Showing posts with label Doonesbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doonesbury. Show all posts

Monday, June 08, 2009

Weingarten on Doonesbury's perceived 'anti-Semitism', comic strip salaries and Ted Rall

Here's some bits from Weingarten's last two chats:

Chatological Humor: Grammatically Speaking; Late-Term Abortion (Updated 6.5.09)
aka Tuesdays With Moron

Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 2, 2009; 12:00 PM

Isn't this your guy, Gene?: From Illinois' State Journal-Register last Friday, 5/29:

"From health care to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn't have the nerve to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?

"Obama is useless. Worse than that, he's dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now - before he drags us further into the abyss."

Rush Limbaugh? Nope. Dick Cheney? Nope. Bill Ayers? Nah. It's none other than Ted Rall, whose cartoon work and political insights you've always admired so much. Here's the whole column.

Enjoy.

Gene Weingarten: This is CLASSIC Ted Rall.

Rall often has good points to make, but then makes them with such wild overstatement that he undercuts himself. And occasionally has to apologize.

Here's a cartoon of his

after Antonin Scalia said he'd be in favor of slapping terrorist prisoners under certain circumstances.

Here's another one

that's self-explanatory.

----------------------

15th Street, D.C.: Gene- What do you think of Sunday's "Doonesbury"? Do you think it could have been perceived as a tad anti-semitic? I am not even close to being politically correct but thought Trudeau took an...interesting path to make a not funny or interesting point.

Best- A 31 married Jewish guy in D.C.

Gene Weingarten: I don't see any antisemitism here, and I think it was a very funny and interesting comic.

The joke is about the current economy, and what bankers have done to us.

_______________________


Chatological Humor: Insuring Your Weekly Quota of Yuks. And Yucks (UPDATED 5.29.09)
aka Tuesdays With Moron

Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 26, 2009; 12:00 PM

Westminster, Md.: Gene, I am curious about how cartoonists are paid. If a cartoonist is syndicated in 1,000 newspapers, as some are, and is paid a mere $5 by each paper, the cartoonist (and his distributor, agent, etc.) make $5,000 PER DAY for drawing a cartoon. But it seems equally unreasonable that a paper like The Post pays a mere $5 for something that may draw more eyes than the headline story on the Metro page. So what's up?

Gene Weingarten: As the old Yiddish expression goes, re wishing something stated were true: "From your mouth to God's ear."

Alas, no. The formula for comic strips is that the author and the syndicate split about $1,000 a YEAR for each newspaper that runs the strip. So, if a strip is in 1,000 newspapers (this is almost unheard of) the cartoonist would get $500,000 a year.

A typical, moderately successful strip might be in 100 papers. Do the math. It isn't pretty.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Trudeau's Sunday cartoon was anti-semitic? Eh?

I'm only mentioning this because it's on a blog called Capital J: Inside the Beltway - I didn't remotely read this cartoon as anything to do with religion, but rather with banking. However in "Gary Trudeau? That’s the rabbi knocking," By Ron Kampeas, June 1, 2009, he notes "It's quite another [matter] when Rabbi David Sapertsein, the veteran civil rights fighter, the director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, the guy who delivered the invocation when Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, takes time out to write a letter." Eh. Maybe. I'll bet plenty of other religious figures have complained to Trudeau over the past 40 years.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

That Darn Toles and Doonesbury

A couple of comments referred to cartoons in "Free For All," Washington Post Saturday, May 9, 2009. Anybody need Fubar explained for them?

An Offensive 'F'

I think the word "fubar" should have been deleted from the May 3 Doonesbury comic.

The word that the "f" stands for in this acronym is considered by many to be extremely offensive.

-- Nathan Clemons
Etchison, Md.

What's With Obama's Hue?

I wonder why cartoonist Tom Toles continues to depict President Obama's skin color as white. Other cartoonists, such as Sheneman, one of whose cartoons for the Star-Ledger appeared in The Post's April 18 "Drawing Board," seem to have no trouble giving his face a somewhat darker hue.

Is Toles sending the message that Obama isn't black enough to be drawn as a black man? Toles is definitely treading "lightly."

