Kristian Williams

I’ve written a review of Darius Rejali’s massive study, Torture and Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2007):

“Hidden Torture, False Democracy.” International Socialist Review. September-October 2008.

You can read it online at: http://www.isreview.org/issues/61/feat-torturedem.shtml

This essay largely directs criticism toward Rejali’s idea of “democracy.” In a forthcoming piece for Make/Shift I will also examine his definition of “torture.”

Sasha Abramsky and I will appear together on WBAI’s program “Equal Time for Free Thought” on August 3. We’ll be discussing the US prison system and the roots of our peculiarly punitive culture. The interview will be archived at http://www.equaltimeforfreethought.org/2008/08/.

Meanwhile, Radovan Karadzic was arrested for war crimes last week. (Read the BBC’s profile of Karadzic at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/876084.stm.) In 2007, I’d interviewed comics journalist Joe Sacco about his meeting with Karadzic — and mindbuck.com just re-posted the interview.

Otherwise, I’ve mostly been reviewing comics while I work on more involved research projects.

I reviewed Garfield Minus Garfield for Mindbuck.com. Check out the comic at http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

I also wrote a review of Mike Carey’s God Save the Queen for the July issue of The Comics Journal. It’s not online, though.

I have an interview with the artist Michael Paulus on the Gobshite Quarterly website. We talk about cartoon characters and, specfifically, their skeletons.

To read the interview, go to:
http://www.gobshitequarterly.com/issues/gobtextboxgobq&a_charlybrownskul.html

To see Paulus’ art, visit:
http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=18

Meanwhile, over at Mindbuck.com, I have a review essay on Sandman Mystery Theater: Sleep of Reason. You can read that here:
http://www.mindbuck.com/comics.html

And I have two pieces in the most recent Comics Journal. One, “Low-Calorie Cheescake,” is a review of Last Gasp’s Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings. The other, “Repeat Offender,” reviews Aaron McGruder’s latest Boondocks collection, All the Rage. (Sorry, these aren’t on the web.)

Interestingly, in our interview Michael Paulus said, “I think if it was Disney, the tendency would have been to do something profane.”

It seems Wally Wood couldn’t resist the temptation. His main contribution to Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings, “Disneyland Memorial Orgy,” is very profane indeed. As I wrote in The Comics Journal:

“There’s also something weirdly liberating about some of the images. My favorite of the bunch, Wally Wood’s Disneyland Memorial Orgy, shows — among other things — Goofy fucking Minnie as she leans against a cash register, Tinkerbell performing a strip tease, and the seven dwarves assaulting Snow White, all while dollar signs beam sunnily from the magic kingdom’s trademark castle. It’s all done in that characteristic Disney style, so it takes a minute to really understand what you’re seeing. It’s vulgar and it’s hilarious, and it’s also extremely satisfying to see the subversion of the cheap sentimentality and shallow moralism that has made Disney our most beloved commodifier of childhood. Is Wood meanly corrupting these sacred icons? Or is he merely stripping away the hypocrisy and laying bare the repressed subtext of our corporate fairy tales?”

Decide for yourself: You can see the “Memorial Orgy” (and more from the Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings collection) at:
http://www.cleancartoonistsdirtydrawings.com/

April 6 (Sunday), 2pm — Portland, Oregon — Hollywood Library (3930 NE Hancock) — Speaking with Jules Boykoff, author of Beyond Bullets: The Suppression of Dissent in the United States — http://www.multcolib.org/events/writers.html

April 11 (Friday), 8:30am — Portland, Oregon — Panel discussion of Luis A. Fernandez’s book, Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement — Pacific Sociological Association Conference –
http://www.pacificsoc.org/annual_meetings/index.html

April 23 (Wednesday) — Astoria, Oregon — Cannery Pier Hotel — With other Oregon Book Awards finalists — Sponsored by Literary Arts — http://www.literary-arts.org/

April 24 (Thursday) — Newport, Oregon — Newport Public Library — With other Oregon Book Awards finalists — Sponsored by Literary Arts — http://www.literary-arts.org/

I’ll be speaking on the following dates. Please spread the word!

2 February (Saturday), 5pm — Edmonds, Washington — Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church (8109 224th Street SW)

4 February (Monday) — Victoria, BC — time and place TBA

7 February (Thursday), 7pm — Vancouver, BC — Simon Fraser University Harbor Center (515 W. Hastings) — Hosted by Indigenous Action Movement and Organized by Anti-Poverty Committee