Back to School Shopping
American Cartoonists
Aislin (Terry Mosher)
Brian Adcock
Omar Abdallat
Arcadio Esquivel
Ares
Pierre Ballouhey
Joep Bertrams
Hassan Bleibel
Angel Boligan
Peter Broelman
Peter Bromhead
Patrick Chappatte
Pavel Constantin
Sergei Elkin
Martin Sutovec
Tayo Fatunla
Fares
Farhad Foroutanian
Manny Francisco
Damien Glez
Oguz Gurel
Shekhar Gurera
Rainer Hachfeld
Julius Hansen
Riber Hansson
Jianping Fan
Yaakov Kirschen
Igor Kodenko
Christo Komarnitski
Michael Kountouris
Matador
Victor Ndula
Jeremy Nell
Petar Pismestrovic
Khalil Rahman
Simanca
Herbjorn Skogstad
Stephane Peray
Ramzy Taweel
Martyn Turner
Anna Von Rebeur
Mr. Fish, the Top Altie Cartoonist is Laid Off
By Daryl Cagle | January 16th, 2010 | PERMALINK
This column comes to us from Mr. Fish, Dwayne Booth, a long time contributor to our site and one of the most innovative, powerful cartoonists around. Â Fish is probably the farthest to the left of any cartoonist on our site, and is probably the harshest critic of President Obama of all the cartoonists.
Alternative weekly newspapers have taken more of a hit than the regular newspapers recently, and the “altie cartoonists” have been disappearing. Â Mr. Fish, who is probably the most prominent altie cartoonist of them all, survived a bloodbath last year when the Village Voice dropped all of their cartoonists except for him. Â Now the Village Voice has dropped every cartoonist, as Mr. Fish is laid off from the Village Voice/LA Weekly. Â Fish has written this piece for us on his departure.
See an archive of Mr. Fish cartoons here.
See a collection of my favorite, most offensive Mr. Fish cartoons here.
FRESH FISH
by Dwayne Booth (Mr. Fish)
Ever since the takeover of the Village Voice Media Company in 2006 by New Times Media, I knew my days were numbered. We all did - by that I mean everybody at the old LA Weekly, where for nearly 6 years I wrote, cartooned and illustrated and produced a shitload of work. That is, up until yesterday.
I was cut as a cost-saving measure.
Once comprised of a sizable and competent staff capable of competing with the other two major metropolitan newspapers in the area, namely the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News, the current personnel who remain to produce the ever diminishing pages of the LA Weekly might best be described as only slightly outnumbering the Osmond Brothers. In fact, there are perhaps as many as 100 office chairs in the Culver City building, where, following a very depressing exodus from Hollywood in 2008, the Weekly now resides, that have never known ass.  Never.
In fact, if you were to compare the old, pre-merger LA Weekly and, while you’re at it, the Village Voice from 5 or 10 or 30 years ago, with today’s versions you’d see how Mr. Fish (not to mention Norman Mailer, Ezra Pound, Henry Miller, Barbara Garson, Katherine Anne Porter, M.S. Cone, James Baldwin, E.E. Cummings, Nat Hentoff, Marc Cooper, Ted Hoagland, Tom Stoppard, Lorraine Hansberry, Allen Ginsberg, Joshua Clover, Jules Feiffer and R. Crumb) no longer fits in with the TMZ/Your-ad-here!/journalism-produced-cheaply-will-produce-cheap-journalism look of the papers.
I recently received a letter from someone bemoaning the obvious drop in quality of the LA Weekly, as evidenced by the paper’s online incarnation, by saying that, “If I knew nothing about LA, I would think all that went on there were Burlesque shows.”
No kidding.
Sure, in response to a shitty economy and a pandemic shift by news junkies from pulp to PC, they’re have been definite changes in the print media industry over the last five years. And, sure, attempts to restructure the financial model on any business institution that sees its profit margins shrinking will always have some effect on the product that’s being produced, but mustn’t a shift to protect the body of an organization take special care not to jeopardize serious trauma to the head as well?