-- Susanne Humphrey
Wheaton

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

OT: Doonesbury in the New Yorker

The April 20th New Yorker has an original Doonesbury prose piece by Trudeau, 'The Tweets of Roland Hedley'. Trudeau's popped up with Doonesbury in other magazines before, although not recently I don't think. Mike and JJ got married in Life, Zonker covered Newsweek at least once, and the New Republic printed the Silent Scream II strips that the syndicate refused to carry (all from memory so doublecheck yourself).

There's also a cover by Jacques de Loustal and spots by Petit-Roulet, both of France.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Weingarten on his comic strip, and the Post's

Gene W from the March 23rd chat:

Silver Spring, Md.: Re: Doonesbury CPOW - that's one thing that has always impressed me about that strip - he always seems to have a character already in place for any news event or trend or whatever that comes up. He can pick up a character and put he or she in the event without any problem or stretch. He has Joannie working on the hill, BD was set for any "hostilities", Bernie was perfectly positioned to be a high-tech mogul, Boopsie ended up in the movie industry. I loved it when Mike's youngish techie-wife turned out to be the Vietnamese orphan who had been adopted into the US years before.

Gene Weingarten: Obviously, this is not coincidence. Garry has more active characters than any strip ever, probably by a factor of five.

The strip my son and I are working on -- look for it soon, I hope -- is going to start with about 16. Absurdly high for a new strip, nowhere near Dbury.

_______________________

New strip: When your new strip debuts, can it replace Peanuts?

If you were able to, say, accidentally slip the email address of the comics editor, perhaps it may result that he or she is bombarded with enough requests to get rid of Peanuts repeats that his or her loins will be girded sufficiently to withstand the few complaint letters that will be mailed (from people who I don't think would folow through on their threat to cancel their subscriptions).

Gene Weingarten: I am beginning to think that no one will ever have the courage to replace Peanuts.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: AAAAAHHHHH! According to the notice on today's Style section, they're schwacking both "Pooche Cafe" and "Brevity" from the comics section. What's wrong with these people? They'll keep stale stuff like "Blondie," "Peanuts," "Mark Trail," "Family Circus," and "Dennis the Menace" but kill two of the comics that are actually, you know, funny? Isn't there anything we can do to stop this? AAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Gene Weingarten: They are also keeping Hagar the Horrible.

_______________________

Alex., VA: Do readers actually write in and support Peanuts?

Gene Weingarten: I don't know, but I doubt it. I think that newspaper comics deciders are loath to get rid of any strip so old that old loyal readers would miss it.

Very, very bad decisionmaking.

Monday, March 02, 2009

NY Times calls out Post on Doonesbury reprints

The Post started running the Doonesbury Flashback (ie repeat) strips where they laid off Rick Redfern and then stopped last week, and then restarted them. I didn't really think this was a story since they'd already run the strips about the Post firing Rick Redfern closer to the time that they actually laid people off. However, since the Paper of Record has noted it, we will too - see "Washington Post Corrects a Goof on Doonesbury," By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA, New York Times March 2, 2009.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Weingarten on Prickly City, Doonesbury, Delonas' chimp

From the 2/10 Chatalogical Humor:

Washington, D.C.: Gene - what did you think of last Friday's Prickly City where they call Rush Limbaugh a jerk? It actually made me laugh.

Gene Weingarten: I would like this better if it were funny. I applaud the stance, but I think political cartoonists -- and political standup comics -- have an obligation to be funny.

_______________________

"...I think political cartoonists -- and political standup comics -- have an obligation to be funny." : Unless their name is Trudeau, the Garfield of political "humor."

Gene Weingarten: I was thinking specifically of Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. He is the perfect example of the political satirist who sees his mission as humor first.


and 2/17's Chatalogical Humor:

Alexandria, VA: Hi,

No, Prickly City wasn't funny, and did you leave the "ly" off your link intentionally, or Freudian slip of a sort?

Gene Weingarten: I always call it Prick City, because of its politics. Been doing that for years.
_________

Richmond, Va.: I have a great Ralph Steadman story for you. At some point he was in town doing a book signing for his illustrated version of "Animal Farm" (it's so amazing). He was giving each signature a unique ink-blot and a fan came up and said "do something really crazy to mine!" So Steadman took out his lighter and set it on fire.

Gene Weingarten: Excellent. I have that Animal Farm book. It is brilliant.

