"Panel for panel, the most insightful political cartoonist is the hilarious @tomtomorrow- THIS MODERN WORLD is simultaneously the funniest, scariest & most accurate comicstrip out there!"
—Mark Hamill, from this tweet
This Modern World is a weekly comic strip/political cartoon by Tom Tomorrow AKA Dan Perkins. Appearing in various alternative newspapers around the US, and online at Daily Kos and The Nation, the strip takes a very, very liberal look at current events. Often stars Sparky, an acerbic sunglass-wearing penguin, and the Very Nice dog Blinky.
Tomorrow has also written a (non-partisan and theoretically non-political) children's book, The Very Silly Mayor.
The strip's official site is here. The strip is also available here.
These Modern Tropes:
- Animated Adaptation:
- A Web Animation during the dot-com boom.
- A second adaptation, to be animated by Film Roman, was announced in 2016.
- Author Avatar: Sparky, although he sometimes interacts with Tomorrow in-strip as well.
- The Blank: In one series of strips, one of these runs for president.
- Brain Monster: The titular terror in "The Thing That Ate America's Brain" (and its three sequels) is a tentacled Eldritch Abomination that feeds on the "chaos, anger and turmoil" generated by Donald Trump and his supporters. For his part, Trump denies colluding with "an ancient Lovecraftian horror that thrives on psychic discord! Or Russia."
- Brain Uploading: When the titular character in "The One Rich Guy" dies, his consciousness is transferred to an immortal robot body, which he uses to hunt humans for sport.
- Cool Shades: Sparky's futuristic sunglasses.
- Crapsaccharine World: The comic has bright pastel colors, but the tone is ruthlessly cynical.
- Cut and Paste Comic: Tomorrow uses/traces over vintage clipart to create the strip's look.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Donald Trump, in an example that also involves elements of Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!. (The strip is one of several portraying Trump as a parody of The Incredible Hulk, hence the Hulk Speak.)Hillary Clinton: And maybe he doesn't pay any taxes—
Donald Trump: That make Trump smart! Still, Trump hope no disgruntled former wife or acquaintance leak returns. [Beat] Wait, did Trump say that out loud? - Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Depicted more than once.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Plutocrat Pete and Tea Party Tim both hate taxes, but unlike the latter, Plutocrat Pete doesn't want to force the government to default, which is why he sees Tim as a "nihilistic moron willing to crash the entire economy."
- Fiction 500: The titular "One Rich Guy".Opening Narration: Billionaires made bank during the COVID-19 Pandemic... but after the even worse pandemic of 2025, one rich guy ended up with as much wealth as the rest of humanity combined.
- Hulk Speak: Donald Trump's character sometimes speaks this way (when portrayed as an orange version of The Incredible Hulk), although while he uses the Third-Person Person and poor grammar (particularly word agreement) elements, his vocabulary is relatively advanced for this trope.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: This exchange regarding Trump's presidency.Sparky: We are completely and utterly screwed, but happy holidays!
Trump: Hey! You have to say "Merry Christmas" now! - I'm a Humanitarian: All of humanity (except Donald Trump) gets eaten by aliens in this strip.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Donald Trump tries this in one strip about the "Donald Trump Comedy Hour".Trump: Hey, how about those Second amendment people? Gotta love 'em! One of them oughta take care of my opponent, amirite? Ha ha ha! Kidding! I'm just kidding!
- Kent Brockman News: Broadcasts of the Action McNews Network.
- Kid Detective: The Recurring Character "Conservative Jones, Internet Detective" is an Encyclopedia Brown parody who constantly takes right wing memes and claims at face value, no matter how false or absurd they are. His Beleaguered Assistant Moonbat tries to talk some sense into his boss, who dismisses him with contemptuous condescension.
- Kill the Poor: One strip shows a post-apocalyptic world where the poor are fattened up on the available food and eaten by the rich.
- Pooled Funds: The titular "One Rich Guy" tries this. It doesn't work out well for him.The One Rich Guy: Those old comic books about the rich duck did not mention this lack of buoyancy!
- Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: Goofball and Galahad (seen in these two strips) are parodies of Goofus and Gallant, with the twist that Goofball brings up legitimate problems that Galahad tries to dismiss or explain away.
- Shout-Out: Characters such as Beavis And Butthead, Doctor Who (specifically the 12th Doctor) and the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series have made guest appearances. This strip alone features cameos by Pinocchio, Darth Vader and Dilbert.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: In this strip, Sparky tells off a conservative by saying that he doesn't need to deal with him before walking off, leaving the conservative to sputter about his freedom of speech.
- The Sociopath: The strip unofficially diagnoses Trump as a low-functioning one, stating that he lacks any remorse for his actions, lies frequently and has an inflated sense of self-worth, and uses this as one of many arguments as to why he is a terrible president.
- Straw Character: Biff, the strip's resident Republican.
- Take That!: Republicans and conservatives in general.
- Toilet Humor: Parodied when an ordinary social media user who calls himself "Smell My Farts" comes up with a hot take on The Middle East that instantly solves the conflict. Joe Biden soon appoints him as his Secretary of State.
- Wall of Text: Lampshaded by the artist on more than one occasion.