Does an incoming administration really assert its authority when it rips up the old Constitution so beloved by those it seeks to rule, saying, “This thing is pointless – it was written with a feather! We have Microsoft Office now!” or does it merely demonstrate its own arrogance and self-centeredness and misguided sense of intellectual privilege?
Haven’t we learned anything from the New Coke fiasco from the 1980s, for Christsake’s?
At one time, and not too long ago in fact, the brain of the Village Voice and the LA Weekly seemed quite capable of contributing to the national conversation about art and politics and literature and popular culture, but now, unless the word diet is affixed to the end of any of those subjects, or unless they are included as part of a movie title or bit of Hollywood gossip or a crime story, the Village Voice Media company seems as if it has absolutely no opinion to offer.
Specifically, to read the Village Voice nowadays is akin to watching somebody who you once respected and whose opinion about the culture you valued receive a lobotomy and then who, desperate not to lose your company, attempts to keep you around by offering to show you what he looks like with his pants off. It’s embarrassing.
So now what? 
 
When will the progressive and egg-heady spirit of the Alternative Press return? When will indie journalism raise its collective acumen above an eighth-grade reading and crouch-grabbing level?
And, getting back to me, where does a radically left-leaning political cartoonist go to piss off powerful people and to document the rage and contempt of liberal-minded loud-mouths and vengeful humanitarians? Where does a court jester, one who endeavors to rob just enough dignity from the king to make dissent seem possible and worthwhile to those most victimized by hierarchy, go?
You tell me.
I’m assuming that the answer, depending on who you are and what you value, is either Hell or High Water.
January 18, 2010
I thought I would add a postscript, since every time I put Mr. Fish cartoons in the blog we get comments describing him as a Photoshop artist. Â Fish certainly uses photo reference, but he draws the cartoons in pencil. Â some of his original drawings are shown below. -Daryl
|
|
Comments
Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time January 16, 2010 at 10:30 pm
I don’t know that I’d call Dwayne Booth “the top altie cartoonist.” He may be the harshest one, but I wouldn’t call him the “top” altie; Dan Pekins (Tom Tomorrow), among others, has him beat on circulation, visibility, humor, empathy and quality of communication. Still, sorry to see him lose his position… he was a strong voice, and the last cartoonist standing at the LA Weekly.
Comment from Daryl Cagle
Time January 16, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I’m amused by how provocative it is for me to call someone the “top” cartoonist.
Comment from Jay Delgado
Time January 16, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Mr. Fish: One more vulgar, hate-filled voice among thousands.
Pursue excellence, Dwayne, and you will never be out of a job. Keep doing what you are doing, and…well: you *won’t* have job because most people don’t want to hear it. It is a crazy man who does the same thing over and over and expects a different result the next time.
I sincerely hope you re-consider your ways, repent and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, Dwayne. Eternity is a long time and I don’t want you to miss out on living with God & His Glory forever.
~Jay Delgado
Comment from Gary Barker
Time January 17, 2010 at 5:51 am
But is he truly a cartoonist? Or just an image manipulator?
Comment from Rafiq Raja
Time January 18, 2010 at 2:44 am
Leaving the political aspects aside, I don\’t see Mr.Fish in as a Cartoonist in toto. He looks more like a Image manipulator geek, then his own creative lines…. but, then it\’s only me.
Comment from Milt Priggee
Time January 18, 2010 at 12:26 pm
OK, Ok, Mr Fish may not be the ‘top’ cartoonist. I guess he’ll just have to settle for being the best cartoonist……anywhere.
Comment from Jay Delgado
Time January 18, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Milt Priggee…feh.
Another bird of the same feather. A coward, in my book, through and through.
(Let me know when you’re ready to march through Ft. Hood with that cartoon blown up that you did for ‘Father’s Day’ a while back, :Priggee! ).
Heh.
Comment from Abell Smith
Time January 18, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Just based on that, Milt and Mr. Fish are doing something right in my book.
Comment from Jay Delgado
Time January 18, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Really Abell Smith?
This is something that is ‘right in my book’, as you say?
http://www.caglecartoons.com/i.....f60%7D.gif
This?
Are you sure? Don’t you care for the feelings of the families in the Military who may have lost someone they love in battle, Abell? Are you so callous to the thoughts and feelings of others?
