§ Cartooner Keith Knight speaks of racism and humour:

Knight encountered a similar problem when trying to sell racial cartoons shortly after the Muhammad cartoons caused riots and controversy around the world in September 2005.

“Does everyone understand what this is? It’s not about being hateful against black people, it’s being critical about society,” he said.

But not all cartoons about race are acceptable, Knight said.

He addressed the Andy Marlette cartoon that ran in the Alligator in September 2005, causing rallies and protests from black students and professors.

The cartoon featured Kanye West holding a life-sized joker card that read “race card” in front of Condoleezza Rice. Rice crossed her arms in disgust and said, “N****, please.”

Knight said the cartoon was unacceptable and was created only to stir controversy and hurt feelings.

“When I looked at Marlette’s piece and see him using the ‘N’ word as a cartoonist … he could have easily substituted another word for that,” Knight said.

§ Joe Pruett tells Wizard about newly single Desperado Publishing:

WIZARD: How long have you been planning this move, and what made it seem like the right choice at this point in time?

PRUETT: I wouldn’t say I’ve been planning it for a while, but when I signed with Image I told them it was going to be two years. It’s kind of like you have a girlfriend: Should I stay with the girlfriend? Should I break up and find something new? It came around January time, and I started thinking about it again, and I thought, “This time, maybe I should go ahead and break up.”