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from: Ted Rall

A Comic Study of Broken Homes

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000, at 11:14 AM ET

Yo, Ruben:

I certainly appreciate your gentlemanly decision not to bombard me with comix esoterica in reviewing the collection of cartoon books we're tackling these next few days. But I'm afraid that it's not just the works of Ben Katchor we'll have to find disagreements about.

Like you, I find much to admire in Daniel Clowes' new graphic novel, David Boring. He succeeds despite employing a riskily self-referential pseudo-filmic narrative structure, though his tip o' the hat to everything-and-the-kitchen-sink postmodernism gets a bit much at times. Clowes' writing, especially when it comes to capturing the subtle nuances of post-adolescent confusion-rage-pretension speech, is priceless. And though it's a bit cold for my tastes, his drawing style is crisp, clean--aw, hell, the guy draws a hell of a lot better than I ever could.

Where I run into trouble with David Boring is that it's really a collection of themes using the story structure as an excuse to get people to read it--Clowes could have chosen any other format--comic strips, single-panel gag panels, even editorial cartoons--to express his concerns about alienation, fucked-up girlfriends, and vanishing sperm-donor fathers. So, what you end up with is a lot of bullshit about terrorists and pregnant pauses and, as you say, really well-drawn facial expressions. I don't know about you, Ken, but I'm a busy guy, and I'd prefer it if artists and writers just got down to whatever they have to say without a lot of dicking around.

It's true that I've covered a lot of similar territory in my own work. I don't know Clowes' personal history, but like his title character, the defining moments of my twisted psychological past include a dad who didn't stick around and a couple of seriously unpleasant teen romances. Though I eventually allowed my rage at bad dad and bad sex alike to surface and manifest itself both artistically and in world away from the written page that didn't happen until I was in my late 20s. I recognize myself in the coldly obsessive yet ironically detached way in which he pursues his Ideal Girls and cold-bloodedly moves on after things fall apart. Either Clowes knows this stuff personally, or he's done a lot of reading up. On the other hand, half of all Americans under 40 have divorced parents, so it's not like doing the research is all that hard.

For me the best moment in David Boring occurs when a girlfriend dumps him en route to Norway to escape the seriously-stretching-the-plot terrorist threat: "Just because you're cold and distant doesn't mean you're smart," she says. "I never said I was smart--you're projecting," Boring replies. The central issue that David Boring dances around is the following question: Is it possible for children of divorce and those of Normal Suburban American Married Couples to ever really understand each other?

Clowes' answer--well, no, but kinda yes, but not really--is right on target. My only complaint is that he'd employed a more direct way to get there.

Click on image to view enlarged versionLatino USA: A Cartoon History, by Ilan Stavans. Illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz.

Once again, I find it necessary to submit the following information to the Gods of Journalistic Objectivity:

1) I am a cartoonist, as has been previously stated, and as such my opinions about other cartoonists' work are automatically tainted by petty biases related to party invitations, geographical affiliations, genre divisions, and remarks repeated by many generations of sodden artists.

2) Lalo Alcaraz is a friend. Whenever possible, we "hang out," "cold chill," and do whatever else the "kids" do these days to amuse themselves. He has also been a guest on my Los Angeles-based talk-radio show. I will assert here (graphic note: I am wearing an earnest expression on my face) that these ties would not prevent me from stating my honest opinion about this book, even risking my friendship with Lalo himself if necessary, if I truly honestly believed that this book sucked. And for those who doubt me, I've allowed my honesty to screw up perfectly good relationships more often than I care to recall right now.

Of the four books we're reviewing this week, this was my hands-down favorite. First and by far most importantly, by the time I hit Page 10, I had learned things about Latino culture and history that answered long-standing questions: Why does the Rio Grande go by so many different names? What's the difference between Latinos and Hispanics? How are they distributed throughout the U.S. and why?

Messrs. Stavans and Alcaraz are treading into dangerous territory from a sales standpoint with this entry in the illustrated comic history genre. Other valiant, talented men have suffered the wrath of clueless bookstore buyers--what were they to make of Stan "Real Life Funnies" Mack's valiant cartoon history of the American Revolution a few years back? Even the most successful attempts, such as Mexican cartoonist Ruis' Marx for Beginners, limped along due to genre incomprehension.

Regardless of whether or not this sucker sells, however, it's a remarkable accomplishment. Here, in one easy-to-read work of history punctuated by La Cucaracha cartoonist Alcaraz's striking cartoons, is nothing less than a sweeping overview of the Latino experience in the Americas since Christopher Columbus showed up. It's also the ultimate realization of the promise Alcaraz has merely hinted at in his weekly panel cartoon in the LA Weekly--the extra room to stretch out really pays off.

