The Great Big ISIS Movie Extravaganza Part XX

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In the course of drawing this strip, I realised – somewhat belatedly – something I think worth mentioning. You know that – as in today’s episode – I have frequently had cause to draw ISIS flags. Have you ever thought about this ISIS flag? It’s interesting, for more reasons than are immediately apparent.

For instance, it’s instantly recognisable, and nobody will ever mistake it for any other flag, anywhere. For another, it’s easy to copy and reproduce (fortunately for me, and, I imagine, other cartoonists), unlike, for example, the horrendously complex flag used by its parent organisation, Al Qaeda. In fact one doesn’t have to know a word of Arabic to be able to reproduce the ISIS flag, even from memory alone. I mean, even I can.

Now, isn’t this – from a marketing point of view – very interesting? An instantly recognisable logo, setting out one’s brand on the market, totally unique and easy to spread further, with ethnicity and linguistic ability no bar whatsoever? Lots of companies would kill for that kind of recognition…in a manner of speaking.

I wonder, somehow, if ISIS had the benefit of some top level marketing professionals in selecting its emblem. But that’s really too absurd, to imagine top level marketing professionals would design a jihadist group’s flag, for maximum impact. Right?

Right?

Copyright B Purkayastha 2015

The Lion Thing

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Psychologically, I found today’s strip extremely difficult to draw. Anyone who knows me knows my love for (non-human) animals – the only creatures I kill are parasites, mosquitoes and houseflies. I procrastinated with this for days, ever since Cecil’s murder, while more crimes against non-human creatures kept piling up, while I tried to think of how to present it. Even when I had the idea clear in my mind, the atrocities visited on these poor animals made me almost helpless with anger, and reading them and looking over the photos for aid in the illustrations was highly traumatic.

Today’s strip is dedicated to Cecil, his brother Jericho, the nameless giraffe murdered by the two-legged beast in Panel Three, and all other non-human creatures who suffer daily at our hands for no fault of their own.

Copyright B Purkayastha 2015