Ted Rall - Saturday April 12, 2008 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

So you wanna be a cartoonist. "What [political cartoonists] consider daring and controversial is often sanctimonious, heavy-handed and obvious - the vultures over Darfur school."- actual quote. Kathy Roberts, NYT editor. Because comics have minimal visuals, Marshall McLuhan said, readers have to work mentally to fill in the missing details. That makes comics the ultimate "cool-medium." Comic readers don't want to be mentally challenged. A tone of iron detachment caters to their laziness. Pretty artwork, soft colors, light humor, so comfortable, so sleepy. Never get angry. Don't even chide. The less you seem to care, the more your readers will like you and listen to your message. I sense outrage. Even disgust. No caring here! Just cool, ironic detachment.

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