Cartoon Republican Army

“Dude!”

Wendy caught me as I was trying to pry open the bottle of whiskey that I’d surreptitiously taken from the bar while everyone was partying, figuring that nobody would notice. I’d been sober most of that New Year’s Eve, like I promised her earlier, but temptation was bound to get me, I suppose.

Look. If you’re an attractive girl, it’s hard enough going through life actually being ignored. And if you’d the unfortunate experience that I had just had, alcohol serves as a panacea. Maybe not the only or the best one, but still a good one.

Anyway, there…

Horror

It was a sweltering summer night in 1959 when it happened. The place was Hoppy’s Hut, one of dozens of small entertainment venues designed for African American clientele in what was politely known as the “Chitlin’ Circuit”. The attention of the patrons was entirely focused on the bizarre, wiry personage who was now gracing the stage with his presence. His name was Oedipus Rex, and he was, with some justification, known as the “wild man of rock and soul”, for soon to be obvious reasons.

Dressed in a suit of pure white, which served to distract the audience only temporarily…

Horror

The people who seem to care for you may not be that at all…

I.

The day started for her as so many others had before it.

Since she was scared of the sound the alarm on her clock radio made, she always had her morning reminder in the form of the radio station’s morning program suddenly beginning. If the program’s objective was meant to be to wake people up angry, it succeeded admirably in its aims. Not only was the news- the same things, repeatedly said on the half hour and top of the hour, with only some minor…

Jefferson Ball

Jefferson Ball, the most powerful female dog in a universe full of less powerful ones, raised up her mighty, sinew-laden shoulders and arms and….

…shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she said. “You have any idea where we are?”

Major Hamilton Pomeranian, formerly of the Star Soldiers, and, as of late, best friend, traveling companion and business partner to the aforementioned Ms. Ball, was not prepared to accept that as an answer. Anything Jefferson said to her under these trying times would have been unacceptable to her in these trying circumstances. Her typically insouciant response to exactly where Jefferson had crash-landed the…

Horror

Little voices, made real…

I.

It started when the doorbell rang.

Amber had been in the midst of something on the computer at the time. She generally didn’t like to be interrupted, but her inner politeness prevented her from a taking a rude response to the situation.

What she saw was rather unexpected, to say the least.

Her visitor was a young woman in her late teens, with chalk-white skin, black eyes with large pupils, and short hair, which, while presently black, seemed to have originally been a different color entirely, as had the rest of her body. She was…

The Brat

1.

It seemed like the usual scenario: fly in, tell the bad guy he sucks, stomp him up a bit, and “save the day”, as they put it. But there’s always a sort of complication involved before you can go ahead and restore order, and this was a bit more unusual than most.

First, allow me to introduce myself, as it’s likely we’ve never met or spoken before this time, right?

My given name, such as it is, is Precious XY-300. The reason being is that I come from a planet (yes, I’m an alien) where the natives have half…

Animation

Trying to talk seriously about American television animation is a difficult thing to do.

As for trying to find the right subgenres to describe shows, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But, oh, those needles….

Once upon a time, there were basically two genres within television animation. The type that made you laugh (or was supposed to), and the kind that was all about good-and-evil adventure. Other than shows that tried to cross-pollinate the two successfully, such as Rocky and Bullwinkle, there was a bit of a never-the-twain-shall-meet philosophy going on.

But, in the 1990s and 2000s…