This may be of interest to the politically-minded among you: here we have a politician who is also a cartoonist. Progressive candidate Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf is running for the house seat in Missouri's 7th district, and he's chosen to communicate his platform in the form of several comics displayed on his website. The art is sharp, simple and stylized green-on-white, and it makes good use of iconic imagery to get its point across. It's interesting to see online comics put to political use, so if that sounds like it'd be of interest to you, pay Ladendorf's site a visit and find out what he's all about.
Here's the press release:
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For immediate release
Webcartoonist and activist Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf puts his wit against big party dollars
Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf isn't your typical comic book artist. "I'm using Op-Ed style comics to reach voters," explains Ladendorf who is running as a Progressive in the race for the house seat for Missouri's 7th district. The medium allows Ladendorf to be more playful with his message, and he is having fun with it. In the introduction of his campaign site, www.NILvsDCbs.com, the candidate is wearing a mouseketeer hat and his icon for discussing gun control is an M-16 on a leash with spiked collar.
Even with this 'edu-taining' approach the candidate takes on some serious topics such as abortion and abolishing the federal reserve. Ladendorf is quick to point out "The site will continue to grow with the campaign. I have more to say and I'll draw on this reservoir of additional issues as soon as the artist in me deems them presentable."
Ladendorf has his work cut out for him. The Progressive Party isn't as recognizable as the major parties and has the additional restriction of not being able to accept donations from special interest. Ladendorf will use the comedy circuit and the internet with a strong message to level the playing field. "I'm planning on hitting a lot of open mics until momentum takes over and I can speak at bigger venues. I haven't done a lot of public speaking but I predict my town hall meetings are going to be reminiscent of the 'A Night with Kevin Smith' series."
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4 comments:
Well the art's pretty good and I am always excited when comics are taken to new territory, but it does scream "style over substance" to me. By using pictures you can fill up a large volume of space with a fairly low volume of information.
It pretty much seems to be the standard "I'm a third party and therefore able to be independent" message that's I've heard 100 times before.
But hey, I'm not from Minnesota, hell, I'm not even from the US.
The reason it's a cliche is that it is true. Alternative candidates are more independent. The major parties in the 7th district have raised over half a million dollars.
Also I challenge you to find more substance on the sites of the other candidates. The only difference is that they use verbal filler which tunes people out instead of my visual filler which brings people in
I like this. Good luck Nicholas! By the way, what do you have to say about socialism?
I have to say that most people don't know what Socialism is anymore. But for those who do know what Socialism is I'd say it's a nice idea on paper but not practical. Which is true of isms in general.
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