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Ted Rall and Steve Brodner

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from: Ted Rall

Pachydermatitis

Posted Monday, Oct. 11, 1999, at 11:04 AM ET

Dear Steve:

Hope all's well. I myself have been keeping busy maintaining the aftermath of my Village Voice piece on Art Spiegelman--just got the new issue of the Comics Journal with your quotes in it, by the way--but I honestly wish this whole thing would go away. But as an editorial cartoonist, nothing depresses me more than the overnight disintegration of the once-interesting "Week in Review" section--where the New York Times runs three or four cartoons each Sunday--into the same mainstream tripe that Newsweek's "Perspectives" section and USA Today's Friday editorial page offer. It was never perfect, but the "Week in Review" used to run the more daring and adventurous editorial cartoons around (stuff that actually editorialized!) by Tom Tomorrow, Ruben "Tom the Dancing Bug" Bolling, and yours truly; now it's back to cross-hatching, elephants and donkeys, and dumb gags about the news. Can you and I agree that any cartoonist who uses pachyderms to denote the GOP should be dispatched to Afghanistan for ritual stoning at the Talidrome?

I know few of my leftie pals will be sad for the Colt gun company, which is laying off hundreds of its West Hartford, Conn., workers and trashing its consumer business because it's been savaged by lawsuits. But guns are a legal product, and I find it yet another statement about the post-Clintonian world we live in that we don't have the balls to simply make a product illegal but see nothing wrong with using the courts to harrass its manufacturers out of business. For instance, smoking should obviously be banned as the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country, not to mention of countless house and forest fires. But since no politician has the guts to advocate such a drastic (in my view, rational) measure, we end up with zillions of lawsuits by people who've always known that smoking was dangerous against tobacco companies. It's the same with guns; if we as a society decide that we want to get rid of the Second Amendment, then let's do that instead of abusing the court system and driving perfectly law-abiding businesses into bankruptcy.

Stephen Kinzer continues his dispatches from the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan in today's New York Times. Last week, it was a missive from a yak farm about that country's ancient tradition of nomadism; this week he's covering an enclave of ethnic Germans who live near the capital of Bishkek. I just got back from Central Asia a week ago--I passed through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, western China, Kashmir Province (from where, incidentally, I can report that the Taliban now occupy a large part of what used to be Pakistani-held Kashmir in a bid to bring Pakistan over to Islamic fundamentalist rule), and Pakistan proper. Kyrgyzstan is a stunning place of amazing mountains and lakes, grinding poverty and lost ideology, and of course oodles of history. There's a chance Americans will be sending troops out to Central Asia in coming years to defend American oil interests, so we should all be reading up on this stuff. And Kinzer is an awesome writer.

I was leaning toward supporting a mainstream presidential candidate--Al Gore, because he's the only guy who understands that the budget doesn't much matter if global warming puts the entire planet under water--until I read this morning's Times interview with campaign manager Donna Brazile. She refers to herself as a "diva." Um, Donna, divas sing. They sing well. Really well. I checked cdnow.com just now, and couldn't find any Donna Brazile CDs. This trend of people confusing divas with anyone arrogant and annoying is itself seriously annoying.

The beginning of the trial of Russell Henderson, who's accused of beating Matthew Shepard to death in Laramie, Wyo., last year, coincides with more calls for hate-crime bills as well as for the death penalty among liberals who ought to know better. All lives ought to be considered equal under the law; if you kill someone because they're gay, it shouldn't be worse than killing someone because they like the Mets. It's still damned awful, and you shouldn't see much sunlight for the rest of your life either way. As for the death penalty, it's not like murderers don't deserve to die; of course they do. It's just that the state shouldn't be in the business of killing them--it turns every single taxpayer into a killer.

Bill Bradley voted for the 1981 Reagan budget, which pushed Generation X into underemployment and student-loan hell for more than a decade, destroyed the welfare state, and symbolized the new American view that no one should give a damn about anyone else. For this reason alone, he deserves to never hold any kind of public office.

Wow--am I ever cranky this morning! I'd better go get some coffee.

Your turn.

