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A Darrin Bell Update – updated

1 minute 30 comments

KCRA in Sacramento (a Hearst/NBC station) reported today that Darrin Bell appeared in court briefly to get the court to appoint him an attorney and that his next court date is scheduled for January 23, 2025.

“The matter contains more than 600 images that violate Penal Code 311.11(a) and the matter contains 10 or more images involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who has not attained 12 years of age,” the felony complaint reads.

Bell did not enter a plea on Friday. The judge approved revisiting his bail at a future hearing.

A few minutes and it was done. No change in status. Bail remains at $1,000,000.00.

The Daily Cartoonist’s original report here.

Otherwise…

The Washington Post reported on the story yesterday and made sure to note that Darrin Bell’s political cartoons and his Candorville comic strip are distributed by King Features Syndicate (KFS):

“Candorville,” which appears on The Post’s website and in its daily and Sunday editions and is syndicated by King Features…

This was probably the result of several right wing print and online news sources taking a certain amount of joy in wrongly claiming Candorville was a Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) feature. Candorville switched from WPWG to KFS over two years ago. Bell’s political cartoons had made the switch in 2018.

That same Washington Post article noted that they have dropped Candorville from their print comics:

[Candorville] has been suspended from the comics lineup for the time being. The strip will appear in the Jan. 19 Sunday comics section because of production deadlines.

As Michael Rhode at Comics DC tells us Candorville has been replaced by Six Chix.

Candorville has also been deleted from the WaPo’s comics website.

On the other side of the nation friend of The Daily Cartoonist Jim Ellwanger has informed us The Los Angeles Times has also dropped Candorville, though without the courtesy of a notice as the WaPo did.

The L. A. Times replaced Candorville with a Non Sequitur comic from exactly a year ago (third from top left column) while still running today’s current Non Sequitur (left column bottom). We expect this was an on-the-spur substitution and another non-Non Sequitur (and non-Candorville) strip will soon find itself in that spot.

January 18 update: Jim passes on to us that The L. A. Times for Saturday has deleted Candorville moved all the left column comics below that third spot up tier and used the now empty bottom spot to inform their readers what has happened:

No word on The Philadelphia Inquirer’s intention – another big paper that carries Candorville.

January 18 update: The Philadelphia Inquirer has dropped Candorville as of this morning.

January 18 update: Unca $crooge, in the comments below, reports The Seattle Times has dropped Candorville.

Nick Anderson, Counterpoint Executive Director, has informed The Daily Cartoonist readers of their actions – Darrin Bell was contributing political cartoons to Counterpoint’s newsletter:

We are dumbfounded by the news that Counterpoint newsletter contributor Darrin Bell has been arrested on charges of uploading AI-generated child sex abuse material. While we are aware that the American system of justice presumes innocence until proven guilty, we feel it necessary to suspend Mr. Bell from future contributions to Counterpoint until more is known about the charges.

Counterpoint Licensing and Syndication also distributes the Rudy Park comic strip by Darrin Bell. As Mr. Bell is no longer producing new Rudy Park comics, the feature now consists of rerun strips. Counterpoint Media intends to consult with client publications to discuss the future of this daily feature.

As mentioned above Darrin Bell’s distributor is King Features who has issued no statement despite inquiries from many news sources, including The Daily Cartoonist. But Candorville remains listed on their Comics Kingdom site and continues to be spotlighted on the Comics Kingdom political cartoons page.

The Daily Cartoonist has also reached out to Bell’s publisher MacMillan with no better results.

January 18 update: Christopher Chiu-Tabet at The Beat is reporting:

Macmillan, owner of The Talk publisher Henry Holt, also issued a statement saying it is “aware of the arrest of Darrin Bell. These are disturbing allegations, and we take this matter extremely seriously. At this time, we are allowing due process to take its course and will take appropriate action as we get more confirmed information.”

Editorial cartoonists Ted Rall and Scott Stantis spent the entire half hour of today’s DMZ America Podcast discussing the arrest, debating downloading vs uploading, pros and cons of porn, the impact of this news on cartooning, and more.

January 19 update

As Rick McKee told us in the comments below Saturday Night Live mentioned the arrest of Darrin Bell in their Weekend Update segment with a take on the AI angle of the case.

