Broken Frontier

David Rees, creator of “Get Your War On.” Photo by Jess Hasselbusch.

A month after 9/11, New York cartoonist David Rees created his first “Get Your War On” comic strips, combining clip art, trash talk, and hilarious, painful, savage commentary about the Bush Administration’s build up to the Iraq War.  Since July, 236.com has been running a series of brilliant GYWO web videos directed by Rees.  And in October, Soft Skull Press published Get Your War On: The Definitive Account of the War On Terror, 2001-2008 . 

Read on for this week’s Pak Talks Comics interview, in which Rees discusses making the videos, makes fun of James Fallows, and reveals the best and worst things about blockwalking for Obama and promoting his book (which you should buy today , incidentally).

WARNING:  SOME OF THE COMICS BELOW CONTAIN ADULT LANGUAGE AND THEMES.

Greg Pak: I can't begin to describe how much I love the GYWO videos.  "Cotton candy Cadillac driven by Abraham Lincoln with a beard made out of diamonds" may be the funniest thing I've heard all year.  [Click here  for the video -- but WARNING -- it’s not for kids and definitely not work-safe.]  Tell us a bit about the process of making them.  

David Rees:  We record the scripts every week. I write the scripts and direct the recording sessions. (And by "directing," I mean, screaming at everyone and loudly asking WHERE IS MY COCAINE and yelling DON'T LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M YELLING AT YOU.) We film the actors' mouths; that footage is rotoscoped and inserted into our existing stockpile of rotoscoped footage. The bodies in the videos are not those of the voice actors; we hired actors who looked like the clip art to stand in front of the camera and hold phones to their faces. Most of what winds up in the videos is scripted, but some of the best lines are improvised by Anthony Laurent and Jon Glaser (the actors). We usually do at least one improv take for each script, which usually ends with the guys yelling at each other and making fun of each others' wives (their unseen cartoon wives, not their real wives).

GP:  The characters in the videos seem to have much more defined political differences than their counterparts in the comics.  At what point in the process did you decide to have the video characters take different sides in the election?

DR:  After awhile, we realized it would make the videos easier to digest if the dudes had actual personalities / outlooks that persisted from episode to episode. Also, I think it made things a little easier for the actors, if they had characters they could play, rather than just lines to read.

GP:  Will the coffee break trio or the black lady with the hoop earrings from the comics ever make an appearance in the videos?

DR:  Depends on the budget. I would love for them to make cameos.

GP:  So "Get Your War On" has been a comic strip, a stage play, and a series of online videos.  When's the feature film coming?

DR:  LOL, never. The Rude Mechs (theatre company that adapted and toured the play) told me they got an email from an assistant to one of the biggest movie stars in the world, asking for a copy of the script, and I had a brief flash of optimism that somehow this would lead to me receiving millions of dollars and finally getting to ride on a jet ski and maybe even eat a swan at a real Hollywood orgy, but none of those things happened and the movie star went about his business without me, many blessings be upon him and his enormous, tantalizing family we are all so fascinated with.

GP:  In his introduction to the definitive collected volume of GYWO comics, Matt Taibbi says that during the build up to the Iraq War, "David Rees was the only sane voice in all of America."  Is that still true?  If not, who else is sane, or at least has a sane voice?

DR:  At one point I was the only sane voice in all of America, but unfortunately the rise of Joe the Plumber drove me insane and now I'm crazy like everyone else.

GP:  Someone buys your book.  Reads it cover to cover.  Puts it down and silently gazes into space for a moment.  What do you want/hope for him or her to do next?

DR:  Send me a nice email.

GP:  Have you ever been so angered or horrified by a new idiocy or atrocity that you couldn't bring yourself to make a comic about it?

DR:  I was so horrified by 9/11, I waited a month before starting GYWO.

GP:  You once promised to stop making "Get Your War On" comics when Bush leaves office.  Is that still the plan?  If so, what's next for you? 

