And at last we come to the first cartoon that is not really autobiographical. Except for that I, you know, drew it, once.
Slow week here on Dimfuture, o my darlings; I may have some more drivel up later this week, and then again, I may not. Look for a terrifying return to form next week, either way. As for Dan, he’s been kidnapped by Ninjas, but I’ve assembled a ragtag team of mismatched ne’er-do-wells to retrieve him, and I’m sure they’ll be back any time now.
This cartoon is dedicated to Mister Dan Swensen. Annotations below.
- So remember the bit in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King where Denethor is yelling for the Gondorians to retreat, and then Gandalf, Sorcerer and agent of Good in Middle-Earth, comes out of fucking nowhere and wails on the Steward of Gondor with a stick??? Dan and I thought that was pretty silly – somewhere in this world is a picture Dan drew, of Gandalf saying “I’m going to beat you to death!” – and hence, the cartoon. Panels two through four are a rough recreation of the beating of Denethor.
- The punchline is another in-joke with Dan and I; in the theatrical release of the film, the Lord of the Nazgul says, of Gandalf, “I will break him,” and then proceeds to pay the wizard no attention whatsoever. Dan proposed that the Nazgul intended to break Gandalf with his monumental indifference. The terrible effects of this are shown here.
- I promise never to do another cartoon that is so needful of explanation as this one. Well, maybe not ‘promise,’ but certainly ‘hope.’
- Please note that Dan and I liked Return of the King a very great deal.
- The circular-montage was, ahem, ‘inspired’ by Evan Dorkin’s “Milk and Cheese.”
- I was having some Rolos when I started drawing this.