Art Spiegelman, cover artist for the New Yorker, gave a strong, STRONG defense of the Obama cover on

[Guaranteed]

Talk of the Nation this morning.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92556059

I urge you to listen to his points. This is a wise, wise man.


The cover was not a joke. It was quite serious. And it wasn't satire- it was irony. The desired effect of such an extreme depiction of Obama was exactly the same effect we are witnessing now- we have taken a whisper campaign and exposed it, brought it into the light. And every time we are able to publicly call these ideas about the Obamas "lies," we beat them just a little more.


Paul Mooney gives a rather odd take on the cover to begin with- you can listen to that as well but there's not much worth hearing. He's not on for long, though.

[fascisthunter]

1. hopefully it helps

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. "taken a whisper campaign and exposed it"

Some whisper.

[Guaranteed]

4. Seriously. It was loud enough to hear about it plenty, but not quite loud enough

to really be able to hit back on it.

Now it's damned loud, isn't it?

Yes. Now it's dead.

[high density]

7. You mean Obama isn't a Muslim terrorist lover anymore?

But I just saw this magazine cover on TV that showed otherwise...

[Guaranteed]

8. Well, if you'll notice that virtually every talking head now is calling these ideas "lies"-

yes, that very word- if you hear what they're saying, you should pretty well understand now that it's not true, and, in fact, Obama is the victim of some seriously racist assholes.

[Forkboy]

3. Let the trashing of Art commence.

What does he know anyways?

[KittyWampus]

9. Thanks Forkboy, I had to stop responding to those threads. I used to do underground comix

back in the day.

Nobody EVER got my jokes except my boy.

[Forkboy]

12. I've barely said anything about this whole cover thing.

But shit, if Art is wrong then my whole world just turned upside down. The guy is a force to be reckoned with. Anyone just dismissing him as a "comic" artist is beyond an idiot.

[Danger Mouse]

11. Maus is something I've wanted to read for a long time.

[Forkboy]

13. Do so....you wont be disappointed.

It's not just a great comic, it's great literature. It should be mandatory reading in high schools.

[Danger Mouse]

15. They HAD it at my HS library but to my shame i never took the time to read it...

but I did take time reading several biographies of Hitler...just because I couldn't understand the 'why'.

[Forkboy]

17. I still don't understand the "why" of it.

And I kind of hope I never do.

Seriously, search it out. It's worth the money and time. I highly doubt it won't impress you. Some people have discounted it as being just a "comic", but those people are idiots. It's a fantastic piece of work that anyone with a soul will appreciate.

[Danger Mouse]

20. I've heard it's amazing, it looks amazing...and at some point I WILL seek it out.

Have you read Will Eisner's 'The Plot' by any chance?
It's also very good.

[LowerManhattanite]

24. I actually had the pleasure of studying cartooning for two years under Will Eisner...

...and one year with Bernie Krigstein of (EC Comics fame).

Will was a pure genius as was “Kriggy”. I've met Spiegelman. Talented artist and storyteller—kind of a mean person, though.

Bob Mankoff (The NYer's cartoon editor) has had an interesting take in the past on cartoons that “fail” in the magazine. He notes that it happens several times a year and the magazine gets hundreds of “WTH did it mean?” letters and e-mails.

It's a hit and miss game doing those cartoons and covers. I LOVE the old Peter Arnos covers from the late 30's through the 50's but there are some of them that so unironically use horrible accepted visual stereotypes of the time that they're almost painful to look at.

Spiegelman's defense notwithstanding, that's the bottom line. Some covers/cartoons work—and some don't.

C'est la vie. :)

[mopinko]

25. my son had to read them both

he was in a gifted high school. :shrug: they do give kids stuff like that to read here in the big city.

[Danger Mouse]

16. If someone decides to trash him, I think we should hit them hard.

[Forkboy]

19. They should be pelted with rocks and garbage.

:)

[Peace Patriot]

5. Thank you for this post! I thought it was a brilliant NY cover. I LOLed, cuz its point

was so immediately clear to me, and so right on. Bring. It. Out. Into. The. Open.

Fight it HEAD ON, like Obama knows how to do.

[Guaranteed]

6. That was the weird part, and Art mentions this- Obama had a chance

to embrace this, but didn't. Obama is so smart, and one would think he'd get the idea and deride those ideas as they should be derided- with laughter- even though they aren't the least bit funny.

It's the difference between laughing at the message and laughing at those who have brought it to us...

[KittyWampus]

10. or at least sarcastically thank the artist for putting all the lies in one piece

:)

[Danger Mouse]

14. I found nothing wrong with the cover AT ALL and it's about time this issue died.

[JoFerret]

18. My copy just arrived today

and I have to say I don't like it as much "in the flesh".

[zbdent]

21. So why not have the title over the cartoon

"The Lies about Obama"?

[hedgehog]

22. Because the New Yorker always has the title on the inside

beneath the table of contents.


I liked Spiegelman's comment that the country is full of frustrated art directors because of all the people posting about how they would have improved the cover to clarify it!

[hedgehog]

23. Bonus: some of Spiegelman's covers:

[WinkyDink]

26. Well, at least I knew it wasn't satire.

[yardwork]

27. This is what many of us have been saying here on DU.

[Celebration]

28. Here is why the cover is especially interesting--

Liking the cover (me, for instance) and not liking it have very little to do with political affiliation. A whole lot of DUers like the cover and a whole lot don't.

Some Republicans think it is tasteless and some probably think it is on the mark.

Here is why it was especially good--it got EVERYONE talking about it.

The best I can say about Obama's reaction is that I don't think he commented on it--he let his campaign do that. I guess I can see why he would be a little sensitive one these issues, but there is not a chance that this cover could hurt his campaign-- I mean ZERO chance. And, it just might help it a tiny bit.

[Neshanic]

29. Them artist types they so smart! He should be VP.

[Guaranteed]

30. Yeah, he is. nt