Rudy Park (12/19/09)

Following the heath care debate in Congress has been frustrating for me, so much so that I’m tempted to tune out entirely. What bothers me is not the direction of the bill so much as the process of crafting it. A new government-run entity that will compete with private insurers? Allowing people age 55 and older to purchase coverage through Medicare? These are significant proposals that have cycled in and out of the bill not on merit, but as a means to secure votes. At this late hour, it seems like the strategy of Congressional leaders is not to craft a bill that will improve our health care system, but to craft a bill that will win the support of holdout Senators and that strikes me as incredibly distasteful.

Rudy Park (8/29/09)

When I’m not reading, clipping or commenting on comics, I sometimes wonder what the future holds for this newspaper-dependent industry. Cartoonists Theron Heir and Darrin Bell have been thinking about the future as well; specifically, the future of their comic strip, Rudy Park. I was surprised to read on their website, for example, that “newspaper closings and bankruptcies have cut in half the already modest amount [Heir and Bell] make for writing and drawing Rudy Park.”

That’s pretty sobering, and it makes me wonder how comics fans can support their favorite cartoonists. I personally subscribe to both of Chicago’s high-circulation newspapers, although I realize that makes me part of a dying breed. I also paid for a subscription to Comics.com until they inexplicably decided to make themselves a free service. (Coincidentally, this is how I continue to read Rudy Park on a daily basis.)

Another point Heir and Bell bring up on their website is that cartoonists can’t earn a living when their work is distributed on the Internet for free. That brings to mind the rapidly sinking music industry, but it also makes me wonder whether web comics could ever be a viable business model. When a musician puts his music on MySpace for free, he can entice listeners to buy T-shirts or come to a live performance. When a cartoonist puts his comic strip on the web for free, what else does he have to sell? A coffee mug? A collection of reprints? An advertisement or sponsorship? None of those options are particularly lucrative.

It may be that Heir and Bell have decided the diminishing financial returns on their strip are no longer worth the time and effort they put into it. Both men have other jobs, after all; Heir as a journalist for the New York Times and Bell as the creator of the excellent strip, Candorville. Maybe Rudy Park will find a way to draw paid viewers to its website for “premium” content. Or maybe it will end up as a side project that had a good run, but was destined to fall by the wayside. If that’s the case, I can only hope it won’t be a harbinger of other strips collapsing under various financial pressures.

Rudy Park (7/1/09)

I’m not sure why there needs to be a conflict between mainstream and independent film when both camps have something valid to offer. My favorite movies of 2009 have been the decidedly mainstream Up (which tells the story of a man hitching his house to balloons and flying to an exotic South American locale in order to fulfill a promise to his dearly departed wife) and the easy-to-miss Azur & Azmar (which tells the story of two brothers who yearn for the love of a mythic fairy imprisoned in a far-away land). Both movies are gorgeously animated and completely inspiring. If I were rigid in my movie-going choices, I would have almost certainly missed one of these masterpieces, and for no good reason at that.

Rudy Park (6/7/09)

At first glance, I thought the name of the website in panel four was…something other than flickreviewer.blogspot.com. What I thought I saw, rather than the letters “L” and “I,” was a single letter that is almost identical to the shape that a capital “L” and “I” make when crammed into close quarters. This letter, when preceded by an “F” and followed by a “CK” forms a word I’ve never seen printed in a family newspaper. Admittedly, I read this strip at comics.com, but the crowded lettering made me wonder whether Rudy Park had recently become a web-exclusive comic strip.

Rudy Park (5/15/09)

Hecklers are a part of sports, I suppose, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying. I’m all for a rowdy stadium filled with passionate fans, but can do without the nine-inning drunken rants that have become all too common in major league…and minor league…and little league ballparks. Still, I have to tip my cap to the obese woman in red whose emasculation of a father and son forms the heart of this strip. Most hecklers aren’t nearly as clever as this, especially after a half-dozen cups of Old Style. What is this woman drinking that helps her ratchet up the mean to the point where she can dress down a family at a sporting event? My guess would be a shot of Cod liver oil.

Rudy Park (3/19/09)

It was at the beginning of 2008 that I started to notice significant job losses in the news, probably because I had voluntarily left my employer and was entering the job market for the first time in four years. There’s nothing more disheartening than looking for work at the same time as millions of other people. Fortunately, I managed to land a job with a terrific firm a few months into my search. Unfortunately, that position was eliminated ten months later, taking me back to square one. As of two weeks ago, I found myself back in the proverbial employment line, hoping to generate interest in my resume and trying my best to ignore the grim financial news.

Rudy Park (12/2/08)

I can’t speak to the joys of Xbox 360, but I will say that my recently purchased Nintendo Wii has turned out to be a wise investment. The interactive video game system proved popular with my Thanksgiving guests, from my girlfriend’s stepbrother (whose bowling skills far exceeded those of anyone in the house) to my mom (whose “Wii fitness” age I will have the courtesy not to reveal). I even managed a 3-0 shutout win in baseball after being thoroughly schooled during nine holes of golf.