Category Archives: Meaning of Life

Meaning of Life

Games Night for the Stupid

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Stanko & Tibor Games Night

Well, the comic that spawned a hate mail campaign is back from the dead. OK, that’s too much. It’s back from a prolonged vacation, induced by a period of overwork, overstress, and undersleep. Probably some other over-unders, but I’ll let the bookies guess at those.

This installment of the finest comic extant brings us back to our roots, that of social get-togethers, of games where we played happily, where we could just plain have fun. And what does dad go and do? Well, read the comic and find out. I am not here to spoon feed you, you know.

Speaking of dads, tonight he and my mom celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary, so here is your present, mom and dad. Happy anniversary.  Your cheap-o son couldn’t come up with anything better. Maybe I’ll make you a dinner. I’ll not go into the litany of nasty jokes and crude one-liners my father has up his sleeve for just these occasions. I’ll just say this: Dad, I can’t find my bag. The rest is up to you.

I can’t say as I was overly happy with the style of the cartoon, but seeing as I hadn’t put electronic pen to silicon tablet in over 4 weeks (!!), you’ll excuse my rustiness and bulky style. I will endeavor to not let such a long period of non-comic-related activity happen again unless forced to cease via court order, or some guy wielding an axe.

This installment, however, is a one off, it’s a joke I have wanted to do for many months and was lying around my gmail inbox, hiding away for the right time to use it. I couldn’t find a right time, so I chose now. But I have many a storyline waiting for publication and what’s more, I have decided in a chocolate cookie, sugar-induced high that when the 50th episode of Stanko & Tibor is published, I will gather my gems and publish a book of them for all to consume (or use as a fire log). When that time comes, I will alert you. You have been warned.

Much love to all two of you who asked for me to keep on cartooning, but I think you were dangerously low on your medication.

Keep reading, keep the faith, and keep sending me money.

Love,

Juan

Meaning of Life

Chinese Fortunes

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As the evening draws to a close and as night sets in, I sit here at my computer, finally having created a new comic. You have no idea how much joy this brings to a tired soul who has been busier than a baton-wielding cop at a G20 summit arresting anarchists, leftists, hippies, liberals, the homeless, and of course, innocent tourists, single mothers and passers-by who are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Ah, nothing like the indiscriminate wielding of power (a.k.a. a metal baton) by someone who joined the law enforcement cadre with a stellar high school diploma. Makes for GREAT TV.

Man, I was happy I wasn’t in Toronto for that. But it made for useful fodder for this month’s comic. Heaven knows there are many other topics I could have chosen, but this one was easy to draw and do quickly. And speed was of the essence because, if the Internet and impatient type-A bosses and blow hard leaders with no real vision have taught us, do it fast and deal with the mess later.

Most humans forget everything anyway, we’re not good long-term thinkers as a species goes, generally. We think about our next meal, pay check, copulation and avoiding stuff that causes anxiety, like doing the garden or filing taxes. Truth be told, if we did think about the long-term on a regular basis, there wouldn’t be semi-senitent people with horrible tattoos, Internet stories about that girl who slept with the giant loser on a bet while under the influence of drugs and/or booze, the Quebec separatist party, wars, terrorists, tans-fats, or politicians. We would stop and think about it for a bit, say to ourselves over a cup of tea or coffee that it wouldn’t be prudent to put that live rodent pet into an electric device like a microwave.

But we would be boring and history class would be utterly boring thus denying many an unemployable, bearded, greasy filmmaker a chance to make a documentary about exciting past events that most of us have already forgotten due to pill and smoked meat abuse. Even worse than that, if we humans were good long-term thinkers, I wouldn’t have slept around in my youth and done Jell-O shots of the stomach of a woman equally blitzed and of low self-esteem and moral character. (Wonder if I still have her number…)

I do take pride that I can give you all something to hopefully laugh at while the searing, blazing heat wave that is punishing us shows no sign of letting up. Melted roads, baked roofs, dried grasses, wilted flowers, smelly people on the bus. Icky. The heat has warped my brain more than usual – which is saying something.

