The saga concludes!!! The end of the “El Loco”  preview is here!!!

You can also check out the rest of the 5 pager now at your local comic book store here in Tucson.

Heroes and Villains

4533 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ (520) 321-4376

website: http://www.facebook.com/HeroesandVillainsTucson

Owner: Mike Camp

Charlie’s Comic Books

5470 E. Speedway Boulevard Suite A-107, Tucson, AZ, 85712 (520) 320-0279

website: http://www.popshoponline.com

Owner: Charlie Harris

Fantasy Comics

2595 N. 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ (520) 670-0100

website: http://www.fantasycomics2595.com/

Owner: Tom Struck

Arnie Bermudez

“That dog is a killer. She will corner you and  lick your face off.”- Me

It’s  with a heavy heart that I write this blog. It’s not funny and it’s not a witty post. Today is a horrible day. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to meet many civic leaders through my job as a cartoonist and  member of the Tucson Citizen Editorial Board.  Although, I disagreed with many I was always very gracious for the opportunity I had to meet with them and the ability to question them over the issues concerning our society. One of those civic leaders is Gabrielle Giffords.  Gabby, however, stood out from the rest of them. The quality that stuck with me about her was sincerity. Gabby, shot from the hip and was very direct, which is unusual for a politician and extremely courageous in my opinion, most politicians can’t give you a straight answer to save their lives.  She was also extremely accessible. Often times she would stay after the edit board meetings and talk with the staff. Many times she joked around with me about the cartoons I drew and the caricatures I made of her. After meeting her once she remembered my name and would always call me out and greet me whenever she ran into me at a restaurant or even jogging around the park. She saw me at the Shanty once and asked if I had landed on my feet after the closing of the print edition of The Citizen. I disagreed with her political views on many aspects and I supported her a lot in others, but she was always willing to take the time and discuss them with me one on one no matter how busy she was.  Other times we would just talk about random things, she gave me dating advice and I would ask her if she could ask her husband about what it was like to pee in space. When I finally summed up the courage to take a picture with her she happily obliged with one condition, that she take it arm wrestling me. I was astonished, I thought I would get the usual standing next to me pose, but Gabby’s other outstanding quality is her incredible sense of humor. Godspeed to your recovery, Gabby.

Arm wrestling the congresswoman

The current political environment in Arizona is partly to blame, as of late it has been fueled by fear and hate. Today, that pot boiled over. Today, we lost many members of our community to that fervor. Today, a woman I looked up to and admired was almost killed, her life hangs by a thread at the moment I write this.

Our legislature has made a political strategy out of targeting people, the Russell Pearces and Jan Brewers in our state have decided to not only make laws espousing fear and hatred, but a whole campaign, a movement was created and it is taking hold of our citizens. People are listening to our leaders, as misguided as their intentions may be or as untrue as their statements are, their constituency is listening. There is a rise in prominence, as of late, of hate groups and demonstrations of fear and no one is taking action and today we experienced the results. I recently saw a truck on the road between Nogales and Tucson with a Swastika on their rear windshield.  JT Ready and his Neo-Nazi friends are frequently demonstrating near the capitol in Phoenix and our new President of the Arizona Senate is a close personal friend of that guy! No one is concerned!?  He’s making the laws that govern our lives!! The Chicano center at the U of A was also vandalized today. Yet we have people like Sara Palin putting cross hairs on her opponents, knowing full well what that implies. The maniac that shot Gabby and killed the 9 year old girl was afraid and paranoid of his government, this was obvious from his online rants.

So am I blaming the Republicans for today’s tragedy? Yes, in part I am, mostly just the ones in our state. I’m going to take a page out of the Gabrielle Giffords play-book and be very direct. Your recent movement of ”fear the Muslims, don’t give the gays rights, persecute the Mexicans and exploit the poor” has yielded these results. Every election cycle you promote a campaign strategy of fear and hatred to win elections and get voters to the polls, well here’s proof that people are listening. You see, these people, the ones responsible for these tragic acts don’t have to be your constituents to listen to your hate speech, all they need are ears. They could be nonvoting individuals, but if they are listening to the inflammatory “news casts” of Fox “News” or the extreme right wing radio stations that you use as platforms then thats all the motivation they need. It’s rare when fear and hatred yield positive results. Maybe it’s time to rethink your strategy.

Arnie Bermudez

The crazy saga continues!!!! An apology to everyone I have been a little behind on my deadlines as I was away from my computer for the holidays.

Page five will be up in 2 weeks for the conclusion of the first chapter.  You can also check out the rest of the 5 pager now at your local comic book store here in Tucson.

