🎨 Artcow Iconoclast / Jonathan Mack Sweet - The Chris-Chan of Arkansas

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I've started reading Belch Dimension 25, which introduces SweetTart, who seems to be Supergirl-meets-Sailor Moon with Ebola-Chan hair. Sweet Bro has modestly claimed that he considers the "SweetTart Saga" (geddit, he's totally taking inspiration from the CWC trolling he wanted to be a part of) to be one of the greatest satires of college journalism ever created.

Issue 25 is the first of three parts of this eye-trauma. Eris preserve me.

So far I've actually found myself laughing out loud to the point of horseness at this page:
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Sweet is, once again, telling a fictionalised account of him getting righteously permabann from the Herald. He compares totally-not Scott Mitchell to Salieri; the implication being that expy-Sweet was a journalistic Mozart.

Then, in a turn of phrase rendered hilarious by the recent discoveries about Jonathan Mack Sweet's reluctance to use a real toilet, he refers to expy-Sweet as gathering "too many moonbeams in his jar" - :lol: - and expy-Bonnie Thrasher (RIP) is said to be "waiting to knock the jar from [expy-Sweet's] hands". :lol::waifu::lol:

EDIT:

Two pages later, someone referes to expy-Sweet as "the whiz kid". :lol:

I wonder whether word got out on campus about Sweet Bro's jars of...moonbeams...and the nickname "whiz kid" was something that he actually got called at ASU?
 
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I'll try to do a proper review later, but for now I'll round up with a few caps.

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Every female character Sweet Bro draws looks like a man in unconvincing drag.
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But just every so often, there's this unexplainable flash of sudden insight into how the rest of the world sees things. MFW I read The Belch Dimension:

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Part Two of the Pretty Soldier Sailor Ebola-Chan Saga has a special treat for us. A chance to see some of the Bad Boy of College Journalism's deathless political prose.
Jonathan Mack Sweet said:
This column, written by the founder of Smoking Cat Productions and editor of The Belch Dimension Comics, first appeared in the Arkansas State University Herald on Nov 8, 1996. It has been reprinted without the Herald's permission because the Stalinists at the campus paper refuse to answer any e-mails or letter Mr. Sweet sends.
The author adds that since the liberal playbook is so thin, with so few changes in strategy in the last three decades, that with a minor tweak here and there this column could have run on your local op-ed page today.
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So there it is. An example of the regular iconoclastic Jeremiads that made the AS(S)U liberal socialist communist future-Obamistas shake in their Red Army milsurp boots.

What trifling garbage it is.

It's just a BLANGRY, generic screed; lumps of Limbaugh, vomited undigested and ununderstood onto the page. There's no analysis, no cutting insight, none of Limbaugh or Hannity's talent for trolling to opposition and getting under their skin. You could write a computer program to churn out "columns" like Sweet's by randomly rearranging the pronouncements of reactionary loudmouths like Sarah Palin or Jeremy Clarkson.

You could print this on any local op-ed page, next to all the other green ink letters from the confused elderly who want the 1950s back because modern life has too many gays and blacks and iPods and you can't even call 'em wetbacks any more. In my day you could take your best gal to a movie and have change from a dollar but now they're taking away our lightbulbs.

Sweet is imitating without understanding. He's a recolour of a rightwing rabble-rouser. Limbachu.
 
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Le Bateleur said:
I'll try to do a proper review later, but for now I'll round up with a few caps.

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Every female character Sweet Bro draws looks like a man in unconvincing drag.
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But just every so often, there's this unexplainable flash of sudden insight into how the rest of the world sees things. MFW I read The Belch Dimension:

View attachment 40247
Click to expand...
I'm the soar on her neck
Le Bateleur said:
Part Two of the Pretty Soldier Sailor Ebola-Chan Saga has a special treat for us. A chance to see some of the Bad Boy of College Journalism's deathless political prose.


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Goddamn, all it needs is an "I'M MOVING TO CANADA!"

