THIS MODERN WORLD

Well, as it turns out I’m down another paper — sorry to say that due to (what else) budgetary constraints, long-time client paper NUVO in Indianapolis is dropping the strip.

Sucks to lose the readers, but there’s not much to be done about that.* However, adding a mere couple dozen more members to SPARKY’S LIST would make up for the income hit, at least for a few months.

And that’s what I’m hoping to do with the list and its model of direct audience support — to shield myself from the vagaries of the market, which are mostly trending downward these days, as you may have noticed.

So consider this a small NPR-style pledge drive. Without tote bags.

The basic rundown about the list is here. I would add that as I’ve been doing it for a couple months now, it’s begun to develop into its own creature. You get to see the cartoon a couple days early, but you also get a moderate-to-lengthy post deconstructing the week’s work, discussing what I was thinking about certain panels, or other directions I might have gone. One week, subscribers got a peek at a first draft which normally no one would ever have seen.

And more to the point, if I get enough people signed on to this crazy scheme, then it’s going to be a lot easier to shrug off these losses and stay focused on the work.

*Though of course if you live in the Indianapolis area and This Modern World is one of the reasons you pick up NUVO, it certainly can’t hurt to let them know.

An article in the Austin Chronicle about Jen Sorensen (who recently moved to Austin), and the future of alt-weekly cartooning, with some commentary from me. My only quibble is, I wish they’d included my comments about papers (such as the Austin Chronicle) which DO still support our little art form, for which we cartoonists are all immensely grateful.

Related: a huge shoutout to OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano, for bringing Red Meat back to the paper. Maybe the cartoon freeze at most New Times papers (with the happy exception of the Village Voice) is starting to thaw. (There’s a comments box at the bottom of that post–send the man some cartoon-fan love for doing the right thing.)

Your corporate democracy.

I’m putting together a new anthology, to be published by my friends at Topataco (purveyors of fine DRONEY shirts, among other things). And I need a title, and after however-many books I’ve published over the past two decades, I just can’t seem to come up with one I like.

So I’m soliciting suggestions. If you come up with a title I use, you’ll receive public acknowledgement, as well as a Tom Tomorrow fun pack, featuring a signed copy of the book for which you have supplied a title, a DRONEY shirt, and a subscription to SPARKY’S LIST.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

— you are unlikely to come up with a new variation or pun on “TOMORROW …..” that has not already been suggested many times over. (This includes all references to “Annie.”)

–it needs to be pithy and clever.

–it should not be a rehash of an older title.

–in the case of multiple submissions, the earliest entry will be considered the winner.

Please email entries to tomtomorrow at gmail dot com, with your proposed title in the subject line.

Health care glossary updated.