Does this cartoon offend you?

[Marley23]

It wasn’t offensive. Stupid, gross, a waste of my time… all that and more. But I wouldn’t say offensive.

The Objectivist thing was good, though.

[honkyhonky]

NNaaahhhh!
Flowers do not offend me, even if they are destructive.
Cows with BIGG UDDERS and the voice of Rosanne Barr just might, however. I will definitely be going to see Home on the Range this spring…

[toadspittle]

Well, my gut reaction is, without something damn funny, the animal cruelty shot falls flat. He didn’t have the punchline to pull it off, IMO.

Not that I’m 100% opposed to senseless, over-the-top violence in comics. Witness Maakies, ( http://www.maakies.com ) in which one of the primary gags is “Drinky Crow” getting himself soused and then blowing his brains out with a revolver in sheer joy. Tony Millionaire just pulls it off, IMO.

Now, “drtz”–that was a piece of art. Beautiful. So the guy’s not a total hack, it seems. You’re just bound to miss a few pitches when you’re doing this kind of stuff.

[Moo_the_Magic_Cow]

That was pretty funny.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Personally, I think it’s hilarious. Check this one.

[Tangent]

@Dogface

One of the best has got to be the Atlas Shrugged Sequel strip.

That’s one of the best?

[toadspittle]

@Ilsa_Lund

Personally, I think it’s hilarious. Check this one.

Good stuff.

[Dogface]

@Tangent

That’s one of the best?

It was an excellent send-up of the kind of person who actually espouses that “objectivism” nonsense.

[Burrido]

Reminds me of old Garfield cartoons. Just plain not funny. Cat walks in, eats lasagna, jon screams “Garfield!”.

[Gyrate]

The man himself discusses both the strip and the various reactions to it. “Emotional pong” it is:

Dog Killer is based on true events, which is to say that the father of my friend Pete used to perform this exact service back in the day, putting dogs down for farm families who couldn’t afford the vet’s fee. And he did it with a shotgun, though he was never stupid enough to hold the dog’s head down with his bare hands.

[…]

People ask what the “point” of it is. It can have lots of points, but the thing in my life it came from was that I was wimping around and refusing to face up to things and being a big baby until eventually I realized I had to grow up, snap out of it and be a man. I had take some cherished notions, look them in the eye and blow them away out on the back lawn just like an old dog. And of course the essence of that process is that you have to see it, you can’t look away, you have to face it and do it. And that’s why it has to be so graphic and that’s why you can’t cut to a wide shot or a shot of Bob’s face. Anything less than seeing the dog’s head explode is a cop-out.

I feel it’s a pretty finely crafted strip, if I may say so. Just as Bob gently, soothingly presses the dog’s head down and blows its head off, I take the readers and gently, soothingly, hold their heads down and force them to watch a dog’s head get blown off. It’s all about the pacing. To people who get mad about it, you knew what was gonna happen. Nobody had a gun to your head. You could have looked away at any time. I zoom right into the dog’s face, hold you there, hold you --then blow him away in front of you. If you’ve got my sense of humor, you emit a startled laugh. If not, you read the punchline and don’t think it’s funny enough to make up for how rotten seeing that dog’s head explode made you feel. I’m just playing with your emotions here, people! That’s all!