1 May 2006 I get the impression from Mr. Kreider’s references to Bush as baseball commissioner that he isn’t much of a fan of the game. As I am, I’d like to share with him the fact that the game’s current commissioner, Bud Selig, is about as good for baseball as Bush is for the US and the world. He should look into the topic, I’m sure that there are many cartoons worth of material in it. Nice strip, by the way. Any comic I read on the Internet that isn’t about computer programming or who is or isn’t emo automatically seems admirable, but astute insight, great penwork, and killer punchlines make The Pain truly notable. -Jonathan Green
6 May 2006 May I suggest the celebrated Mr. K include a few corporations on his friends list, like he does his enemies list. I would suggest Johnson & Johnson, for one. I am traveling in Asia at the moment, and I see their name crop up every now and then funding health care programs for the poor and supporting childrens homes. Anyway, it doesn't have to all be darkness. Will Kern
8 May 2006 I got the joke in 'The Proof by Oncology.' Also, I can recall one funny New Yorker cartoon: there's a middle-aged couple, the husband reading a newspaper, the wife answering the phone. She cups her hand over the microphone part of the handset as she informs her man: "It's the tallyman. He's tallied your bananas." I do not know why I find this funny to the extent that even thinking about it can make me laugh. Perhaps I have a brain tumor?
8 May 2006 Love your work! I'm a vet, disabled (so is my wife), and one of the few things I can do is pester the Hell out of Congress over the Net, blog and read a lot. I'm a musician/singer/songwriter and an ex-drafter, but I'm not your kind of artist. And BTW, it looks to me like you do some serious human form and maybe erotic art. Any of that on display? (I've always felt that women were the reason for art in the first place - they just ARE what art aspires to). Anyhow, I came up with a MAJOR frustration in a bleery moment (I don't sleep a lot, so there are a lot of those). Here it is, as-is. If you can do anything with it, please do! Sincerely, Ian MacLeoed Frame #1: Rush Limbaugh standing by a proud Rummy, R.L. pointing to two men wearing tags that read "FDA Scientist". Limbaugh's eyes are bugging out, pupils (if possible) pinpoint, a BUG bottle hanging out of his coat pocket reads "OXY…), the rest hidden in the pocket. The scientists are, with R.L. and Rummy, standing in front of a curtain. Barely seen is a hand holding a gun to the heads of the nervous-looking scientists, who are holding a long scroll the heading of which is, "POT IS POISON!" (Maybe a subtitle: "Walters Was Right!"). A voice says, "Rolling, sirs". Caption (R.L. speaking): "Look! Look! Absolute, God-given, scientific PROOF! I TODL you! I told you all!" Words decrease in size (volume) into a non-stop babble. Frame #2: Rummy and Rush walk offstage, R.L. still babbling. Frame #3: The two face each other, chatting. Off from the stage area: BANG! BANG! An out-of-frame voice says, "Sorry sirs. I thought I heard one of them say something about 'Recant later". Beat not to take chances". Under that, another voice: "WOW! Look at all this on 'em! Two uzis, about two kilos of pot, knives, brass knucks…" Frame #4: Rummy and R/L/ still chatting. Rummy: "Well, I uses that makes it hard for the press to interview our researchers… R.L.: "These things happen. The press understands that these days. They won't ask, believe me". Rummy: "You seem a little out of it. Have you been hit with that new Liberal Secret Weapon?" R.L.: "What weapon?" Rummy: "They call it "The Truth. We tested it ourselves, and it seems to be really disorienting to Republicans." Frame #5: R.L.: "No! That's awful! That must be it!" (He reaches for the bottle in his pocket. Rummy:" Don't worry – we already have a cure. Let's go chat with the dumm… ah, with George for a bit. That'll do it." Frame #6: The two men are walking down a hallway. R.L. "Really? A healer too!" Off-frame voice: "…pony nuke, white phosphorus grenades, Howitzer…" fading off-frame.
16 May 2006 Dear Ms. Czochula-Hautpanz, Please tell Mr. Kreider that the longer his artist statements become the happier I am. This week was particularly enjoyable. Also; that I hope he gets well fucked, and soon. Thanks. -Anne
16 May 2006 Dear Miss Hautpanz: It is very nice to make your electronic acquaintance again! In the interests of your busy schedule managing Mr. Kreider, I would like to keep this brief. While I am certain ten thousand gibbering baboons will also seek to bring it to his attention, I feel compelled to do it all the same. Please, if you could take a moment of your busy schedule, would it be at all possible to surreptitiously inform Mr. Kreider of the true meaning of rapine? I would not provide such a definition as we Canadians tend to be a foul people who spell things in a peculiar way, but I would like to assure him that rapine has little to do with rape, beyond sharing several letters. Secondly, I thought he might have been interested to know that the Roman Catholic church was musing permitting the use of condoms in the AIDS-striken countries of Africa and perhaps others. Inasmuch as they allow that the contraception is against the tenets of their faith, they also concede that other solutions aren't working and that AIDS is a far greater evil. It may also be worthy of note that the Roman Catholics have far more sway in Africa than the wingnut Baptist factions (et al.) of the southern U.S. that so dominate the press there. In closing, please send my regards to Mr. Kreider. I always eagerly anticipate his weekly strips and enjoy reading his opinions on the matter. Were he to find his way to the frozen wastelands in which I abide, I would surely buy him a drink. (And use much less overblown language!) With respect,
17 May 2006 Hey Tim, This weeks cartoon is fucking hilarious (Guerrilla Fuck Troops). The last panel had me laughing so hard I almost had to explain myself to coworkers. Cheers! Dave
17 May 2006 I’m not offering work or money (or even sex)… but I do like your comic. Maybe it’s because I’m Canadian. My enjoyment of The Pain increased when I started reading your artist’s statements. Anyhoo, it’s a refreshingly disturbing and unsanitized view of America, for which I am sure you are grossly, grossly underpaid. Keep it up. P.S. Do you ever go “on tour” and speak at brewpubs or other drinking establishments in places like (or places that, in fact, are) Ann Arbor, Michigan?
