Cartoonists With Attitude

A longtime reader shared a letter he wrote to his local altweekly, which doesn’t actually carry Slowpoke. It’s very well-written. I’ve removed specific names, because somehow that feels more appropriate.

SUBJECT: The value of cartoons in an alternative weekly

Dear _______:

As a lifetime _____ and regular reader of the ____, I appreciate the work you do to report and analyze the news in our community. I encourage you to keep up the good work.

I also encourage you not to respond to the difficult economic times the same way Village Voice Media has done throughout its chain of alternative weeklies, and drop your publication of cartoons–in the case of the ____, that would be This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.

As much as I care about the serious issues that face our city, I have to confess that This Modern World is what makes me pick up your paper, without fail, week after week. No matter how little interest I might have in the cover story in a given week, I always grab a copy to catch the latest offering from Mr. Tomorrow.

I consider VVM a fine organization, but it is misguided to think that cutting cartoons will keep its papers afloat. The cartoons do not represent a substantial expense, and readers will immediately notice their absence.

I encourage the ____ to lead the way in offering readers more, not less. Adding a cartoon or two alongside This Modern World would send a clear message that the ____ is committed to providing sharp, edgy commentary on the issues of our times. (If I may, I would like to recommend Slowpoke Comics by Jen Sorensen: www.slowpokecomics.com.)

I appreciate your consideration of this matter.

While I, of course, am delighted to be mentioned in this letter, I hasten to emphasize that this is less about me than making sure our whole genre doesn’t disappear. Other altweekly cartoonists like Max Cannon (Red Meat), Derf (The City), Lloyd Dangle (Troubletown), Tom Tomorrow (This Modern World), Matt Bors (Idiot Box), and Ruben Bolling (Tom the Dancing Bug) have been weighing in recently.

Here’s something interesting I just remembered: not too long ago, I came across a copy of Boise Weekly. It was their first post-holiday issue, and it was a scant 28 pages. But it had tons of cartoons. Not mine, mind you, but it was still heartening to see so many comics. Clearly that paper has a different survival strategy.

To give you out-of-towners some insight into last week’s cartoon, check out this Globe article. The photo is hilarious, but the comments illustrate how divisive this issue is. (via)

This cartoon was originally posted at Dollars & Sense, where my editor Chris Sturr writes:

Employment at the tippy-top is looking good for Black people in the United States, as Barack Obama ascends to the presidency and Roland Burris (finally) settles into Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat (net job increase: +1). The job picture for the rest of Black America? Not so good.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a sharp decline in nonfarm payroll employment in December and an increase in the general unemployment rate from 6.8% to 7.2%. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for Black men over the age of 20 rose from 12.1% to 13.4%. The official jobless rate for Black youth (ages 16 to 19) was even bleaker; it rose from 32.2% to 33.7% in the same period, while the unemployment rate for white youth increased from 18.4% to 18.7%.

At least he didn’t trace them this time.

Editorial cartooning is crumbling. Economic forces beyond our control threaten it from the outside. Within the field, lazy unoriginal cartoonists threaten to make the whole profession a joke.

The fact that Rush Limbaugh had an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he proposes the “Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009.”

OR

Snuggies.

(via Kevin)

Click the image to read the whole cartoon.

If you watch the HBO documentary “The Trials of Ted Haggard” keep an eye out for a brief appearance of one of my cartoons.

Tom Tomorrow’s been tops covering and compiling reactions to this week’s alt-weekly comics shitstorm.

Jen’s assessment is probably the most optimistic of the bunch, and I agree with her. Altweeklies that are rooted in the community, something Village Voice Media hasn’t been since it merged into a national super-beast, will probably be able to ride this out. Hopefully cartoonists can to.

So while I was stuck lying on the couch with my broken foot in the air at a 60-degree angle for the last three weeks, there wasn’t too much I could actually do–I’m a knitter, but I can’t knit due to my carpal tunnely issues. So it was all about the book, audiobook and DVD consumption.

Now, I don’t have television service, so Masheka and I generally only watch TV via DVDs or Hulu, etc. For the past 6 months we worked our way through The Wire (so good!), got started with Buffy (we’re on the sixth season now, and I have to thank Barry for getting me addicted to this show) and segued into Angel (on Season 2 now). I watched a bit of Weeds but lost interest partly into Season 1.

