.003-08:00

I know it's been a few weeks since I uploaded a new cartoon. Well, not... Two and a half. Doesn't - not- almost a few. Couple and... couple and... couple and some.

Anyway, here you go.

This first cartoon was in response to the State of the Union, featuring the triumphant return of the Flag Pin! Just like with Rudy Guliani, I can't believe it took me this long to do a caricature of Dick Cheney. I think he could've come out looking better, but so could the real Dick Cheney. Obviously I'm not ready to draw Nancy Pelosi yet, and I want to keep GWB's face out of my cartoons as much as possible so I'm not resorting to easy laughs or finger-pointing. I just found it kind of funny to look at the headlines the day after his speech and see the same old shit. If I had no sense of decency, it would've said exactly that at the top of this cartoon. When my editor, Chuck, saw this, the first thing he said was, "Well, I notice the President's head is a phonograph, so I'm intrigued." What he didn't like were the transparent frames on sticks on either side of the podium - they're always there, but no one really addresses them. I assumed they were teleprompters, and I guess I was right, but I should've kept them out of the cartoon, really.

Guess which day THIS cartoon ran on! If you said Super Tuesday, you'd be... well, you'd be wrong, it actually ran the day after Super Tuesday. But hey, punctuality's never been my thing. Now, you may be saying, "But Bob, that's not even a real cartoon. There's no opinion in it, just a hero clad in spandex and apparently named Super Tuesday." And that may be true. But... well, actually, I don't have any way to back that up. Whoops!

And this is my most recent cartoon, which dealt with a story I picked up on Google News about Hamas censoring a paper in the Gaza Strip because of (ironically) a cartoon which ran criticizing pro-Hamas legislators. I'm actually pretty proud of this cartoon because I like the idea of comparing censorship to a burqa. It was a little too obscure for a college newspaper in Lincoln, NE to be running a commentary on, though, so I did have to add the caption later. I also have to confess that this cartoon is heavily inspired by the work of Neal Obermeyer, the master of putting legs, faces and Mickey Mouse hands on inanimate objects. Sorry, Neal.

New Other Stuff

2008-02-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

And I decided to include in this post a couple of pieces of art I've done for the DN which aren't technically cartoons. The first one took the place of one of my cartoons. It's a drawing of the Nebraska State Capitol which ran at the bottom of a two-page spread the Opinion section ran about the Unicameral sessions. I don't usually have a lot of luck rendering buildings, so I was happy with how this turned out.

This next drawing I'm inordinately happy with. To commemorate the first-ever Nebraska Democratic caucuses, I drew... a donkey being branded by a Nebraska shape. I can be very eloquent when I want to, obviously. This ran as a piece of "Staff Ed Art," a fun little drawing to accompany a staff editorial (cartoons are usually stand-alone).

I want everybody to be comfortable, so I'd like to talk to you about Jesus.

2008-02-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hey, remember when I used to draw cartoons? Well, I did. And still do. Technically. But two a week is turning out to be harder than I anticipated, especially with my schedule, which is all reading and writing, all the time. So, this week my writing was a column which went in the DN about religion, always a fun topic to discuss. More cartoons someday. Probably that someday is Wednesday.

Don't discount candidates based on religion - Opinion

That organ's playing my song

2008-01-30T22:03:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to review the Cursive concert at the Slowdown in Omaha last Friday. And it was awesome. Here's the review. I took a camera (not mine) and attempted some shots, but there's a reason it doesn't say "Photographer" on my business card.

...If I had a business card. Here's the link.

Cursive delivers ferocious show - Features

"Look at me! I'm a cowboy! Howdy, howdy, howdy."

2008-01-30T21:52:00.000-08:00

As much as I don't like accusing the media of being vultures, there are times when you have to stop and think about the culture we live in and the coverage which is awarded to celebrities like Britney Spears or Heath Ledger, whose death is a loss, but also not a big deal in the scheme of things.

That said, this is a fairly stripped-down cartoon. I don't like blatant labeling in cartoons, but sometimes they do make the point a lot easier to get across.

Cartoons like this make me wish I had a more stylized... uh, style. The sun, for instance. I feel like I could get its intensity across more if I had an even cartoonier style. Ah, well.

Anyway, the title of this blog entry comes from maybe my favorite Far Side cartoon ever, in which a crowd of vultures are devouring a corpse which has crawled out into the desert to die, and one of the birds looks up with a cowboy hat on and speaks in a voice I imagine as sounding very much like Jim Varney. Howdy, howdy, howdy.

