Protecting Nature with Dilbit Pipe
I was commissioned in 2013 to create a long-form piece of comics journalism — exploring a current affairs issue in-depth. I chose the Alberta oil sands pipeline. I approached it with a satirical edge, using a fictional “mascot” for the pipeline industry. Mr. Butts, Garry Trudeau’s macot for the smoking lobby in Doonesbury, was my inspiration.
Many readers got it, and saw that I was criticizing an economic engine (and planet destroyer). But, perhaps not surprisingly, many readers also railed against me for being in the pockets of Big Oil. Being skewered from both the right and left counts as success. This comic got more comments than even my Fill Up the Landfill to Win! Tim Horton's cartoon. So, I guess it was a success.
But the experiment was short-lived. Excellent cartoonist and caricaturist Wes Tyrell did another comic on hockey, then shortly thereafter, the plug was pulled on all comics at Yahoo Canada and a major shakedown.
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