It has taken me 4 years to finish this fucking episode! I couldn’t believe how hard it was for me to do and finally get done. Imagine looking at photographs of Iraqi children who had all lost someone special to them, who may have lost their homes, their friends, so much of what they hold dear. They have this look in their eyes as though they are wiser and tougher than any child should be while still plagued with innocence that makes their wisdom all the more heartbreaking. They know the world to be cruel, tough, and unfair. However, how could they ever understand why it has been so hard on them? I cried as I drew each one and failed to capture the beauty and tragedy in their faces. I eventually got to points where I fell in love with the children I drew too, and could not erase any of them even though they did not do the original photos justice and there were size-ratio issues and such. Each one became real in his/her own way, and I could not erase the little children that created themselves on the page. I had to draw Veterans for Peace, whom I respect very much. Again, I failed at copying photos but liked the personalities that were looking back at me through the drawings. I can’t tell you the glee I feel to finally see a finished product where only an idea and incomplete sketches had been for so long.

So please enjoy the 2nd Episode: Kind of Unfucking Iraq

If you’d like an actual hard copy of the first and 2nd episodes back to back in one 40-page booklet, please contact me at zenpunkist@yahoo.com. I can send you the booklet file to print, or print and mail them to you at my cost 🙂