Op-Comic: Cassandra of California - Los Angeles Times

Op-Comic: Cassandra of California

An illustration of the hill with the Hollywood sign on fire with a helicopter above

By Kevin C. Pyle

Aug. 21, 2022 3:15 AM PT

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Reading about L.A. with its housing crisis, income disparity and ecological disasters — has me thinking about Mike Davis.

"City of Quartz" gave me insight into L.A.'s power dynamics and cultural significance via noir-soaked prose

With "Ecology of Fear" in 1998, he explored L.A. as a site of natural disasters, past and future.

His vision mirrored my own L.A. — endless sunshine, beautiful vistas and inspiration for disaster movies or dystopian future

The very subjects and style of Davis' dark vision that connected with me also seemed to inspire the ire of critics.

But the critics always, sometimes grudgingly, acknowledged both the importance and depth of his thinking.

One common objection was to Davis' apocalyptic thinking, that he overstated the coming disasters, both natural and man-made.

Yet his depiction of LA as a city of white elites protected by violent police identified dynamics leading to Rodney King

And the chapter called "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn" almost seems to predict the 2018 Woolsey fire

'The Monster at Our Door' examined conditions led to 2003 H5N1 outbreak concluding "pandemic is not a fate we can avoid."

One wonders where this prophetic talent comes from. Or can one not go wrong predicting a dark future?

His latest 'Set the Night on Fire: LA in the Sixties" ends with optimistic prediction for activists. I hope he's right again

Kevin C. Pyle is an illustrator and the author of several graphic novels and nonfiction books, including “Migrant: Stories of Hope and Resilience.”

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