>I like to write that kind of character, but mine nearly
  >always come off as jokes, and I'd prefer to explore the
  >contradictions seriously.
That's what cartoons are good for. Since one of their natural features
is exaggeration, they absorb a lot of anger and derision, which would
seem only petty and overdone if written from an author's point of view.
Also, the first thing people look at are the pictures, and so readers
immediately transfer whatever opinions are being voiced to the
cartoon character -- the author's mask. I've had people who would have
punched me in the nose if I had called them a "silly ass," laugh and
feel flattered when I draw them as exactly that.
I suppose the problem is that people don't take cartoons as seriously.
But I want to mix the two in a book I would like to publish -- have the
stories to put breathing space between the cartoons, and use the
cartoons to make the stories seem a little less outlandish.
Jack Ruttan
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