Law professors create comic
i many smitn
OfifQOn Ctekfy |Vri#irjtfgf
It's nil Uni vomit y President
Dave Frohnmayor's fault
It s his fault that the Oregon
Law Review is th«* first in the
country to publish a i omii strip
But that’s not n bad thing, liner
the response has been so post
tive, the creators sav
University assistant law pro
fessors. Keith Aoki .Hid Garret
bpps, created "Dead l.ines.
Break Downs .V Doubling the
legal Subject** or, 'Anything
You Can Do. I Gin Do Meta
Kpps said he wanted to get a
guy on the i over of the review
with a big "BIFF!" but that the
publishers wouldn't go for it
\\e went to my kite hen. lit
up a couple of cigars' and got to
work, f pps said Aoki provides
the cartoon's graphics and
together with I pps. writes the
dialogue.
The two got together early last
fall, after Aoki was hired to
loat h at the law si hool
It all started when Aoki was
job hunting fur a teaching posi
tion at law si hoots lie took
along his collection of the
i ornics he created for the Har
vard Law School s newspaper
from l‘W7 to 1990. He said he
wanted to work in an environ
ment that didn't take itself too
seriously.
Frohnmayer, who was then
the dean of the law school, saw
Aoki's comics during Ids job
interview. He suggested pub
lishing some of them in the Ore
gon Law Review
"I turned to my colleague Gar
rett and said, l et's do a cartoon
strip.'*'
Aoki said that Kpps was one
of the reasons he chose to come
to the University
A si hoot that hires people
like that is the kind of »* two I I
want to work for.' Aoki said
"Keith and 1 are really on the
same wavelength,” Epps said
AW work really well together
He said that he entoyed work
lug on the comic bee aus«\ 'You
get to do some non linear think
ing Law is very linear
"So much of legal thought
lends itself to caricature,
depressinglv.” Epps said.
I he comic strip s two main
characters are Mr Positive
w hose animated facial expires
slons bear a striking resem■
hlant e to Epps, and Normative
Chameleon, a skeleton with eves
m a v-neck sweater and tie who
Aoki said represents himself
It is "intended to poke fun at
the law . law professors and law
students.” Epps said.
Mr Positive and Normative
Chameleon start out with some
thing to sav but start to get real
ly hogged down in the footnotes
that slow I v take up more and
more space on each page
The strip pokes fun at stu
dents with two more charac ters.
I ; sa law rev lew and 1 ester
These two end up getting lost in
all the footnotes and seem to
enjoy it "They are prepared to
go on talking about talking alkout
things.” Epps Mod
A second year law student
depic ted as a stick figure with a
question mark over his head is
the only character who tries to
cut through all the footnotes and
empty talk "I know Em only 21,
Hut will someone please tell
me what the hell this piece is
about anyway:' in a NUT
SHEET, so to speak"” Hi- is
promptly shot down by I.isa and
I .ester
By the time Mr Positive and
Normative (ihnmvteon get to the
end, they've run out of room ami
their point is rmver matte
f.pp* said h«< hopes to < hange
tlit* UK * of legal reviewv
"The only people who are
going to read a law review are
other m holars and practition
ers he said "It ought to be
something an educated person
would want to pit k up and be
able to read."
I he two have been
approached by a "fnirlv signifi
<'ant university press to make a
book. F.pps s.ml And there are
plans to continue the storv in
upcoming reviews whit h come
out four times a year
l-.pps rec eived his bac helor's
degree from Harvard College m
IQ7'£ and his master's degree
from Hollins College in t*> Ih>
went back to school and
received a doctor of {urispru
deni e degree in t'i'll and a mas
ter of law degree in 199-t front
Duke University lie came to the
lIniversitv ill 19*12
Aoki rec eived his h.u helor of
fine* arts degree in 1978 for
painting and a master's degree
in lt)8ti for sculpture and film
Hum hi1 went to New York ( ity
where lie worked briefly at Mar
vel Comics as an inker
"I got married II was! living
an interesting hut impoverished
life." he said So he presented
himself with three choices go to
law school, become a c tied or be
a comic (took writer He
received a doctor of law degree
from Harvard College in toon
and a master of law degree from
the I tniversity of Wise onsin in
199 i He i a me to the t 'niversitv
in 1993
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