Det er vaaarmt, forskrækkende varmt. På Radioen bringer vi dertil lidt eskapisme og anbefalinger en række tegneserier til læsning over ferien. Vi har inviteret en håndfuld venner af podden — Johan F. Krarup, Karoline Stjernfelt, Benni Bødker, Thit Bitsch — til at supplere os og afslutter med en diskussion med Ida Dybdal af Julie Doucets nye, længe ventede tilbagevenden til tegneserierne, Time Zone J, som opfølger på vores tidligere afsnit om hende. Lyt her og læs mere på Nummer9.
I Radio Rackhams seneste episode stiller vi skarpt på den amerikanske underground-legende Robert Crumb. Både Thomas og jeg har længe gerne ville lave noget med Crumb — det lykkedes os ikke rigtig dengang vi lavede Rackham for 20 år siden, men så kom Christian Monggaard sidste år og spurgte, om ikke jeg ville skrive en indledning til hans bog om Crumb, baseret på de to interviews han havde lavet med mesteren på festivalen Louisiana Literature sommeren 2019. Det satte skub i tingene!
Jeg nød meget at skrive mit indledende essay til bogen, som jeg naturligvis anbefaler på det varmeste, og det var fedt at få Christian indover vores “studie” til en diskussion af Crumb og hans værk. Stor tak til ham. Der er masser vi ikke nåede, men det var da en begyndelse! Læs mere på Nummer9 og lyt her:
Last summer, Christian Monggaard, film critic at the Danish newspaper Information and comics enthusiast, interviewed Robert Crumb twice in connection with the literary festival Louisiana Literature (see more here). With the blessings of Crumb, he has now converted these interviews into a small and beautifully-designed self-published book, Robert Crumb: I Can’t Do Pretty, to which he has added a personal appreciation of the artist that doubles as an introduction to Crumb’s career. He also asked yours truly to provide a foreword, which ended up as an essay about Crumb’s simultaneously transgressive and wholesome, self-analytical and empathetic work. Do check it out!
Order it here, or (perhaps) through your nearest book- or comics shop.
As the Arab Spring is moving into its second, rather messy and somewhat disconcerting phase in certain countries, it figures that we would get another cartoon flareup. The firebombing of the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is yet another low point in the ongoing and increasingly polarized discourse surrounding free speech and religious iconoclasm today. In this post-Danish cartoons landscape, the despicably violent response of the anonymous firebombers naturally tends to get all the attention, but it is also the easiest part of the event to deal with, in that it can be condemned outright.
The real question, as I see it, is why Charlie Hebdo figured it was a good idea once more to trot out the “likeness” of Muhammad. I found Luz’ cover, showing the prophet threatening a hundred lashes to whoever didn’t find it funny, worth a chuckle, but what purpose did it really serve? Why, exactly, did we need this piece of satire? The extra-legal power exercised by Islamic extremists deserves to be mocked and condemned, but it is also something most of us can easily agree to despise (stay safe Charlie!). It seems to me, however, that the blunt instrument of depicting the prophet merely further encourages these maniacs, while broadcasting once again that the beliefs of millions of non-violent Muslims is apparently not worthy of respect here in the West.
Satire has no prerogative to be constructive, but free speech is such a potent idea that ceding it to this kind of bullying is unfortunate. Yes, we are entitled to insult whatever belief we like, religious or otherwise — and that is how it should be (good on Libération to open their offices to Charlie) — but it would reflect well on our principles if we also employed them to speak out against the general coarsening of what was once civilized discourse.
Gary Groth interviews R. Crumb. This is perhaps the quintessential Comics Journal interviewer/ee constellation, and although this time around is a little light-weight, it’s still the good and fun read you’d expect from these guys.
Raphael’s Portrait of Lorenzo de’Medici
The Metabunker summarizes the problems of attribution surrounding the Raphael portrait sold at Christie’s in 2007
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Radio Rackham: Sommerlæsning
Det er vaaarmt, forskrækkende varmt. På Radioen bringer vi dertil lidt eskapisme og anbefalinger en række tegneserier til læsning over ferien. Vi har inviteret en håndfuld venner af podden — Johan F. Krarup, Karoline Stjernfelt, Benni Bødker, Thit Bitsch — til at supplere os og afslutter med en diskussion med Ida Dybdal af Julie Doucets nye, længe ventede tilbagevenden til tegneserierne, Time Zone J, som opfølger på vores tidligere afsnit om hende. Lyt her og læs mere på Nummer9.