So now it’s time to crawl into bed that is soft and puffy, and to dream about an impending vacation, about places far away from work, far away from my overgrown, junlgle-like lawn that I have to mow this weekend in the name of neighborhood solidarity, and far from the pavement-melting heat I stride through on my way to work every Monday through Friday where I give my pound of flesh.

Keep reading, keep eating and keep well. And keep the lights on so I don’t fall down the stairs on my way to a midnight snack.

Helios Druker, Greek God of Burnt Meats

Meaning of Life

Operation Press Kill

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My dear friends and family all over the globe, it’s done.

Here we go, another episode of the finest artistic piece of comickery. You know the topic, the BP Oil spill, and the last one on this topic for now as there are other, more off-the-wall ideas percolating in that slightly warped cranial pressure cooker of mine. And ideas there are a-plenty. Sadly the time to do all this is not.

Work is bananas, stress-filled and has me sweatin’ software-related bullets. But it will get better one day. And between the work, the car blogs, and the charity work, I am running myself a little ragged. So I may dial down the comic for a bit, publish every 2 weeks, and pick up when the pressure is less intense.

Be well, be in touch an check out some of the new t-shirt designs at the web store.

Day-to-Day, Meaning of Life

Gone Fishing For Oil

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It has been so long since the last post. So much work, so little time. Spreading myself too thin and not taking care of myself, this cold is proof.

But given the BP oil catastrophe, I had to do something about it, so cartoon I did.

And I have to give credit where credit is due. My dad was the one who came up for the idea, and of course I refined it and took it off in a humorous new direction.

Also, given Tony Howard’s outrageous comments of late, like the oil spill isn’t that big given the relative amount oil compared to the amount of ocean it’s in.

But I digress.

Enjoy the comic, more to come, but on a slower basis given the tsunami of work I am under currently.

Day-to-Day, Meaning of Life

Fruity Pills

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My dear friends, family, Romans and countrymen,

The comic that taught you the true meaning of the ‘Delete’ button is here with another offbeat installment of Stanko & Tibor. And given the long weekend we are enjoying in Canada and Europe, this gives all the more time to savor the flavor of this latest comic. Or to run out to the garden and plant your head in the dirt as an excuse for not reading this comic. I would.

Trust me, I spent 3 hours in the front garden getting filthier than usual coming to grips with the decades of roots that pass for a front garden. I haven’t ranted about the house in a while. And as summer rolls in, I’ll have opportunity to rant. Which is partially the theme of this week’s comic. And it’s also a carryover from last week’s too.

Yes, I can hear many of you saying, “It’s a continuation of last week’s theme, and he dares call himself a comic genius? More like a lazy son of #@!!&*&*!!! And he still owes me money from the shopping!” But if you read the comic and don’t just hit the Delete button, you’ll see there is some ranting and poetry all mixed into one. There is some artistic merit in that. No? A little maybe?

For my non-bran consuming friends and non-North American friends, do a search of Metamucil, and you’ll see what it is. Anyone related to my family, you already know Metamucil intimately. Anyhow, I thought it made a nice alliteration.

May peace and a good gardener be upon you. And me.

Sincerely,

Montague Q. Druker the IV

Day-to-Day, Meaning of Life

Youth Pills

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Stanko & Tibor: Youth, Pills & Happiness

OK, here is the excuse for this installment’s late posting. Had I not begun to write semi-regularly for an automotive website, I would have had the time to finish this cartoon back on Monday. But alas, my duty to pontificate on things automotive (for which I am getting paid a nominal sum) took precedence this week.

But I digress.

First things second. I needed a break from the Radio Vitriol story line for a bit, and this one was sitting in my pool of ideas for a while. I had wanted to do this ages ago. And now I did. If anyone knows me and my cartooning style, they will immediately recognize the source of the theme from whence this episode came. And that is Bloom County, perhaps my greatest cartoon inspiration. So like any genius, I stole liberally in terms of setting and color. Words and characters, as you know, are my own.