January 19 update.

As Ignatz has reported in the comments below Comics Kingdom has closed comments on Darrin Bell’s Candorville and on Darrin Bell’s political cartoons after several days of the comments being about his arrest. The Candorville ban on commenting goes into last year unlike other strips, the political cartoon comment ban, at this moment, only applies to the most recent cartoon.

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Comments 30

  1. That woke me up faster than my morning coffee!

  2. If Candorville is officially ended in the next few months, the Los Angeles Times should consider a replacement – maybe Garfield (unless it still runs in the Los Angeles Daily News)?

    1. I don’t think Candorville and Garfield are aimed at the same demographic.

  3. FWIW, I don’t understand why editors would consider dropping a comic strip feature because its creator stands accused of a crime, no matter how heinous. By definition, Darrin is not proven guilty and thus innocent until convicted.

    Darrin’s legal troubles are none of his editors’ business. That changes if he can no longer produce the strip, of course.

    1. And as disgusting as it is, per the KCRA3 report, the AI aspect of the case was legal until the beginning of this month. Something that will certainly come into play during the legal proceedings.

      1. The AI aspect is fascinating. It raises many questions. What was it, exactly? Drawings? Video? Was it trained on real children or ginned up out of thin air, relatively? And, as you point out, the law went into effect two weeks ago. Did law enforcement become aware of the situation before the New Year and sit on their hands until they could test out the new legislation in 2025?

        Watching the arraignment video, I am baffled. Why hasn’t Darrin made bail? You only need 10% ($100,000) to post bail using a bondsman, with a $1 million lien. Which, in California, is the value of a very cheap house. Why hasn’t he retained private counsel? Most disturbingly, why did he not appear to be represented by a court-appointed attorney after having been in custody closing in on 48 hours?

    2. They are obeying in advance. None of them want to hear “how can you run work from that child porn fancier?” so they just drop it. God forbid an editor should have a cartoonist’s back in this day and age.

      As you note below, this may be the entire point of the exercise.

      As for the question of representation and bail, these things are costly. I am sure that if Darrin were to proclaim that the trove found on his assets did not get there by his agency, he would find many who would contribute for bail, a good DMCA attorney and a computer forensics expert.

      I am hoping to hear such a proclamation, but understand that this is a delicate situation.

  4. I wondered why there was a space in today’s Seattle Times’ comic page. No explanation, just a note that a new strip will be appearing soon.

    1. That drew more attention than just running the strip would have.

      Most readers probably have not heard of the arrest, and/or did not recognize the name. They would have just chuckled “Oh, Lamont” and moved on to Sherman’s Lagoon. Times could have waited until Monday to add a replacement (especially since Candorville will be in the Sunday comics)

      Now someone at the Times gets to answer all the “Where’s Candorville?” email

  5. I am really disappointed, and frankly disgusted, to hear this accusation, but the strip drops fly in the face of innocent until proven guilty. I suppose I am wishing it’s not true.

    2. Actors, sports stars, employees – when have any of them been guaranteed contracts, sponsorships or jobs after accusations?

  7. Darrin Bell’s situation made SNL’s Weekend Update.

    1. -and they did not support the AI defense.

  8. “This was probably the result of several right wing print and online news sources taking a certain amount of joy in wrongly claiming Candorville was a Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) feature. Candorville switched from WPWG to KFS over two years ago.”

    It’s not the possible sexual exploitation of children (allegedly, only some of the images were AI) that’s worriesome. It’s that “the right” might get his syndicator wrong.

    Un-freaking-believable.

    1. I noticed that too. Trying at the outset to make the story about “right wing print and online news sources” instead of Darrin and the allegations against him!

      I began noticing MSM doing this 20 years ago!

      It’s a sad, despicable attempt to “sway” readers thoughts AWAY from the actual story!

