#MattBors

[imagella-blog]

Mopsz kutya fehér háttérrel, Matt Bors stílusában, komor hangulat

Mopsz Képek #HáziállatKutya #ModernMűvészet #MelegSzínek #AggodalmaskodóHangulat #MűvésziFotózás #KreatívInspiráció #KreatívStílus #OtthoniÁllatok #HíresFotográfus #KortársMűvészet

[thereasonsimbroke]

AHOY Comics will revive the #90s eco-superhero team in a new five-issue series, #ToxicCrusaders, a limited series debuting on September 10, 2025.

Written by #MattBors (founder of THE NIB) with art by #TristanWright, the comic reunites Toxie with familiar mutants—No-Zone, Junkyard, and Major Disaster—alongside newcomer Fungirl as they combat an alien conspiracy in the polluted aftermath that created Toxie. The release coincides with a Peter Dinklage–starring #ToxicAvenger film and a tie-in video game from Retroware, all part of AHOY’s “Toxic Mess Summer.”

Variant covers by AR Sullivan, Xander Arnot, and a trading card edition complete the launch, which follows recent AHOY titles, including The Toxic Avenger trade paperback and the Toxie Team-Up miniseries.

[keycomicbooks]

The Toxic Avenger #1 (2024) Fred Harper Art, Matt Bors Story, With Trading Card 

#TheToxicAvenger #1 (2024) #FredHarper Art, #MattBors Story, With Trading Card "Untitled" You remember him from the classic films, animated series, and action figures — now America's grossest icon returns to comics! https://rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/The%20Toxic%20Avenger.html @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #AhoyCave #RareComics #KeyComicBooks #KeyComics

[danielalively]

[ultralaser]

"the irritating gentleman" (1874) by berthold woltze, feat. matt bors. #theirritatinggentleman #bertholdwoltze #mattbors #streetharassment #nihilism https://www.instagram.com/p/BqYbkRZnwz9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=95vz32a8n817

[lwyzlwyz]

mr gotcha by @mattbors sums this up beautifully

No, “convenience” isn’t the problem

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in CHICAGO (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Using Amazon, or Twitter, or Facebook, or Google, or Doordash, or Uber doesn't make you lazy. Platform capitalism isn't enshittifying because you made the wrong shopping choices.

Remember, the reason these corporations were able to capture such substantial market-share is that the capital markets saw them as a bet that they could lose money for years, drive out competition, capture their markets, and then raise prices and abuse their workers and suppliers without fear of reprisal. Investors were chasing monopoly power, that is, companies that are too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to care:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

The tactics that let a few startups into Big Tech are illegal under existing antitrust laws. It's illegal for large corporations to buy up smaller ones before they can grow to challenge their dominance. It's illegal for dominant companies to merge with each other. "Predatory pricing" (selling goods or services below cost to prevent competitors from entering the market, or to drive out existing competitors) is also illegal. It's illegal for a big business to use its power to bargain for preferential discounts from its suppliers. Large companies aren't allowed to collude to fix prices or payments.

But under successive administrations, from Jimmy Carter through to Donald Trump, corporations routinely broke these laws. They explicitly and implicitly colluded to keep those laws from being enforced, driving smaller businesses into the ground. Now, sociopaths are just as capable of starting small companies as they are of running monopolies, but that one store that's run by a colossal asshole isn't the threat to your wellbeing that, say, Walmart or Amazon is.

All of this took place against a backdrop of stagnating wages and skyrocketing housing, health, and education costs. In other words, even as the cost of operating a small business was going up (when Amazon gets a preferential discount from a key supplier, that supplier needs to make up the difference by gouging smaller, weaker retailers), Americans' disposable income was falling.

So long as the capital markets were willing to continue funding loss-making future monopolists, your neighbors were going to make the choice to shop "the wrong way." As small, local businesses lost those customers, the costs they had to charge to make up the difference would go up, making it harder and harder for you to afford to shop "the right way."

In other words: by allowing corporations to flout antimonopoly laws, we set the stage for monopolies. The fault lay with regulators and the corporate leaders and finance barons who captured them – not with "consumers" who made the wrong choices. What's more, as the biggest businesses' monopoly power grew, your ability to choose grew ever narrower: once every mom-and-pop restaurant in your area fires their delivery drivers and switches to Doordash, your choice to order delivery from a place that payrolls its drivers goes away.

Monopolists don't just have the advantage of nearly unlimited access to the capital markets – they also enjoy the easy coordination that comes from participating in a cartel. It's easy for five giant corporations to form conspiracies because five CEOs can fit around a single table, which means that some day, they will:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#how-the-parties-get-to-yes

By contrast, "consumers" are atomized – there are millions of us, we don't know each other, and we struggle to agree on a course of action and stick to it. For "consumers" to make a difference, we have to form institutions, like co-ops or buying clubs, or embark on coordinated campaigns, like boycotts. Both of these tactics have their place, but they are weak when compared to monopoly power.

