Stephanie McMillan

The official publication date is November 13 from Seven Stories Press.

It will also be published in Italy by Becco Giallo Edizioni.

Minimum Security is about to shift gears. The current story, wherein a group of friends attempts to save the world by stopping a geo-engineering project, will draw to a conclusion on September 28.

Following that will be a week long intermission, during which readers are invited to enjoy an original silent ballet interpretation by Victoria guinea pig, performing scenes from Maxim Gorky’s Mother.

Then, starting on October 8, Minimum Security will begin a phase entitled “Proletarian Theory is a Revolutionary Social Force.” Dusty books of heavy academic theory aside, revolutionary politics can be amusing!

The purpose of this project is to promote and popularize the construction of proletarian theory, in an accessible form, as a contribution to the elimination of capitalism and for a classless society liberated from all forms of domination, exploitation and oppression. The cartoons will be linked to supplementary texts.

This is partly an exercise for me to achieve clarity for my own political work, and partly to share what I think — I don’t have all the answers (no one person or group can). So constructive input and exchange of ideas will be appreciated. You are welcome to share the work freely. You could, if you find it useful, use it as an organizing tool.

Topics will include definitions of theoretical concepts, class analysis, forms of organization, and ideas for beginning to develop a political line.

Many efforts are being made. I offer this one small stream to join the mighty river that will sweep capitalism off the face of the Earth!

A review of “As the World Burns” in German, at Permakultur-Blog: http://permakultur-blog.de/bucher/die-welt-brennt

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“Fünfzig einfach Dinge die man tun kann um es weiter zu Verleugnen”, so der Untertitel des Buchs “As the world burns” von Derrick Jensen & Stepahnie McMillan. Es ist aber eben kein Ratgeber, wie dieser Untertitel vermuten lässt, sondern analysiert im Gegenteil Tipps um die Welt zu retten aus eben solchen Ratgebern. So rechnet eine der Hauptfiguren vor: Wenn ALLE Menschen die typischen Tipps befolgen würden (Energiesparlampen benutzen, Autoreifen immer aufpumpen, recyclen), würde das die CO2 Emmisionen nur um 21% senken.
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The prestigious Society of Professional Journalists’ 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism has been awarded to Code Green by Stephanie McMillan in the editorial cartooning category. Code Green is the only syndicated editorial cartoon in the U.S. about environmental issues.

Judges chose the winners from over 1,400 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online. The awards recognize outstanding work published or broadcast in 2010.

McMillan of Fort Lauderdale, FL, submitted an entry of cartoons published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times.

During the past year, Code Green has covered:

• The Gulf of Mexico oil spill
• Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
• Global warming
• Fossil fuels and alternative power sources
• Environmental regulations, global agreements and government corruption
• The pacifying roles of “Big Green” non-profits and lifestyle activism
• Sources of pollution, such as mining
• Contaminated water and food

“It is a great honor for me to receive the Sigma Delta Chi Award. I would like to thank the Society of Professional Journalists for recognizing my work and supporting my efforts to bring public attention to the environmental emergency and the need to respond effectively,” said McMillan.

Code Green is available for publication at reasonable rates.
View samples at stephaniemcmillan.org/codegreen

They’re here: More recent Minimum Security comics in French, courtesy of Anarchie Verte: http://anarchieverte.ch40s.net/2010/10/la-revolution-ce-nest-pas-facile/

Thank you, Anarchie Verte!

A sample:

A review of “As the World Burns” appears in the Turkish national newspaper Gazete Vatan.

Thank you to Serhat Elfun Demirkol for the translation!

Book in my Bag

Fiyatı: 11,25 TL

My local city paper, the Sun-Sentinel, has been running my Code Green cartoons on the editorial page every other Friday for a couple months.

Everybody knows that newspapers have been in crisis, that audiences have largely moved over to the web. Newspapers no longer have a monopoly on information; they aren’t the opinion-makers they once were.

Still, there’s a special sense of satisfaction, and a feeling of having succeeded as a cartoonist that’s different from any other, to have my cartoons on the Sentinel’s editorial page. I’ve been illustrating a column for the paper for the past year that’s run in the Outlook section, but to make it onto the editorial page is different — it has gravity. It means that my opinion matters. It’s a total thrill when my relatives, and my mom’s friends, and my friends’ children, say things like: “I saw your cartoon in the paper yesterday!” “I cut out your cartoon and showed it to my class!”

I very much appreciate and value every reader I have on the web, of course. But there’s just something special and serious about having cartoons on the editorial page of the newspaper that my parent read when I was a child, that I grew up with, and that has a solid history in this city.

There’s an anthology published by Last Hours (UK) called “Excessive Force,” with comics against police brutality. They included a bunch of “Minimum Security” strips, the sequence when Nikko tries to ask a congressperson a question, and then gets beat up by cops, and saved by Javier.

The summary and purchasing info are here: http://www.lasthours.org.uk/excessive-force/

Here is my Code Green editorial cartoon on the website of the LA Times! (Click through to the second one).

And there is another very nice review of As the World Burns on the UK zine website Last Hours.

Excerpt:

“Jocular and charming yet ferociously political, poignant and engrossing. ‘As The World Burns’ could just save us all! Give a copy to family members, next door neighbours even your local politician and ask them what they are going to do about the crimes against nature that are occurring every day around the world.”

From a new review of the graphic novel I created with Derrick Jensen —

“That is why books like As the World Burns and others should be standard reading material for anti-capitalists. The delusional aspects of denial and appeasement, the refusal to use violence to stop greater violence (even, or in many cases, especially against corporate property), questions about gradual reform versus armed resistance, and other themes examined in the book are important and need to be brought to the forefront of our conversations, whether we’re fighting huge corporations, organizing for more rights, or simply trying to live in the most responsible way possible as individuals.”

Read the rest at Baltimore’s Indypendent Reader (indyreader.org/content/book-review-as-world-burns).

The current print issue of Comics Journal has a four-page review of “As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial.” It’s a love-hate piece, by a guy who is clearly spooked by what we think is necessary to save the Earth (i.e.: destroy its enemies) but who generally seems to respect my comics and Derrick’s books.

I like this:

“McMillan’s expressive style, pared down to the basics and intensified over the years, allows for instant communication of thoughtful rage.”

Exactly. He gets my work.

I didn’t so much like some of the other comments.