Second (or is it third?), my lovely wife felt she had to point out that the poorly drawn rose in the comic looks way more like a tulip. I resorted to calling her a “hater” and proposing divorce proceedings, which she laughed at. And she laughed at the comic too, but she is even more sleep-deprived than I am so I take it all with a grain of salt.

And third things last, it’s bed time, as it’s past midnight. No wait, I forgot to mention, I made some changes to the site:

  • At the top right, I added “Share The Humor” tools, so you can share this with friends, family and the general media using social web tools. Even a Jewish grandmother could do it (hint, hint)
  • I added my favorite websites as well. Please check them out, they are all quite funny. It’s worth wasting your productive time on them
  • Very soon, I’ll remove the link to my car articles as it takes away from the comic experience, BUT I’ll replace it with more features of the comic, like a bio on the characters, and the most recent items you can purchase from the webstore. I can make kids’ gifts with a Stanko & Tibor image of your choice.

OK, that’s it. Good night.

Meaning of Life

Floyd Follows the Money

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As this series winds down, I keep finding gems to scribble out and add to the comic theme. I may have to change the name of the comic to Radio Vitriol.

I couldn’t resist this cheap pot shot at the boss of Goldmann Sachs, simply because he’s supremely confident and arrogant, and way richer than I could ever be even if I had a money printing press. Also, he’s amazing at making himself look like a jerk, so he makes my job of cartooning way easier. Thank you.

It’s close to midnight, so sleep well, my readers and fans. I am looking into putting a DIGG button on the site as well as trying to drive more traffic to the comic site. I thank Rick for his help in advance.

I have spent a huge amount of time just trying to get this blog up and running, and now it’s a hassle. Can’t I cartoon in peace?

Sleep well, my lovely princes and princesses…

Meaning of Life

War on Health Care

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Hello again dear readers of this comedic creation,

Is it really so soon that I am bombarding you with yet another episode of the world’s most under-appreciated and misunderstood comic? Yup, pretty much. But as I said last time, the dialogue for this has been ready for some time and it is just the drawing part that needed to be done. Which is no small part, but thanks to the beauty of computers is simplified somewhat.

I am finally getting around to finishing off this story line in the cartoon, which coincides with my current role at my company being finished off. Only heaven and the new manager know what I’ll be doing come Monday. Let’s hope it won’t prevent me from cartooning and blogging.

That’s what happens when you have too much time on your hands. And soon, there won’t be as much free time for such funnery (ooo, good made-up word!)

So keep reading, keep commenting, and if you have your own website or blog, please put a link to my blog on it, and I’ll do the same for you.

Be well, I’ll eventually be on the mental mend soon.

Meaning of Life

Palin Power

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Well, this particular episode is many things, and first and foremost it’s really, really late in coming. The dialogue for this was ready some 3 weeks ago, and the first part of the drawing was ready a full week ago. But life got in the way and I got lazy and unhappy with the drawing and I really am not happy with how it turned out.

But sometimes in life, we have to press on no matter the circumstances because there is no point in looking back. That leads to ulcers, and angry spouses. So I decided (“I am the decider here!” – G.W. Bush) to post this poorly drawn and poorly laid out cartoon to hope that the coming ones better reflect my cartooning and writing ability.

Keep the faith.

I need a vacation.

Meaning of Life

What’s In A Name?

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Well, anyone who has heard me moan and bleat about work lately knows full well that work is getting me down. But that is life. I have to not let it interfere with what I do best — create humor, albeit my own off-beat version thereof.

This is number 2 in a series of the right-wing vitriol radio scam to make money by our main character. It’ll get even crazier next week as I keep cartooning.

Although this comic was ready a  little while ago, but I couldn’t face sitting down in front of the computer, especially as I have been VERY lazy about getting the internet connection fixed. I’d sooner get a new PC. No, a new Mac, but we are not in a position to spring for such a luxury right now. That would require this comic being sold for money. Or my car articles. And I didn’t do any posts on that either this past week.

Maybe I’ll sit myself down and do some car reviews & commentaries.