Neil Swaab, the cartoonist behind the wickedly funny (and often simply wicked) comic strip Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles offers his take on the intersection of the holiday season and worldwide economic meltdown:

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If you’re not familiar with the misadventures of Swaab and his teddy bear sidekick, Mr. Wiggles, enjoy diving into the strip’s archives. Beware: Mr. Wiggles is no Teddy Ruxpin. Wiggles is known for extreme sexual deviance and violence, pushing boundaries that you probably don’t even realize exist (and might wish you still didn’t after reading). Through his explicit humor, Swaab explores the nature of taboo in a world that seems increasingly devoid of any remaining taboos, to great effect. His extreme situations offer a way in to explore everything from the position of the weakest in society (such as in a hilarious and disturbing series in which Wiggles enslaved a senior citizen) to the loneliness and alienation of a single artist in the city. His take on religion is pretty cynical, but his strip on atheism will surely strike a chord with at least a few Jewschoolers (as it did with the editors of The Humanist, who reprinted it in this month’s issue).