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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
The new year in indie publishing: Howard Zinn gives us the answer to No Child Left Behind. Plus: Andy Singer's attitudinal comic brings back Camus and Sartre, and our author says goodbye to Will Eisner and Joe Strummer.
Jan 31, 2005 | The year is not off to a very good start.
From natural catastrophes to mind-numbing death counts, it seems like the Lord is trying to tell us something. Too bad I don't believe in him. I like to keep some distance between the doomsday predictions of everyone from Seoul Methodist ministries to the Landover Baptist Church who believes that the tsunami was God's punishment to heathen Indonesia for its disbelief in Jesus. But with Bush's recent appointment of Bible-thumper extraordinaire Claude Allen as his chief domestic-policy advisor, it's getting harder and harder to be an infidel these days. Everywhere you look, state-supported religion is making a comeback, sometimes to the tune of millions for those lucky "faith-based" screw jobs out there.
Woe to you atheists who used to love America for its eroding freedom from religion -- we are fast becoming the minority round these parts. It's God's country; we're just mining it for the black gold.
But let's leave disturbing thoughts aside at this dawning of Bush's new term; Armageddon may be headed our way, but damn if we're going to let it ruin the new year. We're already lessened by the loss of Sontag, a passing that was duly noted by Salon here and here. But few journalists have discussed the demise of Will Eisner, a comics colossus conventionally known as the father of the modern graphic novel and for whom the industry's most prestigious award is named.
Eisner left us on Jan. 3, after succumbing to complications resulting from quadruple-bypass heart surgery, almost 70 years after co-founding the Eisner & Iger Studio (with Samuel "Jerry" Iger), which at one time counted superstar illustrator Jack Kirby and "Batman" creator Bob Kane among its ranks. Eisner's comic noir series "The Spirit" inspired everyone from Alan Moore to Art Spiegelman to pick up a pen and enter the fray, but it is his 1973 comic "A Contract With God" that is widely credited with kick-starting the graphic novel game. As with any artistic enterprise, you're going to have arguments (especially over Eisner's period-bound ethnic stereotypes like Ebony White, African-American sidekick to the Spirit), but most will agree that Eisner is probably sitting at the head of the table in heaven -- at least in the comics wing. For more on the massively influential artist, check out D.C.'s recently released "Will Eisner Companion" and its continuing "Spirit Archives" series. Long live the Spirit's creator -- and I don't mean Jesus.
Let's get to it.
"Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer"
Edited by Antonino D'Ambrosio
320 pages
Nation Books
Order from Powell's
While we're on untimely passings, let us have a moment of silence for one of global culture's most commanding figures. Joe Strummer, although he might not like the comparison, was the John Lennon of the punk age. There were few bands as galvanizing and inspiring as the Clash to come out of the late '70s and early '80s sonic landscape, but memories are short in our reality TV metaverse, and his death in December 2002 was noted for about as long as our shortened attention spans can allow these days. Which is to say, not very long at all.
Which is where D'Ambrosio's fine collection comes in. Less a hagiography than an earnest consideration of Strummer's political views and life, "Let Fury Have the Hour" is a rewarding look back at the man who made The Only Band That Matters, well, matter. Leaping confidently from timeless screeds by Greil Marcus and Lester Bangs to appreciations from Chuck D, Kristine McKenna, Michael Franti, Tony Kushner, Tim Robbins and out into the more analytical work of Bad Subjects vets Charlie Bertsch and Joel Schalit, this potent collection ably communicates the hunger for social, cultural and racial justice that made Strummer's work so engaging.
"I believe that Strummer certainly belongs alongside Dylan, Lennon and the rest of those musicians who were both music pioneers and political activists," D'Ambrosio explained to me in a recent interview. "I also believe that among his peers Strummer stands alone. He remained a dedicated social justice and human rights activist; he never wavered from creating music rooted in multicultural or global rhythms while addressing important issues of peace and justice. For this reason, he deserves deeper scrutiny. There are very few musicians of his time -- or any time -- that have had such a tremendous influence on musicians throughout the world. Whether it's America's The Coup and Public Enemy, France's Mano Negra, Italy's Spaccanopli, Mexico's Tijuano No!, Chile's Desaparecidos or countless others in Africa, Asia and Europe, Strummer was a primary influence. And that was due to his unique sense of fusing a diverse music sensibility with radical politics."
That desire to knit Marshall McLuhan's global village together with music and civil liberties is what made the Clash's deft mixture of punk, blues, reggae, dub, ska and more a real movement. But almost three decades after Strummer recorded "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," the world still needs a few good men not interested in Ashlee Simpson's latest manufactured mistake or George W. Bush's Texas imperialism.