Comment from Donna Barstow
Time January 19, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Wow, that is an obscene cartoon for Father’s Day, Milt. Did any editors buy it, or was it just for fun? We already know you’re joking about Mr. Fish.
Comment from Kevin Moore
Time January 19, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Mr. Fish gets my admiration not only for his relentless, pull-no-punches approach, but also for his serious rendering chops. That ain\’t no image manipulation, son; that there\’s drawing. (Even so, image manipulation in Photoshop is not exactly waving a magic wand.) His voice will be missed — by me, at least, for what that is worth.
Donna, I think the point of Milt\’s cartoon was the horrible irony of celebrating Father\’s Day even as we send fathers (and sons) to die in our pointless wars. Which is really the most \"obscene\"?
Comment from Jay Delgado
Time January 19, 2010 at 11:50 pm
To: Kevin Moore
Pointless warS, Kev?
Was WWII pointless? How about the Korean War? Pointless, also?
Why are you the judge? It remains to be seen why you are suddenly the judge. IIRC, the PEOPLE of America elect their representatives, who represent them in the Congress, who votes on whether to declare war. Are you insinuating that EVERY generation of Americans have approved of ‘pointless wars’? Quite arrogant of you….
Dismissed.
~Jay Delgado
The will of the PEOPLE rules America…not a hate-filled cartoonist like Priggee, Fish or even you, Moore. Not now, not ever. Period.
Comment from TAB
Time January 20, 2010 at 8:40 pm
good luck, Mr Fish. I liked your stuff. A whiff of truth in the stagnant pool of cartooning.
Comment from Donna Barstow
Time January 20, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Kevin, death is one thing. A rotting corpse is another. Of course, many people’s fathers have died, and look JUST like this, I imagine. UGH. Sorry, can’t explain it if you don’t get the difference.
I am no expert in Photoshop. I have PS Elements and it takes me hours to do anything - still haven’t figured out how to even color the background properly! However, I’m going to take a leap here and bring up Fairy Shepherd, and how he stole someone’s photo to make the Obama iconic poster. If I was a news photographer, I’m quite sure I could find my images in Fish’s “drawings.” Just adding a filter or a scumbling brush is an instant trick that anyone can do.
Of course, an artist still makes those decisions, but I don’t believe some of these are drawings.
Comment from Kevin Moore
Time January 21, 2010 at 12:00 am
Jay, your self-righteous indignation is comical. Thanks for the chuckle.
Donna, I look at war as a horrible, violent and destructive force in history. Few of them have been worth the fighting, and even those should have been avoided. Most are done at the behest of war profiteers, imperialists, and ideologues of various stripes (left, right, Socialist, Fascist, neoliberal, neocon); yet most of the fighting is done by the ranks of the poor and the working class. They witness horrible things, and find themselves compelled to do horrible things by circumstances beyond their control. Mitch’s cartoon points out one aspect of the horror and demands to know what we think about that. It’s not comfortable, it’s not pleasant, it’s not safe. It’s challenging and angry. As it should be.
Comment from Jay Delgado
Time January 21, 2010 at 9:48 am
Kevin:
Sensitivity to other people\’s feelings and concern how others in our society may hurt those who have lost loved ones is being \"self-righteous\"….?
I thought it was being gracious.
?
Comment from Spartan117
Time January 23, 2010 at 12:16 pm
The image of war is a bunch of old men, standing in an open field, waving their penises at each other.
\"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen it\’s brutality, it\’s futility, its stupidity\"-Gen\’l Dwight David Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander of WW2 and Former President.
Comment from Dylan Horrocks
Time January 27, 2010 at 7:54 pm
This is sad, sad news. I\’ve been following Mr Fish\’s cartoons via the interwebs for a few years, and even when I don\’t agree with his point, I\’m in awe of how he makes it. IMHO, he\’s up there with the all-time greats, like David Low, Steve Bell, etc. Because not only is he fearless, but he\’s also such a powerful artist.
I only hope he finds some new venue - on paper or online, so we can have our regular alarm call from one of the best.
