News post – Catch-23 No. 1106 Blocked

This comic strip was inspired by my friend Amanda, who is a proud part of the Facebook group Blocked by Pete Evans, a group about debunking Evans’ claims with science.

The clown called Pete Evans has been spouting dangerous garbage for years. The companies supporting him turned a blind eye, like they always do when there is a cash cow to milk, until something extreme, such as posting Neo-Nazi crap, forces these companies to start acting like they have ethics for 5 minutes.

I guess we have to just vote with our dollars, it’s the only language they understand.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1105 Truth allergy

So, Trump lost the election, and is now refusing to concede – can’t say I’m surprised. At every opportunity, he takes the low road without shame nor remorse.

Perhaps keeping him out on the golf course is the safest thing for everyone. The comic strip originally had Trump proudly announcing that he was going to be that annoying guy on Survivor that knows he’s getting voted out at the next Tribal Council so tips all the rice out and wrecks the camp.

Let’s hope the rational staffers can keep him away from the rice for the next 3 months.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1104 Refreshing

By now, you will have heard the great news that Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election, but for a few days there, we were all on the knife’s edge.

I was waiting to see if a result would be announced so that I could make a comic strip about it, but as the count in the battleground states dragged on, I decided to make a comic strip set prior to the win being announced, as it more closely reflected where a lot of us spent our week.

If you’re wondering, I usually create the comic strip on Saturday, which takes about 1-2 hours depending on how complex the drawings are.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1103 Like Murder for Hornets

2020 served up a range of delights, one of which was the potential spread into the U.S. and Europe of the so-called Murder Hornet, a 2-inch insect known for destroying honey bee nests and being gigantic and nightmare-inducing.

In many ways, the murder hornet is the ideal mascot for 2020: invasive, dangerous and requires protective gear to handle.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1102 Sleep study

Our beagle-cross-cav Jersey, who just turned 11 years old, loves to sleep. She is a fantastic sleeper. Lately, I’ve been curious about how many hours she spends awake each day.

We wake up, she has breakfast, then naps for a while, then we go for a walk, after which is more napping. She will occasionally get up during the day and sit out in the sun, when more sleeping occurs. There’s more snoozing after dinner, then bed time.

I did some calculating and generously came up with about 4 hours of wake time per day. A little research shows that she leaves sloths in her dust, which I think she would be proud of.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1101 Side Effects

This week’s strip started out with the news that while giving a speech, Trump praised the intellect of both Putin and Kim Jong-un. I thought it would be funny to do a Scooby Doo-style reveal and have Jaffa pull off the trump mask to reveal… someone. Cthulhu? Jabba the Hutt?

Jabba struck me as pretty funny – a giant gross lecherous criminal space slug, sounds perfect! Once I wrote the strip, I realised that it would be more relevant if Trump had turned into something like Jabba the Hutt due to the experimental COVID-19 treatments.

The notes on the comic strip were ‘Jabba needs to be more orange’, so he’s more orange now. You know, for realism.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1100 Jaffa’s Jaffles

The idea for today’s strip was what if I, a very mediocre cook, hosted a YouTube cooking channel. I was picturing the gourmet guide to 2 minute noodles, that sort of thing.

The thing about the mayonnaise is real, though – if you are making toasted sandwiches or jaffles, spread a layer of mayonnaise (traditional or egg-free, either works) on the outside of the bread. This really gives a extra bit of golden colour and tastiness that non-mayonnaise toasties lack.

I’m trying something different with the art – coloured ink lines. It’s something that I’ve trialled a couple of times, but previously struggled to getting it looking right. Today’s attempt is mostly a success, I’m not crazy about how the mouths look, so we’ll consider it a work in progress.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1099 COVID has a case of the Trumps

It’s about time that 2020 started giving back, and Trump catching COVID-19 is a start. My first idea for the comic strip was Jaffa announcing Trump has coronavirus, then saying nothing for two panels. Bagel wonders aloud where the punchline is and Jaffa replies ‘with a statement that funny, you don’t need a punchline.’

I ended up with a bunch of jokes, so I said to hell with it and used them all. I especially like Bagel’s Trump impression in panel two. I hope you hear it in your head as Alec Balwdwin’s Trump voice.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1098 Dictation

The whole ‘dictator Dan’ thing has been bugging me for a while and I finally figured out how to express my feelings in comic strip form.

I did have a long, vitriolic rant written but, upon reflection, it was unlikely to change anyone’s minds and the comic strip already says what I wanted to say about things. The short version is if you think being looked after and cared for is “oppression”, then you are privileged to have never seen real oppression.

Keep up the good work, Dan.

Mat

News post – Catch-23 No. 1097 Sprung

When I’ve talked to people in lockdown this week, there’s a general sense of hopefulness – not much longer. It could be the change in weather helping people’s moods, with the difficult winter behind us. Whatever the cause, it’s something I wanted to capture in this irreverent dialogue-heavy comic strip.

Mat