Rick Baldwin: The Christian Rock Connection
You may be familiar with the cartoons of Rick Baldwin as they've appeared in Metro Pulse: his weekly editorial cartoon on page 4 and his All the World strip, which has run in our Calendar section for the last eight years. But beyond his skewerings of local politicos and music scenesters, there is another comic side to Rick that's earned him a global audience: Outta Toon, a parody of Christian rockers that appears in none other than the biggest Christian music publication in the world, CCM.
Outta Toon started running in CCM in 1987 and it centers around the misadventures of Scott and Alpha—two roommates with very different outlooks on religion. Scott is a religious fundamentalist while Alpha is the lead singer for The Altar Hunks, a Christian punk rock band. "It gives me the opportunity to make both extremes of Christianity look stupid," says Baldwin. And indeed he does, lampooning everything from "What Would Jesus Buy" bracelets to Halloween protesters to Christian band members who affect a "holy" look. With a circulation of 100,000, you'd think the CCM strip would earn him some of his own protests over Outta Toon's irreverence.
"I once did a strip where someone gave Madonna's Sex book to Pat Robertson for Christmas, and that got a few letters," Baldwin admits. "But it's not my goal to alienate my readers. I want them to laugh and if I'm lucky maybe they'll think a little. Most Christian artwork has as its goal to save your soul, which I personally find pretty boring. I prefer interesting people talking about stuff and making mistakes."
The 37-year-old cartoonist was born and raised here in Knoxville by way of Strawberry Plains, and had his sensibilities jarred at the age of 10 by MAD Magazine and its usual gang of idiots, artists like Mort Drucker, Don Martin, and Sergio Aragones. He did weekly caricatures of his classmates in high school ("It was almost always unflattering stuff and I'm surprised I didn't get the shit beat out of me on a regular basis."); then he did a couple of strips for his college newspaper. Cartooning as a profession became a lifelong dream.
"You can go into any first-grade classroom and every child is drawing cartoons," Baldwin says. "By second-grade that number drops a bit. By high school you're in the minority, but you become the hero of every guy who wishes he hadn't quit doing it. Suddenly you're 38 and still doing it. You have to admit at that point you're either serious about it, or one of the biggest goof-offs the world has produced. The reality is you're probably both, leaning a little more to the latter than the former."
Baldwin's perseverance has resulted in cartoons that sparkle with a sharply-honed wit that punctures the hypocrisies of his characters. Likewise, his drawing style has evolved into an expressive line that conveys character and a high degree of zaniness. Ironically, it's this drawing style that's garnered Baldwin the most volatile reactions.
"My work has always gotten comparisons to Bloom County and Doonsbury," he says. "I've gotten some extremely vicious letters from people accusing me of ripping those strips off. They were both influences and there are certainly noticeable similarities, but anyone who takes the time to look can see huge differences. My work is rarely as refined as either Doonsbury or Bloom County, so I always consider that as a put-down to Gary Trudeau and Berke Breathed. I consider myself much more of a writer than I do as a cartoonist."
After years of resisting licensing Outta Toon ("I think a whole lot of Christian merchandising is cheesy."), Baldwin is investigating the world of greeting cards, T-shirts, and is even in discussion with producers over turning the strip into a live-action TV show.
"I want to make sure I work with individuals or companies that understand what Outta Toon is about," Baldwin says. "I don't want Outta Toon to become the very thing it makes fun of. But, frankly, I'd love to see Christian retail stores selling Outta Toon boxer shorts. I think if I can get that to happen, I'll know that a lot more people get the joke than I had suspected."
The Outta Toon website
April 20, 2000 * Vol. 10, No. 16
© 2000 Metro Pulse
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