"A Cartoonist's view of the Virus"

Dan Youra, Cartoonist and Caricature Artist

Do you know that the corona virus has bulging eyes and a little round body encircled by spikes? It looks like a salmon egg or a tadpole. It even has facial expressions, which range from almost cute and likable to scary and threatening. The cartoonish virus is the creation of Dan Youra, cartoonist and caricature artist, who draws his imaginary viruses on cards and posters, which he brands as Sick Cards.

According to Youra, everyone is a victim of the virus. Everyone is sick, not only from the virus itself, but also from the world-wide epidemic, which is directed by political leaders and the medical establishment. In his Sick Cards, Youra depicts the epidemic leaders as hacks and quacks. His characters include Fauci and Gates, Biden and Pelosi, and leaders of the high tech industry.

Youra asks, "What isn't sick about the whole stinking pandemic? Everything is sick about it. The virus is sick. Its unknown origin is sick. The medical industry's response to the spiked monster is sick. And government's response is even sicker."

Somehow, Get Well cards and I Hope You Are Feeling Better wishes for pandemic victims seem hollow, contrived and misplaced in this national I.C.U. we all inhabit. Wishful thinking just doesn't fit the funeral parlor world we live in. It's all sick. Condolence cards replace Get Well cards. Admit it's sick.

Youra's Sick Cards are psychologically therapeutic and medically cathartic. It is healthier to acknowledge the sick reality of this asylum we all share than to live under the illusion that we simply need to be cheery and exchange Get Well wishes with fellow inmates.

The Sick Cards are loaded with satire, which is what one expects from art created by Dan Youra. He is recognized as a "master of satire." The definition of satire is "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity and vices, especially in the context of contemporary politics." Youra exposes the foibles of the medical quacks and political hacks. Read Reviews of Youra's talent. 

Youra asserts that the virus is only one piece of the puzzle. After the virus floated out of a bat cave, or escaped a test tube, or wherever it came from, the virus attracted an army of opportunistic handlers –– politicos, medicos, and media, who all scrambled to become the "official" spokespersons for the uninvited plague. They are the other piece of the puzzle. The line between the virus itself and its apologists has become blurred. The corona virus is morphing with the human quacks and hacks into a trans human-virus, which is more pernicious and deadly than guano from a bat cave. The virus has become us and we have become the virus.

With Pogo we proclaim, "We have met the virus and it is us."

Sixty different cards and posters comprise the inventory of the Sick Cards, which are sold by Youra Media. Each poster is 11" wide X 8.5" tall and costs $1.00 to download onto a laptop or phone. The downloaded file can be printed and shared digitally. Sick Cards can be ordered to share with family and friends. Buyers can order printed Sick Cards and download Sick Posters. The cards are meant to be shared, not just with Covid positive patients, but with anyone and everyone, suffering from the pandemic. Youra suggests that card buyers send the first card to themselves.