Notice how he says at the end that he votes straight Republican no matter who is running? Sweetie, that's exactly what they want. You call yourself an intellectual heavyweight, a giant among men, then refuse to do any critical thinking about one of the most important decisions we as citizens make. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
 
Le Bateleur said:
Sweet is, once again, telling a fictionalised account of him getting righteously permabann from the Herald.
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Hey, guys. Let's play a Fill In The Blank for you average Sweets plot!

Your name is _______ and you are a middle aged scorned journalist who was wrongfully banned from his paper and his dream university! You will embark on a tale of epic revenge as you take back the legacy you rightfully deserve and maybe have phone sex with underaged girls.

No I didn't forget any blanks.
 
Le Bateleur said:
Part Two of the Pretty Soldier Sailor Ebola-Chan Saga has a special treat for us. A chance to see some of the Bad Boy of College Journalism's deathless political prose.


View attachment 40250
View attachment 40251

So there it is. An example of the regular iconoclastic Jeremiads that made the AS(S)U liberal socialist communist future-Obamistas shake in their Red Army milsurp boots.

What trifling garbage it is.

It's just a BLANGRY, generic screed; lumps of Limbaugh, vomited undigested and ununderstood onto the page. There's no analysis, no cutting insight, none of Limbaugh or Hannity's talent for trolling to opposition and getting under their skin. You could write a computer program to churn out "columns" like Sweet's by randomly rearranging the pronouncements of reactionary loudmouths like Sarah Palin or Jeremy Clarkson.

You could print this on any local op-ed page, next to all the other green ink letters from the confused elderly who want the 1950s back because modern life has too many gays and blacks and iPods and you can't even call 'em wetbacks any more. In my day you could take your best gal to a movie and have change from a dollar but now they're taking away our lightbulbs.

Sweet is imitating without understanding. He's a recolour of a rightwing rabble-rouser. Limbachu.
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more. For a guy who calls himself the "Bad Boy of College Journalism," there's absolutely nothing insightful, different, enlightening, or heck, even insanely conspiratorial. He may as well have written "Bill Clinton is bad and is going to do bad things!" With a little tweak and editing here and there, you could just as easily substitute Clinton for Bush, or Bush II, or Harding, or Chester A. Arthur. It's just thoughtless, recycled pablum.
 
melty said:
[PDF thing]
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Sweet keeps Belch Dimension stuff in:

[C drive]My Documents\Jon's Comic Files\BDC E-books

The fact that he has to specify his name instead of just calling it "Comic Files" is probably further evidence that he's on a shared computer. I'm surprised Sweet's brother hasn't deleted that folder yet, if he's as mean as Sweet says he is. And it's probable that no one told Sweet to back up files.

Also, apparently people of a certain color don't make much money and can't stop swearing, according to Sweet. Did the Swear Jar thing come from the Simpsons?
 
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I still can't get over how ridiculously old his vernacular makes him sound. Whenever he says stuff like "tarnation" and "what in blazes?" I think of an old man in his late 70's, not a guy who grew up during the Clinton era.
 
He's displaying the Dunning-Kruger effect magnificently. I wonder if he got yelled at as a kid for making mistakes, and that in turn led to his fear of trying new things, out of a subconscious belief that he might screw up, which is bad, so it's best not to even attempt it. Punishing kids for honest mistakes is the worst parenting technique ever devised. Kids learn through trying, and failure is a part of that. Punishing them just makes them adverse to doing anything out of their comfort zone.
 
ToroidalBoat said:
I think it was the Doctor who said that Sweet was that lonely kid no one really talked to in elementary school.
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I meant yelled at by his parents or teachers.
Since Sweet is very bad at interpreting people's reactions, he probably didn't know people didn't like him in elementary school, just like he didn't know he was universally loathed in college. So his peers' opinion of him would not factor into his thinking. I doubt very much he noticed people avoiding him. I imagine he got the crap pounded out of him a lot in elementary school. He was probably the target of vicious pranks in high school, but he's such an insufferable twit that I doubt anyone felt sorry for him.

