The worst thing about R.C. Harvey's essays about comic art is that when he's doing them, he isn't creating comic art…but either way, we win. He's a sharp and perceptive critic-historian and while I don't always concur with his critiques, I always learn something from his histories. Some of each are posted over at www.rcharvey.com, which — if you're a fan of comic books and/or strips — oughta be on your list of frequent surf stops. His current writings focus a lot on a freedom of speech dust-up between theoretical presidential candidate-columnist Alan Keyes and political cartoonist-columnist Ted Rall.
Lately, Rall seems out to displace Larry Flynt in the oft-spoken sentence, "Larry Flynt is the price of Free Speech" and Alan Keyes has published some writings that essentially say that the First Amendment doesn't apply to whatever Alan Keyes doesn't like, and he doesn't like one of Rall's recent cartoons. I believe Keyes is dead wrong on this one — a not uncommon occurrence with him — but I also think this is a lot of sound and fury over a non-issue. What's kind of interesting is how similar Keyes and Ralls are: They're both very angry men, they both get noticed only when expressing outrageous, over-the-top viewpoints…and neither one of them can draw.
Anyway, that's my take on the matter. Bob Harvey's is more nuanced and informative, as you'll see if you click over to his website. And while you're there, check out the fine comic art books he has for sale.