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February 26, 2005
Rex Babin: 20 Questions (or thereabouts)
[This interview combines questions from J.P. Trostle with an interview conducted last year by The Bee’s Ombudsman Tony Marcano.]
Rex Babin is the staff cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee in Sacramento, Ca., and has, in the past, worked for the Albany Times in Albany, N.Y., and The Denver Post. Babin’s work is distributed by North America Syndicate to 300 papers, and he was the winner of the National Press Foundation’s 2001 Berryman Award and a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. This summer, Rex Babin will be the host for the 2005 AAEC Convention in Sacramento.
While many cartoonists working today could be accused of being MacNelly or Oliphant "clones," that would never be said about your work. How did you develop your unique style, and what are some of your influences?
I’m flattered if people really think that way about my work, but I also think we dwell too much on style. Quite frankly, there’s nothing wrong with being influenced by MacNelly or Oliphant as long as it’s not only those two. Having lots of influences, and not just editorial cartoonists as influences, as far as I’m concerned, is the way to go. Listen, I was influenced by MacNelly and Oliphant, but also Conrad and certainly Don Wright. Then there’s the New Yorker cartoonists, the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, Eastern Bloc animators, I could go on and on. The key is that, hopefully, one eventually distances oneself from one’s influences and starts going what can be called their own way. I feel like I’ve been in a good place artistically, for a number of years now. For me, it’s not a style. It’s what feels natural.
How did you get into editorial cartooning in the first place?
The usual story. Drawing at an early age, encouraged by Mom (who was delighted to have me sitting still and not destroying the house for a change). Taking an interest in politics. I was in the first wave of NIE kids.High school paper. College paper. I got my foot in the door of both my college newspaper and my first paper out of college as an advertising layout artist, offering editorial cartoons on the side.
In recent years you’ve arranged and moderated convention panels on local cartoons. Why are you such a strong proponent of the local cartoonist?
Self interest, mostly. That, and it seems like a constructive way to encourage folks into doing better work, rather than complain about how many lame cartoons there are out there. For me, anyway, it’s simple math – the more topics from which to choose the greater the chance I have of coming up with a stronger idea.
Are you from California originally?
Dude.
You’ve now lived in both New York and California. East Coast vs. West Coast: Please compare and contrast.
So, like, I was growing up California, thinking at the time that I wouldn’t want to, like, live anywhere else. Of course, leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me. Try as I might, I never really bought into the whole pseudo-mellow thing. In a way, I "found myself" on the East Coast. There’s a certain energy that seemed easier to dial into back there. Maybe I just grew up, because I find the West Coast now has so much to offer. I just had to cut through the "Life’sABeach" crap.
What would you say to people who say you’re unpatriotic, that you’re offensive, that you go over the line?
First of all, a lot of people complain about me not being fair, which is ridiculous because there’s no such thing as a fair editorial cartoon. And I think people don’t quite understand that, at least people that say I’m not being fair. Part of the role of the editorial cartoonist ... is to go after those in power, and what you have now is a Republican-controlled executive branch [and] a Republican-controlled Congress, and so I’m looking at the power centers and I’m seeing the powerful and I’m going after them.
... I don’t want to go on too much about the administration, but this is the administration in a nutshell – they send this country into war under false pretenses and then President Bush has the audacity to crack jokes about the very pretenses that they tried to convince us to go to war on.
Do you get a lot of comments from people who may have interpreted a cartoon one way but is completely the opposite of what you meant?
Not that often. I try to give readers credit for being on top of the issues. I think we have an intelligent readership here, we’re in a state capital, it’s a political town, people are aware of what’s going on. I can’t waste my time in that space trying to educate them on the subject matter. I have to assume that they bring certain information when they come in and they read the piece. So that may right off the bat alienate some readers and I can’t really do anything about that.
I think the point some people are making when they say you’re unfair is that the paper doesn’t have an opposing point of view with editorial cartoons. They’re saying, "If he’s allowed to be here and have his strong point of view, why isn’t there somebody on our side?"
I disagree, I think what we’re doing is we’re gathering [syndicated] cartoonists from all over the country. ... I think there’s been a conscience effort to try to get more conservative editorial cartooning viewpoints out there. ... I think what’s happening is it’s hard to find good conservative commentary in editorial cartoons because it’s such a distilled message, such a simple message, that if you’re going along with this stuff that’s going right now in Washington, it’s going to look silly. ... I think again the role is to be provocative and to make a point – I mean, it is a negative art, let’s face it. It’s hard to make a point on something and have a scintillating cartoon that basically says everything is hunky dory.
How’d "Caleeforneeya" came about?
"Caleeforneeya" came about more from the standpoint that here we literally have this walking comic book character running our government. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not only for California but for an editorial cartoonist, to see this guy who has created this persona and to be able to utilize it in the cartoons.
What’s the reaction been, generally?
Generally people are very intrigued by it. I think it’s fresh, I think it’s a unique kind of way of approaching political commentary. There’s such a wealth of material, not only politics that’s going on in the Capitol, but also the material reflective of Governor Schwarzenegger’s past experiences in movies. ... In the first installment I had to step back and review the recall process and I handled it in kind of a graphic way and people were shocked about that ....
... you mean the gunfire? [where The Terminator guns down and kills Gov. Grey Davis in his office.]
Right, but here’s the thing, this is a literally a public official who has created a character in the movies and has made a lot of money out of that and has created this persona. And the quote-unquote violence in that cartoon doesn’t even come close to the violence that was in these movies that made this governor so much money.
Have you gotten any reaction from the governor’s office?
Not directly, no. But I’m getting it from people on the street, I’m getting calls. And I’m getting complaints, too. Somebody told me the other day they thought it was sophomoric. I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or a criticism, because there is a little bit of a 13-year-old smart-aleck boy in the whole editorial cartooning process.
You’ve been making efforts to get Schwarzenegger to appear at this summer’s convention in Sacramento – do you ever find yourself pulling your punches in your daily cartoons, or in Caleeforneeya, because of a concern that it might affect his decision to meet with the AAEC?
No, I haven’t pulled any punches. As to whether Arnold won’t meet with us because of some cartoon I’ve drawn, well, I really don’t think it will get down to that.
What’s your favorite Schwarzenegger flick? (And if it’s "Junior," do we get to hit you next time we see you?)
Not only do you not get to hit me the next time you see me, you get to lavish me with praise for being such a gracious convention host. It’s a moot point because I’ve never even seen "Junior." In fact, I basically think all his movies are pretty stupid. The first Terminator, I guess, was pretty good. The great thing about "Caleeforneeya" is that I can throw all those insipid movies of his back in his face!
Get us ready for Sacramento: where’s the best place to hear music?
Suffice to say, it’s going to be great! Some of you have probably already heard me crow on and on about what a vibrant and eclectic music scene Sacramento has going for it. For our purposes, you won’t have to go very far to find some good bars and live music. But for the record, Old Ironsides is my personal favorite.
