Neil Lisst political cartoon - The Week in Review - they're all here

[Neil Lisst]

Neil Lisst political cartoon - The Week in Review

Here are the Neil Lisst political cartoons of this just concluded week.







Hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment, good, bad, or ugly.

[Wetzelbill]

1. nice Neil

YOu shouldn't compare Cheney to Darth Vader like that. I mean, Darth has a reputation to uphold you know? :)

[Neil Lisst]

3. We have a fan in Finland who said he hates me for ruining Darth

for ruining Darth Vader for him with the Cheney thing.

He was just kidding, but I think I really have ruined Darth for him.

[Wetzelbill]

2. oh wait.. I get it "Neil Lisst" as in "nihilist"

nicely done. Love the website too.

[Neil Lisst]

4. Yep, nihilist is the deal. Clever name, eh?

Here's how it came about.

I was in the days following a month of Cindy Sheehan followed immediately by the week of Katrina. I was so appalled at what I saw in both that I decided to return to the political fray with something edgy, timely, and amusing. I had thought about doing a regular political cartoon in the past, and over the years have done some projects with a few cartoonists. My ideas, they draw, I write the scripts.

I needed a character around which to build it, and settled on a 24 year old introvert male who would comment sardonically on the things of the day. He's the smartass cynic in all of us.

What name, though? I was thinking about what a nihilist I was becoming in my view of things under Bush, when Neal List hit me. I massaged that for a day and decided Neil Lisst was more creative, more memorable, and better mimicked nihilist.

I threw it out there to my cartoonist buddy in Canada, pitched the idea to him and some other friends, and he liked it. He and I collaborated on some stuff a few years ago, some of his cartoons, with a political or social angle.

I described Neil to him in detail, and he drew the logo. As soon as I saw it, I said "that's him." We started cranking out cartoons, and went online September 11, 2005.

Our second Op-Ed page publication is coming Sunday.

[Wetzelbill]

5. yeah that's a cool story

I'm wading my way through your cartoons right now. He's actually a pretty well developed character. I like the part about his mom thinking he's still nine years old, haha.

Interesting work, keep it up.

[Neil Lisst]

6. ha! that one is fact-based!

Here it is, for those who don't know what you're talking about.


I throw little things in there that speak to specific people sometimes. That was one such gummy bear.

Of course, I used it because it's universal. Moms always thinks of their offspring as her kids, even when they're no longer kids.

Glad you like the character development. I went with him almost exclusively the first month, just for that reason. I felt we needed to lay down the foundation. After that, we started introducing other characters, themes, and scenes, eventually using Neil only once or twice a week.

I introduced a bear this week, and I'll let you in on the ground floor. The Bear family will be back. I count among my influences Doonesbury, the Far Side, and Mister Boffo, so elements of them can be found in our comic.

It's got to entertain first, be visually pleasing, and appeal to readers. Sometimes we give up humor to get a message out, since we do care about the message. We're writing editorials with pictures.

[Wetzelbill]

7. I'm obsessive about character development

first couple short stories I have had published were exclusively character pieces. One was actually written to be the first story in a novel of interrelated short stories. That's always something I notice in anything artistic whether it's a book, film, or whatever. I have to know the character and to relate to it somehow. Whether I like or dislike the character. I can empathize with Neil Lisst though. I feel that same way frequently. But, say, oh.. a character like JR Ewing from "Dallas" he's just a total ass, you hate the guy, but he's so well developed it's like you love to hate him. So I guess you don't necessarily need to like the character to have that connective interest.

I think it was interesting when you switched up and razzed some Dems a little. Like the FrankenKerry thing. You seem to have a lot of layers going on. I'll have to catch up, I went through your first month or so. So I'm basically still in the "all Neil" phase. That's interesting that you mentioned that you're writing editorials with pictures, because your style struck me as very editorial.

[Neil Lisst]

8. A little over a month ago, just before they found their courage ...

... was the week I took some shots at OUR party.

It was literally the week before Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi finally came out swinging. I was so upset that the party couldn't find its courage, in spite of a month of Cindy Sheehan followed by a month of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Then suddenly, the week after I ran those, Harry Reid came out punching. Then Pelosi followed.

I also wanted to say some things I felt. Hell, I love the party, but like family, you don't have to like everyone in it.

I've known John Kerry over 20 years and he was my pick of those who ran in 2004, but Geez Louise, he did a lousy job running his campaign down the stretch. From the end of the convention to the election he got a great big F (for FrankenKerry) from me. And I'm still pissed he saved back over $10 million, just so he could run again. That money could have been turned over to congressional candidates and helped us win another seat or two in the House.

When money is given for a campaign, it's given for THIS one, not some future campaign. In my view, it's a breach of implicit faith between the candidate and his contributor.

[Wetzelbill]

15. oh it's definitely frustrating

I finished them all last night. I love the Halliburton Life Saber, hahaha. That kills me every time I see it.

Kerry always seemed to hold back to much those last few months. Man, I wish he just would've pulled the trigger sometimes, but he always seemed to wait and wait and wait. Even after he won the debates, which were his only good moments in the last few months, I sensed he was lacking the instinct it took to go in for the kill.

Things are looking a little better now, but it took our country going through hell to get Dems to wake up. We had a major American city just about wiped out and it Dems barely grumbled about that. You're right. It's about time they all start to get feisty. Could've used it a few years ago.

[Neil Lisst]

16. Darth Cheney has HALLIBURTON as his EXCALIBUR!

That is my theme. Plus, Halliburton has all those contractors in the mideast who are former military. Halliburton is Cheney's own private CIA/military/FBI.

[ninkasi]

9. Love your toons...

Thanks for sharing. Maybe when we take control of the WH,and the Congress at least, you can think about changing your name. Until then, very clever!

[Neil Lisst]

11. Thanks! We sure have fun doing it!

I'm counting on three more years of good material from Bush.

I have a feeling Cheney will have to resign for health reasons before the next election.

[ninkasi]

13. I'll bet...

He pretty much writes them for you, doesn't he? I mean, he's just a cartoon figure anyway, and it would be much too tempting to let all that unintended humor go to waste. I always look forward to your toons.

[Neil Lisst]

14. It's hard not to make every comic hating on Bush or Cheney.

It's Hard. It's hard work.

We know that we can't make every day about either Bush or Cheney, but it's hard not to just take a shot every day. He's this ridiculous frat boy who loves to dress up and act presidential. He's actually a better actor than Reagan ever was. Reagan actually believed his rightwing bullshit, but Bush is simply acting. He'd cancel elections and make himself King Pope of the United States of Christianity if he thought he could get away with it.

[IChing]

10. I thought a bear shit in the woods but that's another

answer to a crossword puzzle
good work.

[Neil Lisst]

12. Hey, Wild Bear in being published tomorrow!

... in the paper mentioned in the toon.

They were the first paper to pick us up, so I wrote one with their paper in it, now they're giving us the Sunday Op-Ed page.

I'm excited because it's part of a big news chain, and we could get republished.