Monday, September 16, 2013

World Shocked When Homophobic Cartoonist Goes After Women Next

The good news is, Max Garcia's comic "Between the Lines" appear in exactly one newspaper: the New York Daily News. The bad news is, it's my local newspaper.

Every day we unfortunate readers get a glimpse into the inner recesses of Mr. Garcia's mind -- at least the parts that haven't been jammed full of Ren and Stimpy cartoons, role-playing games, and fart jokes. For those outside of Mr. Garcia's limited sphere, this panel provides a fine example of his humor:



Got that? See, it's a pun! When horses say "nay," it's like they're saying no! Sad puns provide the basis for 99% of Mr. Garcia's comics, including the billiard balls frolicking around a swimming pool and Vladimir Putin atop a Ritz cracker. You can almost picture Mr. Garcia elbowing you in the ribs while you peruse the drawing for meaning. He's stifling hysterics and warning, "Give it a minute! You'll get it!" but we get it all too quickly, I'm afraid.

A cursory examination of this cartoon illuminates Mr. Garcia's unfortunate subtext. The male horse is distinguished, with a well-groomed goatee, while the female has a big mouth, a cinched waist, and giant boobs. While annoying, the adolescent sexism can be easily ignored until Mr. Garcia's larger mental problems surface in the strip.



I've written about this panel before, so I'll just summarize by saying Mr. Garcia has evidently spent a lot of time in Mel Gibson movies from the 1980s. Today, though, the other shoe dropped. Mr. Garcia demonstrated why homosexuals frequently quote Martin Niemöller's sharp adage, "First they came for the Socialists...." Because Mr. Garcia discovered that it's safe to come after us, so now he's gunning for those other bizarre creatures that boggle his tiny mind.



Like a modern-day Sean Delonas, Mr. Garcia breaks us up with his virtual catalog of tried-and-true tropes: pale, pasty, glasses, long hair, brown belt, sweater vest. The message beneath those brilliant colors? SEXUAL HARASSMENT WOULDN'T EXIST IF DUDES WERE HOTTER. That's not a comic: that's the bumper sticker on an idiot's car. A comic shouldn't leave you thinking, "So, I'm an attractive dude. Is rape gonna be okay?"

I didn't contact Mr. Garcia for comment this time around, and perhaps the adage about teaching pigs to dance explains the reason why. Instead I'll reprint his reply to my thoughts about the Chuck Norris comic: "Hey, wanna be my Facebook friend?" I didn't speak in a barbed balloon and I don't have big tits but my answer was definitely nay.

2 comments:

Nydeco said...

I read the Daily News everyday and always enjoy the comics, but I have yet to come across one enjoyable Between the Lines entry. Max Garcia, the cartoonist, if you are reading this, Pleas hang it up! Your comic strip is not funnt, not witty, not well drawn, and least of all, not entertaining. Every time I waste a moment reading it, I ask the same question, who are you creating this for? It's simply terrible. I suggest you scrap it entire and come up with a new strip worth drawing and worth reading.

Glasgow Girl said...

The ' looking good Susan 'is spot on,i have seen a proportion my fellow females act like this on more occasions than i care to remember,and not just in the office.
To me the cartoon is saying that some women can be fickle and in fact treat men that that they don't find attractive or associate with power or authority with double standards.
Women like this are an embarrassment to the rest of us and deserve to be ridiculed

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