Guelph cartoonist Gareth Lind's weekly strip Weltschmerz, which appears in various Southern Ontario papers, is a politically current, left-leaning jolt of satire served with a soothing cup of interpersonal angst. It's also quite reactive: in an annotative note in his first collection, Attack of the Same-Sex Sleeper Cells (www.lindtoons.com), he worries that his post-Katrina gas price strip went too far when it mocked gas prices at $1.29
a litre (actually, not far enough). But while this collection of 2005 is stripped of its immediate currency, it achieves a pleasing poignancy. Slyly meshing Doonesbury politics, slacker culture and relationship dramas, Lind accomplishes a remarkable balancing act: current without being dated; serialised without being alienating; and smartly political without being preachy. And cleverness that extends past the panel-panel-punchline, like a pro Kate Moss rally that featured a background sign: "Stoners Gathering For Moss."
a litre (actually, not far enough). But while this collection of 2005 is stripped of its immediate currency, it achieves a pleasing poignancy. Slyly meshing Doonesbury politics, slacker culture and relationship dramas, Lind accomplishes a remarkable balancing act: current without being dated; serialised without being alienating; and smartly political without being preachy. And cleverness that extends past the panel-panel-punchline, like a pro Kate Moss rally that featured a background sign: "Stoners Gathering For Moss."
