Attitude: The New Subversive Cartoonists
Encyclopedia
The Attitude series of books is a series of anthologies of alternative comics
, photos and artists' interviews edited by Universal Press Syndicate
editorial cartoonist Ted Rall
. The books were designed by J. P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com. Two sequels and three spin-off titles have been published to date. A group of cartoonists featured in the Attitude series formed the organization Cartoonists With Attitude in June 2006; the group hosts slideshow and panel events around the country to promote the series and alternative political cartooning. Ted Rall created the compilation with the intention of publishing artists who were hard-up for work or otherwise had difficulties relating to the public.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune
wrote: "Some of the cartoons are type-dominated (Don Asmussen
's); many are not artistically pleasing; several would not pass the standards for a family newspaper." "There is moral rage, drama and righteousness that are both breezy and mortally serious," wrote The Baltimore Sun
. "This is provocative, if often still rough and immature, stuff. And if history is still a guide, many of these artists will emerge as the best of the next generation of mainstream newspaper cartoonists." The American Library Association
's Booklist
wrote that "Whereas old-school editorial cartoonists rely on timeworn traditions, topics, and techniques, the new breed tackles contemporary concerns, such as commercialism and environmentalism ... Their drawings are usually subservient to their scripts, and both take a back seat to their attitude ... The best of them possess so much lacerating wit and unswerving commitment that they fairly shame their hidebound mainstream counterparts into retirement."
Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists made The Progressive
s list of "Favorite books of 2002."
The artists included and their comics are:
Andy Singer: No Exit
Don Asmussen
: The San Francisco Comic Strip
Tom Tomorrow
: This Modern World
Clay Butler: Sidewalk Bubblegum
Peter Kuper
: Eye of the Beholder
Jen Sorensen
: Slowpoke
Scott Bateman
Tim Eagan: Deep Cover, Subconscious Comics
Derf
: The City
Lalo Alcaraz
: La Cucaracha
Joe Sharpnack
Eric Bezdek: Corn Valley
Ruben Bolling
: Tom the Dancing Bug
William L. Brown: Citizen Bill
Ward Sutton
: Schlock 'n' Roll
Stephanie McMillan: Minimum Security
Mickey Siporin: America Outta Line
Jim Siergey: Cultural Jet Lag
Ted Rall
: Search and Destroy
Matt Wuerker: Lint Trap
The San Diego Union-Tribune
described Attitude 2 as "the ribald, self-righteous comix in the best alternative weeklies ... 'Question Authority' is their collective motto, and as long as they're making people mad as hell, they must be doing something right." The United Kingdom's The Observer
wrote that "This is satire in an angry-youth-with-piercings mode. The spiritual forebears are the cartoonists of the 1960s-70s underground (Robert Crumb
et al.) but the use of clip art and scratchy line techniques mark this out as a very contemporary collection, and happily the humour is of high quality." Publishers Weekly
wrote that "These cartoonists are, generally, writers who use the medium to get across verbal puns or simple, angry screeds, regardless of visual style or any other comics-based concerns. ... This worthy compilation of cartoonists who otherwise wouldn't be seen outside of their local weeklies showcases the continuing vitality of comics as social criticism."
The artists included and their comics are:
The artists included and their comics are:
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
, photos and artists' interviews edited by Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird...
editorial cartoonist Ted Rall
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
. The books were designed by J. P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com. Two sequels and three spin-off titles have been published to date. A group of cartoonists featured in the Attitude series formed the organization Cartoonists With Attitude in June 2006; the group hosts slideshow and panel events around the country to promote the series and alternative political cartooning. Ted Rall created the compilation with the intention of publishing artists who were hard-up for work or otherwise had difficulties relating to the public.
Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists
Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists focuses on cartoonists whose work appears in alternative weekly newspapers with a view toward defining a new genre of political comics that, in Rall's words, are "too alternative for the mainstream and too mainstream for the underground."The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
wrote: "Some of the cartoons are type-dominated (Don Asmussen
Don Asmussen
Don Asmussen is an American cartoonist working for the San Francisco Chronicle and Universal Press Syndicate.He was born in Rhode Island...
