Prometheus 6

Grossman Land
By Steven Heller

In his 40-plus year career as a cartoonist, illustrator, sculptor and animator Robert Grossman has created numerous political comic strips for mainstream and alternative magazines. These strips acerbically address issues of the day, most often before they are on the popular culture radar screen.

His earliest strips in the 1960s included “Captain Melanin,” which featured one of the first black superheroes; “Roger Ruthless of the C.I.A.,” which questioned the agency’s work; and the comically veiled Richard M. Nightcrawler, an insect with henchmen named Haldebug and Ehrlichbug. In the 70s, his strip titled “Zoonooz” featured a menagerie of anthropomorphic beasts, including President Gerald Duck.

The 80s brought us Cap’n Bushy, in which a squirrel that looked a lot like President George H.W. Bush fought the evil Saddy the Baddy. And in the 90s, there were Bill and Hilma Klintstone who lived in the Stone Age town of Bigrock. The deft way in which Mr. Grossman captures the essential truth behind his characters have impressed many fans and followers.

His most recent political comics, which began in The New York Observer and migrated to The Nation, are now collected under his own Web site, O-manland. They follow the ins and outs of the 2008 presidential campaign. Indeed, Mr. Grossman was one of the first American comic strip artists to cover the campaign consistently. Since I’ve long admired his work, I took the opportunity of the launch of his Web site to discuss with him what makes his satire work so well.