There are those in the art-comics crowd who don't understand the appeal of Alcaraz's punky, thick-lined style, and it's true that you don't read his work for the masturbatory appeal of a single brushstroke on Bristol paper. This stuff is dynamic, muscular, and perhaps a little difficult for art-school grads to understand. But it's perfectly suited to depict the balls-out, heart-breaking Latino experience in the Americas.

Click on image to view enlarged versionThe audience for Latino USA should probably be whites and other Americans who have always felt a little ignorant when people like Ruben Salazar or the term "pocho" comes up; Latinos themselves will probably find this thing too basic for anyone other than kids. As for complaints, it would be remiss not to take issue with the cheesy choice of a toucan as an on-again, off-again narrator--between Pat Oliphant's and Tom Tomorrow's penguins, not to mention Bloom County's Opus, cartooning has long had its fill of graphically striking talking birds. Additionally, the intrusion of typeset text in a book that's 95 percent drawn is unnecessarily jarring and reeks of laziness; too many of my peers seem to think that text is a poor-man's task better left to a word processor.

But enough nitpicks from me. Latino USA is a bold achievement--a comic book that's fun and smart and cool all at the same time. It's too bad most people will be too stupid to buy a copy. All right, Ruben ... now it's your turn.

Very truly yours,
Ted

the book club
entries
123456
from: Ted Rall

A Comic Study of Broken Homes

Posted Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000, at 11:14 AM ET
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The Beauty Supply District, by Ben Katchor and David Boring, by Daniel ClowesRuben Bolling creates the weekly comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” which is distributed to 70 publications, including the Village Voice, the Washington Post, and Salon.com. Ted Rall's cartoons appear in the Village Voice, the New York Times, and more than 100 other publications. This week, they discuss four new comics books: Ben Katchor's The Beauty Supply District (click here to buy it); Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (click here to buy it); Daniel Clowes' David Boring (click here to buy it); and Ilan Stavans' Latino USA: A Cartoon History (click here to buy it).
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Reader Comments from The Fray:


If I may add the obvious to the two gentlemen's discussion of the work of Ben Katchor: the guy loves cities, especially New York. Sweetly and without irony--thank God. Even if you don't have the pleasure to hear him state that flat out in one of his charming lectures, it's obvious from his strips, which are all about the semi-hidden pleasures of cities past and present, the type of odd niches that can exist only when there is a large and cosmopolitan population. In many cases, the context of his work, the detailed street backgrounds, are the main subject. So if you don't like cities, like perhaps Mr Rall, Julius Knipl probably won't work for you.

--George Grella

(To reply, click here.)

[And there was more enthusiasm for Katchor: Michael Lewyn agreed with Mr Grella, saying "When I read Mr Katchor and then I realize that I don't live in NYC, I want to start crying." And Adam Morrow thought he "brings to life all of the wonderful historical details that one ignores in daily life--the fact that each stranger you pass on the street has a fascinating story to tell (as does every fire escape and curbstone), and that this is a story you will never get to hear. Katchor gives his readers a glimpse of what those stories might be."]


I was the staff editorial cartoonist for City Pages, the alternative weekly in Minneapolis, for ten years. I looked at the possibility of syndicating my stuff to the alternative weeklies around the country. But I gave up on the idea because I soon discovered that the editors of those papers were basically so left-brained, so verbal, as to qualify as right-hemisphere-retards. They were utterly visually illiterate, had no appreciation for anything except words words words. Unfortunately for those of us artists who are politically far left of center, the most verbal, least visually intelligent editors in the country seem to be those who are most politically to the left. I think this malady has spread to many of the editors of mainstream dailies, as well, many of whom can't see the value in any kind of cartoon that isn't almost entirely word-based. In a true cartoon, the words and images interact in such a way that neither the words or images by themselves deliver the message of the cartoon. In a true cartoon, you have to look at the picture and read the words for it to even make any sense at all. In Rall's "cartoons", like those of Tom Tomorrow, Groening, Lynda Barry, et al, the images are unnecessary. This is why the Left in America will never pose any real threat to the status quo: their visual stupidity puts them out of touch with the masses.

--Wag

(To reply, click here.)


[Note from the Fray Editor: This Book Club brought a lot of very knowledgeable comics fans into The Fray, showing varying levels of enthusiasm. Reuben Nisenfield said "it's like Griffin and Sabine by Kevin Smith". Many were concerned to distinguish between comic books and comic strips collected into a book. There was this spirited defense of Chris Ware's work from Walter Biggins, and praise for Daniel Clowes too.

In general, Ted Rall proved to be a--how best to put this?--thought-provoking critic with the Fray-going public, perhaps even controversial. Try this ("sloppy vendetta journalism") or this ("one of the strangest critics I have ever read") or this ("A more interesting topic might be: Why are Ted Rall's cartoons so frequently based on demonstrably false premises?") And here, Danny Hellman says Rall sued him for making a joke about him--we suggest you read it before posting anything too rude about Mr Rall.]

(9/2)

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