Below is the latest The Pain -- When Will It End?
Updated 6/05/02 w/Artist's Statement

Artist's Statement

I suppose by now we've all seen two people walking together or in the same car holding separate conversations on cell phones. (The first time I saw it the people were both young arab men, dressed identically, giving the scene an additional element of  the absurd.) It makes you wonder what's the point of their being each other's physical presence at all.

I proposed this idea to my editor a couple of weeks ago, wanting to know if I was going to run into any trouble about the explicit depiction of sex. I explained that since they've changed my cartoon's format to vertical I couldn't draw them lying down in the missionary position discreetle draped in a sheet, like on TV. I suggested the options of the female superior or rear entry positions. Jim Fisher also suggested the woman draped backwards over the edge of the bed with the man on top, apparently a personal favorite. My editor asked if there would be genitals. I said oh no no no no no no no. He gave me the go-ahead on the cartoon and said that he'd pictured female astride. In the end, however, I decided on good old rear entry, because 1.) it enables you to see both characters' faces 2.) it makes for a better composition and 3.) it is the best.

Thanks to Aaron Long and Steve McLoughlin for the male jargon. I don't know what it says about me that I was able to write the girl's dialogue on my own but had to ask for help in imagining what guys would talk about with each other. Probably just another step on the long, slippery slope to my getting a sex change.