Below is the latest The Pain -- When Will It End?
Updated 7/28/04

Artist's Statement

The dialogue here is based on an actual rant Boyd delivered in an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, Baltimore, last winter. Everyone was horribly hung over and we were about to go to a shooting range. Boyd began to hold forth on the subject of the various regions of the world, condemning each of them, in turn, as a shithole. "Africa, Christ, don't even get me started about that place. You ever been there? 'Course not! Why the fuck would you? It's a fuckin' shithole." I remember there was a black couple at the next table eavesdropping, uncertain whether to take offense or dismiss Boyd's words as the ravings of a goofball. It went on and on, a calm, matter-of-fact, relentless monologue that reduced me to tears. Special thanks to Dave Israel for the phrase "Shitholy Trinity." All my friends are funnier than me. I'm lucky I can draw.

Update: Some readers may remember a story from the artist's statement accompanying the cartoon "Signs That Something Has Gone Seriously Wrong With Your Life" (7/2/03) about a beautiful girl in my local restaurant/bar who joked with me about drawing Boyd's face on her ass. A footnote: yesterday I stopped in at that same bar on the way home from running some errands to get a crabcake and a beer. There were about six motorcycles parked out front, and although the place was not very full on a Sunday afternoon, almost everyone in there was a biker. As providence would have it I happened to walk in just as all the ladies were being urged, with the promise of shiny plastic beads as reward, to show their tits. One by one they each did, to riotous whoops and cheers, including the girl from that story, who also happened to be in the bar. The sight of her breasts filled me with despair.