SlowpokeBlog

Well, it didn't take long for this one to make its way around the Rush message boards. I'm glad Rush fans seem to have a good sense of humor, unlike the two riot-starters depicted in the cartoon.

It took me a while to come up with an idea for a strip about the Danish cartoon controversy because the issue is so complex. No metaphors for the situation seemed to work perfectly. The Rush Riots are clearly not a perfect metaphor, but at least allowed me to have some fun with the subject. Buried in the strip is a point, sort of -- that the "cartoon riots" are not merely about people reacting to a cartoon, as though all of this were happening in a vacuum. Note that the eggplant alone does not cause the Rush Riots. The fourth panel is a reference to the Danish Imam who circulated an image of Muhammad with a pig nose -- actually a photo of a bearded guy from a French farm show -- that did not appear in the Danish paper (not that those cartoons were in good taste). Hence the Rush fans' doctored photo of a rotting eggplant.

Someone on the Rush boards rightly caught my allusion to Pavement singer Stephen Malkmus. In the song "Stereo" he sings, "What about the voice of Geddy Lee / How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy? (I know him and he does!)"

I also refer to the Rah Bras, from Richmond, VA. Only after I drew the cartoon did I realize I went to school with vocalist Isabella Rubella. Not only that, but for a few short weeks we were in a band together. I don't think I'd even call it a band -- we sounded pretty egregious. Come to think of it, Malkmus went to UVA too, though he was a little before my time. See, southern schools aren't all about the frats. Just mostly.

And speaking of rock and roll, there should be some sort of interview with me in the next issue of Punk Planet, along with other cartoonists, about the Danish thing.