This weekend, the movie "Invincible" comes out in theaters. Last summer, I worked as a production assistant on the set of the movie. Any time you see a scoreboard in the movie, know that it was me who operated it. I might even be in the credits if you wait till the very end. Look for me (Jon Katz) if you go see it. But if you don't get around to seeing it, it's alright. If I wasn't involved in the production, I certainly wouldn't go anywhere near it. Go Eagles!!
Marking the first time we've heard what Marmaduke says in the history of this blog. How could I not? He's barking so incredibly loud. Based on this news story.
Wow, it's been a while, folks. Thanks to Bill and Pete for filling in for me. Sorry abou that missing week in the middle. There was some confusion and last-minute situations that came up. Regardless, I have travelled across the country and saw pretty much everything worth seeing: Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Lollapalooza, the Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi River, Las Vegas. It was a great time and now I've settled in Los Angeles. I'm eager and ready to get back into blogging, but I have a slight problem. I never realized before yesterday that my MacBook does not come with a simple picture editing program. Comics.com posts Marmaduke as a GIF file. All I need is a program that will let me edit the caption. If you can help me out let me know. Otherwise I'll spend all afternoon trying to figure it out. Also, due to the time difference, please allow me three hours later in the day on average that the strips come out. But please: if you know of a good OS X picture editor, leave it in the comments.
The last couple Marmaduke panels took longer than 5 minutes for me to think of a political joke for, so I couldn't make a political panel. After about 5 minutes, no human can stand continuing to read Marmaduke. Look it up.
However, it was a pleasure to guest blog for Jon, and I look forward to being presented the opportunity in the future. So a thank you to Jon, and to all the loyal MCV readers out there - I hope you all enjoy your lives.
Greetings Marmaduke Can Vote fan. My name is Pete, formerly of Kick the Leftist. I was supposed to guest blog for Jon last week, but was having trouble accessing Blogger. Regardless, Jon has requested another week off from his duties as main blogateer as he looks desperately for an internship in LA, and so I will be taking over this week. My entries won't be as funny or thoughtful as Jon's or Bill's, but I do have one thing they don't. See if you can figure out what it is.
My name is Jon Katz, formerly of Kick The Leftist. And for the last eight years, I have read nearly every Marmaduke comic strip that has been published. I have not done this because I think it is a funny strip. In fact, it is not. For further explanation of this, I suggest you read my close friend Bill Benz's article So Much To See In One Panel. In it, he describes in great detail the long-standing struggle we have had with Marmaduke and his creator, Brad Anderson.
At first, I was satisfied with Bill's dissertation of the beloved Great Dane which has frustrated us for all these years. Then I came across this website, which demonstrates that the popular yet terrible comic strip Garfield is actually funny when you remove Garfield's thought bubbles. Doing this shows what life would actually be like for his owner, Jon. He does not have a witty cat, he has a regular cat. Jon is just insane.
So I got to thinking... what could make Marmaduke funny? Unlike Garfield, Marmaduke does not talk to us (though he can apparently talk to taxi cab drivers enough to tell them where he lives). Then it hit me. What if instead of being written by Brad Anderson, whose only background in comedy lies in the fact that he, too, owns a Great Dane, it was written by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who has incorporated politics into his comic strip since 1970. In other words... what if Marmaduke went political??
What follows, therefore, is my attempt to answer this question. I will continue to read Marmaduke every day and, when applicable, I will update this blog with a new strip re-interpreted with a new tagline. I will preface this blog by acknowledging that I am a liberal, but I promise to be fair and balanced in my dog-based politics. Just like Fox News.
"Marmaduke Can Vote" is an unauthorized parody of the works of Brad Anderson. It is in no way affiliated with Mr. Anderson, the Marmaduke comic strip, or United Features Syndicate. But anyway, hey Brad, now that I have your attention, it's a joke. C'mon dontcha get it?
Hey, feel free to email me and tell me what you think of the strip directly. T M B Jon at gmail dot com. ;P