Customer Reviews

2024

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I dont' care what the other reviewers claim, this comic is depressing. I can't drink my starbucks coffee the same way anymore. :) Rall does his thing, were he keeps nailing shocking concepts into your head. You'd be reeling from the last page, before he hits you again with something else just as shocking.

Overall a quick and very enjoyable book. If you take out the 1984 satire stuff, the book is funny, intriguing, insightful, and downright scary. It left me a couple of nights thinking about how screwed up Western Society really is. Buy it!

This graphic novel is basically just a satire of "1984". The storyline is kind of erratic, but if you have read "1984" you will completely understand what is going on. "2024" is a humorous prediction from Ted Rall on what the future will be like. Instead of Big Brother watching, it is us who are watching each other, and it is scary look at what the future will be like. Of course since it is Ted Rall, this sad look at the future of society is completely hilarious. If you've read "1984" and are a fan of Ted Rall or just curious, then by all means purchase this book. The only downfall of this book is that it is sort of short but it is still a funny read.

This outstanding book brings out a forgotten side of the Orwellian nightmare, that is how it is not so much state terror or surveillance that gives us irrational and vicious governments as the unthinking and narrow time horizon of the captives. At bottom the citizens of idiotic systems allow the rulers to rule.

The Orwellian slogans of this book are ASSUMPTIONS PERMIT IMAGINATION, KNOWLEDGE IS IMPOSSIBLE, and EXPLOITATION IS BENEVOLENCE. These mind-killing notions all flow from Orwell's notion that "2+2=4. Once that is granted all else must follow", meaning that liberty and good living depend upon an honest and general commitment to reality. Rall then has the guts to point to the biggest threat of totalitarianism in the world today: POSTMODERN PHILOSOPHY. Rall playfully calls it "Neo-post-modernism", and then shows in serious detail how it can rob working stiffs of certainty, language, and purpose. With foundations of knowledge cut out from underneath us, we are all ripe for media manipulation by unscrupulous leaders.

Rall out-Orwells Orwell by cutting out reference to physical police state torture and "tortures" the protagonist Winston through non-thrilling entertainment. In short this is a perfect rendition of the vain, stupid dot.com corporate culture of our upper middle class and mass media. It is smart people without knowledge, culture without content, money without wealth or productivity, a libertine lifestyle without freedom, and directed, meaningless passions.

Tad Rall's "2024" promises a look at "A terrifying future where the past doesn't matter and no one cares!"

It was not particularly terrifying nor particularly original. Rall says he is inspired by George Orwell's "1984", but he has really ran smack dab into Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and George Lucas's "THX 1138" - a future society in which people are controlled by drugs, interactive video porn and other distractions. Not only is Rall's book derivative of the two I mentioned, he didn't even do work up to their standards of quality.

If you want brief entertainment (less than an hour for this reviewer to read the entire thing) and a "lite" version of some deeper works that covers no new ground and features artwork that reminded this reader of Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" series, than this may be your book. Heck, even one of his best lines is a direct rip-off of an old John Cougar album title: "Nothing Matters and What If It Did".

I give this one a "C-" - it is not totally without merit and maybe it will encourage a reader to pick up any of the other works that I have mentioned (including the John Cougar album) for better insight.

If you've seen Ted Rall's gloopy-nosed box figures, you'll know it. He has a distinctive style and a distinctive wit, which is informed here by Orwellian nightmares as our "hero", Winston, not only copes with fickle neopostmodernism but embraces it. It is a thoroughly depressing vision of the future, but somehow it is funny too. So perhaps Ted Rall is part of the problem -- getting us to laugh instead of fight as we enter the slaughterhouse gates? Yes. No. Whatever.

Ted Rall parodies Orwell's 1984 while satirizing the consumer-oriented lifestyle of the 1990s/2000s and he hits the nail on the head. Funnier than anything else I've read this year, you'll probably wince a few times, recognizing yourself or someone you know. Plotline: A Gen-X consumer in the year 2024 spends all day playing video games and buying crap online. When the chance is presented to have an affair with a higher class worker, he goes for it, until both are arrested by one of the large corporations for being selfish and hurting profits. Unlike Orwell's Winston, we never see a change in any of the characters... they're happily stupid and want to stay that way... but there's still an uncomfortable feeling when we see how close society's heading down this path.

Rall's comic political/social satire strikes home. It would be funny if it didn't ring of the reality of what the world is and will become if we don't wake up.

True, 2024 has some biting commentary and it's most definitely food for thought. But even as someone who agrees with Rall's views, particularly in his regular work, including comics and articles, I still think this is an overblown comic book all prettied up for a hardcover book. There's just not enough meat here to justify the format.

The characters are rather plain and have very little distinguishing characteristics. I think that's part of Rall's point -- people losing their individuality. However, even 1984, which I'm honestly not a fan of in terms of general fiction readability, had better characters than this.

2024 is good, but it's really just an overpriced comic book with a good message.

2024 is about mindless consumerism. People are driven only by caring about themselves and collecting "points" to buy useless stuff (really, isn't that where we are almost at now?). It was okay, it only takes about 45 minutes to read. I wish the art was better. I don't enjoy the ugly comics of today.

... But even Ted Rall's best work doesn't merit 5 stars. 5 stars should be reserved for the giants of the graphic novel medium, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore etc. I can understand how someone could like 2024, but five stars?!? I mean, come on!

I've liked Rall's comic strips. His drawing style is unique and fun, and he's an intelligent guy. He also has a lot of high quality ammunition to fire at this distopian comsumerist/techno crazy society. Yet, 2024 lacked the #1 thing I've gone to his comics for ... humor!

Yes, there were a few funny parts, but not nearly enough to justify this much ink shed.

As for the politics, I'm afraid he's just going to be preaching to the converted here.

Try his web page for his free stuff, and maybe his collections (the worst thing I've ever done) before buying this.