Space Moose feature cartoon annotations

Space Moose annotations

The following is a listing of cartoons and comments which have been featured on the Space Moose home page. The dates in parentheses indicate the time at which the comments, not the strips, were written.

Listen up, Niggaz!

I am a little surprized that no one complained about Space Moose's use of the Ebonics term "niggaz". As far as 'bad words' go, variations of "nigger" rank among the strongest in North American English. Uttering these words in almost any context, including the affectionate one used by Space Moose here, usually results in a spontaneous outcry from some politically correct niggaz. [September 25, 1997]

Who's ready to kick some fucking ass?

Space Moose whips his friends into a brief frenzy in this episode. I was on quite a Mortal Kombat kick at the time of writing, and the strange background in frame 5 plus the "to be kontinued..." in frame 6 led a number of readers to expect an exciting follow-up in which Space Moose et al. compete in Shao Kahn's Outworld tournament. When I went to hand in my next strip at the Gateway, everybody was asking, "is this the Mortal Kombat one?" No, it wasn't. I never did kontinue with the idea. [January 22, 1996]

Never vote for chicks

The woman in this cartoon is supposed to be Terra Tailleur, a former news editor of the Gateway. She was going to run for one of the Students' Union executive positions, but then rationality prevailed and she dropped out. Before even drawing the cartoon, I made sure it was okay with Terra (something very out the ordinary). I was worried that the Gateway wouldn't run it, because the newspaper is supposed to be non-partial during the stupid elections. [June 6, 1995]

Space Moose 90210 returns

Space Moose had already drawn from Aaron Spelling's treasure trove of entertainment with Space Moose 90210. I did not think it would be necessary to go back again, but early in 1995 with the introduction of Donna's complex, sensitive boyfriend, Ray Pruit (played by the multi-talented Jamie Walters - where is he now?), it was clearly time to return. [August 30, 1997]

Ural Beauties (2 parts)

This strip has been described as the most evil Space Moose ever. Our hero's ignorance leaps to new bounds as he employs one of the most exploitative services on the planet. Bald Dwarf, acting as the voice of reason, elucidates the wrongfulness of Space Moose's actions, but fails to inspire him to make any reparations. This one was inspired by an episode of 20/20. [June 17, 1995]

The Great Debate

A couple of years ago, two outspoken demagogues met on the University of Alberta campus to "force a fair debate". The first, and probably the instigator, was anarchist pot-head David Malmo-Levine, a Noam Chomsky disciple who liked to take it to the streets by plastering propaganda posters about media subterfuge, police brutality and the miracle that is marijuana on every lamppost within a five kilometer radius of his home. On the other side of the pseudo-intellectual coin wallowed law student Ezra Levant, a right-wing ranter whose mission seemed split between provoking the liberal establishment on campus and getting his grinning countenance printed in as many places as possible. Both tirelessly wrote their political essays for whomever would print them, and both managed to attract followers. Armed with their patented threadbare rhetoric, these two blatherskites faced off against each other in a public forum. Since I had to miss this clash of the titans due to a more pressing engagement (I think LL Cool J was guest starring on Moesha), I felt the least I could do to show my support was draw a strip. Here, Space Moose presents the often overlooked philosophy of nihilism.

I doubt the actual debate made as big an impact as it was supposed to. Afterwards, both speakers seemed unbroken. Levant moved on quite naturally to organized politics and now keeps as high a profile as humanly possible as a "conservative commentator" and member of Canada's Reform Party. Malmo-Levine, my sources tell me, took up in Burnaby, British Columbia, and opened a "tea house" which quickly led to his arrest for drug trafficking. [July 9, 1997]

Simon says...

Space Moose upsets a young woman by adding his own personal flavour to her authoritarian game. But even when she starts laying into him, Space Moose, a real trooper, refuses to step out of his role as Simon. I gave myself a cameo appearance in this episode - that's me on the left in frame 2, and again in frame 6. [July 24, 1995]

Pogs

People keep telling me that I never grew up, which is fine with me. I think being immature is egregiously underrated. I understand how a child can eat colorful breakfast cereal by the bucket, get excited about a cool lunchbox, and stay glued to a television screen all day playing Nintendo. I take pride in being able to relate to kids. But one thing I could never understand, as much as I fucking tried, is the appeal of collectable milk caps or "Pogs". This has to be the stupidest fad of the 20th century.