Anyway, I want to give random shoutouts to some of the things that kept me really entertained while I was horizontal:

• Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books (aka the Southern Vampire Mysteries). I ripped through all eight books available so far in about a week, half via paperback and half via Audible.com download. The audiobooks were particularly great, as the actress who reads them does the perfect Southern accent and pacing for the stories. They’re fun and inventive and smart and good stuff like that. Anyway, immediately after finishing the books I watched Season 1 of True Blood, which is also fantastic but not identical to the books (a good thing, as there were still surprises).
• Veronica Mars, Seasons 1 and 2. Again, totally addictive fun with a smart and kickass heroine. (Although, as when watching Buffy, I kept wishing the star actress would eat a few sandwiches.)
• Doctor Who Seasons 1-3 (the new ones): I have to admit I was skeptical. I used to watch Dr. Who with my dad and didn’t really get it at the time–I had vague memories of scantily clad women and men in scarves bumping into badly-put-together sets and not-so-convincingly scary aliens. And the first few episodes didn’t really grab me. But by half-way through Season 1 I was sold, and I was way MORE sold when the bisexual immortal Captain Jack showed up and the Doctor regenerated into the fabulous David Tennant. I still think Daleks are ridiculous, but I think that’s part of the fun. I plan to check out Torchwood as well. I also didn’t realize when I first started watching the new Doctor Who that it was spearheaded by Russell T. Davies, the writer of the wonderful British TV series Queer as Folk.
• I also reread some old sci-fi favorites, including Octavia Butler’s Fledgling and Marge Piercy’s He, She and It.

Anyways, I can’t wait to actually get up and use my feet again, but all this media consumption HAS been fun.

Finally, I just have to say that the last episodes of Battlestar Galactica have been great so far, especially the premiere! I am going to mourn that show in a serious way when it ends.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled political cartooning…

The recent bad news that the newly elected mayor of Portland lied to cover up an affair with a much younger man has drawn national attention, including a few lame Jay Leno jokes. (As if there were any other kind.) While the rest of the country indulges its need to crack wise at a train-wreck sex scandal and certainly there are amusing details, such as the name of the young man (Beau Breedlove) and his dog (Lolita) we here in Portland have had a more serious task of figuring out how to react intelligently and responsibly in a time of economic crisis.

Here’s the thing: Sam Adams has been a popular figure in Portland for a long time. The unique and historical aspect of his sexuality has been for Portlanders a cherry-on-top similar to the unique and historical status of our new President’s African heritage. We know Adams to be a smart and competent leader; I have personally seen this in action as he dealt with homophobic disruptions at a gay pride parade. No drama, just get on it. The protesters were handled quietly and respectfully without spoiling the festivities. Very impressive.

The quiet competence of Adams leadership is what Portlanders need right now, yet this is what has made the scandal such a shock. We thought he had better political judgment than this. Writing in the Willamette Week, Byron Beck, who counts Adams as a friend, recalls seeing a dark streak of self-destructiveness in him. Yet Beck echoes my thoughts as he argues for retaining Adams as mayor and for placing Adams’ poor judgment in a larger context of homophobia. The whole column is worth reading, so go, do.

One thing that Beck does not mention, given the location of his soapbox, is the responsibility WW bears for investigating the story. While Adams’ cover-up tactics were reprehensible and led many in the queer community to feel rightly betrayed, the investigation into rumors of Adams’ affair with Breedlove were cheered on by his opponent Bob Ball’s willingness to use them for political advantage. Sure, sure, that’s politics. But the fact is had Adams been brave enough to tell WW and Ball, “It’s none of your business,” there would be no scandal. Breedlove himself has insisted that he is “no victim.” Most Portlanders would have respected Adams’ defiance and Breedlove’s agency and elected Adams anyway. So if it is no one’s business, where is the story? Salacious details? Exploiting homophobic stereotypes? If, or really when the state attorney general concludes that Breedlove was indeed 18 at the time of the affair, there goes the crime angle. Woo hoo, nice journalism, WW.