It seems as though I crossed a line with my last comic for the Ann Arbor Paper, the one I submitted last night. I just got a note from Laura, the publisher, and she said that Id gone too far.
There were apparently too many mentions of cocks and drawings of foreskins. Laura was cool about it. She said that she liked it, but that it probably wouldnt sit well with their advertisers. A ghost boob, she said, was alright, but a dozen cocks was another thing altogether. (The ghost boob she was referring to was in an earlier comic of mine. Id shown John Ashcroft being afraid that he might see the boob of a ghost when he got to heaven. In that instance, Id shown the boob with a dotted line though. The dotted line makes things less shocking. (I wonder if I could get away with something really, really terrible next time by using a dotted line.))
Anyway, I liked the comic and I didnt think that it really pushed our local boundaries of decency. (Even Linette, who is generally the person who tells me when I get too close to the line, said that she liked it.) Im not angry about having it turned down though. Im not sure if any of you out there remember, but a few issues ago in Crimewave, Linette and I chose to censor a comic that was submitted by our friend Cristina. We hadnt found it offensive, but our printer told us that he couldnt, in good conscience, allow his people to see it. So, we decided to put black dots over the areas showing nipples and pubic hair. (It was a comic about a performance art that Cristina had seen.) So, we felt bad about it, but we didnt want to look for a new printer at the last minute, slow down production and piss off our advertisers. Im sure the folks at the Paper are in the same kind of a bind. Im sure theyd like to print it, but theyre a new entity and they cant afford to cause waves.
I should add that the comic isnt in the least bit salacious. It has to do with my thought process concerning whether or not I want to circumcise my son, if in fact this baby Linettes carrying turns out to be a boy.
I wont give it all away here, but this is the first panel.
So, Ill try to have something in the next issue of the Ann Arbor Paper, but there wont be anything this week. Sorry to all of you who look forward to it.
As for the censored comic, itll probably be in the next issue of Crimewave (unless it upsets our printer).
I hope the above drawing didnt shock any of you.
Oh, speaking of obscene, about a week or so ago Mr. Smallwood sent me notice of an art show opening in LA called Obscene Interiors: Hardcore Amateur D�or. The show is composed entirely of online male personal ad photos, from which the images of the nude men have been Photoshopped out, leaving only the environs of the shoot, whether it be someones oak paneled living room or bedroom filled with I Love Lucy collectibles. Its absolutely brilliant. I wish Id thought of it.
Heres a quote from designer Todd Oldham on the show: “My imagination is far more enlivened when looking at these photos than those of polished, finely tuned interiors. I would gladly take a tour of ‘Obscene Interiors’ any day, over a tour of the White House.”