Comment from Pete Wagner
Time February 14, 2010 at 1:19 am
Booth does what cartoonists should do to keep the audience interested. Almost everyone else I see on this site is still drawing in the way that was new in the 1970s. And no evidence that they fulfill Paul Conrad’s statement that “A good editorial cartoonist should get out of bed mad and stay mad all day.” All this coy, cutesy stuff is SO old.
Comment from Pete Wagner
Time February 14, 2010 at 2:06 am
…and, I have to say, as one of the pioneers of cartooning in alternative papers myself (the 1st few gay papers in Minneapolis, City Pages where I was staff cartoonist from 1982-92, Madison Press Connection, others), I disagree diametrically to EVERYTHING Donna Barstow wrote at the top of this thread. Offensive is often good, “editing” is almost always bad, and growing up is the worst thing that can happen, when it comes to political cartooning. We are never at our best in those roles. Leave those to the left-brained writers and editors. We should be the ones who take REAL risks.
The “hateful” charge makes my heart sink when I hear it coming from another cartoonist. Not just because it’s so cliche, but because that focus has a chilling effect. If you think yourself a progressive, look back before the self-censoring politically correct movement to my old friends, the Yippies–Abbie Hoffman, Paul Krassner–and consider that when the Left allowed for outrageousness they were a lot more successful at expressing OUTRAGE. It seems to me that almost every cartoonist on the Cagle site does little more than go along with perpetuating ruling class sensibilities, including the ones who like to pretend themselves to be “alternative”.
Comment from Alex Washington
Time April 10, 2010 at 9:00 pm
On April 01st 2010 Mr. Fish drew a cartoon vulgarly mocking Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ was sacrificed for our sins.
Yet, you get a since, in this article Mr. Fish complains because he lost his job and was treated unfairly.
Who’s message would you believe?
Comment from mauer
Time July 22, 2010 at 8:47 pm
There may not be a funnier, sharper cartoonist working today than Mr. Fish. The fact that his artwork is also incredible is even better.
And Alex, it’s you get a “sense,” not “since.” E.B. White died for your grammatical sins, and yet you won’t open your heart to him.
Comment from Liam
Time July 23, 2010 at 4:22 am
Donna, you\’re obviously not sorry that Mr. Fish lost his job. That you think vulgarity has no place in art and that the grotesque is something that can never be appropriated by the artist shows negatively on you, not him.
It isn’t okay to insult someone just because you preface it with some token show of \"pity.\"
Comment from anon
Time July 23, 2010 at 8:59 am
hey donna barstow, you suck, your cartoons suck and display you have hardly an ounce of talent.
hope that helps.
Comment from Liam
Time July 23, 2010 at 11:02 am
Agreeing with anon. I’d also like to add that you have no idea what the terms of fair use and copyright are, and that if you keep throwing claims around like you do, people aren’t going to take down your comics because they want to be nice. They’re going to leave them up and post the messages you send them so everyone can have a laugh at how aggressively uninformed you are on the subject.
And you make racist comics. Just because you don’t understand why they’re racist doesn’t mean they aren’t.
Comment from Donna Barstow
Time January 16, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Very sorry to hear anyone lost a job. HOWEVER, he is one of the worst cartoonists I’ve ever seen. Totally offensive, and that isn’t GOOD, Daryl. And he is definitely not the most prominent altie out there! What did he feed you for lunch, Daryl? What about Ted Rall and Red Meat and Carol Lay??
He is an innovative artist (and a whiz at Photoshop) and he has a point of view - that’s excellent. And when I complained about him to Jill Stewart she told me he’s super popular online at the Weekly - really brings in the hits. Anything that furthers papers I applaud - to a point.
So funny that as he trashes the paper who kept him the longest, he mentions the burlesque show ads in it. THAT’S A GOOD WAY TO DESCRIBE SOME OF HIS CARTOONS. Vulgar, hateful, bathroom-like, with no shred of hope in there at all.
I love German expressionism, and some of his cartoons approach this, but what he lacks is self-control, or editing. Just like he sprinkles words like Christlike, ass, shitload, etc in his essay here, trying to be cool or alt-like, they demean his writing. I hope he grows up someday.