------

UPDATED 2.20.09

Gene Weingarten: I want to begin with an important clarification. In yesterday's update I was asked if I found THIS photograph interesting in light of the sharply debated prior discussion involving posteriors. I responded with laughter. At some point during the day yesterday, the link mysteriously shifted to a different picture, namely THIS one, which was a highly controversial political cartoon from the New York Post. This cartoon was seen by many people as a racist commentary directed at President Obama. This one I would not have laughed at.

But let's talk about it!

It's by Post cartoonist Sean Delonas, a man whose work I have read and loathed for years. Delonas is strident, unfunny, rabidly right-wing and a virulent bigot, portraying gay people in a way so revolting you would think it's parody if you saw it in The Onion. It's not. Here is Sean Delonas, for example, on gay marriage. Here is Sean Delonas on Governor McGreevey. See that oddly raised leg? That is Delonas's signature move to show someone is gay: Gays are prancing lilyhoppers!

So what do we make of the furor over the chimp cartoon? Is it racist? Does Delonas get the benefit of the doubt?

Sure. I'll give it to him. This cartoon is interpretable without racial overtones: The stimulus bill is stupid, he thinks: It might as well have been written by a rabid chimp. The cartoon coincided with the story of the crazed chimp in Connecticut who ripped off a woman's face, and was shot to death by police. Obama wasn't really the author of the stimulus bill, though his was the most public face behind it. Mostly, I think comparing a black person to an ape is so archaic, so Depression-era, and so primitive that even a Neanderthal like Delonas wouldn't do it.

No, what Delonas would and did do is create a totally pathetic cartoon using the unspeakable tragedy of the chimp attack, which left a woman horrifyingly maimed, to make some lame political point about the stimulus package. It's inappropriate, unclever, and makes senseless use of a shockingly violent image. Pure Delonas, pure crap, but not racist.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Cartoons at Walter Reed hospital

Here's a couple of pictures with cartoon themes that have shown up in the process of doing a photo book on Walter Reed Army Medical Center:

Uncle Scrooge poster - WRAMC ward 1970s

Early 1970s ward in Walter Reed Army Medical Center hospital where soldiers wounded in Vietnam were treated. Note the Uncle Scrooge poster on the wall. From the WRAMC DPW collection.

TRUDEAU at WRAMC2

Garry Trudeau visits wounded soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center hospital. Courtesy of the Stripe newspaper.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Two comics articles in Express today

For some reason, the Express, which is owned by the Washington Post, ran a wire story on Trudeau calling the election in Doonesbury from the LA Times even though the story was broken by the Post’s own Michael Cavna on the Post’s Comic Riffs blog.

Also, Scott Rosenberg had an article, "Comedy Before Country: A Mad magazine man talks about poking fun at the political" interviewing John Ficarra in the Express (November 3): 18.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Good stuff in today's papers

"Godzilla's Older, Creepier Cousins: Beings Such as Filth Licker Haunt Japanese Culture," By Blaine Harden, Washington Post Foreign Service, Friday, October 31, 2008; A01. This is about creatures called yokai, who are apparently roughly equivalent to goblins and boggarts. Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt are a married couple have written a book about them, when not translating manga.

The animated movie Fear(s) of the Dark was also reviewed in "Gripped (at Times Loosely) by Fear," By Neely Tucker, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, October 31, 2008; Page C06.

Meanwhile in the Post's Comic Riffs, Michael Cavna's interviewed a bunch of cartoonists about the election including locals Telnaes, Sorenson, and Wuerker in "Who'll Win the White House? Cartoonists Issue Their Predictions" as well as decidedly non-local Garry Trudeau in "Obama Wins? Yes, 'Doonesbury' Calls the Election!"

And on Disney's direct to video movie and Fairies product line is "Disney Hoping 'Tinker Bell' Spreads Fairy Dust on Sales" By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times October 31, 2008.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Weingarten on Doonesbury and judging people by their comic strips

Two weeks of the Chatalogical Humor chat by Gene Weingarten leads to a couple of interesting observations on comics.

