Started in 1993 and retired in 2002, Clay Butler’s self-syndicated weekly political cartoon, Sidewalk Bubblegum, focused on issues of consumerism

Consumerism

Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...

, capitalism

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

, sexism

Sexism

Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

, racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, war, authority, gender issues, the environment, worker rights and human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. The strip can be described as having strong left-libertarian or libertarian socialist leanings and was drawn in a square format and alternated between one and four panels.

The strip was highlighted in the 2002 anthology Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists edited by editorial cartoonist

Editorial cartoonist

An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary....

 Ted Rall

Ted Rall

Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...

. During its nine year run, Sidewalk Bubblegum has been published in hundreds of magazines, books, and zines including Z Magazine, Playboy Magazine, Funny Times, Comic Relief, Creative Loafing

Creative Loafing

CL Inc. is the Tampa, Florida-based publisher of three city newsweeklies and their associated websites. Each of the papers focuses on local news, politics, arts and entertainment, and restaurants...

, Factsheet 5, Metro Santa Cruz

Metro Santa Cruz

Metro Santa Cruz, a free-circulation weekly newspaper published in Santa Cruz, California from 1994 to 2009, was renamed the Santa Cruz Weekly on May 6, 2009...

, Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz Sentinel

The Santa Cruz Sentinel is a daily newspaper published in Santa Cruz, California, covering Santa Cruz County, California, and owned by MediaNews Group Inc....

 and the Hufvudstadsbladet

Hufvudstadsbladet

Hufvudstadsbladet is the highest-circulation Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters are located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "The Capital City Newspaper", hufvudstad being 19th century Swedish for capital...

, Finland’s largest Swedish-language daily newspaper.

External links

• Sidewalk Bubblegum