Next Best Thing
June 8th, 2025 Barry Posted in Immigration, Kevin Moore collaborations | No Comments »
This cartoon is a collaboration with Kevin Moore.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels.
PANEL 1
A cheerful white man is driving while he talks on his cell phone.
MAN: I watched “Raisers of the Lost Ark” yesterday.
VOICE ON PHONE: Again?
PANEL 2
As the man talks, we see his giant thought balloon, which shows a Nazi looking in confusion upwards towards the giant bullet hole in his forehead, while in the background Indiana Jones is holding a smoking pistol.
MAN: I’m just fascinated by World War II movies… I wonder what I would have done if I’d been around back then.
PANEL 3
The man has parked in a parking lot, and is getting out of his car.
MAN: Anyway, gotta go. Just reached work.
VOICE ON PHONE: Have a good one!
PANEL 4
The man in in a locker room, straightening his collar in front of a mirror. The back of his jacket says ICE. In the mirror, his reflection is wearing a WW2 Nazi uniform.
MAN (thought): If I’d had the chance, I could’ve been a great Nazi.
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is a anachronistic term for little unimportant but fun details cartoonists slip into the art.
PANEL 1 – A cardboard cut-out of Charlie Brown’s head is hanging from the rear view mirror. The man’s t-shirt has a design of a happy flower with a smiling face holding a smaller flower, which has a face with two little “x”s for eyes.
PANEL 2 – The cell phone’s screen says “TODD.” When I asked Kevin about that, he replied: “Yeah I thought it would be kinda funny. Todd is a funny name to me. Also if you have seen Breaking Bad, the name Todd has distinct creepy Nazi associations.”
PANEL 3 – The man’s t-shirt now shows Bob The Angry Flower. The two little stick-figures sticker on the back of the car shows a three-headed alien. A hand is sticking out of the trunk of the car next over. On the other side, a camel has been parked, and is eating hay from a feed bag. The license plate says “NOS4A2,” a reference to a novel Kevin’s currently reading.
PANEL 4- A poster on the wall shows two stick-figures lifting a third stick figure, which has obviously broken legs. The caption says “Safety First – Life With Your Legs.” Near the floor, someone in the wall is digging a hole in the wall with a small knife, while a second person in there watches.
The belt buckle on the Nazi uniform is an abstract caricature of Hitler.
I think that’s all of them – although Kevin may have snuck one in I missed.