's); many are not artistically pleasing; several would not pass the standards for a family newspaper." "There is moral rage, drama and righteousness that are both breezy and mortally serious," wrote The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
. "This is provocative, if often still rough and immature, stuff. And if history is still a guide, many of these artists will emerge as the best of the next generation of mainstream newspaper cartoonists." The American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
's Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
wrote that "Whereas old-school editorial cartoonists rely on timeworn traditions, topics, and techniques, the new breed tackles contemporary concerns, such as commercialism and environmentalism ... Their drawings are usually subservient to their scripts, and both take a back seat to their attitude ... The best of them possess so much lacerating wit and unswerving commitment that they fairly shame their hidebound mainstream counterparts into retirement."
Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists made The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
s list of "Favorite books of 2002."
The artists included and their comics are:
- Lloyd DangleLloyd DangleLloyd Dangle is an American writer and visual artist, particularly known as a cartoonist, illustrator, and political satirist...
:
Troubletown
Troubletown was a syndicated weekly comic strip by American cartoonist Lloyd Dangle. Begun in 1988, it ran in many alternative weeklies including The Stranger, The Portland Mercury, and The Austin Chronicle. It also appeared in The Progressive magazine...
Don Asmussen
Don Asmussen is an American cartoonist working for the San Francisco Chronicle and Universal Press Syndicate.He was born in Rhode Island...
:
Tom Tomorrow
Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins. His weekly comic strip This Modern World, which comments on current events, appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada as of 2006, as well as on CREDO Action and Daily Kos, where he is its comics curator...
:
This Modern World
This Modern World is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow that covers current events from a liberal point of view. Tomorrow also runs a weblog that informs readers about stories of interest, often presented as a follow up to his cartoons...
Sidewalk bubblegum
Started in 1993 and retired in 2002, Clay Butler’s self-syndicated weekly political cartoon, Sidewalk Bubblegum, focused on issues of consumerism, capitalism, sexism, racism, war, authority, gender issues, the environment, worker rights and human rights...
Peter Kuper
Peter Kuper is an American alternative cartoonist and illustrator known for his autobiographical, social, and political observations.-Early life:...
:
Jen Sorensen
Jen Sorensen is an American cartoonist who authors Slowpoke, a weekly comic strip that often focuses on current events from a liberal perspective. The comic generally makes use of three recurring characters: Mr...
:
Scott Bateman
Scott Bateman is a left-leaning political cartoonist currently residing in New York City . For a number of years, his political cartoons were syndicated by King Features Syndicate. After his syndication deal ended, he began the Bateman 365 project to publish a flash animated short every day for...
Derf
Derf is the pseudonym of American artist John Backderf, most famous for the comic strip The City, which has appeared in a number of alternative newspapers since 1990. In 2006 Derf won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for cartooning....
: The City
Lalo Alcaraz
Lalo Alcaraz is an Mexican-American cartoonist. He is most known for being the author of the comic La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip. Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic...
: La Cucaracha
Joe Sharpnack
Joe Sharpnack is an editorial cartoonist based out of Iowa City, Iowa in the United States.His work has appeared in many local, national, and international newspapers and magazines. In addition, he has produced three books, namely Attack of the Political Cartoonists, Attitude: The New Subversive...
Ruben Bolling
Ruben Bolling is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher, a cartoonist, the author of Tom the Dancing Bug.- Biography :Bolling, who has no formal art training, read many comics when he was a child, and sometimes features their styles in his work...
: Tom the Dancing Bug
Tom the Dancing Bug
Tom the Dancing Bug is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Ruben Bolling that covers current events from a liberal point of view. The strip appears in mainstream and alternative weekly newspapers, as well as on the Boing Boing website. Tom the Dancing Bug won...
