Mel Bowling is the unhappy, out-of-touch creator of a very bad, daily
newspaper comic strip called Freddy Ferret (a cross between Dilbert
and Garfield). He spends most of his time listening to Rush Limbaugh
and coming up with horrible catchphrases to merchandise, while his
"sweatshop" cast of studio assistants grind out all the hard work.
Sweatshop is a hilarious situational comedy from acclaimed author
Peter Bagge (Buddy Does Seattle, Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger
Story) that ingeniously incorporates the visual styles of cartoonist
guest stars like Stephen DeStefano (Popeye) and Johnny Ryan (Prison
Pit) to give voice to Bowling's colorful cast of misfit, aspiring
cartoonists (plus a cameo by Neil Gaiman!), all attempting to make it
big like their boss, but on their own terms. Originally published as a
six-issue series by DC Comics in 2003 that was never collected, this is
one of the best and most undervalued works of one of the key voices of
his generation.