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Danny Hellman is in a bit of a rut right now. In addition to
\nbeing doomed in the highly unrecognized field of comics, he is
\nfacing a $1.5 million lawsuit. Well, we’re four years into
\nthis mess, and since the fall of 2001, I’ve had a wonderful
\nlawyer named Erik Jacobs handling my case pro bono, says
\nHellman. For me, as a struggling artist, the most
\nemotionally devastating aspect of the lawsuit was the expense,
\nand thanks to Erik, these last two years of the lawsuit have
\nbeen a lot less stressful for my wife and I than the first
\nfew.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit is The That e-mail was followed by a series of faux disgruntled Regarding Rall’s article about Spiegelman, Hellman says, “The Danny Hellman isn’t a millionaire who can easily pay a Hellman also has gotten some help from M. Doughty, former “When I got into legal hot water, Doughty and his band Danny Hellman doesn’t have any specific plans for the future.
\nover an e-mail prank Hellman circulated and a cartoon he drew
\nof fellow comic book author Ted Rall. Rall had written an
\narticle for the Village Voice<\/em> boldly criticizing Art
\nSpiegelman, the well-respected, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
\nof Maus<\/em>. Hellman says the cartoon that he circulated
\ncame out a day or two before the prank.<\/p>\n
\ncartoon consists of Rall drawn as a small dog in a park,
\npeeing on a statue of Spiegelman. The prank came after Rall
\nand Hellman exchanged several private e-mails about Rall’s
\nVillage Voice <\/em>article. Hellman says he found Rall’s
\ne-mails to be snide and decided to write an e-mail mocking
\nRall’s article.
\nThe e-mail, which is entitled “Ted Rall’s Balls,” featured a
\nfaux Rall bragging about his “testicular fortitude”, which he
\nearned by criticizing Spiegelman, the chain-smoking Napoleon
\nof comics. The e-mail welcomed it’s recipients to join a
\nlist serve where the topic of discussion would be Ted Rall’s
\nballs. Hellman says he sent the email to approximately thirty
\npeople, most of whom were already “well-acquainted” with his
\n“juvenile jokes.” Rall was also included on the list.<\/p>\n
\nresponses from well-known voices in the publishing
\nindustry. They were actually written by Hellman himself.
\n“Within a couple of days of the ‘Ted Rall’s Balls’ e-mail, I
\nwas receiving cease & desist letters from Rall’s attorneys,
\nthreatening legal action, and demanding an apology, as well as
\na five figure sum of money,” he explains. “I provided an
\napology immediately, but declined to offer any cash, (as I
\nfelt none was deserved).” Within a few weeks, Rall’s
\nattorneys filed a $1.5 million dollar libel suit against
\nHellman. In Hellman’s opinion the whole prank was completely
\nharmless.<\/p>\n
\nMain thesis of the piece, (as I remember it) was a dark
\nportrait Rall struggled to paint of Art Spiegelman as a petty,
\npower-mad tyrant of the New York cartooning scene, without
\nwhose consent no aspiring cartoonist could ever hope to
\nadvance professionally.” Hellman says Rall even attacked
\nSpiegelman’s smoking habits.<\/p>\n
\nsettlement to Ted Rall. So he has put out a benefit book
\ncalled Legal Action Comics Volume 1<\/em>. The second volume
\nof his anthology is also available. “I’d wanted to do a
\ncomics anthology for years. And had tried a few times to get
\nsuch projects off the ground, with little success,” says
\nHellman. “I had done a mini comic in the early 1990s called
\nLegal Action Comics<\/em>, which reprinted two strips I’d
\ndone for Screw<\/em> magazine parodying Superman and the
\nSimpsons. So in a sense, there were precedents that led to
\n2001’s Legal Action Comics Volume 1<\/em>, but I’d certainly
\nhad no plans to print such a book prior to the lawsuit.” The
\nanthology contains work from some very well-known people in
\nthe world of comics such as Robert Crumb, Sam Henderson, and
\nArt Spiegelman. The second volume contains some returning
\ncontributors from Legal Action Comics Volume 1<\/em> and some
\nnew talents as well.<\/p>\n
\nfront man of the band Soul Coughing<\/em>, whom he calls a
\nvery “gifted writer (as one can tell from his lyrics).”
\nHellman says he got acquainted with Doughty a few years ago at
\nthe New York Press<\/em> offices, and at the newspaper’s
\n“legendary lavish parties.” Doughty had been a writer and an
\nillustrator for the paper for several years. Hellman says
\nthat Doughty was possibly the funniest writer the New York
\nPress <\/em>ever had.<\/p>\n
\nSoul Coughing<\/em> were generous enough to headline a benefit
\nconcert the New York Press<\/em> had organized on my
\nbehalf. (Soul Coughing<\/em> disbanded shortly after that
\nDecember 1999 concert, and I’d like to think that the sight of
\nme in clown makeup had nothing to do with that breakup).”<\/p>\n
\nHe says he has made a living as an editorial illustrator and
\nhopes to have continued success in that field. “I enjoy doing
\ncomics, and hope to do more of that, in spite of the meager
\nfinancial rewards and limited audience.” Perhaps he’ll
\ncontinue to get by with a little help from his friends.<\/p>\n