Danny Hellman

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Danny Hellman (born August 2, 1964) is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist nicknamed Dirty Danny. Since 1989, his illustrations have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, New York Press, The Wall Street Journal, FHM, Mad Magazine and Screw magazine. Hellman’s comics work can be seen in DC Comics' Bizarro World, Paradox Press' Big Books series, Last Gasp Comics & Stories, and elsewhere.

Hellman has been described as a "veteran prankster" [1]. Following an August 3, 1999 Village Voice cover story criticizing Maus author Art Spiegelman by editorial cartoonist Ted Rall, Hellman created an email list called "Rallsballs@onelist.com" and sent two sets of emails impersonating Rall to at least 35 cartoonists and editors, including one former employer of Rall. Rall eventually retaliated by filing a lawsuit, claiming among other things, libel, lost employment opportunities and emotional distress, and asking damages of 1.5 million dollars. Eventually four of Rall's five claims were dismissed, leaving only libel per se.[2]

To defray legal costs, Hellman began in 2000 to publish a comics anthology series titled Legal Action Comics, which features work from many alternative comics artists. Two volumes have been published to date, with contributions by cartoonists such as Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Tony Millionaire. Hellman has announced he is editing an (unrelated) new anthology for Summer 2008, titled Typhon [3].