Reading Tim Disney’s dark satire of misinformation and the global elite is an experience that’s alternately maddening, sad and really funny. But as a graphic novel, it also has the benefit of often being a surprisingly beautiful book to look at and hold in your hands. 

Tim joined me on this week’s episode of “The Sidebar” to talk about the graphic novel The A.R.C., for which he was creator and co-writer. 

Tim will be reading from and talking about the book at Novel bookstore on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.

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Born out of the reality of the huge amount of misinformation and lies that were spread during the COVID pandemic, The A.R.C. is a dark, futuristic satire about the disease, consumerism, and the world’s global elite, from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Greta Thunberg.

Working with Creative Director and Co-Writer JC Lacek and Artist Vincent Jolas Dubois, the book skewers everything from the supposed benefits of AI models (“No decisions means no problems”) to the unqualified promise of mood-alerting pharmaceuticals (“When it’s all too much, just turn it down”) and to the way starstruck, sycophantic interviewers ask questions of Timothée Chalamet (“I want to touch your skin”).

I met Tim a few years ago now and my daughter and his younger son know each other well. (Listen to the interview for an explanation of that.) But I’d never heard Tim talk about being the grandson of Roy Disney — and the grandnephew of Walt Disney — or how he co-wrote the Disney animated movie “Oliver & Company.” 

Yet Tim talked at some length about being a member of the Disney family, including how, when he was a young child, his mom very simply — and wonderfully — explained to him why people always seemed to know his last name.

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We also talked about his work with the California Institute of Arts, his time on the board the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and his own artwork — about which he joked, “I’m an artist because I make something that’s bigger than you can fit in your house.” 

Also, a special shout-out to Toby Sells of The Memphis Flyer who’ll be filling in for me when he introduces and interviews Tim at Novel bookstore on Aug. 29 at 6 pm. 

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Take a listen to my interview with Tim or watch the video.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

“The Sidebar” airs every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. on WYXR-FM 91.7 and is also available as a video podcast here on the website, as a video on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Editor’s Note: WYXR is a partnership between Crosstown Concourse, the University of Memphis and The Daily Memphian. As part of that partnership, I serve on the board of Crosstown Radio Partnership, which owns and oversees WYXR.