Well, I am feeling depressed. At least I have a little beer and some good music to drown my sorrows in (I'm not getting drunk). I'm just here by myself on a Saturday night with nothing...or no one. Not even a pet around here (not allowed). I was supposed to go to a party earlier, but I just did'nt feel like going over and sitting by myself and having no one to talk to. You see, I'm not very talkative unless I know you. Then you ca'nt shut me up. I determined this morning, in crazy-person thought patterns, that I was just not going to leave the apartment today. End of story. What about the party? Well...sometimes you just drag your feet around before something happens. And something did! The party was cancelled. Just when I was starting to feel guilty about it too. Well, I was'nt feeling that social anyways. But I'm still here. And so is this panel. This is probably, like, the second panel out of Mandarins. I developed these human/mouse hybrid beings that share space alongside humans. There were a couple others too, but they are still being kept a secret. You can see one of the mice-people in the lower left corner (his t-shirt says: BZ...for "busy", as in "busy bee". he's a nerd). There is a Muslim immigrant to the right of him. This guy made a total mistake coming to this country, and now he's trapped. He, like a lot of the other immigrants have bought into the American propaganda machine which is: This is Paradise. So all of those poor suckers who want to make a better life for themselves and their families come over only to find that it is a gigantic walled in slum with no way out. There is constant fear of terrorism (via government insurgents and other hybrids), super-hurricanes (superheated environment, less land, more people, worse weather), as well as the fear of the government itself. Remember, this is a dystopian narrative. I spent the 90's in the trenches of utopian/dystopian novels and movies. Also, I planned alot of this out in the late 90's, and was horrified to see what was happening to this country after September 11. In my mind, I was seeing some of these ideas come to life. It really bothered me. I did'nt tell anyone because it is the signs of paranoia (to which I have finally admitted I have), magical thinking ("I thought it and it came true!" Certifiable crazy-talk...which I do'nt have, but I was afraid of the fear in people's eyes when that particular thought passes through their mind), and yeah, right! you wish! you just want us to think that you're "special". perhaps you think you have a sixth sense. right, sad person?
I kept quiet until now...because now I just do'nt care what people think anymore.
I wanted the crowd to be a highly diverse group of people. A veritable melting pot. I had to throw a mouse in there, too. Another note about them, alot of people hate the hybrids because they see them as half-human. They have largely been relegated to these walled in ghettos. The introduction of a new species of human has brought racial unity to the rest of humanity who see themselves as "normal". I have learned alot about racism, and prejudice in general, since moving here to the south. My disclaimer: the south is not more prone to racism than any other section of the country. I've found it to be, in my journeys, sadly, pretty equal everywhere else. If its not one thing people hate, it's something, or someone, else. I even feel it directed towards me sometimes, and I'm a white male. It's a messed up planet. That what I was trying to inject in this particular comic. Irony and absurdity.
I need to shut up now.
P.S. Due to multiculturalism, SUSHI has become extremely popular in Empire City. You can see a sushi place on the right, in the back, called FISHI. There's also a healthy dose of Ethiopian food.
- Chew
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