From Tuesday, October 14, 2008:

Gimmeabre, AK: I agree that Sarah Palin is singularly unqualified to be Vice President, let alone President. And I also grit my teeth whenever some yahoo starts spouting off about the sanctity of "family values." But I think Gary Trudeau went waaaay over the line in Sunday's "Doonesbury." Now, I know you are a regular worshiper at the Church of St. Gary, but since when is "stay-at-work mom" (which I think most people call, "working mother") pejorative? And who told Trudeau that Palin's last pregnancy was unplanned? And was the shot at Palin's pregnant daughter really warranted? Come on, Gene; man up, and admit that your hero blew it this time.

washingtonpost.com: Doonesbury, (Oct. 12)

Gene Weingarten: I had no problem with the shot at Bristol; Palin made Bristol a subject of public discussion, and the "family values' Republican mantra makes it germane. I wondered about the other things, too, though. And after I saw your posting, I emailed Garry about it. Here is his answer:

I believe that Palin has said herself that Trig was a surprise. Certainly her choosing to hide her pregnancy for many months suggests she didn't find it convenient. But planned or not, I regret including that detail for another reason; since Palin is married, it has no bearing on "family values". It's value-neutral, and I should have left it out.

"Stay-at-work Mom" is just a play on the "Stay-at-home Mom", once viewed as morally superior in family values universe. The general point, of course, is that conservatives have used family values as a bludgeon against liberals for many years, and that the general messiness of Palin's family life has complicated that line of attack. What Mark is saying is that despite our best intentions, life DOES happen, and as he makes clear in the last panel, he doesn't exempt himself. To him, the death of sanctimony is something to be celebrated.


and from October 28:

Washington, D.C.: My friends and I have been discussing: Is there any one book, movie, or TV show, that having as a favorite is an automatic deal breaker? What interests would prove to you that someone is totally unfunny, has a different worldview, and that this relationship would never work?

Some say "Da Vinci Code" as a favorite book is a deal breaker. The best example I've come up with is ruling out someone whose favorite television show is "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Gene Weingarten: Dan Quayle's favorite movie was, famously, "Ferris Beuller's Day Off."

I judge people by their taste in comic strips, where there are obvious and cliched deal breakers. But there are also subtle red flags. I'm worrying about someone who claims to like "Prickly City" or "Mallard Fillmore."

DowntheDrai, IN: Gene --

What was your reaction to Sunday's "Doonesbury?" I have trouble with this whole "attack Joe the Plumber" thing. For all you, I or Trudeau knows, Joe's a great plumber -- or maybe a terrible one -- but why should we care? The cartoon comes across as just a vicious personal attack on the guy for having the temerity to disagree with Obama.

So I figured there must be a deeper point being made -- some metaphor about the candidates -- but if Trudeau is trying to suggest that one of them will prove to be an inept bumbler who doesn't know what he's doing -- well, Obama's the one without the track record of accomplishment, but somehow I don't think that's where Trudeau was going.

Was this funny and I just missed it?

washingtonpost.com: Doonesbury, (Oct. 26)

Gene Weingarten: Yes, it was funny and you just missed it. First off, you need to understand that because of Sunday comic deadlines, Trudeau must have punched this out in minutes, the day after the last debate, when it became manifest that Joe the Plumber was not a licensed plumber.

Is this fair satire? Yep. Why? Because Trudeau knows exactly as much about Joe the Plumber as McCain apparently did before he hauled him out to be the CENTERPIECE of his failing, desperate campaign. McCain had already created this ridiculous stalking horse, and Trudeau is doing exactly what his job is: Exposing the hypocrisy behind it.

It doesn't matter whether Joe is a competent, unlicensed plumber. He's a caricature, and McCain made him one.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Weingarten on Breathed's retirement

From the October 7th chat:

Op, US: I can't believe Berke Breathed is retiring...again.

Seriously, I was a huge fan as a high school student, a moderate fan as a college student, and a passing fan as an adult. I mean, it's a character-driven strip that hasn't been daily for nearly 20 years, so it's not like we had much opportunity to get re-attached for the last three. I just can't get choked up the way I would for, say, Trudeau or like I did for Larson or Watterston. Or like I did for Breathed, twice already.


Gene Weingarten: Well, Berkeley has been teasing us for weeks now. It's no surprise.

I liked Opus, and it remains one of the best drawn strips on the comics pages, and I will miss it. But I think the decision to go Sunday-only may hae doomed it from the start. It's very hard to gain traction without a daily dose of your characters, particularly, as you say, with a character-driven strip.

