This Modern World
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''This Modern World'' is a weekly
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
by
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
and political commentator Tom Tomorrow (real name Dan Perkins) that covers current events from a left-wing point of view. Published continuously for more than 30 years, ''This Modern World'' appears regularly in more than 80 newspapers across the United States and Canada as of 2015, as well as in ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', '' The Nib'', ''
Truthout Truthout is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit Progressivism in the United States, progressive news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social just ...
'', and the ''
Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal American politics. The site publishes blog posts, polls, election and cam ...
''. ''This Modern World'' has won a number of awards, including the
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...
James Madison Freedom of Information Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award (twice); the strip was a finalist for the 2015
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...
.


Overview

While ''This Modern World'' often ridicules those in power, the strip also focuses on the average American's support for contemporary leaders and their policies, as well as the popular media's role in shaping public perception. The series has been through several incarnations through the years, the first of which appeared in the ''Suburban High Life'' comic books published by
Slave Labor Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
in the late 1980s. A recurring theme in the comic books (though far less so in subsequent comic strip) was that of "reality engineering", wherein "the very fabric of space and time" is mined for "the good of mankind". This periodically generates "reality discontinuities", where reality breaks down. These are (generally) resolved by reality engineers. Visually ''This Modern World'' draws inspiration from a
retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...
, 1950s sensibility, with brightly colored illustrations that are also inspired by
clip art Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...
. Initially, the strip was almost completely composed of actual vintage clip art and magazine cutouts, assembled collage-style and often manipulated and retouched. However, Tomorrow has gradually replaced cutouts with his own drawings, which merely mimic the clip art look. Usually drawn in four panels, it is not uncommon for all panels to be identical or nearly so, with only the dialogue and/or facial expressions changing. The '50s theme extends to the typically verbose dialogue of the strip's human characters, which is often bubbly, over-enthusiastic, and naïve. The stupidity of the humans is countered by Sparky, a fast-talking penguin (although the strip occasionally postulates he is actually an
auk Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the Uria, murres, guillemots, Aethia, auklets, puffins, and Brachyramphus, murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct speci ...
) with a red visor, who provides much of the strip's political commentary.


Publication history

Perkins was first published in the Spring 1986 issue of '' Processed World''. He adopted the subject matter of the consumer culture and the drudgery of work, a theme shared by the magazine, and entitled his comic strip ''This Modern World''. In 1990, the strip began to be run in the ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' is an online music publication and formerly alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper ha ...
'', before being picked up in the fall of 1991 by the ''
San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...
''. As his audience expanded, Perkins shifted the focus of the strip to politics. Perkins added papers throughout the 1990s, distributing his comic via self-syndication, a practice he has continued throughout his career. In 2009,
Village Voice Media Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the ...
, publishers of 16 alternative weeklies, suspended all syndicated cartoons across their entire chain. Perkins thereby lost twelve client papers in cities, including
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, New York, and
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, prompting his friend
Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a gues ...
to post an open letter on the
Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...
website in support of the cartoonist.


