Below is the latest The Pain -- When Will It End?
Updated 04/02/03

Artist's Statement

This war has exposed the weird combination of arrogance and naiivete of our leaders, who actually appear to have believed their own propaganda and thought that Iraqui civilians would welcome our army. "Operation Iraqi Freedom." They really thought it was going to be World War II all over again, with pretty French chicks handing out flowers. But it turns out that there are limits to the power of spin, and just calling ourselves "liberators" doesn't make us anything other than invaders. Setting the last panel in Baltimore is not just a tribute to my hard-drinking Baltimore friends but a reference to the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812 (the occasion of the writing of our national anthem)--a reminder that we ourselves were once a defiant backwards nation who prided ourselves on repelling the invading army of the most powerful Empire on earth with unfair guerilla tactics, instead of a bunch of fucking assholes.

The building being destroyed in the E.U.'s surgical missile strike is the National Air and Space Museum.

Special thanks to Myla Goldberg and Jason Little for lending me the special pens I needed at short notice yesterday morning.