Very truly yours,
Ted

the breakfast table
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from: Ted Rall

Pachydermatitis

Posted Monday, Oct. 11, 1999, at 11:04 AM ET
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Ted Rall is a New York-based political and social-commentary cartoonist and opinion columnist for Universal Press Syndicate and the author of Revenge of the Latchkey Kids (click hereto buy it). Steve Brodner has been a satiric illustrator for 27 years and has contributed caricatures of political and pop figures to a wide variety of publications.
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Some reactions from readers:

Steve asks if the whole hoo-ha over at the Brooklyn museum is about captions... And the answer is, of course it is.

I have yet to see anyone substantially refute Tom Wolfe's theory, back in The Painted Word, that today's art has devolved into being illustrations for the catalog. Take away the catalog, and there's no there there. One or the other of the fellows cited Serrano's Piss Christ--it's the perfect example. I doubt many people have seen it in person--it's a huge 6-foot-by-4-foot (or so) chibachrome--and more than anything else comes across as a modern chiaroscuro photo-mural. It's reverent. Right up until you read the title, and figure out just how Serrano got those gorgeous tawny reds and burnt umbers. But it's only the title--or the catalog--that fills you in.

The whole Virgin Mary thing is much the same--I doubt there's any way to tell just how the image was made, elephant dung or not, except through the catalog. To be sure, I haven't actually seen it (this summer I've been seeing the Van Gogh, Sargent, Ingres, and Diego Rivera exhibitions as I travel), but that's my bet... Though I'll cheerfully defer to a real live witness.

(To reply, click here.)


Dear Ted,

I agree wholeheartedly with you in regards to the death of the comic strip, and glad to see someone else who views the Peanuts as melancholy. As a former illustrator (I know--do not call me bitter just yet) I think that the entire world of illustration is a rotting cadaver. Working now as a web designer I can't help but feel sympathy for my friends who valiantly try to establish careers in this former occupation. Many believe photography has killed the illustrator, and to some extent I agree, but I think the true blame falls upon the state of art education within our country.

Art schools have become a haven for the untalented and unimaginative, upper-middle-class would-be rebels more concerned with looking the part than being. Instructors, often failed artists themselves, so afraid of offending these cash cows offer no realistic criticism or advice. Since "all art is good art," students who would have been laughed out of my 2nd grade arts and crafts class are encouraged to pursue their "style." After graduating art school, it took me 2 years to enjoy drawing again....and I am not alone. Keep up the good work my brother!

(To reply, click here.)


People always feel that to say things like, "theater is dead," or, now, "the comic strip is dead" raises them to the level of philosopher. So, when someone has some silly stuff to say to seemingly back up such an impossible phrase, they get excited and say it all over the place and as loud as they can.

The comic strip isn't dead. New and great cartoonist will come in great forms no one can predict and, therefore, it's amazingly arrogant to predict the death of an art form. The Internet provides all sorts of new room for artists (this includes cartoonists) to work and spread around their wares.

(To reply, click here.)


Hey Ted Rall,

Yeah, your comic strips are great, but you made a big mistake in your blanket dismissal of all the comics in the comics page (save Peanuts). Your glaring omission: Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. This guy can DRAW! His comics are funny, sweet, and compassionate without being treacly--no mean feat. What's more, he takes a strong and unapologetic stand on animal rights, which takes guts in a nation of necrophages.

McDonnell's a genius. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pray with Johnny Hart.

 (To reply, click here.)


What do you guys think of Tom Toles? His cartoons single-handedly got me through the Reagan/Bush years.

 (To reply, click here.)


I think it's a bit too early to say the comic strip is dead. I think Robotman, Non Sequetor, and Mutts are some of the great comics in the papers, but for the rest I don't bother. It seems true that, in newspapers at least, comics are resorting to simple puns.

However, on the Internet the art of the comic strip is still alive. Some of the best, in my opinion anyway, are Ozy and Millie and Freefall, which are genuinely funny and entertaining. While the newspaper comics may be reverting to single unfunny puns, the Internet may be a place where the art of the comic strip is still living.

(To reply, click here.)



--Michael Brus (10/14)

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