The Continuing Struggle for Photo-Realism

2008-01-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Get it? Because he's SINKING in the polls! HAW!!

I've been waiting since the start of this race to draw a caricature of Rudolph Guiliani. I can honestly say it was very easy - the man has a singularly rodent-like face. It wasn't much of a stretch, but I'm really happy with the result.

I could be happier with the layout and effect of the cartoon, though. I originally wanted to get a secret service-type guy in there, and maybe a few Rudy signs, but deadlines didn't permit. And it could've probably done from a better angle, or made it more obvious that he's actively sinking, not just wading. Over all, though, I'm proud of this cartoon as an on-the-spot, last-minute success.

Not that you could tell, but I'm doing cartoons at the DN two days a week this semester. So far, though, I've only had to do one per week because of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this week and a two-page spread about the unicameral session last week which I only provided boring art for. Look for a double-dose of Bob in the future.

"LIke dancing about architecture"

2008-01-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

I'm nothing if not prolific. Today's DN had not only my cartoon, but also a review of the new Rivers Cuomo home recordings album. If you're a fan of Weezer, buy the album. If you're a fan of review writing, and God help you if you are, then follow the link below to read mine.

http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2008/01/14/Reviews/Weezers.Cuomo.Releases.Earnest.Recordings-3150852.shtml

Yeah, I know that's not a link. Copy and paste, you lazy bastard.

Something Something Chuck Norris

2008-01-13T18:46:00.001-08:00

First cartoon of the new year, first cartoon of the semester, and maybe my favorite cartoon so far. With four, count 'em, FOUR political caricatures in ONE cartoon. It seems I shot my wad on what was supposed to be a dry run and now I'm left with something of a mess on my hands.

...Sorry.

Anyway, I came up with this idea while having Mexican food in Lincoln after getting back in town, about four hours before my deadline. Then, thanks to the miracle of Wikipedia, I was able to sketch these caricatures for practice and then do the actual cartoon and ink it all in time. I like how it turned out... Presidentmon: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Quick thing: I originally intended to have a disclaimer at the bottom, something along the lines of "For a limited time only. Offers expire in November." Isn't that just devilishly cynical? Also, it was really hard not to include some really horrible racist quote for Ron Paul. Because he's a really horrible racist.

I gotta go play some Guerrilla Tennis now, but I'll see ya next week!

No, I'm Not Dead

2008-01-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Far from it. Really, I should've added these images more than a few weeks ago - they ran in the Daily Nebraskan before the Winter Break. But apathy kills. So here I am at the end of the break, and I have a 'toon due Sunday night. Do I have any idea what it's going to be? Well, of course not. But maybe a post will get the creative juices flowing. If you know what I mean.

This was my last cartoon of the semester, and it's in reference to the juicing athletes. Behind-the-scenes for these cartoons gets less and less interesting as I go - I don't have a lot to say, except that I hoped the whole "popping a balloon" reference would be more obvious.

Now, this, I'm excited about. The DN does an annual "recap" of the top stories of the semester, complete with front-page art. And this year, the artist... was me. I got called in by one of my editors and we went over a list of the stories, not all of which I was familiar with, and then I had the weekend to finish it (along with the cartoon). Then I inked them both on Sunday, kind of flirting with my deadline. Anyway, here's a quick rundown of the stuff on the desk.
-Video games: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3 and Halo 3. Honestly the most important part of any student's academic life.
-Alumni Mug: Something to do with the Alumni Association. Don't ask me.
-Globe: Representing Waskar Ari, the UNL professor who got deported or kept from coming in the country or something.
-Calendar: Counting down the days.
-Lil' Red: Because he's adorable.
-Overpass Plans: Don't ask me. I just work here.
-Central Park: Lincoln is thinking of building a park behind the Abel Hall dormitories, I think.
-Ballot: Student Government organization.
-iPod: The Recording Industry Association of America had some conflict with college students this year.
-2015 City Plans: Self-explanatory, really. (Code for "I didn't follow this story")
-The Trash: The 2007 football season and the captain who went down with the ship, Coach Bill Callahan. Also, the guy who was swarmed and eaten by starving lifeboat survivors, Athletic Director Steve Pedersen.
-Ribbon: In remembrance of those who were lost at the Westroads shooting.
-Photos: The photos on the wall were filled in in Photoshop by Bo Pelini (the new coach), Tom Osborne (the new AD), Harvey Perlman (the chancellor) and Master Chief (a super-soldier from the future designed to fight aliens). Four people truly representative of the university.