DR:  Just this morning I realized I have no post-GYWO plan, and that maybe this isn't the best time to quit the one career I've ever had -- seeing as how the entire financial system is collapsing and soon we'll all be subsisting on a diet of roadkill and dryer lint. But for now, yes, I look forward to quitting GYWO when Bush leaves office. Maybe I can get a job burning books in his presidential library.

GP:  You've been traveling like a madman to promote your new book.  Any advice for other independent writers/artists for setting up and conducting a good book tour?

DR:  Cultivate a desire to sleep on sofas. If you can't manage that, write a huge bestseller, so you can stay in hotels while on tour.

GP:  What are the best experience and worst experiences you've had while on the road with the book?

DR:  Best experience: Meeting people and making friends!

Worst experience: Pegging my self-esteem to audience size at readings. THIS IS A DANGEROUS GAME.

GP:  Talking Points Memo versus ThinkProgress versus DailyKos versus mnftiu.cc .  Please discuss.

DR:  TPM over everyone, are you kidding? TPM over ThinkProgress, over Dailykos, over NYTimes, over Ebay. CAP is a good organization but I never look at ThinkProgress; I check Yglesias's blog every so often, but not as much as I did when he was at the Atlantic. (I don't know why I look at the Atlantic's blogs, since most of them drive me up the wall. Why would anyone read James Fallows's or Jeffrey Goldberg's blogs. LOL, here's my Fallows impersonation: "It's been really interesting watching CSI: Miami over here in China because everything is so different in China, look at this headline from the China News Daily: "CSI: MIAMI PROVES CHINA IS GREAT," by the way look at my new USB stick, I got it in China where I live, boohoo Michael Crichton died, what a great guy, I heard about it over here in China, hey look another air taxi business went out of business, now how am I supposed to fly home from China? By the way, I totally live in China, look at this stupid photograph I took of some dumb building, can you believe how polluted everything is? Also, I love my new Apple Mac Super-thin laptop that I use when traveling around China, which is where I'm blogging from, because I live in China.")

My blog, mnftiu.cc , officially known as the hottest new blog on the scene, is burning up the charts, with a core readership of at least 20 people. My blog is putting all other blogs on notice. Dailykos is reportedly renewing warranties on their servers and duct-taping extra hard drives to their mainframes, in preparation for my pending assault. I could crash CNN.com with one link.

GP:  What comic strips and/or comic books were an inspiration to you when you were growing up and what comics do you read these days?

DR:  Childhood faves: Pogo, Peanuts, Garfield, Tintin, Krazy Kat, Family Circus

Adolescent faves: Gary Panter, Charles Addams, Mark Beyer, Roz Chast, Family Circus

Current faves: Charles Burns, Tom Tomorrow, Matt Bors, most everyone in those Kramers Ergot books, "Kelly" (the Onion), Family Circus

Future faves: Robo-Family Circus 3000

GP:  On your blog, you mentioned blockwalking for Obama in Philadelphia.  What were your best and worst experiences volunteering for the Obama campaign?

DR:  Most of my volunteering and canvassing was done in Wilkes-Barre. I'm not some Philadelphia softie! I'm out in the streets, not curled up under the Liberty Bell with the latest issue of Philadelphian Fancy!

Best experiences:

1. Seeing my home state of North Carolina turn blue;

2. An elderly lady in PA who took forever to answer her doorbell; then announced her husband had died a few days ago; then announced she was going to vote for Obama; then announced her granddaughter was planning to vote for McCain, so she was kicking her out of the house.

3. Meeting people who, like me, had never canvassed / phonebanked / been politically active before, and then watching them win a national election.

Worst experiences:

1. All interactions with other people (I hate talking to strangers).

2. Getting barked at by mean dogs in bad neighborhoods (I hate dogs).

GP:  Can we actually relax a little bit now?

DR:  We were allowed to relax the week following the election. That week is over.

Thanks for reading -- we’ll be back soon with another thrilling installment of “Pak Talks Comics.”  Please  click here to submit your questions for our Reader Q&A section and see you next time!

© 2008 Greg Pak.  All rights reserved.  For more about Greg Pak’s comics and films, visit http://www.pakbuzz.com.