I began to feel that Berkeley's heart was not entirely in this latest enterprise when more than once we found ourselves looking at recycled Bloom County gags.

Gene Weingarten: But: Week after week, Opus delivered some of the best sky-is-falling allegorical hang-wringing about the political hypocrisy afoot in our land. It's not a voice I would vote to lose and I'm sorry to see it go.

and one of his readers feels strongly about Doonesbury in a positive way, as do I:

B.D. Grins!: Hi Gene,

It's been over a week, but I'm still smiling about seeing B.D. smile in Doonesbury.

I loved Trudeau's whole sequence about Sam's Sarah Palin doll, but the most touching thing was seeing B.D. get so tickled as Boopsie tried to explain to Sam that Palin shouldn't be her hero (or her vice president). We've seen B.D. recover from his amputation and deal with his PTSD and even reach out to other characters -- but I'm pretty sure this is the first time he's smiled. It made me unreasonably happy.

And wide-eyed Boopsie has come a long way since B.D.'s injury, too. She's been a rock for B.D. And it's nice to see her get steamed about Palin.

I can't believe how emotionally invested I've become in these characters lately. Trudeau has always been brilliant, but this is ridiculous.

Gene Weingarten: Yeah, this was the best day of a good week.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Mr. Trail comes to Washington

Following hot on the heels of the Family Circus, Mark Trail is visiting Washington to see the Smithsonian and meet with Christian Samper, the head of the Natural History Museum. Meanwhile, in Doonesbury, NPR host Mark Slackemeyer has a Library of Congress archivist on his show to talk about a new document she's acquired. Unfortunately last week the Post laid off reporter Rick Redfern... well, they offered him a buyout. Perhaps he can work for them on contract!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Comic Riffs quotes Trudeau

Comic Riffs quotes Trudeau in "The Morning Line: "Doonesbury" Sings the Newspaper Blues," By Michael Cavna, September 16, 2008.

I read this earlier in the week, but the quotes didn't click until Brian Steinberg blogged about it in his Comics Examiner.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

OT: British radio interview with Garry Trudeau

I'm sticking this one up because it's only available for 4 more days. Click on the link to listen to it. Lynn (For Better or For Worse) Johnston, Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell, Garry (Doonesbury) Trudeau, the Cartoonists with Attitude (including Jen Sorensen) and Bill (Zippy) Griffith were interviewed for:

Phill Jupitus' Comic Love, BBC Radio 4 Saturday 19 July 2008 10:30-11:00 (Radio 4 FM).

Phill Jupitus offers some personal insights into the world of the satirical newspaper comic strip.

Contributors include the Daily Telegraph duo who lampoon the City in Alex and the American right's nemesis Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury fame. They discuss the impact and political significance of their work.


Jupitus wrote about it at "Blood, sweat and ink: Phill Jupitus has loved comic strips all his life. Would their creators live up to his expectations?" Phill Jupitus, The Guardian, Tuesday July 22, 2008.
*

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Cavna blogs Trudeau, Joker, rise-and-shine comic strips

That new Comic Riffs blog at the Post is busy, might busy today, July 15 2008.

Today's stories:

Garry Trudeau: The Interview, by Michael Cavna.

The Countdown: The Joker Gets The Last Laugh - about Frank Miller's bringing an aging Joker back and having him kill David Letterman's entire audience. Boy, was that refreshing in its day (1986) and tiresome now.

The Morning Line: The Cat Also Rises compares storylines from Zits to Garfield.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Trudeau and McGruder bits in Post

They're both interviewed for "Comedians Of Clout: In a Funny Way, Satirical Takes Can Color Perceptions of the Presidential Contenders," By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, June 12, 2008; C01 which mainly deals with television comedians. Cavna did a nice cartoon illustration for the print version - he's done some editorial cartoons for the paper in the past. They're usually on entertainment, not politics. I think I've sent all my tearsheets of them to Michigan State.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Toles smacks Post 's Obama coverage

See "'Wash Post' Cartoonist Mocks Own Paper Over Obama Story," By Greg Mitchell, with Dave Astor, E and P Online November 30, 2007.

This was actually useful as I had no idea what today's cartoon referred to before reading this. However, it's worth noting that last week's Doonesbury strips referred to the same issue, and might be useful to look at for anyone interested in this issue.