My friend Clay drew these sketches, which I'm wary to put up in case my Grandma checks my blog. If you want more where these sketches came from, besiege Clay's blog with your requests. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's about the only person who actually reads my blog, so never mind, Clay.

The Shooting

2007-12-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is how I dealt with the shooting at Von Maur in a cartoon. Not many people I talked to really "got" this cartoon - the only point I was trying to make, weak as it may be, was that the tragedy was hovering over the holiday season in Omaha like a gray cloud. That's all. I didn't want to politicize, I didn't want to be risky. To quote Forrest Gump, "And that's all I have to say about that."

Unfortunately...

2007-12-16T00:52:00.001-08:00

So my computer has been frozen all week and I haven't been able to get my latest cartoon posted. I'll get on that when I get time. Trust me, you're not missing much. But there is a little story I'd like to share about my column, an update which came after my latest post.

I got a call from my editor Chuck informing me that I received an actual, honest-to-goodness e-mail about the torture piece. Or at least, I was supposed to receive it. Instead, since the composer spelled my name wrong in the address (surprise), it slipped through the cracks. But he was still able to read it to me over the phone. It was lots of fun.

Allegedly the letter came from someone in the National Guard, I believe. And this guy found my column very offensive, because I don't know enough about what the armed forces do to prevent such treatment and because if I wasn't such a "pussy," I would get off my "fat ass" and fight the war myself. Also, according to my editor, he spelled "torture" wrong every time he wrote it.

Okay.

It's true, I DON'T know enough about what it's like in the armed forces. I HAVEN'T had that experience, but that doesn't mean I should by any means be fighting this war, which I wasn't exactly all-for in the first place. I don't think I qualify so much as a pussy. In that respect, at least. But he's right, I do have a fat ass.

...How did he know that?

Anyway, that's why it says "Unfortunately, you are a pussy" at the top of the blog now. Because I laughed very loudly when I heard that phrase and wanted to share it with you.

Awesome awesome awesome

2007-12-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. Okay, I know this isn't cartoon news, but I just had to post it. I recently wrote a column (my second) for the DN, and I went all day depressed because no one would comment on it. Then, finally, I got a quick little comment in my favor, from someone named Edgar Pearlstein, who I think has commented on my stuff before. Edgar had this to say:

"Right! We can do anything we please, because we're the good guys."

So, thank you Edgar. You seem like an alright guy. Concise, but alright. But then, after returning from dinner, I at long last got a REAL reaction, in the form of a comment by some guy who would only identify himself as Tom. See below:

"This is sad. You use the word torture as if we are chopping of limbs, pulling fingernails or teeth out. So did you define what torture is? You mention "I'm talking every form of torture: face and body disfigurement, Chinese bamboo torture, whipping, de-nailing, crushing by elephant, more whipping.", but is this what America is doing?
Where do you draw the line between torture and imposing discomfort? You could have made some sort of case for your point of view, but you have squandered it.

I would say depriving someone of sleep, making them stand for extended periods, water boarding, exposing them to extended periods of loud music, and possibly making them read the DN editorial views would qualify as discomfort. I have never experienced any of this (except for reading the DN), but I wouldn't put this kind of stuff in the same category as being drawn and quartered.

And for Edgar, I hate to burst your bubble, but we are the good guys. Do you view us as the bad guys? Are you saying that our government has the moral equivalency to say some terrorist regime? Instead of handing the detainees down in Gitmo a Koran with white gloves on, should we take off the gloves and let infidels touch the Koran with their bare hands?

If we had no morals or sense decency when we fight our enemies we wouldn't spend billions of dollars on our military to make it a more efficient and accurate fighting force. We could just carpet bomb the place and call it good.

America is the most compassionate country in the world, and accordingly our military is the best force for good in this world as well."

Ladies and gents, comments like that are the reason I'm in this business. It's good to know I got through to someone with my points, even if they don't agree with me, and I spurred enough of a reaction for Tom to take time out of his day to shoot me down. I love it. Awesome.

If you want to read my column, here's the link:

http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2007/12/05/Opinion/Torture.The.Next.New.American.Way-3132892.shtml

Enjoy.

It was either this or draw a pear tree.

