Weltschmerz
Weltschmerz first appeared in 1993. It still holds its place as Canada’s longest-running satirical comic strip. It was an pull-no-punches anchor to the front section of Toronto’s Eye Weekly between 1997 and 2007. It still exists online at weltschmerz.ca, where you can find many of the strips archived. At a time when few historical websites are maintained, Weltschmerz is an essential and hilarious chronical of the turn-of-millennium Zeitgeist. Below is the first long-form strip, a reboot from the short strip that had appeared earlier.
Ontario Premier Mike Harris became a regular character.
When the neo-conservative premiere replaced NDP premier Bob Rae in 1995, he moved quickly and ruthlessly, cutting education, health care, welfare rates, and, fatally, environmental regulations. He appeared in Weltschmerz in many roles: a bus driver, a star in a gory Cronenberg take-off called Cuts, a surgeon, a dictator. Weltschmerz became a go-to voice of dissent and biting satire during the Harris years, which cumulated in the death of seven people in Walkerton, Ontario, due to tainted water and government cuts.
No Evil
The climate crisis is funny.
What’s to laugh at when civilization is about to go down the tubes? Well, let’s start with the pretzel-like logic that Big Oil was trotting out to ensure that nobody took global warming seriously. Their spokesglobe, Global Gus, first appeared in July, 2001, and thanked us for doing our part in heating up the planet. You’re welcome, Gus! Your efforts paid off.
Meet Global Gus
Other Comics
This CartoonPolitical Comic Strip
Footprint in MouthEco-Funnies
Dilbit PipeLong-form Comics Journalism
SnibblerProject type
Turtle CreekComic Strip