Kidnapped Honduran Cartoonist

I heard this morning that my friend and editorial cartoonist Allan McDonald has been kidnapped in Honduras, forced into exile and all his cartoons destroyed. A friend had direct email contact with him and he confirmed to her that the below story is completely true and accurate. He is currently going with his family to seek safety in another country.

I lived in Honduras for two years and know the cartoonist personally. His website is here and the letter I received is below.

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Kidnapping and detainment of Allan McDonald and his 17 month old daughter, April. (translated on 6/30/09 by Marla Conrad)

To all -

Through this letter I am communicating to you that at 11 am in the time of Sweden and at 3 am in the time of Honduras, Allan McDonald, the Honduran cartoonist, communicated with me by Chat saying that he had been detained by the Honduran Armed Forces in a hotel. His house was ransacked and his cartoons and drawings were burnt in a bonfire en his home in Santa Lucia. He was detained with his 17 month old daughter who had not eaten and was only given water.

The communication did not last even 5 minutes and he was communicating via a portable with little battery that belonged to the accredited consul of Venezuela in Honduras who was also detained together with him, and next to them were two female journalists, a Spaniard and a Chilena, whom he did not know. He also told me that he was with the Honduran journalists Eduardo Maldonado and Esdras Amado Lopez, but they had been taken away to an unknown place.

At the moment that Allan was saying goodbye, he said resist and denounce this deed, I've only seen this in the television when there was a coup in 1973. The communication was cut off because he said "they're coming for us". Apparently, they would be driven in a bus and taken out of the country through the border of El Espino, in this moment the destination and whereabouts of Allan McDonald, his daughter April and heir companions were ignored.

This letter is the denouncement, and also a call to awareness, it is not possible that there are some that are applauding this coup and the deprival of the most elemental rights of our population. This period seemed to be overcome but we have gone backwards to the decade of the 80's en a clear disregard of human rights which also reflects the small democratic vocation or our political class.

Where's Weenus?

Here's a large version of the last panel of the "Where's Waldo?" parody (click to see) I ran last Friday. I probably should have done this as a Sunday strip since I really struggled with the small real estate. It took ages to color. I have a new found admiration for fellow countryman Martin Handford who draws those books. Incidentally the original title for the series is "Where's Wally?" and that's what they still use in most countries but it was changed for the US and Canadian markets. Also, in France he's Charlie. The Germans look for Walter. The Danes ask "Where's Holger?" and those crazy Norwegians search high and low for their Willy.

Here's the full strip at the original online syndication size (when clicked):

Graduation Rabbits

Illustration for a friend's recent graduation.

In Living 3D-ness

Some new figurines.

Celeste

This is the forth strip out of the nearly five hundred I've done so far to feature my actual bicycle. It's a Bianchi Milano if you're interested.

CDs of Note

The three CDs in the foreground are all actual classic jazz CDs. I think the day I drew this I was feeling kind of blue.

Vintage Weenus

Over at the Daily Ink, Kings Features has daily re-run of some of their classic vintage strips including Krazy Kat. As coincidence (and Krazy's lisp) would have it, the last panel of today's strip features the name of a Rabbits Against Magic character. Incidentally, the word "Weenus" is actually the term used for the loose skin around the elbow.

Heron Yahtzee!

Here's my Rabbits Against Magic strp from May 21st:
And here's the "(Th)ink" cartoon from June 18th by Keith Knight:
Now I'm not saying that Keith ripped me off. Far from it. What I'm saying is that we both ripped off the poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. Besides, I know Keith and I'm a big fan of his work and I'm pretty sure he doesn't read my strip. Seriously, this sort of coincidence happens all the time, especially in Editorial cartooning (how many more times must we see Kim Jong-il with his hair as a nuclear explosion? ). Here's a weird "corn-popper" coincidence that occurred a few weeks ago when two strips ran corn-popper gags on the same day. This is one reason I never run corn-popper gags.

13th Floor Elevators

I had to go into the elevator in the San Francisco public library to draw this one because I couldn't remember all the symbols for "lobby", "alarm" and "open door". Apparently that last button is nearly always deactivated.

Rabbits Against Newspapers Dying Out

I was asked to contribute to a San Francisco Chronicle "Post-It Note" art piece which ran today (page A9). To celebrate the Chronicle's 144th birthday, various people were asked why the paper was important to them. I managed to squeeze in a rabbit sketch on my contribution which I believe is my first ever color appearance in a newspaper.

Half and Half

I expect pirates see like this all the time. It probably explains all the robbing and pillaging.

Dog Walking

Treadmills are a great untapped source of power generation.

Rabbit Verses Robot

Here's another small ad from the Vick Lawston Magic catalog. $2 for your own robot? "Great for publicity" when it "walks through shopping centers"? I guess it would be too much to ask for it to actually pick up some groceries while it's at it. I wonder why you can't get these anymore.

Getting the Goat

I had to try at least three times to make this goat look different enough from the goat in Pearl Before Swine. Note the Doodles Duck breakfast cereal.

Dead Insects

This actually happened to me when I was living in rural Honduras a few years ago. Since few of the homes had electricity, the fireflies were really bright but I still managed to step on one. Without the light they look like ordinary bugs. They are not flies at all but flying beetles. If, like me you thought they produced their little lamps by absorbing the suns rays by day like a miniature solar panel fuel cell, you would be dead wrong. Fireflies produce light via a chemical reaction consisting of a substrate compound combined with an enzyme and oxygen. Even their eggs and lava glow. Apparently if you see a flickering firefly it’s a male hoping to "get it on" and maybe even "stick it in". The faster the flicker the friskier the female gets! Some species of fireflies are able to synchronize their flashing so that they all flash in unison, on and off at the same time. This usually results in a huge orgy of glorious firefly sex which is probably a bit of a relief if your life only lasts 7-14 days. Note the yellow spot on the frogs head in the last panel.... a tribute to Steve Skelton's great strip 2 Cows and a Chicken.

Strip Club

Here's me in my backyard (looking a bit too pleased with myself) holding a freshly watercolored strip moments before it was slipped into a cardboard envelope and dropped into the mail. It's hard for me to let original art go, so I usually document it somehow. Note the prolific orange tree behind me. It produces bumper crops twice a year. I used to have a banana tree as well but it got out of control and I chopped it down with a chainsaw. If the cartooning doesn't work out I intend to patent banana tree destruction as a form of anger therapy.