Luckily, we're not just "consumers." We're also citizens who can exercise political power. That's hard work – but so is organizing a co-op or a boycott. The difference is, when we dog enforcers who wield the power of the state, and line up behind them when they start to do their jobs, we can make deep structural differences that go far beyond anything we can make happen as consumers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

We're not just "consumers" or "citizens" – we're also workers, and when workers come together in unions, they, too, can concentrate the diffuse, atomized power of the individual into a single, powerful entity that can hold the forces of capital in check:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-injury-to-one/#is-an-injury-to-all

And all of these things work together; when regulators do their jobs, they protect workers who are unionizing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

And strong labor power can force cartels to abandon their plans to rig the market so that every consumer choice makes them more powerful:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

And when consumers can choose better, local, more ethical businesses at competitive rates, those choices can make a difference:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/10/view-a-sku/

Antimonopoly policy is the foundation for all forms of people-power. The very instant corporations become too big to fail, jail or care is the instant that "voting with your wallet" becomes a waste of time.

Sure, choose that small local grocery, but everything on their shelves is going to come from the consumer packaged-goods duopoly of Procter and Gamble and Unilever. Sure, hunt down that local brand of potato chips that you love instead of P&G or Unilever's brand, but if they become successful, either P&G or Unilever will buy them out, and issue a press release trumpeting the purchase, saying "We bought out this beloved independent brand and added it to our portfolio because we know that consumers value choice."

If you're going to devote yourself to solving the collective action problem to make people-power work against corporations, spend your precious time wisely. As Zephyr Teachout writes in Break 'Em Up, don't miss the protest march outside the Amazon warehouse because you spent two hours driving around looking for an independent stationery so you could buy the markers and cardboard to make your anti-Amazon sign without shopping on Amazon:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/29/break-em-up/#break-em-up

When blame corporate power on "laziness," we buy into the corporations' own story about how they came to dominate our lives: we just prefer them. This is how Google explains away its 90% market-share in search: we just chose Google. But we didn't, not really – Google spends tens of billions of dollars every single year buying up the search-box on every website, phone, and operating system:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Blaming "laziness" for corporate dominance also buys into the monopolists' claim that the only way to have convenient, easy-to-use services is to cede power to them. Facebook claims it's literally impossible for you to carry on social relations with the people that matter to you without also letting them spy on you. When we criticize people for wanting to hang out online with the people they love, we send the message that they need to choose loneliness and isolation, or they will be complicit in monopoly.

The problem with Google isn't that it lets you find things. The problem with Facebook isn't that it lets you talk to your friends. The problem with Uber isn't that it gets you from one place to another without having to stand on a corner waving your arm in the air. The problem with Amazon isn't that it makes it easy to locate a wide variety of products. We should stop telling people that they're wrong to want these things, because a) these things are good; and b) these things can be separated from the monopoly power of these corporate bullies:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/08/divisibility/#technognosticism

Remember the Napster Wars? The music labels had screwed over musicians and fans. 80 percent of all recorded music wasn't offered for sale, and the labels cooked the books to make it effectively impossible for musicians to earn out their advances. Napster didn't solve all of that (though they did offer $15/user/month to the labels for a license to their catalogs), but there were many ways in which it was vastly superior to the system it replaced.

The record labels responded by suing tens of thousands of people, mostly kids, but also dead people and babies and lots of other people. They demanded an end to online anonymity and a system of universal surveillance. They wanted every online space to algorithmically monitor everything a user posted and delete anything that might be a copyright infringement.

These were the problems with the music cartel: they suppressed the availability of music, screwed over musicians, carried on a campaign of indiscriminate legal terror, and lobbied effectively for a system of ubiquitous, far-reaching digital surveillance and control:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/02/nonbinary-families/#red-envelopes

You know what wasn't a problem with the record labels? The music. The music was fine. Great, even.

But some of the people who were outraged with the labels' outrageous actions decided the problem was the music. Their answer wasn't to merely demand better copyright laws or fairer treatment for musicians, but to demand that music fans stop listening to music from the labels. Somehow, they thought they could build a popular movement that you could only join by swearing off popular music.

That didn't work. It can't work. A popular movement that you can only join by boycotting popular music will always be unpopular. It's bad tactics.

