Like many people I have a Mother. Way back when, besides love flowing both ways, I felt her desire to kill us three kids and our own desire to be rid of her. My Mom, now an accomplished writer, was a 'housewife.' She did all the cooking, cleaning, shopping and child-rearing herself. As a child it struck me that this burden alone was enough to drive someone mad, then add our "Thanks, Mom" cards for a ridiculous yearly Mother's Day and you could send a Mother over the edge. I took inspiration from 50's style sci-fi movies like Them and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to help me deal with Mothers as Monsters in a comic way.

From this outrageous starting point I've tried to humorously explore how we as a country generally react to the 'Monsters' we encounter. Us against Them. I remember the absolute shock I felt when I first learned that the U.S. had interred Japanese-Americans in "relocation camps" during WWII. Learning of our McCarthy Era and the congressional hearings to rout out Communism was another blow to the image I'd been taught of my country: Liberty and Justice for All. And it continued — the segregation policies fought in the '6os, gay bashing, AIDS discrimination, racial profiling — on and on to today's Homeland Security and Patriot Acts.

In demonizing Mothers — who we hold so dear and sacred, I hope to comically point to how quickly fear creates mob mentality. We can steamroll civil rights yet propaganda makes it all OK. Add to this a little pathos, a bit of corporate immorality and greed, a sprinkling of slapstick, some humanity, courage and redemption, and you've got this crazy fable for our scary times.