Dwayne Booth's cartoons often target the political establishment and complacency
of the American public. (Cartoon courtesy of Mr. Fish)

UPDATE: The day after his last official day at the LA Weekly, Mr. Fish let it rip.

Fish, whose real name is Dwayne Booth, savaged the Weekly and its parent company Village Voice Media on his blog.

Booth wrote: "At one time, and not too long ago in fact, the brain of the Village
Voice and the LA Weekly seemed quite capable of contributing to the
national conversation about art and politics and literature and popular
culture, but now, unless the word diet is affixed to the end
of any of those subjects, or unless they are included as part of a
movie title or bit of Hollywood gossip or a crime story, the Village
Voice Media company seems as if it has absolutely no opinion to offer."

Drex
Heikes, the Weekly's editor, said that although he had considered
reemploying Booth under different terms, the "broadside against Village
Voice Media has indeed ended our relationship."

Heikes said that
Booth's move to Philadelphia last summer made him less able to serve as
a local cartoonist for the Weekly.  Beyond that, Heikes said he had a
"personal preference" for a different type of cartoon -- with "subtlety
and wit."

He said he polled LA Weekly staff as well as editors
from other Village Voice Media publications before deciding to
terminate the contract.

Booth contends that he "was cut as a cost-saving measure." Heikes' comments indicate that money was just one factor in the decision.

"It is my judgment that the Weekly has space for one cartoonist a week at the moment," Heikes said. "And that that cartoonist will be a local one."

The original piece about Mr. Fish's last days at the Weekly published Jan. 15 appears below.

*************************

Countercultural cartoonist Dwayne Booth, who draws under the moniker Mr. Fish, is leaving the LA Weekly after his contract was not renewed.  After almost six years as its regular cartoonist, Friday was Booth's last day with the magazine.

Booth had been aware since November that his contract would be allowed to expire, so he hired an agent and has been working on new ventures in recent months.

He has completed two book proposals, both in the hands of publishing houses in New York City. 

The first is a collection of existing Mr. Fish cartoons, one-panel creations that fuse stark, familiar images and often vulgar dialogue to create darkly humorous socio-political commentary.   The second is what Booth termed a "graphic memoir," an exploration of today's counterculture featuring interviews with Noam Chomsky, Tarik Ali, and Joan Baez.

He will continue to draw for Harper's Magazine and Truthdig.com.  Booth said that his contributions to Harper's have raised his profile substantially over the past several years. 

"When I say Harper's, it means something to people," Booth said.  His work there has generated intense anger in some readers.  Booth said he received death threats "almost every day" in 2005 and 2006 for his critiques of then-President George W. Bush.

"Even the slightest criticism of Bush was completely unacceptable," Booth said.  During Obama's tenure, Booth has seen the aggression taper off.  He said that part of the reason is Obama supporters' growing disappointment with his actions since taking office.

Explaining his skeptical political stance, Booth said that although politicians are always bound in their actions by fiscal constraints, they rarely acknowledge it.

"Their job is not to be honest," Booth said. "It's to be optimistic."

Mr. Fish cartoons are often playful and always cutting. He inserts pop cultural icons like Captain America and Bambi into confrontational settings, splices familiar images from current events with those from the collective imagination, and challenges the assertions and postures of political leadership.  

"I don't trust politicians to provide me with any sound interpretation of what morality should be," Booth said.  The cartoonist said that he sets himself apart from mainstream cartoonists, whose dialogue with the public is restrained by a particular political paradigm.

"I don't revere other political cartoonists," Booth said.

He moved from Los Angeles to Philadelphia last summer with his wife and twin daughters, and said he plans to remain there for the foreseeable future.

Booth's departure from the organization continues an exodus of Weekly veterans that began in 2006.  Booth lamented the transformation.

"The Weekly went from a vibrant, necessary voice to a tentatively depressing, horrible place to be," he said.  He described a sense of worry and fear that began to overtake veteran Weekly employees after the firing of News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt and subsequent hiring of nationally syndicated columnist Jill Stewart to fill the role.

"That was the beginning of the real sorrow in the building," Booth said.

Drex Heikes, who took over as editor of the Weekly last August and has described his vision for a larger, more relevant alt-weekly, played down the finality of Booth's departure:

"That's a plant," Heikes said. "We still plan to use him from time to time and may renegotiate contract for regular use. I have an email from him and plan to talk to him soon."

Meanwhile, Mr. Fish is moving on.