2007-12-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

He's BOdacious. He's BOnafide. He's one bad-ass BO-fo. That's right, Nebraska's new head football coach is Bo Pelini, and if you go to UNL you know that with news like that, the moon could have exploded yesterday and we wouldn't have heard about it.

Pretty simple cartoon, but also very cartoony. Also, this marks a rarity as I'm not actually criticizing anyone with this cartoon. It's just straight-up Bo in a Box.

I was originally going to go with a "12 Days of Christmas" theme for this cartoon, but I figured Bo sitting in a pear tree was a little too subtle without golden rings, French hens and lords-a-leaping, and I'll be damned if I'm going to draw all that on a Sunday afternoon.

I'm much less happy with my Bo Pelini caricature than I was with my rendering of Bill "Nixon" Callahan last week. Bill looked like Bill, Bo looks like some sort of half-breed horse/human. Luckily I'll have more chances to draw Bo, at least until the fans get restless in 4 years and he gets fired.

I figure by 2020, we'll be able to just keep Tom Osborne's head alive in a jar and he can be our coach forever.

Extra Credit this week will be given to the poster who can provide the best word which incorporates "Bo". Good luck beating Bo-fo.

Three Strikes and You're Out! ...Wait, Wrong Sport.

2007-11-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

So, I'm apparently making great leaps forward with my cartooning - this week marks the first cartoon I've done which deals with an issue directly related to the university. And I have to say, I don't know quite how to feel about it. I think it's funny, but I don't know how I feel about directly criticizing someone who works right down the street from me. It's a little different than the President - I take it for granted that George Bush doesn't pick up the DN every Monday to see what that especially talented and handsome cartoonist has to say this week. But Coach Callahan played his games a stone's throw from my dorm. And he got fired. And I'm making fun of him for it. Just saying... I'll be making extra sure my door is locked at night now.

I'm probably being a little oversensitive. Callahan hasn't ever exactly been a media darling anyway, so I'm sure he's used to a little friendly ridiculing, and I'm sure he'll be laughing all the way to the bank to pick up his $3 million in compensation.

This cartoon went through a couple phases before I decided on him getting kicked through the goalposts. Originally I was thinking about doing Tom Osborne (interim athletic director) as a punter, and Callahan as just a football with his name on it. But that's boring.

And before that, I wanted to do an allusion to Richard Nixon, with Callahan pausing at the top of a staircase into a plane and giving that famous double-peace sign, with some caption about our "long national nightmare" being over. I liked that idea, but it kind of gave the wrong impression, since Nixon resigned of his own volition. Also, I'm not sure how many students would get the reference at all.

High School High

2007-11-19T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got around to uploading some of the old high school stuff I'm always talking about, and these are some of the best I've got. These pieces ran in the Omaha Central High School Register when I was an artist and editor there (2004ish-2007). Enjoy!

The first is the first cartoon I ever did for the Register, in late 2004 or early 2005. The subject was the teaching of the evolution alternate theory of Intelligent Design in schools, and the idea for the evolutionary parade image came to me immediately. My editor had had the same idea and told me what I should put at the end of the parade (namely a confused student). One big difference between high school and college cartooning - in high school, especially when I was an underclassman, there was virtually no cartoon or piece of art I did which didn't have input from another staff member. Now, in college, I am completely on my own when it comes to generating ideas.

The second image is a cartoon I did during the 2006-07 school year, when I was a senior and the editor in chief of the paper. The cartoon accompanied an editorial about the so-called "Thumb Generation" the youth of America is becoming - obsessed with texting, iPods and any other hip electronic devices. The image of the iPhone as the monolith from "2001" came to me very early (as it is with the best cartoons I do) and the final product was almost exactly what I intended and imagined (as also is true with the best stuff I do).

The final piece is painted (obviously) in watercolor - it accompanied and really cemented an editorial I had written called "Ho Ho Hopeless" about the dominance of consumerism ruining the holiday spirit. The idea of Santa as a hobo (or "financially challenged person") came to me in a doodle I was working on when I should have been working. It was originally just going to be a straight cartoon, which I think I had already inked by the time we scrapped it and turned it into a full-color, front-page centerpiece. Not a bad-looking page, when it was done. The editorial, proud of it as I was, wouldn't have a fraction of the strength it did with the art.

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it..."

2007-11-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

Look ma! No politics!

Yes, it's true, I've finally done a cartoon for the DN which in didn't in some way trash the President. In fact, I didn't try to make a political point of any kind in this'n. I'm not even trying to comment about the writers' strike. It's just a joke about some turkeys who are protesting Thanksgiving.

