Bors always wanted to be a comic artist, but it wasn't until after 9/11 (he was 17 at the time) that he became political and alarmed at the direction the US was headed in. "I started drawing political cartoons for my college newspaper in the run up to the Iraq War and never stopped," he told Bored Panda.
The artist loves the medium — he has a thought balloon and a pen tattooed on his inner forearms — and believes it's a good medium to talk about anything. "I think with comics you have the ability to expose the way political arguments don't hold up and reveal how situations are absurd in a way that you just can't accomplish in a column."
But Bors doesn't just create comics. He also produces them. In 2013, he founded The Nib, an online magazine that shares strips on what is going down in the world. What's really interesting is The Nib is kind of owned by its readers — the independent project runs entirely on member subscriptions and donations.
"There was a hole in the publishing world that The Nib filled that is supportive of political and non-fiction cartoons and people want to support that," Bors said. "Editorial cartoons, in particular, used to be in most papers and provide hundreds of people with jobs, and now it's just a handful. So we're an outlet that makes sure this work has a home from established professionals to up-and-comers. We're fully independent, which means we can focus on comics and not the whims of a larger media company trying to grow infinitely or flip IP into movies—we just want to publish comics."
After all these years and accomplishments, however, Matt hasn't lost his passion for the craft. It's what keeps him going. "Awards are a nice boost sometimes, especially the ones that represent a blessing from colleagues, but they are ultimately meaningless if you're not happy doing the work without them."
