#IReadsYou Review: GOOD ON BOTH SIDES - A (th)ink Anthology

GOOD ON BOTH SIDES – A (TH)INK ANTHOLOGY #5
KEITH KNIGHT PRESS/Microcosm Publishing

CARTOONIST: Keith Knight
ISBN: 978-0-9788053-5-7; paperback; 6" x 7.5" x 0.4" (June 2022)
128pp, Color, $20.00 U.S.

Good on Both Sides is a new collection of the socio-political, single-panel comic strip, (th)ink.  Debuting in 2000 on the now defunct website, Africana.com, (th)ink is the creation of Keith Knight, a cartoonist, comics creator, and musician.  Knight is also the creator and an executive producer on the recent Hulu series, “Woke.”  (th)ink currently appears in several outlets, including the Nib, Daily KOS, Antigravity, and The Funny Times.

Good on Both Sides, the fifth (th)ink paperback collection, takes its title by paraphrasing Donald Trump's moral equivalency after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.  It covers (th)ink episodes published during the early years of Donald Trump's masquerade as the 45th President of the United States.  Knight captures the absurdity of the time under an absurd leader and chronicles and depicts everything that made non-white supremacists cringe.

THE LOWDOWN:  In a sense political cartoonists are a dime a dozen.  The truth is that I have a hard time finding many that are really bad at their chosen professions.  What makes Keith Knight different?

I first became acquainted with Knight's work in late 2006 when I received a copy of Are We Feeling Safer Yet? (2007), the second (th)ink collection.  Sadly, I lost touch with him and had not thought of him until I heard about his Hulu TV series, “Woke,” last year.  I recently reconnected with him to request a copy-for-review of Good on Both Sides.  On the back cover of this book is a quote from Dawn Tol, part of which reads, “Keith Knight has never been more overtly Black.”

That is what makes Knight different from other political cartoonists.  He is Black.  Yes, there are other African-American political cartoonists (Walt Carr, David G. Brown), but for now, we are talking about Keith Knight, who is from a particular tradition.  That tradition involves Coloreds, Negroes, Afro-Americans, African-American, etc. who do not bite their tongues, metaphorically or otherwise, for the sake of propriety and for the feelings of good White folk and cautious, fretting Black folk.

I had forgotten just how screwed up the first half of Trump's occupation was … because the second half turned into … well,you know.  Knight's commentary via political cartoons is both incisive and relentless.  I won't say that he is “unapologetic” because apologizing is irrelevant in the context of what Knight does.  It isn't just Trump that is wrong with this country; it is also the rotten culture and society.  Honestly, much of that rot comes from White racism, supremacy, and privilege:  those that perpetuate it; those that enjoy the advantages while letting someone else do the dirty work; and those who benefit and give nominal lip service in criticizing it.

In Good on Both Sides, nothing and no one is spared.  Warts and all, Klan robes and hoods:  Knight reveals the stains without a thought for decorum.  Political commentary, words, pictures, or cartoons need that, especially when so many commentators want us to “turn down the temperature.”  Knight is the triple truth, Ruth.

Good on Both Sides isn't all about Trump.  As I said, there were plenty of awful people during that time who deserve Knight's punches.  Knight also offers several nice memorials and tributes to such luminaries as W.E.B. Du Bois, Dick Gregory, and Josephine Baker, to name a few.  I am not crazy about everything in Good on Both Sides, but it's close.  I could have read another hundred pages just to see what Knight has to say about the time period this collection covers.

Keith Knight's political cartoons are timely, and many are timeless.  The timeless ones will always have bite, but the timely will cut like a knife for years to come.  And Good on Both Sides is just plain funny.  I laughed a lot, and I practically always need that from political cartoons.  I encourage you, dear readers, to get a copy of Good on Both Sides.  Maybe if enough of you read it, someone will get the notion to shortlist Mr. Knight for a Pulitzer Prize.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of great political cartoons and of Keith Knight's work will want to read Good on Both Sides.

A

★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


You can buy copies of Good on Both Sides at indie book stores or at the following online shops: here or https://keithknight.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-good-on-both-sides-the-new-th-ink-collection and here or https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/1446.