Upon reviewing this strip today, I recognized Max Pomeranc, the young star of Searching for Bobby Fischer, in frames 3 and 4. [April 17, 1997]

Summer job

When you have nothing but lemons, make lemonade. In the true entrepreneurial spirit, Space Moose turns the misery of Kikwit, Africa into an enterprising summer job. We see Space Moose here, for the first time, sporting his biological isolation suit - a possibility for future action wear. I had some reservations about shading Space's black companion, but I think it turned out pretty good. It looks better on the actual print. Scanning makes it appear darker than it is. [August 24, 1995]

I think you gave me ebola

Everybody loves ebola - except those who suffer its horrible symptoms. And that's basically what this strip is saying. There is a pretty strange error in frame 3. Look at Marlo putting on his glasses. He has two left hands! I didn't even notice this until I saw it in print. [March 27, 1996]

10k Charity Fun Run

Here is an example of a good idea going all to hell. The story was about a cheeky novice jogger who shows up at a long distance race. Secure in the knowledge that he is the fastest man alive, he mocks the other runners as they do their warm-up stretches. When the race begins, he launches into a full sprint and breaks away from the pack. Later, he is found collapsed on the ground gasping for help.

I can think of several reasons why this did not work as a strip. The build-up was insufficient. Space Moose's motives were unclear. The punchline was flaccid (he should have at least been puking in the final frame). The biohazard suit had nothing to do with this story and just confused things even more. After the eloba series, it was suggested that the biohazard suit be added to Space's regular wardrobe. This was a bad time to bring it back.

Eagle-eyed readers will spot Coprophage amongst the other runners. [April 3, 1997]

2-to-1 odds on PKU

More people have told me that this is their favorite Space Moose strip than any other strip in the archive. It also provoked the most infuriated response to date (see Space Moose Detractors). I was taught from a very young age that it is just wrong to laugh at the mentally handicapped. After having this beaten in to me, it was very uncomfortable to see retards (or should that read "the intellectually challenged"?) on television or in real life, particularly those with pronounced physical deformities. Although their incoherent grunts and ape-like movements were frankly hysterical to me, I would forcefully restrain myself and assume an expression of compassion. But after a while I came to my senses and threw off the yoke of "political correctness". Now, I have come to fully appreciate the nose-fondling, crotch-grabbing, pants-crapping antics of these "special" folks. It is never wrong to laugh and be merry. [January 29, 1996]

Animal Kingdom Kumate

A question I am commonly asked is where do I get my ideas. Most of the time, ideas occur to me when I'm brainstorming or idly thinking about things. However, a great resource for situations and gags is a group of friends whom (for reasons too difficult to explain) I call M.O.O.S.E. Club. Paul Diedrich (who was responsible for the name "Space Moose"), Don Husereau, Colby Cosh, Jason Medwid, and Ian Gilmore have contributed either directly or unwittingly to the strip. Sometimes, they come to me with strip ideas, but quite often their off-hand comments and conversational contrivances inspire (or get used as) ideas.

This week's feature strip is the most blatant example of joke theft. Although I put a slightly different spin to the concept, the Animal Kingdom Kumite* was an elaborate invention of Colby Cosh. A few years ago, Colby made a poster describing a fantastic one-on-one animal tournament which would objectively determine the king of beasts. It was awesome. Colby's other plundered goods include the brilliant punch line to Heads up, ladies! and the simple but powerful phrase, "hot anus".

This strip was the first instalment of a continuing plot line which went on for fourteen more strips. It was kind of an experiment, and although a lot of readers got tired of the kumite, I think it was successful. It's much easier to come up with strips when I have a common theme in mind - in a way, the story writes itself. The down side is that the strips sometimes don't make sense to people who have missed important developments.

