Hi and welcome to the first full issue of Werewolf for 2011. Every few years, governments like to create a moral panic about how welfare is corroding the moral fibre of the poor and - as this month's cover story indicates - the real targets of this process are resentful low and middle income workers. Sure, a minority of beneficiaries do abuse the system - just as a minority cheat on their taxes or don't pay their parking fines. Yet the vast majority of beneficiaries make ends meet with honesty as best they can, on very little. The bulk of them would much prefer to be working in jobs - but the government seems unable to manage the economy in a way that will provide them.

Last month, long time Werewolf contributor James Robinson took himself and his camera to Washington DC. James ran into CNN's Wolf Blitzer going the other way, and took in the rest of the sights (big and small) of what Spike Lee and George Clinton used to call Chocolate City. With The Hobbit fiasco behind us, Werewolf turns to consider Treasury's ingrained opposition to the subsidies that makes such productions possible, and examines how many US states are now re-evaluating the worth of schemes. Opinion remains divided. Tax credits and film production grants are either a terrible waste of money or absolutely essential to saving film industry jobs. Talking about polarisation, people seem to be widely and weirdly divided in their cultural responses as well. Things are either omigod/totally awesome/you must see it ! or 'meh " - a word of such steely indifference that Werewolf has written a totally awesome article about it, which was probably the most 'meh' idea of all time. Too late now.

In Milestone Movies this month we turn the spotlight on John Ford's masterpiece The Searchers, in which the demonic character played by John Wayne takes racism and the patriarchy to the bitter limits. All part of why why this peculiar film has become one of the most influential movies of the past 50 years - and near the start, there's a scene where a shadow falls on a little girl hiding in a graveyard that just about blighted my childhood. In The Complicatist music column, we resurrect ten or so lost soul music classics - some old, some new. Our children's classics column this month is devoted to George Selden's The Cricket in Times Square and - given Selden's apparently lurid private life - we raise the question of whether children's book authors should be expected to be any less rambunctious than anyone else.

In his satirical column this month, Lyndon Hood salutes John Key, the nation's mercurial performance artist. Is being " Prime Minister" his greatest conceptual work yet,or merely the latest bonbon from one our most talented natural clowns ? You, the audience must decide. In Cartoon Alley, we have a new round of reviews by Tim Bollinger and new work by both Tim Bollinger and Brent Willis. We also outline the amazing parallels between an old Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa, and the movie Inception and....(drum roll) introduce a fascinating new body of work by Mat Tait and Mike Brown, who are engaged on an ambitious project to render in comic form a number of myths and tall tales derived from our Maori/European heritage.

As always, Werewolf is a monthly thank you to Scoop supporters, and aims to provide a showcase for good journalism and cartooning. If you'd like to be part of it, contact me on the
address below and we can talk story ideas. Thanks to Alastair Thompson for helping me to put up the issue online.

Gordon Campbell
Werewolf/Scoop
gordon@werewolf.co.nz

The contents of this edition are:

Ten Myths About Welfare
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/ten-myths-about-welfare/
The politics behind the government’s welfare reform process
by Gordon Campbell

Letter from America : Four Days in Washington DC
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/letter-from-america-four-days-in-washington-dc/
A Long Walk Down Memory Lane…
by James Robinson

Treasury Enters, Stage Right
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/identity-crisis-hits-the-big-screen/
Treasury, not trade unions, poses the biggest threat to film industry jobs
by Gordon Campbell

Celebrating “Meh”
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/celebrating-meh/
Indifference is an option
by Gordon Campbell

…and from last month's edition…
Record Shop R.I.P
http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/12/record-shop-r-i-p/
A few seasonal thoughts on the demise of ye olde record store
by Gordon Campbell

West Papua: from Morning Star to Mourning
http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/12/west-papua-from-morning-star-to-mourning/
The freedom & democracy movement in West Papua is using non-violent action to advance its cause.
by Jason MacLeod

Milestone Movies : The Searchers (1956)
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/milestone-movies-the-searchers-1956/
John Wayne, antihero
by Gordon Campbell

From The Hood : “John Key PM” Wins 2011 Walters Prize For Modern Art?
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/from-the-hood-john-key-pm-wins-2011-walters-prize-for-modern-art/
Is he a natural clown or the nation’s greatest conceptual artist?
by Lyndon Hood

Classics : The Cricket In Times Square (1960)
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/classics-the-cricket-in-times-square-1960/
Authors who write for children are people, too.
by Gordon Campbell

The Complicatist : Lost Soul Classics, Old and New
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/the-complicatist-lost-soul-classics-old-and-new/
How did Shreveport, Louisiana get to be the unknown soul capital of America?
by Gordon Campbell

Cartoon Alley : Mat Tait & Mike Brown
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/cartoon-alley-mike-brown-mat-tait/
Mat Tait is a South Island based cartoonist and illustrator. Mike Brown lives in Wellington and is currently writing a PhD thesis on New Zealand vernacular musics.
by Mike Brown & Mat Tait

Cartoon Alley : Reviews and commentary #20… Tim Bollinger
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/cartoon-alley-reviews-and-commentary-20-tim-bollinger/
Some Recent New Zealand Comic Publication
by Tim Bollinger

Cartoon Alley : Reviews and commentary #19… Gordon Campbell
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/cartoon-alley-reviews-and-commentary-19-gordon-campbell/
My Favourite Comic (this month) : “The Dream of a Lifetime” by Don Rosa
by Gordon Campbell

Cartoon Alley
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/werewolf-cartoon-alley/
Reviews, commentary and comics from local artists
by Werewolf

* * * * * WEREWOLF ISSUE 19, December 2010 * * * * *
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/werewolf-issue-19-december-2010/
The December 2010 Edition of Werewolf
by Werewolf

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from Scoop General Manager Alastair Thompson

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