I had WAY too many comic ideas in response to the launch of the World of Warcraft Visa. I decided to smush a few into a single comic, because well... I have a backlog of comic inspirations that will keep me going for a year or two already!

I left off the scene where a store clerk looks very dubiously at the colorful WoW Visa, which looks more like a membership card for a geek club than a serious credit card, heh.

There are so many causes for giggles with a fun title like WoW involved, but as I drew the comic, I started thinking more about the role of credit cards in our spend-tastic society.

The WoW promotion happily states, "The card that pays you to play." Give me a break. No credit card pays you to play. Ever.

That just sounds a lot like the annoying policies that the banks have that "protect you, the consumer".... you know darn well who they protect. That's right - the rapidly skyrocketing profits of the various financial institutions. If you get in over your head, lose your house, your car and your credibility, they don't care... there is always another one.

I am not against credit card use per se. We have several, and I think they are great for travel expenses, backup in case of emergencies, useful for racking up airmiles and so on, provided they are paid off regularly. We used ours to purchase Griff at the pet store, because we didn't have the cash just then, and he was SURE to be taken by the next couple to walk in if we didn't! We did the same some months later when Brasse appeared in another pet store. I don't regret those debts.

The fact is, Americans lead the world in debt. We do so love to spend money that we don't have, because surely we'll get it down the road. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!

According to the New York Times, in 1990, the the average revolving debt was about $2,550 for those households that carried a balance. At the end of 2003, that balance averaged about $7,520 – an increase of nearly 200 percent.

This is solely credit card debt - that does not include mortgages, student loans or car loans.

You don't need a calculator to know that this growth is a heck of a lot more than what our incomes have increased over the same period.

In the past week alone, I counted NINE mail solicitations from companies that think we need to expand our credit base, while we are in fact trying hard to eliminate our debts.

At some point, people will realize that we as a nation cannot afford to pay what we owe. Yeah, let's tack on the national deficit onto our credit card bills and the future looks pretty grim.

Scared? Good. You should be. Do a few Google searches on the topic and read reputable news sources, and you may soon be feeling a little ill.

So go ahead and get your WoW points, your airmiles, your grocery and gas discounts, but don't bury your head in a game to forget about your debt.

Suddenly, the comic seems a lot less funny; sorry for the downer. Reality sucks.