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Underground > Comic Books >

Ted Rall in the news.

15:54 / 13.03.02

Ted Rall certainly knows how to push some buttons, doesn't he?

First, there's the Dirty Danny lawsuit. Please keep in mind that the above link is obviously biased. If you scroll down you'll find links to unbiased accounts of what happened.

Now he's knee deep in two controversial cartoons dealing with post-9/11 events.

The third panel in particular has caught attention by being a blatant attack on a specific person, namely the widow of Wall Street Journal reproter Daniel Pearl. Rall denies that it is specifically her in this interview and changes his mind again in this one.

His next target was the greed of the NYFD. I don't have a scan of that particular cartoon, but there is a panel-by-panel description under the March 11th entry at this blog. Firefighters' reactions can be found here.

Despite my obvious dislike of Rall's work, I'm fascinated by the behind the scenes world of cartooning, and I have to admit that Rall makes for interesting reading, even if I think his cartoons are an abomination. So, does he have a point? Is it being garbled in some way, like he says? Or is this all just for publicity's sake?

Oh, and one more link.

16:09 / 13.03.02

Some talk of this already here: http://www.barbelith.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000287

I'm waiting for his cartoon about the cartoonist who is using the various reactions to Sept 11 to further his career.

He's done some writing for the village voice as well, they sent him to Afghanistan: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0150/rall.php

Found that I generally agree w/ his politics, but not his methods. But he has said in interviews that if he isn't upsetting people then he's not doing his job.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: invix ]

16:11 / 13.03.02

er... moriarty could you unpack your own feelings on this a bit for us please?

In what way are his cartoons "an abomination"

16:23 / 13.03.02

Hey, thanks for the heads up, invix! I'll leave this up for a bit before deleting it, just to prevent doubling up.

Sleazenation, I added that bit because I've mentioned that I dislike Rall's work in the past, and I didn't want my introduction of this topic to come off as a hatchet job. I'm not going to pretend that Rall's cartoons, like anyone's work, can't be appealing to other people, and with good reason. I just personally find it to be hideous, largely on the drawing front, not from a writing viewpoint. It's all a matter of different taste, that's all.

Matthew Fluxington

16:25 / 13.03.02

This Jim Treacher guy is veering dangerously close to "deranged stalker with a vendetta" territory, don't you think?

On Rall, the cartoonist: I greatly prefer Rall's writing to his cartooning. To me, the pictures are just something a person has to deal with in reading his work. His art is blocky and dull, he's not a good illustrator at all. His art gets by on charm, at best. I still think he's one of the best writers in the comics medium.

As far as this controversy goes, I can't really get too much into it, because more or less, I feel the same way that Rall does about both the widows and firefighters. I'm fairly sure he wrote those strips the way he would write anything else, and wasn't being crass, trying to drum up publicity. I don't think either of those cartoons are particularly good examples of Mr. Rall's work.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Avoiding The Conceptual Life ]

16:28 / 13.03.02

Oooooh, yes.

It's nice to have someone compiling data in one place like that, but geez, there's a lot of unfounded, irrational hate stemming from that Dirty Danny fiasco.

16:33 / 13.03.02

hey moriarty, you should keep this up. The other thread was more about the Times pulling the cartoon in the first place. There's lots to discuss here.

16:39 / 13.03.02

artistically and from a loyout point of view rall's ork seems incredibly reminicent of Scott Adam's Dilbert - The images are not necessary to convey the meaning.

Having said that many people seem to like (or more correctly, buy) Adams work - what do you guys think to this comparison?

Matthew Fluxington

16:48 / 13.03.02

I think the Scott Adams comparison is very appropriate - both he and Rall do similar things in their artistic style and content, but for different audiences.

I don't dislike Scott Adams, personally. I just can't get into it, or relate to it.

In other news: I'm reading through Jim Treacher's work. This guy really grates on me --- especially the strips he does "after David Rees". I think a big chunk of my distaste for Treacher comes from him reminding me quite a bit of someone I used to know in my regular life who had the same style of writing/humor/pettiness.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Avoiding The Conceptual Life ]

18:25 / 13.03.02

I really dislike Scott Adams's art --wait, before I make an ass of myself, he's the Dilbert guy, right? (Back from Google-check, right.) I actually do like Ted Rall's art a lot, though this is coming from me just learning how to do cut-paper pictures.

And I dislike Scott Adams even more for seeming to rail against corporate stupidity but basically really being a corporate shill --e.g., the official cartoonist for Office Depot, much as I love Office Depot. No offense to anyone, except obviously Scott Adams... but Dilbert to me is basically a vehicle for mediocre people to look down on people just slightly more mediocre than they are.

And I hate Roz Chast, too.

That said, Dilbert's everywhere and Ted Rall's not... so maybe I haven't had enough exposure to get allergic to Ted Rall. I kind of feel like I know what he's getting at with the Terrorist Widows thing, but it generally goes against my guiding principle that there's always more than meets the eye.

But compassion isn't necessarily for everyone, either. Someone has to be the prow of the ship, and Scott Adams certainly isn't.

Well, I guess I may have gone ahead and made an ass of myself nevertheless. Toodle-oo.

18:48 / 13.03.02

Persephone, your posts in the comics forum, few as they are, are like Hercules, strong as ten ordainary posts. And you always attempt to ruin it by apologizing needlessly.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: moriarty ]

Matthew Fluxington

19:03 / 13.03.02

Moriarty beat me to the punch, but I'm going to second him: Persephone, yr comics forum posts are always quite good. You have good taste and a valued perspective - please, no need to qualify yrself so much in the future, okay?

20:31 / 13.03.02

Eeep, moriarty and Flux took away my water wings!

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: Persephone ]

gentleman loser

19:21 / 14.03.02

I think Rall was trying to make a point about a small minority of people trying to cash in on the misfortunes of 9/11. These people are very real. If you don't believe me just watch MSNBC or Fox "News" Channel infotainment for thirty minutes (if you can do so without puking all over yourself) and you'll see some of these widows and their lawyers pandering for the greenbacks.

This is pure fact. It may surprise some people to know that there are a lot of greedy and opportunistic people in the world.

Is Ted Rall one of them? Maybe. I think he's neatly skewering the endless PC fawning of the personality obsessed media.

Personally, I was much more interested in the censorship of "The Boondocks". "The Adventures of Flagee and Ribbon" was pretty damn funny, especially considering all of the hysterical faux patriotic flag waving that magically surfaced on September 12.

Don't get me started on that!

[ 14-03-2002: Message edited by: gentleman loser ]

15:36 / 18.03.02

Bit about this in salon.com today:

Wrath of a terror widow
<<<Yes, we are angry, often justifiably, but we are not ungrateful opportunists making a buck on the death of loved ones. That person is cartoonist Ted Rall.>>>
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/03/15/widow_wrath/index.html

04:08 / 11.04.02

Hey, if anyone in the US is 1) awake & 2) cares, Ted Rall is on Politically Incorrect (ABC) right now....

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

04:34 / 11.04.02

I find Rall's art to be Trying Too Hard To Look Odd myself, but his writing is dead on for the most part. He is saying things that most people are scared of saying, and maybe he's doing it as a publicity stunt, or maybe because he watched one too many person on Larry King talking about how it's such a crime that they aren't getting more money from the 9/11 funds.

Was there a fund for the victims of Oklahoma City? Or the first Trade Center bombing?

Or the automakers, or Fox News with the American Flag on the screen all the time, or the politicians who say that the terrorists hate our freedom (yeah, they stay up at night raging that we can rent "Good Will Hunting" anytime we want).

I personally think that it's about time someone pointed out that the Emperor has clothes made out of money.