I have run the Day By Day cartoon by Chris Muir for around two years at Captain's Quarters, and I constantly receive e-mail on the strip. It's about evenly split; I get equally passionate missives about its content in either direction. Yesterday, however, Chris depicted the 40ish female character Sam in nothing but a thong and a come-hither look, which brought an especially impassioned set of e-mails from CQ readers.

I correspond with Chris on occasion, which I enjoy immensely; he's a great guy. He contacted me earlier this week because another blogger denounced me for displaying DBD, calling me a phony conservative. Chris wanted to find out my state of mind and explain what he wants to do with his creation, and I appreciated the contact.

Obviously, Chris wants to push boundaries with DBD, and I think he does it well and intelligently. Normally that's a good thing. Conservatives have a reputation for stultifying puritanism, and Chris wants to make conservatism provocative and help it to compete by breaking down stereotypes. Not every conservative comic has to be Mallard Fillmore, and not every conservative has an issue with provocative imagery.

As for yesterday's entry, I think Chris went over the top. That won't keep me from supporting Chris and his comic strip nor cause me to rethink my association with it. I don't agree with every post at Power Line, for instance, and I know plenty of people who have an issue with their coverage of beauty pageants and bathing-suit competitions. That doesn't bother me, and our occasional disagreements couldn't possibly cause me to sever my support for what they do (in fact, truth be told, the disagreements often make it that much more fun for John Hinderaker and me). Chris is a quality person and a dedicated conservative who rides the edge in order to get the conservative viewpoint to a larger audience, and I'm happy to be part of that effort.

The reason for my post is to give commenters a thread in which we all can debate this. The CQ community is the best in the 'sphere, bar none, and it would be wrong of me to fail to provide a forum on this topic when I know so many of you have opinions you would like to express.

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» Mallard Fillmore Creator Charged with DUI from Outside The Beltway | OTB
Bruce Tinsley, creator of the popular “Mallard Fillmore” comic strip, has been charged with DUI. Hoosier Edward Bruce Tinsley, creator of the conservative comic strip Mallard Fillmore, was arrested in Columbus on Dec. 4 and charged with op... [Read More]

Tracked on December 13, 2006 11:36 AM

» Mallard Fillmore Creator Charged with DUI from Outside The Beltway | OTB
Bruce Tinsley, creator of the popular “Mallard Fillmore” comic strip, has been charged with DUI. Hoosier Edward Bruce Tinsley, creator of the conservative comic strip Mallard Fillmore, was arrested in Columbus on Dec. 4 and charged with op... [Read More]

Tracked on December 13, 2006 11:36 AM

» Intentional, or am I just looking for something? from HoodaThunk?
This morning I read a post over at Captain’s Quarters where noted conservative comic artist Chris Muir (who does the highly enjoyable comic strip Day by Day) apparently caused a stir by depicting one of his characters, a woman going by the name &... [Read More]

Tracked on December 14, 2006 6:15 AM