Paintball! I'd been wanting to do a strip with a little more "action" in it, and a conversation with an old friend reminded me how we played paintball at a friend's bachelor party many years ago. Hadn't thought about that much, then recalled the episode of Showtime's Beggars and Choosers when the staff played a rival network's team. And Tuc Watkins looked so good in his fatigues...

Bedtime TV Having had my bouts of insominia as well as too much sleep, some buddies of mine and I got in this often heated discussion of whether falling asleep with a TV on helps or hinders. My drawing of Anderson Cooper didn't mean to downplay his looks, but I think I certainly nailed Nancy Grace and Vampira, er, Ann Coulter.

A Letter from Bill Frist Sometimes I wonder how I get on some campaign donation request mailing lists. This year I was innudated by ones from the Republicans (I think I voted in a Republican primary in 1988?) all with various big wigs of the party having their name on the return address. But when one came from the only Republican more out of touch than "W," well, let the fun begin...

Vacationing in Damascus This strip started off with me reading an article about how HIV+ folks are treated in other countries, and how misreading it could lead to an amusing (yet possibly dangerous) conclusion. Funny thing, this strip was completed and submitted a week before the Israel-Hezbollah conflict began.

The HIV Drug with Just ONE Side Effect An online correspondent acquaintance was under the impression this strip was completely autobiographical. While some retell/summarize actual events, on the other hand, I've yet to meet Calvin & Hobbes as I did in an earlier strip. THIS one, however, is practically a word-for-word account of some friends and me after one of our support group.

PRIOR NEW STRIPS

The Comic Strip Characters Convention Whenever someone asks what this strip is about, and I tell them (in a shorthand way) it's "a comic strip about AIDS," I get all sorts of weird reactions. No wonder. Other than some mentions in Doonesbury years ago, I've yet to see a mainstream comic tackle the topic. Perhaps I should've sought out Mary Worth for her "warm, reassuring advice..." (Bonus points if you can name all the characters in the first panel.)

"Hello, My Name Is... " OK, I should be fair. Too often I pick on the character of "Dan" for being the naive or airheaded character among the cast. The real life Dan is nothing of the sort (well, he can be an airhead, but not on HIV issues). But if you think MY character gets bent out of shape on this issue, you should hear how ballistic the REAL life Dan gets...

"I've Got Some Bad News and Some Good News" The strip kinda speaks for myself, but when I showed it to my doctor, he laughed and said he often wondered what he'd look like as a comic strip character. There's a copy of recent strips hanging by the doctor's office's pharmacy and someone wrote in the margins "This looks like Dr. Morris!" Well, duh...

Dangerous Comics We all remember the riots and violence following the publication of a cartoon version of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. While I have had several strips prompt angry e-mails, disagreements, and one person being fired (which was because some people didn't read the strip clearly), you have to remember the first American strips were highly political.