18 May 2006 "Never before have I experienced such powerful desire for anyone for whom I felt such intense loathing." Congratulations! Now you know what Republicans, Fundamentalists and, heck, the Right Wing in general go through every day of their lives. Regards, Alex Morris
18 May 2006 Mr. Kreider, further proof that small town america hates sex. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/17/national/main1625059.shtml a po'dunk town in montana bans unmarried couples with more than two children from living together. also, in regards to your Artist's Statement. there must be something wrong with me, because the "tounge in your ass" line made me laugh like a mental patient. one wonders how anyone can still run into frigid humorless woman in New York. ???long time fan, -Tiffany
18 May 2006 Hey Tim, Sorry to hear that your work has killed your love life. Girls can be such sissies, sometimes. Personally, I think your stuff is hilarious. Look me up if you're ever in Boston and need a blowjob. Marti PS- I'm bi, so I loved the line "please at least consider going bi." Also love how you always put yourself in the absolute worst position in your comix.
25 May 2006 Dear Phelatia, Please express my admiration to Comrade Kreider for the finest, most succinct and inspiring cartoon in a while. It has not felt this good to feel one's hackles rise in reverie in quite some time. I'm sure this will adorn my dwelling for a long time to come as I'm sure it will be prominently displayed on Comrade Mike's front door, if not tattooed to his forehead. Salude, Rev. A Stone (aka cancer boy) P.S. Please tell Comrade Kreider that for extra punch when discussing this topic at book signings to consider popping an Alka-Seltzer tablet just before spewing the ever lengthening list of offences for the appropriate level of foam. It has a thick consistency and will be visibly noticeable even to a distant audience. But then I'm a sucker for theatrics.
25 May 2006 Hello: My name is Levi Bailey and I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. My friend Josh let me read his copy of "The Pain...When Will It End?" last year, and it absolutely destroyed me with my own laughter. It was amazing. I found a damaged copy of "Why Do They Kill Me?" in a local comic book store for $5.00, and scooped it up as quickly as I could, almost knocking someone down in the process. I'm having less fun reading this book...not because it isn't amazing (it is), and not because it isn't right-fucking-on (it is). It just bums me out that everybody knows that everything is totally wrong, but no one is doing anything about it (i.e., impeaching Dubya, rioting in the streets, scaring the hell out of rich people). Instead, we're paying more for gas, ignoring the war ("I'm so TIRED of seeing these body count reports! I mean, geez! Enough! I know, I know...people are dying!" - friend of mine), and letting Bush do whatever he wants, including getting away with illegal wiretapping and raping of phone records. Awesome. That's why I'm writing: I guess I'm fucking slow, or I would have read this book when it came out. For this, I apologize. But, yeah, I'm just reading it right now, and I just (like, five minutes ago), got to the comic comparing Bush to Nixon. And it mentions how Nixon tried to cover up illegal wiretapping, and then how Bush pisses all over the constitution and U.N. If that comic were to be re-written today, I'm sure I don't have to tell you, it would be "Nixon, tried to cover up wiretapping" and "Bush, would love to see you try and stop him from doing whatever the fuck he wants, including wiretapping". So, yeah, Mr. Kreider is a genius, a Nostradamus-like teller of truths (I mean, sure, those truths should be obvious to anyone with half a brain, but we live in America. Mmm-mmm. Tasty.), and a funny motherfucker. I have lots of friends who have all the answers about politics and life, who can tell me how fucked up everything is, but none of them puts that shit into powerful comics and books. Thank him for me. Love and Respect, Levi Jacob Bailey
27 May 2006 Dear Ms. Czochula-Hautpanz, Please relay to Mr. Kreider how fond I am of his work; it is refreshing to see comics on the web that are actually drawn with pens and so on. If I ever manage to make it back to the city of my birth, I will buy Mr. Kreider a beer. Or several. Since I have been known to draw the occasional comic myself, I humbly offer strip of mine that Mr. Kreider may enjoy, which can be found at http://www.cameronleyda.com/comics/substitutee/goldbrickin.html. Again, please let Mr. Kreider know that his comics make my life approximately a million times better. Thank you. Regards, Cameron L.
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