Ward Sutton
Ward Sutton is an American illustrator, cartoonist and writer born in Minneapolis and based in New York City. His comic strip, "Sutton Impact" , was published in The Village Voice from 1995 to 2007....
: Schlock 'n' Roll
Minimum Security
Minimum Security is a comic strip written and illustrated by Stephanie McMillan. It began in 1999, appearing in several alternative weeklies...
Cultural jet lag
-Origin and definition:The expression cultural jet lag was first coined by Marc Perraud during his research into cross-cultural psychology. He describes the expression as the phenomenon of partial socialization in adults born from bi-cultural/national unions and whose childhood was characterized...
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
: Search and Destroy
Attitude 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists
Attitude 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists followed Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists by two years. For the second book in the series, Rall turned to alternative weekly-oriented cartoonists whose work leaned more toward general humor than the original volume. It also includes several political cartoonists.The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
described Attitude 2 as "the ribald, self-righteous comix in the best alternative weeklies ... 'Question Authority' is their collective motto, and as long as they're making people mad as hell, they must be doing something right." The United Kingdom's The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote that "This is satire in an angry-youth-with-piercings mode. The spiritual forebears are the cartoonists of the 1960s-70s underground (Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
et al.) but the use of clip art and scratchy line techniques mark this out as a very contemporary collection, and happily the humour is of high quality." Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
wrote that "These cartoonists are, generally, writers who use the medium to get across verbal puns or simple, angry screeds, regardless of visual style or any other comics-based concerns. ... This worthy compilation of cartoonists who otherwise wouldn't be seen outside of their local weeklies showcases the continuing vitality of comics as social criticism."
The artists included and their comics are:
- Keith Knight: The K ChroniclesThe K ChroniclesThe K Chronicles is the autobiographical comic strip by independent cartoonist Keith Knight. Until February 2010 one could find it updated every Wednesday at Salon.com. The strip previously appeared in the San Francisco Examiner....
- Neil SwaabNeil SwaabNeil Swaab is a New York based artist, designer, writer, and educator. His illustrations and comics have appeared in numerous publications in the US as well as abroad in Germany, Prague, and Italy and Russia....
: Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles - Emily S. Flake: Lulu Eightball
- Tak ToyoshimaTak ToyoshimaTak Toyoshima is an Asian American art director with the Weekly Dig and the author of the comic strip Secret Asian Man....
: Secret Asian ManSecret Asian ManSecret Asian Man is a syndicated comic strip written and drawn by Tak Toyoshima and published in Boston's Weekly Dig, Metro Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury News, RedEye, Nichi Bei Times, AsianWeek, Georgia Asian Times, The Everett Herald, and on the internet.The strip has appeared weekly since... - Brian Sendelbach: Smell of Steve, Inc.
- Jennifer Berman: Berman
- Alison BechdelAlison BechdelAlison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home.-Early life:...
: Dykes to Watch Out ForDykes to Watch out ForDykes to Watch Out For was a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit... - Shannon WheelerShannon WheelerShannon Wheeler is an American cartoonist best known for creating the satirical superhero Too Much Coffee Man, and as a cartoonist for The New Yorker.-Career:...
: Too Much Coffee ManToo Much Coffee ManToo Much Coffee Man is an American satirical superhero created by cartoonist Shannon Wheeler, and which has appeared in comic strips, minicomics, webcomics, comic books, magazines, books, and operas.... - Mikhaela B. ReidMikhaela ReidMikhaela Blake Reid is an editorial cartoonist published in various alternative newspapers and magazines, including The Boston Phoenix, Bay Windows, Metro Times, and In These Times, and was also reprinted in Los Angeles Times...
: The Boiling Point - Aaron McGruderAaron McGruderAaron McGruder is an American cartoonist best known for writing and drawing The Boondocks, a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip about two young African American brothers from inner-city Chicago now living with their grandfather in a sedate suburb, as well as being the creator and executive...
: The BoondocksThe Boondocks (TV series)The Boondocks is an American animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's comic strip of the same name... - Tim Kreider: The Pain—When Will It End?
- Barry Deutsch: Ampersand
- David ReesDavid ReesDavid Rees may refer to:* David Rees , British children's author* David Rees , American cartoonist* David Rees , British pure mathematician...
: Get Your War OnGet Your War OnGet Your War On is a series of satirical comic strips by David Rees about political topics — originally the effects of the September 11 attacks on New York City but quickly switching focus to more recent ones, in particular the "War on Terrorism"... - Max CannonMax CannonMax Cannon is author and creator of the independent comic strip Red Meat.Cannon began producing the strip in 1989 for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student newspaper of the University of Arizona . The strip was later picked up by the Tucson Weekly, and it now appears in over 75 alternative weeklies...
: Red MeatRed MeatMax Cannon's Red Meat is an independent comic strip begun in 1989. It appears in over 75 alternative weeklies and college papers in the United States and in other countries. Since 1996, it has been available for reading on the web.- Style :... - Eric OrnerEric OrnerEric Orner is an openly gay American cartoonist whose works revolve around LGBT issues. He is best known for long running indy comic strip, The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, which was adapted into a feature film and which received a limited national cinematic release in 2005...
: The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan GreenThe Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan GreenThe Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green is a syndicated comic strip drawn by Eric Orner. Appearing in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender publications, the strip's title character is Ethan Green, a young gay man trying to balance his professional career as a personal assistant with his... - Greg Peters: Suspect DeviceSuspect DeviceSuspect Device may refer to* Suspect Device from the album Inflammable Material* Suspect Device...
- Jason Youngbluth: Deep Fried
- Steven Notley: Bob the Angry FlowerBob the Angry FlowerBob the Angry Flower is a black-and-white comic strip that tells the exploits of an easily angered anthropomorphic flower named Bob and his interactions with the world, often in search of either global domination or love...
- Justin JonesJustin JonesJustin Jones is an English musician and guitarist.Jones grew up in Inkberrow. There he founded And Also The Trees together with Nick and Graham Havas and his brother Simon Huw Jones...
: Soda-Pong - Kevin Moore: In Contempt Comics
- Marian Henley: Maxine!
Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists
Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists is the third volume in the Attitude series. Whereas volumes one and two of the series concentrated on print cartoonists with an alternative bent, Attitude 3 focuses exclusively upon webcomics.The artists included and their comics are:
- Rob BalderRob BalderRobert T. Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur. He graduated from Roanoke College with a major in English in 1993, and after a variety of jobs, entered a seven year career in IT, starting as a Manager of Database Development, which he left for...
: PartiallyClipsPartiallyClipsPartiallyClips is a webcomic, created by Rob Balder, which has been running since 2002. At the start of 2010, Balder handed authorship of the comic to Tim Crist, the comedy musician behind Worm Quartet.... - Dale Beran and David Hellman: A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is IrreversibleA Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is IrreversibleA Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible is a webcomic drawn by David Hellman and written by Dale Beran. Ted Rall describes the comic as "explor[ing] the limits of pessimism and fatal consequence in a universe that would be difficult to imagine on the printed page." The comic has been...
- Matt Bors: Idiot BoxIdiot Box (webcomic)Idiot Box is a political webcomic by Matt Bors. It is currently syndicated by United Features Syndicate. It has 2 collected editions and appears in the webcomic anthology Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists.-Collected editions:...
- Steven L. Cloud: Boy on a Stick and SlitherBoy on a Stick and SlitherBoy on a Stick and Slither is a webcomic by Steven L. Cloud.Strips usually feature a short, pithy and sometimes surreal exchange between the title characters. The strip is characterized by dry and cynical humor....
- M.e. Cohen: HumorInk
- Chris Dlugosz: PixelPixel (webcomic)Pixel is a webcomic written by Chris Dlugosz, first published on June 14, 2002. It is set in the aptly named "pixel universe", inhabited by pixels, voxels, vectors, plasmas , and polygons. The comic is known for its very literal sense of humor, and its constant breaks of the fourth wall...
- Thomas K. Dye: Newshounds
- Mark FioreMark FioreMark Fiore is an American political cartoonist specializing in Flash-animated editorial cartoons, whom the Wall Street Journal recently called the undisputed guru of the form....
: Fiore Animated Cartoons - Dorothy GambrellDorothy GambrellDorothy Gambrell is a cartoonist who writes and draws the online comic strip Cat and Girl in addition to the blog very small array. Her work has appeared in the literary journal Backwards City Review, and the Anton Chekhov anthology The Other Chekhov....
: Cat and Girl - Nicholas Gurewitch: The Perry Bible FellowshipThe Perry Bible FellowshipThe Perry Bible Fellowship is a newspaper comic strip and webcomic by Nicholas Gurewitch. It originated in the Syracuse University newspaper The Daily Orange. The comics are usually three or four panels long, and are generally characterized by the juxtaposition of whimsical childlike imagery or...
- Brian McFadden: Big Fat WhaleBig Fat WhaleBig Fat Whale is a weekly comic strip drawn and written by Brian McFadden. It started on October 16, 2001, as a webcomic, which the cartoonist described as "terrible, even by webcomic standards." Eventually, the strip improved, and the title-character was eventually dropped from the strip.The strip...
- Eric Millikin: Fetus-X
- Ryan NorthRyan NorthRyan M. North is a Canadian writer, computer programmer, and occasional songwriter who is the creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, and co-creator of Whispered Apologies and Happy Dog the Happy Dog....
: Dinosaur ComicsDinosaur ComicsDinosaur Comics is a constrained webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. It is also known as "Qwantz", after the site's domain name, "qwantz.com". The first comic was posted on 1 February 2003, though there were earlier prototypes. Dinosaur Comics has also been printed in two collections and in a... - August J. Pollak: XQUZYPHYR & OverboardXQUZYPHYR & OverboardSome Guy with a Website is a political webcomic and blog by August J. Pollak. The cartoon first started in October 1999 when Pollak was a freshman at New York University and drew the cartoon for NYU's student-run paper, Washington Square News...
- Mark Poutenis: Thinking Ape BluesThinking Ape BluesThinking Ape Blues is a webcomic created by freelance illustrator Mark Poutenis.The strip stars three "brothers" Abe, Ben and Carl Progress , and frequently explores themes of conflict between man's primordial and civilized selves while throwing in the occasional pop culture reference...
- Jason Pultz: Comic Strip
- Adam Rust: Adam's Rust
- D. C. SimpsonD. C. SimpsonDana Claire Simpson is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of Ozy and Millie....
: I Drew ThisI Drew ThisI Drew This is an online political cartoon created by Dana Simpson, the creator of Ozy and Millie. The strip is primarily about politics and is of proudly liberal orientation...
& Ozy and MillieOzy and MillieOzy and Millie is a webcomic, created by D. C. Simpson, which debuted in January 1997. The comic was part of Keenspot from 2001 to 2003, going independent for several years before returning to Keenspot in November 2006. It follows the adventures of assorted anthropomorphized animals... - Ben Smith: Fighting WordsFighting wordsFighting words are written or spoken words, generally expressed to incite hatred or violence from their target. Specific definitions, freedoms, and limitations of fighting words vary by jurisdiction...
- Richard Stevens: Diesel SweetiesDiesel SweetiesDiesel Sweeties is a webcomic and former newspaper comic strip written by Richard Stevens III . The comic began in 2000, originally hosted at robotstories.com...
- Michael Zole: Death to the ExtremistDeath to the ExtremistDeath to the Extremist is a minimalist webcomic series created by Michael Zole. Initially published in Hampshire College's magazine The Omen, it has been published regularly online since 2001...