DRONEY!

Also a couple of unsolicited Sparky’s List testimonials, here and here.

Saddened to learn that Kathi Goldmark, who founded the Rock Bottom Remainders, has passed away. Kathi made it possible for a lot of shut-in writers to live out teenage fantasies of playing rock and roll on actual stages in front of actual audiences. I got to do it a couple times myself. Thanks for that, Kathi.

Situation was resolved. Hiding the details below the jump, so as not to clutter up the front page.
Read the rest of this entry »

To sign up for SPARKY’S LIST please click HERE. To find out what SPARKY’S LIST is, keep reading.

Friends,

Following the path recently trailblazed by my good friend Ruben Bolling, I am unveiling a new feature for the truly devoted This Modern World reader: SPARKY’S LIST.

As you may have heard, the newspaper industry has been undergoing some difficulties of late. As regular readers of this blog are aware, too many altweeklies have decided to save literally tens of dollars a week by cutting their most popular features — the comics.

Thanks to the internet, my cartoons are more widely read than I could have ever imagined possible, when I started out twenty or so years ago. But as my readership expands exponentially, my income remains in steady decline. I’m no economist, but that doesn’t seem sustainable to me.

I’m still fortunate enough to have a substantial number of clients both in print and online, for which I am profoundly grateful — but the reality is that the world is changing rapidly, and we all need to keep figuring out different ways to adapt.

So I’ve decided to add a new component to the overall Tomorrowco strategy for survival, and offer my own email subscription service which — as previously noted — I’m calling SPARKY’S LIST. Like Ruben, I didn’t want to ask for charity — I’ve always been somewhat uncomfortable even having that donations button on the blog. Instead, I wanted to offer something of value to TMW’s most devoted readers — the opportunity to see the cartoon several days before it appears online or in print, as well as the convenience of having it delivered directly to your inbox. If you’re one of those people who can never remember where you left your keys or what day TMW appears on what website, this is the answer for you. About the cartoon, I mean. I can’t help you with your keys.

Think of it as a Kickstarter project to sustain something that already exists, and that you would like to see continue.

(This little effort is unlikely to have any impact on existing print and online clients — even if things work out beyond my wildest expectations, the subscriber list will not be more than a fraction of any given paper or website’s readership — but I will gladly discuss specific numbers with any editor who has concerns.)

For subscribers to SPARKY’S LIST, each week will be like that old tv show from the eighties with the cat who brought the newspaper a day early, except instead of tomorrow’s news and stock prices, you’ll be getting a satirical cartoon by Tom Tomorrow. (Also, no cat will be involved in the distribution process.)

But wait, there’s more.

I’ll also offer occasional extras, such as alternate unpublished drafts of cartoons, contest/giveaways, “classics” from years past, and other bonus content to be determined. But don’t worry, I won’t spam your inbox — these will simply be the sprinkles on the delicious, weekly ice cream sundae that is SPARKY’S LIST.

The cost is $9.99 for a six month subscription, which, for comparative purposes, is literally less than any common item or experience you can think of that would cost you more than $9.99!

And in all seriousness, you’ll be helping to support the cartoon, and keep it alive. Which is no small thing.

To sign up, please click HERE.

Many thanks,

Tom Tomorrow

I was working on Droney last night, inspired by this report:

An amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on American audiences is being inserted into the latest defense authorization bill, BuzzFeed has learned.
The amendment would “strike the current ban on domestic dissemination” of propaganda material produced by the State Department and the independent Broadcasting Board of Governors, according to the summary of the law at the House Rules Committee’s official website.
The tweak to the bill would essentially neutralize two previous acts—the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1987—that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.
The bi-partisan amendment is sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry from Texas and Rep. Adam Smith from Washington State.

Must be something in the zeitgeist, because this morning Salon has an article on the PR offensive the drone industry itself is about to launch:

“We’re going to do a much better job of educating people about unmanned aviation, the good and the bad,” said Michael Toscano, president of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the industry’s trade group in Washington. “We’re working on drafting the right message and how to get it out there.”

Droney will have more to say about all of this in next week’s cartoon.

Latest toon: The Invisible Hand strikes again!

Update: read it on Truthout here.

I have a 17×22 print of the AUSTERIONS cartoon that was printed on fine art paper which, I noticed belatedly, has a slightly bent corner and a very small ink spot from where the printer came into contact with the bend. It’s on the edge of the print and won’t show once it’s framed, but we have high standards here at Tomorrowco. The usual price for large prints is $100; I’ll sell this one (signed, of course) for $70, shipped, to the first person who emails me about it. NOte: DO NOT SEND MONEY until I confirm that you’re getting it.

Five packs of STICKERS are now available! Also: signed copies of TOO MUCH CRAZY are back in stock, and sold-out sizes of the SPARKY TRON shirt have been replenished. Click here for all the awesomeness your credit card can handle.

Edit: post deleted — problem solved! Many thanks to alert reader R.S. for pointing me to the necessary software.

Latest cartoon.

Also I did a cover illo for the NYT Sunday Review this week, though it looks a lot more impressive in print. I’m gonna miss print, when it goes.