This cartoon was supposed to run last week and be live over Valentine's Day, but all media attention being given to global warming made me want to slide in Global Gus. (I got an angry email from an Eye reader taking me to task for advocating the funding UFO research instead of measures to fight climate change. Being the target of an avid environmentalist's rant was an odd feeling, since I'm usually the one doing the ranting. I assured her that the opinions of the characters in this comic strip did not necessarily represent that of the cartoonist -- and may in fact represent the opinions of the global warming deniers being lampooned.)

For regular readers, it is clear that the above post-Valentine's Day comic strip has been a long time brewing. For Horst's long-suffering partner Celia, the cancelled trip to Cuba and the "tamper-proof" thermostat were the last straws. Stay tuned for more consequences of global warming that Al Gore never mentioned.

10 Years Ago This Week: February 20, 1997
Then as now, February is RRSP time. But it seemed to have reached a crescendo in 1997 that hadn't been seen before, enhancing to the already-virulent blahs. (Weltschmerz changed its dimensions to fit a new design at Eye Weekly and has been in this longer format since. Because of this, I am only highlighting a few panels. Click the date above for the full cartoon.)

Retailers for Attack of the Same-Sex Sleeper Cells:

Toronto:
Pages, 256 Queen Street West (at John).
The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street (near Bloor and Bathurst)
Book City, three locations - 501 Bloor St. West, 348 Danforth Ave., 663 Yonge St.
Hairy Tarantula, 354 Yonge Street (near Dundas).

Guelph:
The Bookshelf, 41 Quebec Street.
Macondo Books, 18 Wilson Street

Waterloo: Words Worth Books, 100 King Street South

Kitchener: KW Bookstore, 308 King Street West

Hamilton: Bryan Prince Bookseller, 1060 King Street West