Here's your behind-the-scenes exclusive on how I got the idea for this cartoon. The genesis started when I was sitting in a Chipotle, having finished my steak burrito, and I was staring blankly at the front page of the Omaha World-Herald. Most news you'll find in the OWH doesn't quite apply itself to cartooning. I could give a shit about Vin Gupta. So against my better judgment, I was trying to create the idea for a cartoon in my head, attempting to smack two news stories together like atoms and create a molecule of genius. Instead, I wound up with this.

Here's a tidbit for you: the bearded protester there is supposed to be (or at least look like) Rob Smigel. For the Nerdy among you who would like an explanation, Rob Smigel is a writer for shows such as SNL and Conan who is responsible for such comic gold as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and The Ambiguously Gay Duo. And for the Super Nerdy among you who already know who Rob Smigel is, I'll tell you that yes, that's what he looks like.

We can't stop here! This is bat country!

2007-11-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

Not much to say this week. I noticed in the news last week that more U.S. soldiers have already died this year in Iraq than in any year since the war began. I didn't want this to be too much of an overtly political cartoon. Honestly it just kind of depresses me, especially since I'm no good at drawing cars. I promise one of these days I'll start putting older cartoons up, but for now this is all I've got. Good night and good luck.

Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi and waterboarding?

2007-11-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

Hola, amigos. I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but the waters are not always smooth on Lake Al-Greene. Two Mondays ago was my Fall Break, so I didn't have to do a cartoon. And last week I traveled out of town/got really sick and had to cop out. I was planning on uploading some of my old high school stuff, but that'll have to wait. Look for more later this week.

If I had more talent, I could have done a cartoon on the spot about UNL's historic (i.e. humiliating) football defeat Saturday, because most of the students at this college are thinking about that (or trying not to) instead of worrying about the confirmation hearings of Michael B. Mukasey. Mukasey, who originally seemed like a honest, fair judge and all-around-good choice at the onset of the hearings, suddenly started showing symptoms of cronyism, or as it's known in the capital, Gonzales-itis. Now he's ducking questions about torture like a pro, most notably waterboarding - he won't say whether or not he considers it torture, and that's disconcerting for those America-hating liberal pansies who are in charge of making him the most powerful law enforcement officer in the country.

I think this may be the funniest cartoon I've ever done, because the concept is kind of way out there and my caricature of Mukasey looks like some sort of space creature. The dude has some weird eyes in real life, though. Also, for maximum effect, you should read "Get off the stage" out loud, in a tinny voice out of the corner of your mouth as if it's coming from the back of a big room.

Funny though it may be, it's also pointed, I think, both at Mukasey and at Omaha World-Herald cartoonist Jeff Koterba, who recently suffered a blow to the head and then drew this:

...So, yeah. One last thing: If you're going to leave a comment this week, let me know how you feel about torture, waterboarding, etc. I'd like to hear differing opinions.

-Bob

Bob Al-Greene: Beloved the World Over

2007-10-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Great news, everybody! I've just witnessed the first actual response to one of my cartoons by a person I don't know on the Daily Nebraskan website, and I couldn't have asked for a better comment. Because I just loved it so much, I've reproduced it for your viewing pleasure below. It came courtesy of one Jason B., who may or may not in fact be Jason Bourne, the titular hero of "The Bourne Identity." I'm not saying he is, I'm just saying you can't prove he isn't.

Anyway, here's Jason's message:

"Yeah, Afghanistan freed from the Taliban and given democracy, despite a bunch of Islamofascists trying to keep the women in portable tents and men wearing beards. Yeah, Iran freed from a genocidal madman and they've voted for democracy repeatedly, despite the actions of Islamofascists and Iranian theocrats. Meanwhile, Al puts out a book and movie that are both filled with errors and lack of facts. And the president of the Czech Republic is scratching his head and asking, What did Al's movie have to do with bringing peace?? The Nobel committee proves itself once again a bunch of chumps, but we are talking about the institution that refused to give Gandhi the Peace Prize, but gave it to the godfather of terrorism, Yasser Arafat. Yet another great, shallow, idiotic cartoon."

HOMEWORK TIME!!!

Who can show how Jason not only missed the point of my cartoon, but can also point out flaws in his own argument? Extra credit will be awarded to anyone who can use the phrase "shallow and idiotic" in their response.

