The brilliant cartoonist Marc Roberts (whose work will be familiar to regular Dark Optimism readers) got in touch with the Transition Network last year offering to produce a strip exploring the Transition concept. The time has come for the results to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public!

In Marc’s own words, “they will be loosely exploring some of the Holmgren and Chamberlin scenarios through my usual combination of toilet humour and sarcasm”.

He does himself a disservice – for me, it’s a real honour to see my work used by someone whose talents I have long admired and enjoyed.

Two cartoons will be released each week. This post will be updated with the new cartoons as they are released, and they will also go out on Rob Hopkins’ Transition Culture site and on a Transition Network blog.

The first four (+ a special message from the Inspectorate) are below. Hope you enjoy them!

Mon 7 Feb

Letter to Earthlings from the Intergalactic Heath & Safety Inspectorate

To whom it may concern,

Your planet has been selected for an extended audit by the Intergalactic Health & Safety Inspectorate, a worker-owned cooperative originating from a distant galaxy.

My colleague Gort and I have much work ahead and we will need to communicate our progress to you. Our studies of your culture indicate that your pictures paint a thousand words, so we will be using cartoons to convey our message.

We’ve therefore randomly selected an earthling to chronicle our adventures and given him special cartooning powers. He is working from a safe house deep in the discombobulation matrix and when our work here is done, we’ll endeavour to return him to Manchester with most of his main parts intact.

So from now on, our adventures – starting below – will come to you in this medium.

And don’t be alarmed if you see us on your doorstep, we may be making housecalls in your area shortly…

Yours intergalactically,

Klaatu
– Primitive Species Specialist, Dept of Planetary Remediation
– Intergalactic Health & Safety Inspectorate, Upsilon Andromedae Sector

Fri 11 Feb

Mon 14 Feb

Fri 18 Feb

Mon 21 Feb

Mon 28 Feb

Mon 7 Mar

Mon 14 Mar

Mon 28 Mar

Mon 4 Apr

Mon 11 Apr

Mon 25 Apr

Mon 9 May

Mon 30 May

This is as far as Marc Roberts has drawn this story for now! Drop him a positive comment here if you’d like to see more!

Edit – Sun 4 Dec: