ACLU comi... I mean "graphic novel"!

Apparently the ACLU has an "online graphic novel" titled Defenders of Freedom up at their site. I find their use of wording interesting. The piece itself states, "We are not trying to disguise a civics lesson in a comic book" — though their tagline calls it their "first graphic novel" (apparently more will follow?).

This seems like another instance of "graphic novel" being used as an upscale synonym for "comics" — without regard for format (it's on the web!) — as opposed to using it to denote a separate categorical frame/artitic movement. The quote in the piece bears this out, since "comic book" is used fairly negatively here (and straight-up ties it to the notion of superheroes), when the work is obviously done in the "comic medium."

Here again a notion of a "visual language" would be useful. What the ACLU is trying to say (I think) is that they want to communicate this valuable information in a graphic form that is accessible (visual language), but they don't want it to have the stigma of "comics" (the social construct associated to superheroes, etc.) biasing people's opinions of it.

Hartmann on Air America

I've recently heard the news that Thom Hartmann, author of my illustrated book We the People: A Call to Take Back America, is replacing Al Franken on Air America Radio. This could mean good news for our book (which at three printings since March of '04 is doing pretty well already), but it means even better news for radio listeners.

Thom was already doing well on his decently distributed show (beating Limbaugh in some regions), and he's a delight to listen to, entertaining, rich with knowledge, and open to a good healthy debate with all who have an opinion to voice. Pretty much the same qualities I like to believe our book has.

Eloquence on 9/11

I really didn't do much to think about memorializing 9/11 today. I saw them lowering the flags to half mast on campus this morning, and besides that it persisted in and out as a passing thought in my mind throughout the day. However, the most eloquent speech on the subject that I have found was spoken by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann tonight. Not only am I finding him to be of the best caliber journalists on TV these days, but, in an era applauding "plainspokenness" over "eloquence," Keith is also one of the most stirring in his words.

I encourage everyone to watch.

(Linked video from the excellent Crooks and Liars)

Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class

As long as I'm doing politically oriented posts, I've been meaning for a while to plug Thom Hartmann's new book Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class -- And What We Can Do About It.

Thom is, of course, the author of the political book I illustrated We the People: A Call to Take Back America, and is a great writer (and radio host. If you listen to talk radio, he's easily accessed on RadioPower.org via iTunes webradio). Alas, his latest offering isn't in "comic form," but I'm sure it'll be a good read nonetheless. Thom often talks about these issues on his radio show, so I imagine the book to be a lucid expansion of those ideas he hits on frequently.

The Power of Nightmares

For anyone that is interested in the state of the world today related to American politics and terrorism, I highly recommend watching this BBC documentary on the concurrent rise of the neo-conservative movement and Islamic terrorism over the past fifty years.

The documentary is downloadable in three parts and is rather long (one hour per installment), but it is definitely worth watching. Not only will you learn the history of these movements, but you'll also see how supremely weak grounded both ideologies and movements are. Seriously, it is worth setting aside the time to watch them (as well as contemplating these issues in relation to other things like, say, the military industrial complex and corporate personhood).

A Terrifying Message from Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth

I just saw Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth today, and man, all I can say is that everyone out there should see this movie. It is powerful, compelling, and downright scary. It very clearly and eloquently lays out the dangers of global warming, as well as gives a strong insight into Gore and his interest in it. I urge everyone to visit the website go see the movie.

Was the 2004 election stolen?

Robert Kennedy Jr.'s cover story article in this month's Rolling Stone provides fairly overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that the winner of the 2004 presidential election was not GWB. I highly recommend that everyone read the article, despite its length. No right in America is more important than our right to vote, and the fact that it has been subverted should anger, inspire, and force people to demand that this sort of injustice not go unnoticed or repeated.

Corporate friendster

On his radio show today Thom mentioned this fascinating/scary site that shows the degrees of separation between board members of major corporations. If any person out there doubts that the a small handful of people control most of the wealth and influence in this country, this site fairly clearly shows the connections upfront.

I highly recommend using the "find connection" function, where you can plug in two companies and see what link they have. Amazingly, and unsurprisingly, the oil and military industrial corporations (like Halliburton) have only one degree of separation from all the media companies.

Save the Internet

Congress is going to be voting on whether to hand over the Internet to corporations like AT&T:

"Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online."

Contact your representatives and tell them "Don't give the Internet away to AT&T. Oppose the COPE Act as it is currently written." While all of your representatives would be good to contact, its especially good to lean on the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. These concerns transcend partisan issues and affect the freedoms we all experience on the Internet.

Some links

Dirk sends along his interesting interactive comic blog about his adventures in Japan. He's got a really cool idea where people can send him "assignments" about exploring Japan, and then he goes out and tries to do it, then writes a comic about it afterwards. Definitely worth checking out and maybe sending him some assignments.

I've also found this site that has maps of the US showing the population distribution of various religions. Noticably absent from the listing are most all Judeo-Christian religions like Hinduism or Buddhism (and, ahem, for all you Superheroes are myths people – none of those either :-P). Given that these were compiled from data garnered by a Catholic research center, I'd guess this is omission out of cultural bias not sufficient populations of those religions. I'd think there would be at least as many Hindus as Amish. Looks like other people noticed these absences too, and added the Pastafarians.

Plug o' rama

So, a couple weeks ago I finished reading Crashing the Gate by Jerome Armstrong (of MyDD.com) and Markos Moulistas Zúniga (of DailyKos) and I keep meaning to comment on it. I got the prerelease edition, but hadn't been able to get to reading it for a while after I got it. It is a very well written book with great substance to our current era in American history.

In my book with Thom Hartmann, We the People, we pointed out that the only way progressive voices can compete seriously is by taking over the Democratic Party, not by flocking to third parties, which are ultimately useless in the American politcal landscape. Crashing the Gate takes that ethos and dissects the current problems found in the Democratic establishment, while laying out a strategy for making it an effective political machine. The book is clear, concise, and a must read for anyone who want an insight into the broader political establishment and what must be done to return it to the hands of the citizens.

In other items worth plugging, Tim Godek alerts me that he posted a cleaner version of his story "One Night," which I find to be very interesting theory wise. The use of so many panels in a "iconographic" fashion (clocks, moon, sun, etc) creates cool effects to the extant that they are blatantly "concepts" as opposed to "narrative increments." I'll probably find good use for it in some future paper...



Oh, and more of my own "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is up as well.

America, yours and mine

Tonight, I joined thousands of people across the globe to protest the Iraq war on its third anniversary. Here in Chicago, we marched down Michigan Ave's Magnificent Mile, next to the river, and down to the Daley Center. It was an odd feeling to have such an event framed by one of the most emblematic centers of consumerism in the city, and possibly the country.


On the whole, the event went off very well, with lots of chanting and peaceful vibes. I have no idea what the numbers were like, but there were people as far as the eye could see in both directions. The news reported 7,000, though those are always significantly lowballed. For instance, a couple weeks ago police estimated over 300,000 people downtown gathering for immigrants rights. Police estimates are always lowballed on their own, but the news (when it actually covered it) said it was only around 50,000. Huh, dissent in America? Can't show that on corporate run TV!

It was a great experience though, and especially fun to see the people in store windows flashing peace signs to us. One window had posted a sign reading "Someone else for President." There was also a fairly precocious kid – not older than 10 – yelling that Bush should be brought to The Hague and put on trial. Before long, that kid'll be organizing these things I'm sure.

After the march, my friends and I ended up in Logan Square at a fabulous Mexican restaurant that was hosting a 70th birthday for an latino man, meaning there was quite loud music with a band, Mexicans dancing, and lots more good vibes. It’s a wonderful thing that a half-Jewish white Californian wearing Buddhist prayer beads can hang out with a liberal Texan and dance salsa with a Finnish anthropologist to a Tejano band in a Mexican restaurant on the West-side of Chicago.

This is what makes America great.

Why We Fight

I just saw this tonight, and it's a movie that every American should go see:

We the People, third times the charm?

Hey, I just found out We the People: A Call to Take Back America has now entered its third printing in about two years. Not bad I'd say. Unfortunately, the subject matter will stay relevant for a long time to come, even when this administration has gone and left (assuming they do leave... gulp).

For those who have it already, how many comic creator cameos can you spot in it?

The Antecedent

I'm always one to plug good works, especially political ones, so here's the "press release" for a new monthly strip at Comixpedia:

Bryant Paul Johnson is a very talented artist who creates a regular comic (comics are not just for kids!) called Teaching Baby Paranoia that wonderfully blends history, fiction and footnotes.

His new series The Antecedent looks at events in American history that eerily parallel current events today. The first installment "Two Fisted Shenanigans" tackled fiscal conflict of interest in the Washington administration - Jack Abramoff was not the first scoundrel in the lobbies of government. The second, just posted installment "Seditious Acts" looks at the Alien & Sedition Act in the Adams Administration - the original Patriot Act in American history.

In my book with Thom Hartmann, we bring up several parallels between older and current politics, including the Alien and Sedition Acts. Nevertheless, I encourage everyone to check out this new strip!

We the People 101

One of the projects I’ve been working on slowly over the past several months is a new edition of the book I did with Thom Hartmann, We the People: A Call to Take Back America.

The new version is going to break up the original into three smaller books, to be released as history textbooks for high school and college classes. We’ve had lots of good feedback from people who were using it for this purpose already, so we thought we’d accommodate them by issuing a revised edition.

Most of the changes involve alterations and additions to certain scenes and dialogue, but I’ve also been working on a new cover design for the series. Here’s one of the latest drafts I’ve done for the first book:



We’re shooting for an early 2006 release on the first book, with the rest of the series coming out throughout the year. I'll try to post more stuff on this as it develops.