CARTOONSHOW - Serio Comics 24

CARTOONSHOW written and drawn by Derek M. Ballard, published by Oni Press

I mentioned last week in the monthly gun debate update for April I went to The Los Angeles Times Book Festival at USC in LA and a panel about books about guns.

Later that afternoon, I also attended a panel called AutobioGRAPHICAL, which included Mariko Tamaki and her semiautobiographical book with her cousin Jillian Tamaki, ROAMING, as well as the comedian Maria Bamford and her husband, the artist, Scott Marvel Cassidy, for their collaboration, HOGBOOK AND LAZER EYES.

There was an unlisted surprise, to my knowledge at least, who I didn’t yet know, Derek M. Ballard, who has worked in animation for the TV shows Midnight Gospel and Adventure Time, and is debuting his CARTOONSHOW comics as a book.

CARTOONSHOW written and drawn by Derek M. Ballard is available from Goodreads, indie retailers at Bookshop.org, the publisher Oni Press, at Skylight here in LA, and Amazon.

The publisher describes it as a darkly satirical reflection of contemporary American life, where single parenting, money troubles, and political turmoil take the stage.

Yet within Derek’s dark satire, there is also a lot of light and heart.

Derek M. Ballard

Derek is a solo parent raising three kids in the American South while trying to make art.

Told in a series of free-flowing and often hilarious comic essays, CARTOONSHOW gets to the heart of the struggle to be a creative person in a society that may or may not value anything other than how much it can grind out of you.

Covid, poverty, the failing social safety net, predatory lenders.

As well as the issue of gun ownership, all can’t stop our hero and his family.

While I don’t have three kids and I do have some privilege, I have recently felt some of the pressures Ballard so aptly depicts in my 3 months since leaving a 10 year day job.

My debut graphic novel, SHOULD WE BUY A GUN?, which I showed to Derek when we met after his panel, and which he seemed very supportive of, is securely in the hands of a literary agent now, so in the meantime I’m back on the hunt for day jobs.

If interested, do check out and support Derek M. Ballard’s funny somber work!

CARTOONSHOW is available from Goodreads, indie retailers at Bookshop.org, the publisher Oni Press, at Skylight here in LA, and Amazon!