God Bless

Cartoon by Barry

This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has six panels, all taking place at the counter of a computer repair shop. There are two characters, a youthful customer wearing a red t-shirt, and a middle-aged man behind the counter, wearing a blue front-button shirt with a nametag.

PANEL 1

The clerk is smiling as he talks to the customer.

CLERK: We’ll try to have your computer fixed by Tuesday.

CUSTOMER: Thanks.

CLERK: God bless you.

PANEL 2

The customer looks like he’s internally debating something.

PANEL 3

The customer crosses his arms and looks grumpy.

CUSTOMER: I really hate it when people turn a business transaction into a religious one.

PANEL 4

The customer is getting more irate.

CUSTOMER: “God bless you?” What does that even mean? Which god? Why would he she or it want to “bless” me? Do you really think God’s plan for me changes based on you blessing me?

PANEL 5

The customer leans into the clerk’s face and pokes him in the chest; the clerk, taken aback, leans back.

CUSTOMER: Religious people should stop pushing your beliefs in my face! Can I get that blessing?

The right panel border is a thought balloon, leading to the customer character in panel six, indicating that the customer has been imagining this.

PANEL 6

The customer walks away, smiling and waving goodbye. The clerk watches him leave, smiling benevolently.

CUSTOMER: Have a nice day.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is an obscure bit of cartoonists’ jargon for unimportant details that we put in for fun.

PANEL 1 – A poster on the wall shows an anime girl holding a video game controller, under the caption “Anime and Video Games.” A smaller caption at the bottom says “You only don’t like them because you’re old.”

An adorable kitten on the counter is swiping at a computer mouse.

The customer has a tattoo of Snoopy on his right bicep.

PANEL 2 – The customer’s tattoo now shows Scooby Doo.

PANEL 3 – The customer’s tattoo shows Odie, the dog from “Garfield.”

PANEL 6 – The customer’s tattoo shows Jake, the dog from “Adventure Time.”

The poster on the wall has changed and now shows a sad looking clerk yelled at by unseen customers. The caption says “Be kind to clerks,” and a smaller caption at the bottom says “we once had dreams.”

A panel in the computer mouse is open, and a real mouse is standing next to the computer mouse, shaking a finger at the kitten and chewing the kitten out. The kitten looks very surprised.

God Bless! | Patreon

Posted in Nadine Scholtes collaborations, Religion and Atheism |

Deux Ex Machina, Suckers!

Cartoon by Barry

This cartoon is another collaboration with awesome cartoonist Nadine Scholtes.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has six panels. All of the panels take place in a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

PANEL 1

A human man, with a beard and a flannel shirt, is standing on a cloud, looking up at God, who is on another, higher cloud. (And is also much larger physically than the human guy). God is drawn in the traditional way: He has a thick white beard and is wearing white robes, and there’s a halo behind His head.

God is grinning and spreading His hands wide in a welcoming manner.

GOD: Hi there, I’m God! Good news! Because I’m so infinitely loving, good and merciful, you get to go to Heaven!

MAN: Okay!

PANEL 2

A close up of God, who as Nadine draws Him has very pretty eyes. He is smiling and pressing his palms together and looking in the direction of the off-panel human.

GOD: But if you don’t love me, I’ll throw you into a lake of burning sulfur where you’ll be tormented day and night forever!

PANEL 3

God smiles down beatifically at the human, who has raised a finger to make a point.

MAN: But… That’s horrible! And it doesn’t make sense! A good god wouldn’t torture people forever!

PANEL 4

A close up of God, with a wailing expression, as He presses the back of His hand to His forehead. He is dissolving into ash, and has already disappeared from the upper chest down.

GOD: Gasp! By pointing out a paradox you’ve defeated me! Now I must turn into ash and die like in that Marvel movie!

PANEL 5

Nothing is left of God but a pyramid-shaped pile of black ash (the ash pile has a halo behind it). In the foreground, the human has mildly surprised body language, and is rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

MAN: Um…

PANEL 6

God, a merry expression on his face, has reappeared whole on His cloud. He’s crouching down and pointing at the human. Lightning shoots out of God’s finger, engulfing the human and instantly turning the human into a black, charred, and surprised looking skeleton.

GOD: I’m kidding! Have fun suffering in the abyss forever, loser! Hah hah!

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

Chicken fat is an obsolete cartoonists’ expression for unimportant but entertaining details the cartoonist slips into the cartoon.

In this cartoon, in panel one, on the lower left, we can see a little dog sniffing at the cloud it’s standing on. The dog is wearing white robs and has a halo and white feathery wings.

We can’t see the cloud the dog is standing on again until panel five. In this panel, the dog is gone, but there’s a yellow puddle on the cloud where the dog was.

Deus Ex Machina, Suckers! | Patreon

Posted in Nadine Scholtes collaborations, Religion and Atheism |

With God On Their Side / My God

Cartoon by Barry

Posted in Barry's favorites, Imperialism & War, LGBT cartoons, Religion and Atheism, Sexism & Misogyny |