Through a Looking Glass Darkly

I received a note this morning from a fan who reminded me of an illustration that I did almost 4 years ago.  He correctly suggested that the image might have greater relevance now than when I originally posted it, which is unfortunately true.  So, in the interest of forcing our collective faces back into the instructive commentary offered by the deep dark truthful mirror, I present this cartoon, not as proof of our defeat at the rope-burned hands of bigots and soulless automatons of institutionalized bigotry and hick paranoia, but rather as a battle cry calling to action the hearts and minds of better men and women poised and ready to fight peaceably for a kinder and more tolerant future.

 

Note: Portrait of Captain America modeled from original drawing by comic illustrator John Amor whose work I dig.

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22 comments

  1. Mr. Fish, absolutely brilliant. Bravo! I’m a musician working on an album about the same kind of themes and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express them with 60 minutes of sound as well as you have with this one image. Absolutely love it!

  2. Why would you misrepresent rockwells work by showing him wearing a hood? And stealing his style? Rockwell was involved in the civil rights movement and recognized by the naacp for his artwork. Shame on you for pushing a false narrative.

  3. Mr. Fish…love your work…
    regarding setting up a page to sell your work and receive payments,
    i love the website i built for my music and artwork using
    SQUARESPACE….their platform accomodates any media
    and can monetize your sales…their tech team is awesome..
    and, they host my site for $15/month…
    good luck…donald
    http://www.donaldmccrea.com

  4. Is it okay to repost image with credit?

  5. For your interest…. “the anger at PayPal may be misdirected.”

    Thiel, who co-founded PayPal with Tesla founder Elon Musk, sold the company to eBay in 2002. “Peter Thiel was one of PayPal’s founders, but he is no longer associated with the company in any way,” wrote a PayPal representative in an email to SFGN.

    In April, PayPal announced it had cancelled its expansion plans in Charlotte, North Carolina over that state’s controversial transgender bathroom law. Dan Schulman, PayPal’s president and CEO, said a global operations center, and the 400 jobs that go with it, would be located elsewhere.

    “The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte. This decision reflects PayPal’s deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect.

  6. This artwork is going viral, thanks to its eerily accurate depiction of what’s happening now in the US when despots masquerade as heroes.

  7. You did nothing in this piece and just took art from Rockwell and Amor. Why would you even sell prints of this and even have the gall to sign them.

    You call out the absurdity of a Trump government, but then callously profit in stealing art? The fuck is wrong with you?

    1. Typical senseless diatribe from another Trumpard, omg.

    2. Captain America is a copyrighted character and you aren’t legally allowed to profit off his image without written permission from Marvel. I’m surprised Stan Lee hasn’t slapped you with an injuction & infringement suit already.

  8. Does Norman Rockwell not get any credit on this piece???

    1. I really doubt his estate would want any.

    2. It’s clearly both homage and parody.
      Lovely to see Mr Fish get more well-deserved international attention.

  9. Wow. Any way to get a print of this?

    1. Yes! Should have the Clowncrack Shop open soon! Very tough figuring out the payment method ever since PayPal announced its support for Trump. In the meantime, here’s the break down for signed prints of any cartoon I produce:

      Signed Giclée
      8.5 x 11 – $50.00
      11 x 16 – $75.00

      Signed Fine Art Archival Rag Velvet
      8.5 x 11 – $80.00
      13 x 19 – $125.00

      Just send me an email and I’ll make it happen. Dig it.

      1. If you figure out a good PayPal alternative, please do make it known. A lot of us are in a similar boat.

  10. Yes, Heidi, generally speaking, you’re correct. My basic intention with the illustration was to show how amorphous and ambiguous notions of virtue are, the assumption being that even the most reprehensible among us typically operate under the delusion that they are behaving justly and nobly when committing grotesque acts of violence or encouraging savage and prejudicial interpretations of others who appear or act differently. Therefore, the symbolism of both the white hood and the iconic portrait of Captain America are used to represent broad disparities rather than specific ones, pointing out that their are sometimes enormous contradictions between who we believe we are subjectively and how we present to the outside world objectively.

  11. Gather the posse, saddle up. Loudly!

  12. Hi, I am the original artist of the Captain America image included in the cartoon. I have no real stance in the matter since I neither own Cap, nor do I live in the United States. But I’d personally appreciate some credit. Thanks.

    http://johnamorartist.com/avenger-a-day-captain-america/

    1. Love your work, John! Life long fan of Cap! Sucks that some people don’t know how to get their point across without degrading him & highjacking your talent, though.

  13. I really like this! I recognize most of the visual references, but who’s on the right side above Van Gogh and the Stars & Bars?

    1. Elizabeth – that’s a self-portrait of Albrecht Durer.

      Mr. Fish, can I clarify that the reason you chose Captain America is because he’s the antithesis of the KKK? I ask because there’s apparently some debate going on about this! As someone who analyzes images, I think the point is supposed to be that the KKK is the opposite of what he thinks he is — that Captain America’s egalitarian focus on justice is precisely NOT what the KKK wants. Just hoping you can shed light on this.

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