Cartoon makes timely appearance

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cartoonist Larry Gonick knew he might be asking for trouble when he set out to draw a comic-strip version about the birth of Islam. \nHe had no idea that the third volume in his "Cartoon History of the Universe" series, now in bookstores, would arrive at such a contentious time. \nAs tensions reach a breaking point in the Middle East, Gonick hopes to give readers a lively history lesson in his From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance. \nGarry Trudeau, creator of "Doonesbury," said Gonick's "unexpectedly timely" volume may help people understand the current tensions. "Will reading an erudite, if flat-out hilarious account of Middle East history help us make sense of our current clash of cultures? Let's put it this way: Ignorance hasn't worked," Trudeau said. \nStill, the 300-pages of cartoon panels are sure to offend some conservative Muslims and Islamic scholars who may take offense at the author's humorous take on their history. \nGonick, who spent almost four years researching, writing and drawing the volume, said he tried to be fair and accurate, but he also wanted to have some fun. \nHe is an equal-opportunity offender, using references to actual historical events he digs out of his research to draw cartoons of such nuggets as these: pre-Islamic Meccans defecating in a Yemenite cathedral to protest the Christian presence in Arabia; ninth-century Hindus expressing their belief that sex ruled the universe. \n"I don't want to be blasphemous," Gonick said. "I just want to be irreverent." \nBut some critics say Gonick goes too far, that he takes too many liberties with historical fact and that his cartoon history book perpetrates the notion that "Muslims have always disliked Jews." \nGonick, 56, has tackled a variety of complex topics, producing cartoon guides on everything from sex to statistics. The first "Cartoon History of the Universe," published in 1990, began with The Big Bang and traveled through 3 billion years, from cells to hominids.