Find Keith Knight on the Internet:
https://keithknightart.com/
https://kchronicles.com/
https://twitter.com/KeefKnight
https://www.patreon.com/keefknight
https://www.instagram.com/iamkeithknight/?hl=en
https://keithknight.bigcartel.com/
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/1446
https://www.facebook.com/keithknightcartoonist/
https://www.gocomics.com/thekchronicles


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: ARE WE FEELING SAFER YET? - A (th)ink Anthology

ARE WE FEELING SAFER YET? A (TH)INK ANTHOLOGY #2
KEITH KNIGHT PRESS/Top Shelf Productions

CARTOONIST: Keith Knight
ISBN-13: 978-0-9788053-0-2; paperback; (January 2007)
128pp, B&W, $12.95 U.S., $16.95 CAN

Keith Knight is a cartoonist, musician, and television creator and executive producer (Hulu's “Woke”).  Knight also produces a weekly multi-panel strip, The K Chronicles, and he has previously contributed to MAD Magazine and ESPN The Magazine.

One of Knight's other comics is (th)ink, a socio-political (mostly) single-panel cartoon.  It began life in 2000 as a digital comic on the now defunct website, Africana.com.  Over the years, (th)ink has appeared on numerous websites and has been published in daily and alternative newspapers (including the San Francisco Chronicle, The Rocky Mountain Chronicle, and the Haight Ashbury Beat).  It currently appears in the Nib, Daily KOS, Antigravity, and The Funny Times, to name a few.

Published in 2007, Are We Feeling Safer Yet? was the second paperback collection of Knight's (th)ink cartoons.  What follows is the edited and revised text of a review of Are We Feeling Safer Yet? that I wrote for another website in late 2006:

THE LOWDOWN:  Although Knight probably calls (th)ink a comic strip, it's more like an ongoing editorial cartoon.  Knight's work is certainly related in terms of comic strips to work of cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, who is best known for his award-winning newspaper comic, Doonesbury.  As an African-American cartoonist, Knight's work is similar in tone to Aaron McGruder newspaper comic strip, The Boondocks.  However, while, Trudeau and McGruder deal with a cast of continuing characters and use them to comment on politics, society, and culture, Knight's cast is America itself.  Essentially, that is what an editorial cartoonist generally uses as his cast – our nation, even if, as a group, editorial cartoonists seemed fixated on politicians and in particular, the sitting President (in this case George W. Bush).

Knight is sharp and clever, and his humor and commentary are even sharper.  He is, though, not mean-spirited, and he only draws blood when he has to do so - such as when he uses a guy discovering that his color and white laundry have been mixed to comment on integration (p. 46).  Sometimes he cuts a subject because they handed him the blade, as in a cartoon featuring Snoop Dogg which comments on the rapper-actor's behavior on stage (p.78).

Knight is probably often compared to McGruder because both are Black cartoonists/commentators and both take the Bush Administration to the shed, but there, the similarity ends.  Knight belongs on the editorial page.  Because he uses Black characters and often deals with African-American or Hip-Hop culture doesn't make him different from white cartoonists and commentators who ply their trade on our nation's newspaper editorial sections.

Keith Knight is a funny guy, but he is astute like the good editorial cartoonist should be.  What Knight says with pen and ink makes sense, and he's ready for the big time. [End of text of original review.]

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Keith Knight and (th)ink will want Are We Feeling Safer Yet?

A
★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Readers can buy copies of Are We Feeling Safer Yet here or at https://keithknight.bigcartel.com/product/are-we-feeling-safer-yet-th-ink-book-2 or https://lastgasp.com/products/are-we-feeling-safer-yet-a-think-anthology?_pos=1&_sid=19da0e2ca&_ss=r.


Find Keith Knight on the Internet:
https://keithknightart.com/
https://kchronicles.com/
https://twitter.com/KeefKnight
https://www.patreon.com/keefknight
https://www.instagram.com/iamkeithknight/?hl=en
https://keithknight.bigcartel.com/
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/1446
https://www.facebook.com/keithknightcartoonist/
https://www.gocomics.com/thekchronicles


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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