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Well, you won’t need to help bail him out, but on his Facebook page, artist Steve Rude’s wife, Jaynellle reports that the artist was arrested over a dispute with neighbors.

Steve was arrested last night. Neighbors with the barking dogs have been harassing him and finally succeeded in getting him hauled off. Trying to raise bail/legal fees and will be listing items online with buy it now prices.


In a later update, Jaynelle reports that Rude is out on bail but still needs to pay for legal counsel:

Thank you to everyone. We were able to make bail, but Steve won’t be released until morning. Now we have to pay for the legal counsel so he doesn’t end up back doing hard time for trying to keep his sanity. All he wants is to be left alone to create his art, not harassed by people who call the police on our kids because a frisbee ended up in their yard.


The whole situation sounds unpleasant. However you can help Rude and get some great art in the process — there are a ton of great pieces available on his website, like the above Steve Jobs tribute poster, and for $500 he’ll do commissions — which are outstanding. Other auctions are listed here.

Mark Evanier has his own plug for helping Rude out, and points out that several years ago, Rude decided not to accept paying work that he wasn’t personally invested in — a move which may have hurt his income but is something he can live with. Rude’s main source of income these days is commissions, so check it out. Rude is a friend and one of our favorite comics artists — he certainly isn’t a criminal. We wish him the best in getting out of this legal jam.

UPDATE:

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Via the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office website a few more details on the Steve Rude arrest — he was charged with assault and violating a court order.

In addition, it should be noted that Maricopa County is the homebase of Joe Arpaio, America’s Toughest Sheriff, who’s known for housing inmates outside in 145 degree heat, feeding them spoiled food, and other practices that have gained notoriety and lawsuits from organizations such as Amnesty International.

The website also encourages people to vote on their “Favorite mugshots” — given this lineup of the damned, we should probably feature this on the site for next Halloween.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve met Steve Rude a few times & had the pleasure of having dinner w/ him & Jaynelle at a show coupla years ago. He is anything *but* rude, & if he got arrested over barking dogs, they musta been driving him truly crazy. These sorts of nuisances bug folks who work at home doubly more than others.

    Whatever happened to neighbors being neighborly? Kids will be kids. Let them have their damn Frisbee.

    Ugh. Thanks for posting this, Ms. Beat.

  2. I hate to hear about this and other troubles Steve has had. I have met him a few times in the past and enjoyed those moments. He is a huge inspiration to me! Here is hoping that all this stuff is worked through and he gets back in the saddle better than ever. His work to me is always so damn good!

  3. Though I’m siding with Steve Rude on this one, I wish the area I live in had a sheriff like Joe Arpaio. My town has alot of drug dealers and other criminals that get slapped on the wrist and then continue to commit crimes.

  4. Well…instead of physically assaulting annoying neighbors, like what allegedly happened here, strychnine laced doggie treats would have provided peace and quiet on both sides of the fence.

    That’s ninja tactic one can learn from watching Thinner which was on halloween tv special!

    On another note, at least it wasn’t one of his sketchbooks that got misplaced on the wrong side instead of an errant frisbee. Can you imagine Steve Hulk-raging and kicking the barking mutts as he saves his precious?