INTERVIEW: Chris Muir’s Shadowbanned Webcomic “Day By Day” Illustrates Free Speech

DAY BY DAY Brings the Pain to Elitist Culture

Winston Churchill’s masterful summary of the totalitarian blockade around captive cultures as an Iron Curtain has received a Twenty-first century revision.

Thanks to Big Tech, the repressive dynamic being enforced now is a Silicon Curtain. It’s no longer limited to Eastern Europe. We have a worldwide will to power attempting to throttle the greatest source of information and communication in history: the internet. Early innovators grew into citadels of monopoly. Being smart with computers gave these would-be overlords conceits of their own omnipotence. Look at that nasty Bill Gates, eager to inject the world’s population with his own special blend of God knows what, in a response to a manufactured Scamdemic he sure seemed to be planning for. With a creepy scheme like that, Gates is one volcano headquarters away from being a James Bond villain-and who knows? He may have one already.

Big Tech has partnered with authoritarian regimes to beta test techniques of tyranny they have every intent of inflicting upon us all. Have no trust in these trusts, which are sorely in need of busting.

But in the meantime, freedom still manages to break through the controls. Officially condemned Wrongthink can still be found online, if you know where to look. That’s why I was so glad to rediscover Day by Day, a daily political webcomic by Chris Muir.

I used to follow Day by Day in my early days of internet political obsessing in the early 2000s. It was the glory days of the Blogosphere, before so much of online engagement was squashed into filtered social media silos. The strip was featured on various sites I compulsively visited. DBD’s combination of sharp, insightful commentary and expressive drawing was very compelling.

Day by Day in 2008

Through the years, as my browsing habits changed, I lost touch with comic. But when I recently rediscovered it, I observed it had undergone an upgrade. The Alinsky-style weapons of satire and sarcasm directed at leftist tropes was as powerful as ever, but the art was richer, more elaborate.

Muir has great skill at figurative work, especially when depicting lovely ladies. As Muir’s dialogues are often set in intimate domestic situations, he frequently draws his characters nude. Any criticism directed at him for celebrating the female form, coming from cultural thought leaders who promote Cardi B, is rank hypocrisy. To me, Muir’s frank depictions prove his commitment to honestly sharing his free expressions. The salty politics are leavened with some sweet beauty.

Day by Day Bares Arms and More 

Chris Muir is participating in Remodernism, the spirit of liberty which is persisting around the globe, despite the Postmodern establishment’s best efforts to smother it.  As I state in my 2018 book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization:

“Remodernism acknowledges artists as individuals responsible for their own actions. Artists have the duty to honestly express the spirit of the age filtered through their unique perspective and skills. Remodern artists use their art to show the enduring triumph of the human spirit over any negative circumstances.

“We must overcome the Postmodern efforts to censor and subvert the culture by suppressing free expression. We don’t need anyone’s approval or permission to create.”

I recently conducted an email interview with Chris Muir, discussing the past, present and future of his creative endeavors.

Question: How did you begin Day by Day? How is it going currently?

Chris Muir: In 1996, I became frustrated at the bias I saw in media-all media. I always had a thing for American history, and to see how warped the presentation of it was in ‘News’ and comics-like Doonesbury and many other syndicated toons-I thought ‘I can do better than this’, and set out to do so. I did practice toons from 1996 to 2002 (unreleased) to see if I could do this as a night job (my day job for 30 years was as an Industrial Design consultant). I also did a single panel/day non-political strip for FL Today called ‘Altered States’ as additional practice to ensure I could meet a daily deadline.

Q: Your draftsmanship is part of what keeps Day by Day so interesting. What’s your artistic background?

CM: I’m self taught, much practice at Photoshop and Illustrator inasmuch as I did renderings of designs for various clients over the years-boats, electronic products, etc. This set me up well for the inevitable time when comics would be all digital.

I was one of the first to do an all digital comic strip, and being versed in Production techniques, I was able to do it all with one person-me! Today there are hundreds of cartoonists and artists who are all digital (Like Deviant Art), though I chose this method primarily because my day job took 80% of my time, and I had to be fast and accurate, as daily strips must be daily without fail. One has to get on readers’ short list of daily reads, especially now (unlike back in 2002 when I launched) because of thousands of content choices. One must become a habit for that reader(s) for they are your income(and shared values).

Q: Were there any notable influences on your art or content?

CM: Richard Corben, Vargas, Milton Caniff, Dean Yeagle, Wallace Wood, Gil Evgren, Bruce Timm.

Q; What’s been your most controversial strip?

CM: I had Hillary in blackface, pandering to the black vote, back in 2003? That was notable back then, but in today’s political climate, Americans don’t debate much with the Left as they have truly gone off the reservation.

Q: When did the censorship begin? Were you surprised, or did you see it coming? How have you been censored?

CM: First Facebook, then Google, around…10 years ago, I think. I was not surprised, saw that coming from the start, having gone through the Cold War with the Left’s Idol, the USSR. I would guess I have been shadow banned to some extent, but inasmuch as I have always decided to be direct to readers, it doesn’t affect me that much. I was lucky to have been a slightly large frog in the Blogosphere Pond when it bloomed, and that set the readership pretty much from there.

Q: What’s your new project?

CM: A SciFi project based on today’s Red vs Blue conflict but set on a different world. www.HolyTera.com should be up November-December this year.

Q: What appeals to you about the science fiction genre?

CM: I suppose the invention of Worlds, what might be, and especially Men and Women-not Xis or Zirs- in such settings.

Q: What do you want your fans to take away from your comics?

CM: A desire to fund me! Well, mostly I aim to be a 15 second read on the day’s political/cultural/MenWomen news in comic format. In today’s attention span deficit era-and I include myself on this-it is a powerful way to entertain and inform in a multiverse of endless online content. So, readers get a summary, in a fun form, of what’s going on.

Q: In this technologically advanced but fragmented age, what future do you see for comics?

CM: A good one, actually-there’s never been a better time for any content provider or artist, as the ‘net delivers for free to unlimited readers-no gateway, editor, middleman, or social justice idiots to drag one back down into the crab bucket. But I would suggest whatever you do, make it constant, for once you lose a reader, you are lost to them in the noise of Many Choices!

Q: How can people find your works?

www.daybydaycartoon.com , www.holytera.com  – or just Google my name! I still seem to be on the first page of results.

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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy a book. Or a painting. 

My wife Michele Bledsoe has written her own inspirational book, Painting, Passion and the Art of Life.

Remodernism Video: BEFORE THERE WAS FAKE NEWS, THERE WAS FAKE ART 

Please send any inquiries to info@remodernamerica.com. Thank you!

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! Please visit other articles for more commentary on the state of the arts.