Radharany Diaz

Conrad Rothbaum gives a voice to Knicks fandom through weekly webcomic

Although it’s deserving of much of its criticisms, every now and then, the internet gives us something to find joy in. NBA Twitter, in particular, is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s home to an entire spectrum of NBA aficionados; from casual fans to basketball historians, there’s a community for just about everyone who loves the game.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of NBA Twitter are the team-specific circles where fans come to either brag about winning records, debate, or commiserate over their team’s history of questionable decisions.

Enter the New York Knicks.

Despite the team’s past, Knicks fandom remains unshakeable. If no one else will speak life into this team, rest assured that Knicks Twitter will.

When Conrad Rothbaum created the webcomic Knicks Illustrated, his goal was to reflect those conversations happening online between the people who love this storied, but fraught franchise.

Rothbaum is a writer, filmmaker, and illustrator born and raised in New York. The New York Knicks have been a part of his life since childhood, so his art is his way of giving back to the NBA community that is truly unlike any other.

He recalls becoming a fan around the age of five, around the same time Patrick Ewing was leading the franchise. “When he broke his wrist I sent him a get-well soon card with a drawing of him dunking. He never responded; I took that very personally,” he says jokingly.

After the Sprewell years, he tapered off as a fan for a bit, which is when his interest in art and filmmaking began to bloom. When the Knicks traded Carmelo Anthony during the 2017 off-season, he saw it as an opportunity for the team to rebuild and began to follow the team regularly again. He admits that hitting the reset button is somewhat of a pattern for the Knicks, but the flame of his Knicks fandom had already been fully reignited and it was too late to put it out.

Now living in Los Angeles, Rothbaum dedicates much of his time to screenwriting and working in the post-production industry. As an illustrator, most of his focus has been in storyboarding, i.e. the illustrations that aid the conceptualization of film work.

However, when the pandemic suspended film production, he decided to teach himself the technical aspects of making and self-publishing comics.

The inspiration behind creating Knicks Illustrated was pretty simple: “I just wondered why a Knicks webcomic didn’t exist already. Someone once told me that when you ask yourself why something doesn’t exist already, you’d better go and make that thing, because if you don’t, someone else will,” he says.

He began working on the series shortly after the 2020 NBA Draft, where the Knicks selected Obi Toppin at number eight.

“When Obi was selected in the draft, he was asked what playing for the Knicks meant to him, and he said, in a quavering Brooklyn accent, ‘I’m from New York… That’s what it means to me.’ When I heard that, I felt emotional to know how proud he was of his New York heritage, but I also found it a little funny, because to me there seemed to be a little pain in his voice; it was as if he was proud of the pain.”

“It reminded me of the scene in The Dark Knight Rises in which Bane boasts of being born in the darkness: ‘While you merely adopted the dark, I was born in it, molded by it…’ That struck me as emblematic of Knicks fandom in general: We were born in the darkness. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the light. And we’re proud of it.”

A new edition of the weekly comic series is released every Tuesday. Rothbaum finds inspiration by keeping his finger on the pulse of what fans are talking about throughout the week.

“I want the comic to be a natural outgrowth of conversations real Knicks fans are having, and often Knicks fans are critical of the team, so I don’t shy away from that. It’s my hope to make Knicks fans feel recognition when they read the comic, like they’re not alone: someone else gets it, too.”

Things happen very quickly in the NBA, and the conversations on Twitter happen even  quicker. As much of a spectator as he might be, you can often find both the @KnicksIllustrated account and Rothbaum’s personal one engaging with fans and Knicks media members. And he doesn’t hold back, either. His wit and humor reveal themselves both in his interactions and in the comic series itself.

Each three-panel comic takes him about six hours to make. As laborious as it sounds, it hardly compares to filmmaking.

“In all art forms, communication is the thing: How do I get this thing in my head, this feeling, this message, this vision, to the audience? With filmmaking, there are many more potential breakdowns in that communication process, partly because there are many more people (actors, cinematographers, etc.) and many more steps needed to help you communicate your ideas to the audience; whereas with comics, it’s just pencils, pens, Photoshop, and your own abilities between that vision in your head and the audience.”

In 2018, he produced his very own short film titled “Splitscreen” and is currently rewriting a feature screenplay that he describes as a “dark family comedy.” Rothbaum also has plans to develop a basketball thriller at some point in hopes to fill a void similar to the one he felt before he created Knicks Illustrated.

“Thriller” and “basketball” are not two words you typically hear together when it comes to sports movies, but the brilliance of the Knicks Illustrated comic series is a perfect example of what can happen when you finally make the thing that no one thought about making before.

He is also developing a longer Knicks-themed comic that he hopes to release in installments.

“The Knicks are home to me. It’s difficult to define something when it’s in your blood. You just know it’s there; you feel it. Whether I’m rooting for the team from my couch in LA, or when I’ve been lucky to watch them from a seat in The Garden, I know I’ve got New York cheering with me, and I’m five years old again. That’s not a feeling I can get from another team.”