Early Bad Job Brewery comics
This is a gallery of comics created in the distant past. Some of them refer to political issues that were current at that time, bringing democracy to Haiti, the rise of right wing strong men in Russia, corruption scandals in Japan. Some topics faded as the time passed, others were harbingers of current political issues, like the right wing support that fuels Vladimir Putin's regime, complete with wars in Georgia and the Ukraine. This was a minute collection of cartoons that was short circuited by lack of time and funds to continue.
Varying artists collaborated with me to draw the cartoons. I owe a debt of gratitude (and probably cash) to those artists who helped me with early cartoon collaborations. This collection includes pieces drawn by Reed Jones, Ivan Daniel and Thomas Mundahl. Thanks again for the help.
Let's start with the cartoon about the demands made on labor, the presumption of hierarchy that infests so many of our human relationships, the degradation and disrespect that goes with being dependent on another for your daily bread. Mark Jacobs & Ivan Daniel, Brewmasters, 1994.
It's an old cartoon, but let's remember who keeps running up debts by transferring the wealth of the many to the bankers and the Military Industrial Simplex. The myth of Republican Fiscal Conservatism is another American Grotesque. Mark Jacobs & Ivan Daniel, Brewmasters, 1994.
Years later, we now see many videos of police beating students in school, and we see the resultant erosion of trust between the police and the communities they serve. We see towns that try to impoverish their citizens through the prosecution of minorities over the most minuscule of infractions. We see the Police trying to criminalize the mere photographing of aberrant police behavior, as if bearing witness to a crime or an abuse of power is somehow a crime in and of itself. Reading Hunter Thompson all these years later reminds of how little progress has been made in respectful policing. Mark Jacobs & Ivan Daniel, Brewmasters, 1994.
Now on to another cartoon from the early 1990s. This refers to the many lies told by the tobacco industry to try to avoid regulation of their poisonous product. Just a little update for 2016, the new Republican VP candidate, Mike Pence apparently thinks that cigarettes are of no public health concern, only possibly because he likes taking money from their purveyors. His sexual politics and his health care politics are apparently stuck in some mythological Fifties of cigarettes, martinis and back-alley abortions. Mark Jacobs & Reed Jones, Brewmasters, 1994.
The next two cartoons could almost be conflated into a new, updated cartoon about Fukushima and its radioactive plume. Who profits from nuclear energy and who takes responsibility for the 10,000 years it will remain poisonous to humans and others in the biosphere?
The first cartoon is about simple corruption accusations against a Japanese politician that rode to power on promises of cleaning up government corruption. Mark Jacobs & Thomas Mundahl, Brewmasters, 1994.
The second asks pointed questions about nuclear profiteering and responsibility to future generations. Note the tricky usage of N$P on the money bags, former utility here in Minnesota, now Excel Energy (they own the naming rights to The Wild's arena - the Ex). Mark Jacobs & Thomas Mundahl, Brewmasters, 1994.
The US tried to give "Democracy" to the Haitians in the 90s, then tried to give it to the middle east by toppling the Iraq regime after 9.11.2001. Long term, the Haitians have not gained from US intervention to any great, transformative degree, and unfortunately the chaos in Iraq continues to this day with Daesh, car bombings, and sectarian violence even between rival factions of Islam. That present of "Democracy" is not all it's cracked up to be. Mark Jacobs & Thomas Mundahl, Brewmasters, 1994.
Here's the first version, before being redrafted. I like elements of both versions. Mark Jacobs & Thomas Mundahl, Brewmasters, 1994.
Last and least, my first Photoshop cartoon from long before I had any photoshop application or skills. The Russian depicted still makes occasional headlines for his Right Wing politics and nationalistic bombast. He is a supporter of that bare chested Russian strongman currently in power, Vlad Putin, who has eschewed regular elections to maintain his grip on power, while attacking Georgia and the Ukraine from his perch atop the largest Corruptocracy extant. I can't blame anyone else for the shoddy job on this cartoon. Take it as a learning experience from my earliest efforts. Mark Jacobs, Brewmaster, back when I couldn't come up with anything better in the 90s maybe?
