Whenever Newsletter 4-6

In my youth, when I was fresh from the funny farm, I produced a meaner brand of work. Snapshots were darker, and "So It Goes" blasted people execution style.

The editor of Chief of Police Magazine said that I had "captured the lighthearted side of dark humor."

The truth is that the cartoons were not "edgy" so much as they were amateurish. I had committed the original sin: I had taken life too seriously.

This all dawned on me as I read a newspaper article titled, "Jason Love Takes on the World." Until then, I had never realized that I was taking on the world. I thought I was being funny, when I was actually struggling with a rebellious phase that most kids finish in high school.

Einstein said, "The most important question we have to answer for ourselves is this: Do I live in a friendly or hostile world?"

Even in the face of rape, murder, and car commercials, I want to live in a friendly world. I have been removing old, low-vibe cartoons and rewriting columns with a lighter heart. I still pick my battles, mind you (walkie-talkie cell phones come to mind), but mostly I am waking up to the possibility of everyone laughing at the same time.

Now that you know what a great guy I am, I must tell you that I recently decided to indulge the dark side and do a cartoon about Christopher Reeve (who was alive at the time). The cartoon wasn't cruel, technically speaking, but it ventured into a room that I had locked from myself. I'm not sure why I went back; that joke just kept making me laugh.

No sooner was the cartoon inked than Mr. Reeve passed away. It was kinda spooky. Needless to say, the joke isn't funny anymore (and, according to my wife, was definitely, definitely not funny in the first place). I was going to scrap the cartoon, but I figure that if you didn't sign up for the newsletter to hear about just this sort of thing, then why did you?

So for members only I have posted the Cartoon That Never Was.



J.