But on some level, Sweet has to know that most people have friends, and since he doesn't (at least, he's never mentioned any friends), somewhere in his mind is a dim awareness he's not normal.
 
ToroidalBoat said:
I figured that - it reminded me of the question of what Sweet was like as a kid. Sweet hasn't (as far as I know) talked much about his childhood.
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it's true. The only bit I remember him talking about was that random story about putting peanuts under the pyramid. The incident with his mom getting beat up while he cowered under a table or w/e also happened in high school. Other than that, you really get the impression his life began senior year of college or in graduate school because he talks about very little before that.
If the schizophrenia theory is correct, it's possible John wasn't a total weirdo until 20+ when it really took root. Other than that, my best guess is that he tends to focus on the few months in his life where things were finally going his way (the Herald job, the relationship - later on, the shop jobs where he was actually working and doing something) so maybe he's been a punching bag the entire time we just don't hear about it because there wasn't a corresponding high that he was brought down from if that makes sense.
 
He mentioned being called Mumbles in high school and took it as a nickname from Dick Tracy. Even started dressing like Dick Tracy from what he said. So Sweets has always been a weirdo unable to process the world around him.
He was certainly picked on as a kid, but saw the insults and pranks as gifts just like he did in college. He got crazy paranoid in college and after. I waiver between just autism (Sweets is a lot like Chris) and autism and schizophrenia (Sweets is much more delusional than Chris).
 
Chan the Wizard said:
He mentioned being called Mumbles in high school and took it as a nickname from Dick Tracy. Even started dressing like Dick Tracy from what he said. So Sweets has always been a weirdo unable to process the world around him.
He was certainly picked on as a kid, but saw the insults and pranks as gifts just like he did in college. He got crazy paranoid in college and after. I waiver between just autism (Sweets is a lot like Chris) and autism and schizophrenia (Sweets is much more delusional than Chris).
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I'm learning toward middle-functioning schizophrenic. The thought disorder would explain the salad bar incident, as well as his inability to figure out simple things. He is not stupid, something is interfering with his cognitive processes. He's probably aghast at the ACA, but being on meds and in therapy might result in a completely different person. But since he's resistant to help, nothing much can happen on that front unless he's court ordered into therapy.
 
I know I'm a bit late to the party on this, but I wanted to confirm that "ayup" is definitely New England (Northeast U.S.) slang. King has used it in the past, and a quick search will show it's very prominent when discussing his work. There's at least one site claiming: "Ayup, this is Maine, home of Stephan King".

I know it's easy to see, going through the thread, that nearly every idea Sweets has that isn't based on revenge or sex (and I'm unsure about the latter) is lifted from the media. I'm curious how much of his stance on things like politics and race are actually from experiences from his own life, and not actually parroting ideas lifted from the news he listens to. Then applying those ideas, and building up his bad experiences around stuff he heard on the radio. Just from observation it seems like most of his life is built from T.V. and other media.

Either way, Sweets Sweetback is definitely my favorite cow, and this thread has been a pleasure to read. In particular I'd like to thank the good Dr. for their astounding posts, as well as everyone else that finally made interested enough to start posting here.

Edit: I see the salad bar incident as something more along the lines of his comedy routines. He probably thought going against the grain would make people laugh. Much like the comedy, it likely made them confused, but I see both as him seeking attention.
 
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Ruin said:
I still can't get over how ridiculously old his vernacular makes him sound. Whenever he says stuff like "tarnation" and "what in blazes?" I think of an old man in his late 70's, not a guy who grew up during the Clinton era.
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I think a lot of that ties into his classic cartoon obsession, since a lot of them are lifted from old cartoons and comics.
 
I truly believe (which I explained poorly in my first post) that the whole fabric of his life is based on media. It's to the point where one can pinpoint where he lifted words from. As you say, things like "tarnation" are straight from Loony Toons, his writing style is based on the authors mentioned. This ties in with the lack of original thoughts in the comic, because nothing in his life is original. Almost every facet comes from media, and he inserts himself, or his own minor variation. It's like some kind of half-past-1997 mad lib.
 
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