    2. As noted in the headline this was an update. And I thought an interesting take on the story was the right wing media headlining the arrest of an accused child pornographer with false statements solely to connect The Washington Post to the action for their own purposes.
      “Anti-Trump Washington Post cartoonist Darrin Bell arrested on child pornography charges”
      “Washington Post Cartoonist Arrested On Very Disturbing Charges”
      “Liberal Cartoonist, Once Syndicated by WaPo Writers Group, Arrested on Child Porn Charges”
      “WaPo Cartoonist Who Mocked Trump Voters Concerns with “Groomers” Arrested on Child Porn Suspicions”
      “Washington Post cartoonist arrested over child porn”
      and many others. Some, like The New York Post, have altered their headlines and stories without notice of doing so.
      I found it understandable that The Post wished to distance itself from those headlines and newsworthy to correct those misleading headlines for those who come here for cartooning facts.
      It is a cartooning sidebar, like all the following updates, to the main story.

      1. As a comics creator who occasionally strolls by and reads (and comments once in a blue moon), I appreciate your delivery of comics news about comics and their creators to comics people.

        … pretty much what I like in my news – who, what,where, when – just the facts.

        Seeing WaPo attempting to lambast someone other than simply reporting on the person who is the “genesis” of the story does not surprise me.

        Peter (Spinings) Jennings (remember him?) he used to do the all the time.

  9. Commenting has been suspended for Candorville on the Comics Kingdom website. The comic is still there, but I suspect it will be gone tomorrow.

    1. HOWDY Ignatz!!
      Comments disabled? Not surprising …. whether allegations are right or wrong, KFS doesn’t want it rubbed in their face.

      Won’t be surprised if the strip is taken down either … big companies love to fold under a little pressure!

  10. The AI images are taken from images of human children. I don’t know what the images are, but think of fake nude images of celebrities which are common. Now think of that with a child. Someone can use AI to take a harmless image of a child and then put the child into a disgusting situation in a new image. Now imagine that’s your child. That’s a really good reason for AI child porn to be illegal.

    Also, these ads make this page difficult as hell to navigate.

  11. I will read Dilbert with happiness from now on

    1. So…because one guy is bad who you don’t agree with, that makes it okay to like someone who is bad who you do agree with?
      So…you’re amoral? ** **** ******? Or both? Or just a nihilist?
      Why can’t you not like both? Maybe you’re less interested in truth than you think.

      *This comment has been edited.
      Warning – Ad homonym attacks on fellow commenters
      is a quick way to get deleted around here.
      Especially when not using a proper name.
      D.D.Degg

      1. more men say inappropiate comments (including me) than downloading child porn,
        and the society is simply amoral

    2. Pssst… nobody is stopping you from reading Scott Adams and nobody cares.

      1. at least Scott Adams fans are now happy that the author isn´t a creep like Darrin Bell

      2. Again—nobody cares. It’s not a freaking contest.

        Congrats—your creepy guy is less creepy than our creepy guy. Do you want a cookie or something?

  12. As I wrote to some reporters,

    RE the Darrin Bell case,

    Yes, I’m sure I’m motivated by my appreciation for his insights, writing, drawing and comics.

    But I’m also very aware that

    a. Bell is a natural target for his anti-AI activism, and his political work.

    b. Most work on computer infiltration has been focused on broad-scale attacks, and attacks that attempt to steal data; not framing of a high-value target.

    c. the average child pornographer (if there is such a thing?) that law enforcement deals with is probably far less talented at computer work than the sort of talent Bell’s enemies could employ.

    d. As graphically talented as Bell is, if he wants to visualize anything–anodyne, skeevey, illegal–it strikes me that he’s about the last person who would need to use AI to create images.

    I have not yet seen a single article that has brought up the possibility of hacking, and the ease with which computer generated images can be planted and given a false digital trail–especially if you specifically tick off people with strong computer skills and endless time to take you down.

    Instead, I see assertions that county sheriff investigative staff are near-infallible. And that because law enforcement has dealt with such things for so long, they’re essentially never wrong anymore, on this one specific topic. That seems overconfident to me.

    Digital swatting via AI should worry all of us. So should over-reliance on law enforcement ensuring us that they don’t make mistakes. In fact, those two things should continue to worry all of us even if it turns out that Bell created and uploaded (or knowingly downloaded) the files in question.

  13. So now we will never know if Lemont and Susan, lifelong rooftop friends, will ever get together. Damn.

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