Heroes and Villains

4533 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ (520) 321-4376

website: http://www.facebook.com/HeroesandVillainsTucson

Owner: Mike Camp

Charlie’s Comic Books

5470 E. Speedway Boulevard Suite A-107, Tucson, AZ, 85712 (520) 320-0279

website: http://www.popshoponline.com

Owner: Charlie Harris

Fantasy Comics

2595 N. 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ (520) 670-0100

website: http://www.fantasycomics2595.com/

Owner: Tom Struck

Arnie Bermudez

“Divorce, is just one more reason why people shouldn’t get married.”- Me

The saga continues…

Page four will be up on the 29 of December.  You can also check out the rest of the 5 page preview now at your local comic book store here in Tucson.

Heroes and Villains

4533 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ (520) 321-4376

website: http://www.facebook.com/HeroesandVillainsTucson

Owner: Mike Camp

Charlie’s Comic Books

5470 E. Speedway Boulevard Suite A-107, Tucson, AZ, 85712 (520) 320-0279

website: http://www.popshoponline.com

Owner: Charlie Harris

Fantasy Comics

2595 N. 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ (520) 670-0100

website: http://www.fantasycomics2595.com/

Owner: Tom Struck

Arnie Bermudez

“One of the many similarities between little kids and soda, is that if you shake them they both empty out their contents.”- Me

The saga continues, page dos of El Loco…

Page two will be up on the 10 of December.  You can also check out the rest of the 5 page preview now at your local comic book store here in Tucson. 

Heroes and Villains

4533 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ (520) 321-4376

website: http://www.heroesandvillainsonline.com

Owner: Mike Camp

Charlie’s Comic Books

5470 E. Speedway Boulevard Suite A-107, Tucson, AZ, 85712 (520) 320-0279

website: http://www.popshoponline.com

Owner: Charlie Harris

Fantasy Comics

2595 N. 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ (520) 670-0100

website: http://www.fantasycomics2595.com/

Owner: Tom Struck

Arnie Bermudez

“The best defense is a good laser cannon.”- Me

New campaign to help people realize Mexicans are just regular folks and not a weird religious cult.

Arnie Bermudez

“I ran for 30 minutes the other day, then I came to the realization that I am old enough to drive now.” – Me

* Before I get hunted down by any Jon Justice fans, Minute Men, Sheriff Babeu, Lou Dobbs, The Republican Party, Russell Pearce, Jan Brewer, The Tea Party or The KKK, this is intended for humor and entertainment and is a total parody of the “I’m a Mormon” ads, and not actually real.

The internet is a wonderful thing.  It really levels the playing field for everybody. I like to surf the net like Ted Haggard likes male prostitutes. I do it all the time because you never know what interesting bits of information you are going to find.  The internet really offers true equality, which is really hard to find. People are always talking about it, but seldom is it really attained. Oh there are degrees of equality, but not true equality. This always bothered me because its just another way of saying “separate but equal.” What happens when somebody speaks up about true equality is that they get labeled a socialist nowadays.  It is more sickening when our community leaders are the ones practicing this separate but equal ideology and when they are pressed about it they still claim its true equality. It’s usually the privileged that have a hard time accepting equality, because if we were all equal they would no longer be privileged.  This week while I was trolling the internet I found a pretty interesting clip in my email from a Netroots Nation conference that took place not too long ago. The video features a speech by our favorite privileged crooning councilman Rodney Glassman.  Rodney is seen here espousing his achievements and talking about how proud he is of all of that fluff, before someone in the audience calls him out.

“Are you proud to oppose marriage equality?” is what the audience member asks Mr. Glassman.  It was obvious that Rodney was not aware of what the guy was asking and stops and gives him his attention because everyone is saying “let him speak”. Once Rodney realizes that the guy is pressing him on being against gay marriage, he immediately continues as if that guy had never existed. The next words out of his mouth should infuriate anyone that believes in equal rights for all, Glassman says “I am proud of my track record on equality”. Unless you’re gay of course or atheist. He very cleverly left out the word “marriage” because he doesn’t believe in marriage equality.  Glassman has gone on record saying that when it comes to gay marriage, he believes the word marriage belongs to the religious institutions.

So, in his mind you should only be allowed to marry if you are religious, therefore if you don’t believe in a god you’re screwed out of marriage as well. If marriage is regulated by the religious institutions he doesn’t have to stand up against inequality because he has a cop out in that he can just say they can do that since it is part of their religion. Go Rodney!!! Sheesh. How regressive can you get? What’s next, “women belong in the kitchen”?

Arnie Bermudez

“I was born in 1981. You didn’t hear about that?” -Me talking about the best year ever