-Bob

The one cartoon I'm sure everybody will agree on

2007-10-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

So let's talk about Al Gore. Remember when, in the months after he "lost" the 2000 election, he became a punchline on shows like Jay Leno, because he gained some weight and went all Grizzly Adams and rekindled his love affair with pizza? Remember that? For a few glorious months there, as George Bush choked on pretzels and cleared brush, the stupid among us said to themselves, "Well, I guess the Supreme Court chose the right President after all. Al Gore obviously wasn't stable, and George Bush is a harmless mook."

Then 9/11 happened. And America went to war. And the longer it went on, the more it became obvious what a completely incompetent, evi, dark, Godless prick George Bush is. And suddenly the question popped up (in my mind, at least) - Would Al Gore have taken us into Iraq? Would he have made the same mistakes? Well, I think that answer is pretty obvious.

And so, last week, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, or as it's known around these parts, the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. And that seems like a pretty big accomplishment by itself. But don't forget about the Academy Award. And the Emmy. And all the time he's spent touring and giving that little global warming speech (that's when he's not teaching as a visiting professor at multiple universities). Oh, and he launched a television network. And he wrote a few books. And he's the chairman of an investment firm he started last year, which now has assets of approximately a billion dollars. And he serves as an adviser to Google and sits on the board of Apple Computers. So he's doing pretty well for himself.

And meanwhile, George Bush... Well, at least he hasn't choked on a pretzel in a while. But don't you kind of wish he would?

LOL Torture

2007-10-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

So the New York Times broke the story about a week ago about how the U.S. Justice Department issues secret internal memos condoning the CIA's favorite extreme interrogation techniques, including the hit classic Waterboarding. It irks me a little that this cartoon seems to be the least understood of any of my DN cartoons so far, because everyone should be aware of what the hell is happening in this country and to this country. What I have here is our president, George W. Bush, apparently torturing (though not waterboarding) the embodiment of U.S. Credibility.

I think it's important to note that I chose a U.S. soldier to be this embodiment - I stopped just short of putting him in fatigues - because when the U.S. starts condoning torture, that gives our already psychopathic opponents even fewer reasons to hold back from completely mutilating any G.I. they capture. That's just one argument - you can go ahead and find your own reasons not to like torture. There are plenty.

Either way, I admit the cartoon is a bit vague. Bush isn't nearly as menacing as I'd like him to be, and what's more, he doesn't even look convicingly Bush-like. Still, I did get my first recorded non-DN-staff reaction to this cartoon (albeit second-hand). One of my roommate's classmates apparently saw the cartoon and had some trouble understanding it. "What is this? Is he torturing that guy? Is that a soldier? Wait a second, that kind of looks like President Bush..."

Ladies and gentlemen, that's all the credence I need.

They're so decrepit! Ha ha ha!

2007-10-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

This cartoon is the second of mine to run in the DN - it ran Oct. 1, and the topic at hand is the SCHIP healthcare bill which our president vetoed in order to make sure 4 MILLION POOR SICK CHILDREN don't get insured until they get themselves working. My favorite reaction to this cartoon came from a fellow cartoonist at the DN: "Oh my God, look at the children! They're so decrepit! Ha ha ha!" Notice that kid on the left and his crutches - they are way too big for him. Either that's my fault, or we're living in Bush's America. You decide.

I just found the idea of George Bush telling the Democrats to stop playing politics so preposterous (yet true) that I just had to get it in there. And nothing drives a point home like 4 MILLION POOR SICK CHILDREN. Contrary to what you may believe, a convincing Dubya is actually harder to draw than you would think. I've got an entire page in my sketchbook now of nothing but variations on Bush's mug. Makes me smile every time I see it.

...And on the Eighth Day, Bob drew a cartoon.

2007-10-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

This is the first cartoon I produced as a staffer for the Daily Nebraskan, the newspaper of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It ran on Monday, Sept. 24. As I'm beginning to realize is normal, the idea to cover the Blackwater issue didn't hit me until after going through several other ideas, such as the then-hot visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Columbia University. True, the topic wasn't central to the University, but that's a fortunate aspect of the job - as of yet, I haven't covered any University topics in my cartoons. Inspiration for the Uncle Sam image came from comic artist and painter Alex Ross. The cartoon itself is a pretty simple idea, but I think it comes across powerfully. I shied away here from being overtly hostile against the administration, I think. I kind of gave that up in later cartoons.