When we blame "laziness" for tech monopolies, we send the message that our friends have to choose between life's joys and comforts, and a fair economic system that doesn't corrupt our politics, screw over workers, and destroy small, local businesses. This isn't true. It's a lie that monopolists tell to justify their abuse. When we repeat it, we do monopolists' work for them – and we chase away the people we need to recruit for the meaningful struggles to build worker power and political power.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/12/give-me-convenience/#or-give-me-death

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[furryalligator]

You'll have 15 seconds to read each section of today's CSotD, after which I'll tell you whether you're a winner or a loser, w/@DWFitzsimmons @marlandcartoons @MattBors @davidhorsey & @CarpeDiemComic -- https://t.co/EWcazUxiLI pic.twitter.com/2zKEuvH8XP

— Mike Peterson (@ComicStripOTD) July 31, 2019

[politicalsci]

https://twitter.com/MattBors/status/1313854745711382529

[seymour-butz-stuff]

Follow me on Twitter at @MattBors or sign up to my mailing list.

[azspot]

Dating exclusively within my amazon membership pool. She delivers prime packages and I work in the fulfillment center, we meet on the shoulder of the highway for ten minutes between her shifts and smooch—I take the hit on docked pay.

Matt Bors

[imagella-blog]

Pack Design Tatouage Éclair

Bienvenue dans l'une des plus grandes collections de éclair tatouages en français, offrant plusieurs milliers de thèmes variés. Avec plus de 81 000 paquets d'œuvres d'art, notre bibliothèque numérique propose une diversité inégalée de designs, incluant des symboles, des animaux, des objets et bien plus encore. Téléchargez nos fichiers en 4K PNG, SVG, EPS, PDF et silhouettes noir et blanc pour des créations personnalisées et précises. Idéals pour les tatoueurs professionnels et les passionnés de body art, nos tatouages numériques couvrent une large gamme de styles, du minimaliste au détaillé. Utilisez nos templates et pochoirs pour simplifier votre processus de création et offrir des designs uniques à vos clients. Explorez notre collection et trouvez l'inspiration parfaite pour vos prochains projets artistiques.

[the-weirder]

@mattbors

https://youtu.be/dlAsb_7mzDw

[comiccrusaders]

1PM EST LIVE on #ComicCrusadersWorld, @TheRealAlMega hangs out with @MattBors & @BenClarkson to talk all about the hit @AhoyComicMags book, #Justice Warriors and more.... #comics #podcast #vidcast ---> https://youtube.com/live/ho-gDkqPvmw

[takashi0]

Can you tell me why you hate the Bors comic?

https://takashi0.tumblr.com/post/176499265874/shinden-rants-captainkupo-mattbors-mr

https://takashi0.tumblr.com/post/177209899378/immaterialmurdoc-hominishostilis

TL;DR: the man’s an idiot who claims to be a communist while being a corporate bootlicker with no self-awareness whatsoever. 

[hwy95eh]

[25-04-2023]

As I've been fielding replies that have come in since posting a local business owner's 'open letter' on 95EH.CA about the 'Mayor's Marysville McDonalds Messaging' (oooh… nice alliteration), which was shared on both the 95EH Instagram and Facebook, a common attempted "gotcha!" I've noticed on this topic has been bringing up the fact that some corporate fast food establishments already exist in the area (so… "riddle me that perchance", I guess?).

ANYWAYS… when replying to one such instance, I was reminded of that internet-famous @mattbors comic strip with the orange shirt 'Gotcha! Guy', but since one can't include visuals when replying to an Instagram comment, and because I was also reminded of another meme that doesn't work as well when all you can do is explain it with words, I decided I would fire up the ol' 2009 iMac and put together a couple draft copies of the memes I had attempted to reference in an Instagram comments thread.

.

 .

•

** This MOUNTOWN MEME was created & submitted by Jeremy // @HI54LOFI, from somewhere & some-when around Kimberley, BC — which is a small mountain town found in a geographical location that is sometimes seen with an asterisk-doing-A-LOT-of-work denoting that the area is also “the unceded traditional territory of the Ktunaxa (?amak?is) Nation” (because sometimes the ‘BC’ stands for ‘Because Colonialism’, eh?).

ANYWAYS… if you fancy creating & submitting your own ‘mountain town meme’ to be featured on HWY 95EH.CA (or fancy getting involved some other way) — reach out via email to ‘hey@95eh.ca’ or get in touch on Tumblr if you’re also on here or you can also dm the Instagram or Facebook or check this site’s EH? page to see if I’ve got around to updating with better info on how to get involved with the post-pandemic version of this ‘95eh idea’, eh (related/unrelated: THE 95EH EVENTS CALENDAR is back and there is also mention of something called 'MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL EMPLOYMENT' underneath the local events calendar stocked with dang-near EVERY event going on in the Kimberley & Cranbrook area) 👍