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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1990)
Livestock Procurement Geo. A. Honnel & Company, a Fortune 2(X) fcxxi processor, is seeking highly motivated individuals who are interested in livestock procurement positions in the Midwest. Qualified candidates will possess a degree in Agricultural Sciences and have strong leadership abilities and excellent communication skills. I By Lisa Maul Staff Reporter A rt Butt’s comic strip charac ters don’t resemble Calvin ^ and Hobbes, Opus and Steve Dallas, or Batman. In Butt’s world, humans and humanoid figures are the villains. His work bears a strong environmental message. The Earth is a dirty, dying place, but only animals, dragons and mutants seem to care. In a recent interview, Butt talked about the way he works and his evolution as an artist. He said he had coloring books as a child, but he could never stay in the lines. In kindergarten, he remembers a teacher who taught the class to draw birds as elongated ‘‘m’s.” He was upset about it, until he realized (that it didn’t have to apply to him. Butt drew caricatures of friends and teachers in high school. These, he said, probably were his first comics. At the University of Ne braska-Lincoln, Butt enrolled in art classes. “They helped because they had eouipment, but they hurt be cause they had instructors,” he said. A look at one of Butt’s sketch books reveals a wide variety of drawings, border designs and intri cate doodles, as well as comics. He usually works in pen and ink. He said he feels as though the ideas for his work develop as he draws. He seldom has a concrete concept when he picks up his pen. As far as the messages in his work, he said, “I try to keep mes sages out of it. When you have something to say, you just say it. It just comes out.” Will the things he has to say in his comics raise anyone’s conscious ness? “I think the people who already care about environmental things will say, ‘yeah, that’s great,’ but I don’t think it will change anything,” he said. “I wonder, for example, how many people will drop tneir copy of the Daily Nebraskan on the ground after they read this.” Art Butt’s comics are both funny and disturbing. They don’t have happy endings and the heroes aren’t easy to identify. Who are Butt’s heroes? “They change from hour to hour,” he said. ‘‘Right now, my heroes are probably the beer in front of me and the people who do commer cials for constipation or hemor rhoid medicine. They amaze me. But that’s just for now.” Can art and the printed word save the world? Butt doesn’t think so. “But,” he said, “They can sure make going down the tubes a lot more enjoyable.” By Mick Dyer Senior Editor Warning! Exposure to zany, subversive underground comics as a child may lead to drawing zany, subversive car toons as an adult. Just look at Rand Paul’s work. Paul, a Lincoln nativeandgradu ate of the Colorado Institute of Art, said after seeing the risque, taboo breaking comics by S. Clay Wilson and RobertCrumb i n Za p and Freak Brothers comics, he was hooked on sarcastic comics with mature themes. “I started out in the little Walt Disney school of copying Mickey Mouse, Donald and Goofy,” he said. “Then once I drew a cartoon of Minnie giving Mickey a b. . .” Paul said intellectuals in Europe read comics. And everyone from grade school students to high-power Business executives in Japan read sophisticated comics. But for some reason, in the United Slates, “com ics are equated with trash.” “A lot of people think comics are for kids,” Paul said. “I’d rather deal with political issues or social issues.” Paul compared underground comics to other literary vehicles, such as the play or the novel, for telling substantial adult-oriented stories. “I don’t see much difference be tween avant gardecomicsand liter ary- fiction,” he said. “But you’ve got to know where to look - you’re ^A not going to find that in Archie comics." Besides the artwork and the sar castic tone of the stories, Paul said underground comics offer more in tellectual stimulation than the aver age comic. "It’s one step beyond political cartoons,” Paul said. “They are something you can lake a little more seriously than Beetle Bailey or Family Circus.” And Paul said underground com ics have an unconventional ap peal. “You can do anything with words and pictures,” he said. “They’re government breakers, they are. just ask the Russians, I bet they have an opinion about that.” | By Mick Dyer Senior Editor Over the last year, local illus trator Jeff Mason has made a macabre discovery. After taking cartoon assignments and getting positive reactions to his work on them, he decided he en joys drawing horror cartoons That’s a startling revelation to a dyed-in-the-wool commercial art ist. It takes almost no effort for the Omaha Studio Academy School of Commercial Art and Graphic De sign graduate to produce a whole stack of twisted, poignant and humorous horror cartoons I le draws two cartoons a month for “Afraid,” a monthly horror writers newslet ter, as well ascontributing cartoons to other small press horror maga zines, such as “October Dreams” and “Gauntlet.” \ He isn’t entirely sure where his inspiration to draw these cartoons comas from, but most of his car toons deal with social or political issues. And his cartoons tend to be a bit irreverent. “A lot of it (inspiration), 1 sup pose, is subconscious, whatever makes me laugh or angry,” he said. ‘‘To get my views across 1 use a rj^j cartoon.” I iJ The successful candidates will become an integral part of a Hormel production facility, supplying the processing plant with the best possible raw material needed to produce top quality Hormel products. The Hormel Company is a progressive organization offering a highly competitive salary and bonus, comprehensive benefits and profit sharing. If you meet the requirements and would like to be considered for this exciting career opportunity, please send a cover letter and resume to: Michael D. Malone, Personnel Representative, Geo. A. Hormel & Co., P.O. Box 8(X), Austin, MN 55912. I i I \ Equal Opportunity Employer -:- --—— C o n s i d e r College Independent ^ Study N you are considering taking a course this summer, consider UNL College Independent Study. College Independent Study credit is UNL credit. Credit that can keep you on your academic timetable. Credit that can be the difference between graduating and not graduating. Choose from more than 75 credit and 10 noncredit courses ' Set your own study and exam schedules Complete a course in five weeks or take up to a year Learn from UNL faculty ' UNL Independent Study Division of Continuing Studies Nebraska Center, Room 269 _ „ ^ , East Campus, 33rd & Holdrege Call 472-1926 for Details Lincoln. NE 68583-0900 Register Now -----