Characters

In addition to any politicians and celebrities depicted, the strip has several recurring characters: ;Tom Tomorrow Tom occasionally appears in his own strips as himself, breaking the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...
. ;Tom Tomorrow (fictional) In an "intermediate" version of the strip, a character ''named'' Tom Tomorrow was in the strip. He was a
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
who was dressed in a radiation suit so his face was never seen. He was eventually phased out. ;Dippy the Wonder-Penguin Fictional Tom Tomorrow's sidekick. His vocabulary was limited to "wank". ;Sparky the Wonder Penguin A sort of upgraded version of Dippy (who had been phased out by the time of Sparky's introduction), Sparky is a sunglasses-wearing penguin that can actually talk. Similar to Dippy, Sparky's first words in the strip are "George . W.Bush is a wanker". A strong liberal advocate, he briefly became a Republican after being hit on the head with a random falling toilet. ;Blinky the Dog A small
Boston Terrier The Boston Terrier is a breed of dog originating in the United States of America. This "American Gentleman" was accepted in 1893 by the American Kennel Club as a non-sporting breed. Boston Terriers are small and compact with a short tail and ere ...
who shares most of Sparky's political sympathies. Normally very mellow, he briefly became a radical when steroids were put into his food when he was intended to replace the then-Republican Sparky. ;Bob Friendly Mr. Friendly is in charge of the advertising section of ''This Modern World'' (thus breaking the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...
). It was he who introduced Sparky the Penguin. He appears only occasionally. ;Dr. Wilbur von Philbert One of the longest-running characters in the strip, Dr. von Philbert is the person who discovered how to mine reality for energy. ;Biff and Wanda Two blow-dried
news presenters A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
of ''Action McNews'', a newscast in which Tomorrow suggests that most TV news is little more than PR spin. A Biff and Wanda strip almost always ends with a cut to a commercial break ("Now, these messages!"). ;Biff and Betty Biff and Betty are two
archetype The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
s of 1950s people, who sometimes share their thoughts on the modern world. Biff often appears alone with Sparky, expressing a naive conservative opinion which invariably prompts an exasperated liberal rebuttal from the penguin. ;Invisible Hand of the Free Market Man Invisible Hand of the Free Market Man (abbreviated I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man in dialog in the strip) is a
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
character, wearing what is basically a
Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
costume, with an I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man logo (a hand with a letter of IHOTF on each finger, and M in the palm) where the Superman logo would be. I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man's head is a giant left hand with facial features in the palm. I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man is an ardent defender of
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...
's
invisible hand The invisible hand is a metaphor inspired by the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith that describes the incentives which free markets sometimes create for self-interested people to accidentally act in the public interest, even ...
metaphor, and usually intervenes in situations where the purity of
free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...
economics is in jeopardy. His declarations are often based on principles of free-market economics taken to their logical extreme. The first panel of a comic featuring I.H.O.T.F.M-Man is usually a parody of the cover of ''Action Comics'' #1. Often, another character will point out that he is, in fact, not invisible. ;Conservative Jones and Moonbat McWacky Conservative Jones and Moonbat McWacky are two children used in the strip to satirize conservative talking points. Conservative is dressed as a boy detective and asks Moonbat questions about politics. Moonbat gives reasonable answers, which the Conservative turns into illogical statements about liberals. ;Public figures All the presidents since
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
have appeared, as well as other political and media figures.
Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
is a favorite caricature subject, although he usually talks through a radio and is not personally shown. (He was once, however, depicted as a pig, in a strip parodying the film '' The Mask''.) Conservative columnist
Ann Coulter Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic ...
is often the target of particularly unflattering caricatures, usually popping up in the middle of a strip to make a typically inflammatory remark, ending with a guttural "Haw haw haw!" laugh. In a few strips,
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
gets hold of what appears to be the DeLorean from ''
Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...
'' and goes back in time to meet America's
Founding Fathers The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence ...
.
Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...
and Bill O'Reilly make frequent appearances. ;Parallel Earth The strip occasionally visits a parallel Earth, a deliberate parody of our own world. In some strips, Parallel Earth makes wacky political choices which are exaggerated versions of real-world events. In others, the inhabitants of Parallel Earth have made sensible political choices, in contrast to the people of our own world (but wear odd, brightly-colored clothing featuring polka dots). ;Small Cute Dog A small cute dog who was accidentally elected president of Parallel Earth in the year 2000 (and re-elected in 2004), and whose subsequent actions mirrored those of President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
. ;Planet Glox A pair of tentacle-waving anchor-aliens host a newscast from Planet Glox, resembling Fox News. They report about news strikingly similar to that on Earth, but in factual scientific terminology (i.e., Coneheads-style), thereby making fun, for example, of the public obsession with the sexual activities of public figures, by referring to the global importance of touching reproductive organs.


Other recurring elements

; Supergiant Conglomerated Corporation A fictitious, stereotypical
big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...
or
megacorporation Megacorporation, mega-corporation, or megacorp, a term originally coined by Alfred Eichner in his book ''The Megacorp and Oligopoly: Micro Foundations of Macro Dynamics'' but popularized by William Gibson, derives from the combination of the pre ...
in an unspecified industry, but appears to represent the military-industrial complex. This company has been portrayed as being unethical, manipulative, obsessed with
spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
, and environmentally unfriendly. Occasionally written as "Supergiant Amalgamated Corporation". ; ''Action McNews'' The (presumably local) TV news program on which Biff and Wanda are anchors.


In other media

From 2000 to 2001, an animated ''This Modern World'' series was produced by Flickerlab for Mondo Media, with Bob Harris as the voice of Sparky. See http://thismodernworld.com/animation-and-film The show was the top-billed attraction in Mondo Media's lineup of mini-shows; each episode was approximately five minutes long.


Crew

*Directed by Harold Moss *Writers: Harold Moss, Tom Tomorrow, Bob Harris *Executive Producer for Mondo Media: Jan Mallis *Produced by Angela Webb *Producer for Mondo Media: Eileen McKee *Animation Director: Miguel Hernandez *Animation: Matthew Benton, Anand Nunnally, Kareem Thompson, Angela Moy, Antonio Jimenez *Assistant Animators: Bill Stout, Matt Bookbinder, D.A. Strawder, Johanna Bystrom *Illustrations & Backgrounds: Antonio Jimenez *Sound Record & Mix: Tom Lino


''This Modern Life'' collections

* * * * * * – a large omnibus of early work and selected strips * * * * * – includes pre-''Modern World'' material * *


References


Notes


Sources

* Tomorrow, Tom (2003). ''The Great Big Book of Tomorrow: a Treasury of Cartoons''. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. — a collection of the cartoons from 1992 to 2002


External links

* {{official, http://thismodernworld.com
''This Modern World'' comic archive

''This Modern World'' at ''The Nib''

''This Modern World'' at the ''Daily Kos''
Alternative Comics titles 1988 comics debuts American comic strips American comedy webcomics Satirical webcomics Political webcomics Comics adapted into animated series Comics set in the United States American political satire Political satire comics