DTWOF: The Blog

In 2002, Ted Rall included Alison and 20 other cartoonists in his funny and insightful indie comix anthology, Attitude 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists. I got a free copy, but I would have gladly paid for it. Mind you, I'm employed by one of the contributors, but I think it's a great resource for anyone who's bored with Garfield, Hi and Lois, and Family Circle. It includes sample strips and interviews from cartoonists like Mikhaela Reid, Keith Knight, Aaron McGruder, David Rees, Tak Toyoshima, and Shannon Wheeler (and Alison). Last Sunday, Roger Sabin of the Guardian, UK, published a generous write-up of Attitude 2 in his Books of the Year 2004 column. He specifically cites Alison's work, and calls the book a "spiky affair." Money quote: "This is satire in an angry-youth-with-piercings mode. The spiritual forebears are the cartoonists of the 1960s-70s underground (Robert Crumb et al) but the use of clip art and scratchy line techniques mark this out as a very contemporary collection, and happily the humour is of high quality." Happily indeed. Here's a link to the book on Powells. They've also got it on that other on-line book-buying site, but I can't remember the name of it. Starts with an A... Ama-something?