David Squires

David Squires satirizes Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey, using jokes about Homer and The Simpsons before highlighting Emily Wilson’s criticism. Wilson argues that the film is grandiose and superficial, lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth, and fails to explore the poem’s treatment of war, memory, history and family relationships.

Yard Act discuss recording their forthcoming album, You’re Gonna Need A Little Music, between Leeds and Los Angeles. James Smith, Sam Shipstone and Ryan Needham say the record combines the optimism of California with the groundedness and regional identity of West Yorkshire. The band reject pressure to relocate to London or the United States, arguing that remaining in Leeds supports their creativity and helps preserve regional voices. They criticize the music industry’s growing dependence on virality, oversaturation and guaranteed success, while defending grassroots and DIY communities. Smith also explains that the new album prioritizes mood and subconscious feeling over the overt social commentary of earlier work, despite mixed reactions to singles such as “Redeemer” and “New Beginnings”.

David Squires’ comic satirizes the 2026 World Cup as increasingly commercialized and detached from football’s grassroots traditions. It contrasts celebrity culture, influencer coverage and controversial officiating with the working-class, anti-elitist spirit associated with the film Kes, while portraying Donald Trump as a corrupt figure within the tournament’s world.

A humorous look back at the chaotic 1972 Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival, where far more attendees arrived than expected, overwhelming the event’s limited provisions. David Squires recounts the massive lineup, the resulting disorder, and presents a comic capturing the wild nature of the festival.

David Squires’ latest comic humorously explores the chaos and discomfort of the UK’s festival season, contrasting it with the comparatively mild hardships of the football season. The piece focuses on a notorious Leeds Festival toilet incident involving Charlotte Taylor, using exaggerated comic language to portray festival culture as an annual period of disorder and endurance.

Cartoonist David Squires humorously examines the recurring elements of Taylor Sheridan’s work, including cowboys, guns, horses, long shots, despair and commercial imagery. The piece suggests that Sheridan’s growing filmography and influence on the neo-Western genre lend themselves to a satirical choose-your-own-adventure treatment.

David Squires’ comic explores the disputed story that Marlon Brando, Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor drove away from New York as the September 11 attacks unfolded. The account, attributed to Sam Kashner’s book Elizabeth Taylor’s Closing Act, includes humorous details about Brando’s hunger and stops at service stations. Taylor’s assistant denied that she left New York, saying she prayed in church and later went to Ground Zero to help frightened and wounded people, though that version is also uncorroborated. The comic therefore treats the road trip as an entertaining but unresolved celebrity myth.

The piece examines Happy Mondays’ chaotic trip to Barbados, where the band reportedly created music amid heavy drug use and disorder. It places the episode within the group’s broader importance to the Madchester scene and British music, highlighting their fusion of house and indie influences despite their notoriously reckless behavior and poor recollection of their work.

David Squires’ cartoon examines the history of the Oscars, arguing that the ceremony has long been shaped less by artistic merit than by scandal, celebrity culture and status competition. The piece traces the awards’ rise since 1929 and contrasts the era of literary cultural prestige with today’s intense focus on film celebrities and their image.

David Squires humorously revisits Jarvis Cocker’s 1996 mooning of Michael Jackson during the Brit Awards. The incident, which briefly made Cocker fear arrest and was later discussed on Chris Evans’s television show, is presented as an emblematic moment of eccentric 1990s British pop culture and is reimagined in a comic strip set to the tune of Pulp’s “Babies.”

David Squires’ latest comic humorously depicts the turbulent relationships and chaotic recording process behind Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album Rumours. The feature notes that the band’s romantic entanglements, although stressful, helped shape the album’s material and may have contributed to its extraordinary success, echoing Lindsey Buckingham’s assessment of its appeal.

David Squires’ comic strip explores how music and pop-culture figures can help people cope with the bleakness of January. The piece dismisses Blue Monday as an unscientific marketing concept while citing Music Institute of Chicago research that music activates the brain’s reward system and can improve motivation, pleasure and positive emotions. Robert Smith, Billy Corgan and Van Morrison are humorously portrayed as sources of winter cheer.

The piece recounts competing versions of a bizarre incident in which David Bowie and Dennis Hopper—or Bowie and actor Stockwell—visited Iggy Pop at a UCLA psychiatric facility after he chose rehabilitation over prison. One account describes an attempted escape, while another depicts a plan to smuggle cocaine into the facility. The visitors were reportedly admitted because staff were starstruck, and they shared drugs with Pop, viewing the act as support despite its dangerous recklessness. Bowie is credited with helping Pop eventually overcome his addiction.