*Someone later pointed out that "kumite" was misspelled. [April 3, 1996]

The prof has a boner

It often happens that I am faced with a deadline, and am quite literally sitting at the drawing board with no ideas. When this occurs, I can do one of three things: 1) Draw the strip more or less randomly and hope that I come up with something funny by the end, 2) Inundate myself with creative stimulants ("Baywatch", old She-Hulk comics, Russ Meyer movies, etc.) until I get an idea, or 3) give up. In the case of this strip, I tried the first approach, and I think it was pretty successful. It's a real gamble, though, because when this approach fails - God help us. (see Ducks and One of the zombies) [October 17, 1995]

Zoo tour

The animal kingdom kumite was the longest ongoing plot line Space Moose ever followed. This is the second instalment of fifteen (I count the double length "Narwhal Adventure" as two strips). Space Moose, with his superior knowledge of the animal kingdom, takes over as a zoo tour guide - the first step in his intricate devious plan.

I am not actually sure that pygmy hippos have corkscrew-shaped penises. I would be delighted if some zoologist or animal lover could confirm this for me. [April 16, 1996]

Space Moose and the marmoset

In this third instalment of the animal kingdom kumite our hero further infiltrates the local zoo with the insidious intent of assembling his own menagerie. Although this episode does not make a whole lot of sense, it achieves two things which are, in my opinion, essential to all comic strips. It educates and entertains - what I call "edutainment". Throw in some of feces, and voila! You've got yourself a Space Moose cartoon. [April 22, 1996]

The only remaining rhynchocephalian

This strip looked a lot better in my head. The problem is the diction. You have to look pretty closely to see that Space Moose is loading a narwhal onto the back of a truck (you also have to know what a narwhal is). The tuatara in frame 6 turned out great, though. Chess fans might recognise IM Bruce Pandolfini as the zoo security guard. [May 9, 1996]

Narwhal adventure (2 parts)

I remember spending an absurd amount of time drawing this strip (probably in excess of 10 hours). It turned out to be what I consider my best drawn strip - probably because of all the black (an old cartooning trick). Someone who considers herself to be a narwhal expert tried to tell me that narwhals are not cetaceans. I think she is fucked in the head because my dictionary clearly defines a narwhal as "an artic cetacean...". [May 13, 1996]

Animal Kingdom Kumite revisited

Here is the strip where Space Moose finally hits the big time with his animal kingdom blood sport. For those who have never heard of him, Marty Stouffer is a semi-popular naturalist whose extraordinary documentary series, Wild America, can be seen on PBS and local access networks. I just found out that Jonathan Taylor Thomas, that little shit from Homo Improvement, will be portraying a young Marty Stouffer in an upcoming Hollywood movie called Wild America. Apparently, the movie is based on the "true life" events of Marty Stouffer. It is very sad that they would cast the lamest child actor in the business to portray possibly the greatest wildlife cinematographer in North America. I cannot describe my chagrin. [May 21, 1996]

Marlo, come here.

I really have nothing to say about this strip. I'm sorry. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me in e-mail. [May 28, 1996]

The abduction of Marlo Smefner

Inexplicably, Space Moose wants Marlo to represent homo sapiens in the animal kingdom kumite. After one failed attempt to lure Marlo into his clutches, our cervine marksman resorts to a swift military-style rifle assualt. Space's relationship with Marlo is a peculiar one because they both seem to hate each other profoundly. Perhaps it is because they are so similar that they cannot get along. [June 24, 1996]

Human vs. skunk

Marlo Smefner, the reluctant representative of Homo sapiens, finds himself face-to-face with a pugnacious skunk in the combat terrarium. Marlo's anger unleashes the beast within as he savagely slaughters his musky opponent in a scene which disturbs even Space Moose. This is the only episode in the animal kingdom kumite which actually features a match. It is never resolved how Homo sapiens fares in the tournament. [July 4, 1996 - The day we fight back!]

Snow White and the Semen Dwarfs

Late in 1994, I was invited to contribute strips to a monthly punk zine called Slur. Excited by the editorial freedom offered by a completely independent publication, I slipped off the kid gloves and whipped up this week's feature cartoon. It was the first strip I had ever drawn for any publication other than The Gateway. Soon after its publication, Space Moose's perverse version of the Snow White legend became one of the most loved and most reviled strips ever. One of Slur's major advertisers, a chain of record stores in Western Canada, pulled all copies of the zine out of their stores and all their ads out of future issues of the zine due to complaints lodged by upset customers. Slur was dead about six months later. Go figure. [August 17, 1998]