Comic-kaze

You’re doing your part to save the planet: You take reusable bags to the grocery store instead of wasting plastic; you turn off the water in the shower while you wash your hair; you’ve started recycling diligently and reuse the plastic containers from store-bought products. That’s great. But is it enough? Not really, according to Stephanie McMillan, the artist behind the subversive syndicated comic strip Minimum Security. In her new graphic novel, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial, coauthored with Derrick Jensen, McMillan suggests through humor and satire that, while making small changes in our lives to lower our levels of consumption is positive, it’s hardly going to change the world. To do that we have to get more radical, and we can start by holding corporations accountable, not consumers.

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More About

• Stephanie McMillan
• Derrick Jensen

The book’s heroines rattle through a list of small changes they can make to stop the planet from being destroyed. Meanwhile, corporate interests are duking it out with planet-munching aliens for who gets to destroy the Earth first. It’s tongue-in-cheek, yes, but her message rings true: (1) We’re not doing much outside our comfort zone, and (2) we’re getting stuck with the bill that the powers-that-be have rung up. Today at 3 p.m., McMillan will elaborate on As the World Burns, talk politics, and host a nifty slideshow at Tate’s Comics (4566 N. University Dr., Lauderhill). It’s free to attend, and you just might learn something. Call 954-748-0181.
Sun., May 4, 3 p.m., 2008