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November 11, 2005

The Next Stage in the Funny Page

"Doonesbury" and "Peanuts," make way for "manga." Come January, the Sunday funnies of several major North American newspapers will have doe-eyed women in frilly outfits, effeminate long-haired heroes and other trademark images of the Japanese comic style.

The reason? Newspaper editors want to attract more young readers. A study released earlier this year by the Carnegie Corporation put the age of newspaper readers at 53 and climbing — hardly a recipe for circulation growth. [And the rest of the industry numbers ain't reassuring either]

The outfit, Universal Press Syndicate, is gonna start things small. Just test the waters with two American made manga:

"Van Von Hunter," by Ron Kaulfersch and Mike Schwark, is a horror spoof about a warrior and his female sidekick who dress in Gothic-inspired costumes and are on a mission to fight evil.

The quirky "Peach Fuzz" explores conflicting views of reality. It depicts 9-year-old Amanda's desire to become friends with her pet ferret, Peach, who harbors delusions of being a pampered, veil-donning princess.

Okay, those sound harmless. Not that crazy raped-by-space-alien-tentacles-and-evil-tree-roots manga. Quite a relief. Call me a prude, but I, for one, feel quite strongly there’s little room for tentacle rape in newspaper comic strips, even if tastefully done. (Been getting racy enough lately as it is, what with all the bed-hopping that silver fox Mary Worth's been up to. And Rex Morgan, M.D.? Have you read it lately? Sex Organ M.D. is more like it.)

To get a head start, you can find strips of Van Von Hunter here. And ladies, a little info on that adorable Peach Fuzz here.

For those of you depressed by what this augers, grumbling and mumbling yourself into some deep, funny-page-nostalgic-funk, Slate did a nice slide-show essay earlier this week on the best strip ever, Calvin and Hobbes. Read and remember.

posted by Dr. Reo Symes at 01:00 AM

Comments

Dammit, Doc-- I *want* my crazy raped-by-space-alien-tentacles-and-evil-tree-roots manga!

Oh well. I guess I'll settle for this stuff, as long as I can get an anime chick that looks just like MSNBC's Chris Jansing. Ya gotta love the Stewie Head!

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge on November 11, 2005 01:40 AM

How absolutely typical of Stale to portray Watterson's brilliant, joyous work as your ordinary gloomy, leftist, anti-corporate rant.

Posted by: someone on November 11, 2005 02:15 AM

My wife was part of the crop of manga-ka from whence Van Von Hunter sprang, and I can say that unless you are an anime affictionado , you could probably care less one way or the other.

That is, unless you really go for anime style catgirls, in which case you need to visit the Wilde Home for Wayward Catgirls:

http://www.bewildered-art.com/catgirls

Just recognize that in spite of the fact that I am (and the wife is to a lesser extent) are Right Wing Death Beasts, we continue to love those crazy Japanese influences...

Posted by: J. Wilde on November 11, 2005 02:19 AM

For a country so small, Japan is an impressive "cultural exporter", second only to the anglosphere. (Even back when I was a kid, every girl who was anyone had all the latest Hello Kitty gear.)

Posted by: SJKevin on November 11, 2005 02:42 AM

I will always remember.

Posted by: Russ on November 11, 2005 03:13 AM

Ahhh,

You've hit on the reason why newspaper circulation fell by at least ONE. I bought my last newspaper the day they quit printing Calvin and Hobbes.

Morons.

Posted by: RightNumberOne on November 11, 2005 07:01 AM

I suppose they have to do something, but I suspect that a couple of watered-down manga strips is not going to turn the tide of millions of younger people who get their news and information pretty much exclusively from INTERNET.

Posted by: Phinn on November 11, 2005 09:01 AM

Call me a prude, but I, for one, feel quite strongly there’s little room for tentacle rape in newspaper comic strips, even if tastefully done.

What? There's always room for tentacle rape. Haven't you been reading For Better or Worse lately?

Posted by: Evil Otto on November 11, 2005 09:08 AM

There's actually some potential here.

Who here wouldn't mind to see Zonker Harris go head-to-head with Tetsuo Shima?

Posted by: Xoxotl on November 11, 2005 09:59 AM

You know, one thing they could do to get the interest of the kids is maybe try to put the newspaper on those newfangled computer boxes all the kids are talking about.

I know, it would lose some of the charm of having someone throw a sack of wet, filthy, ink-smeared garbage on your doorstep, but at least you'd still get to pay to read what people who are no smarter than you tell you how to think.

Posted by: Tom on November 11, 2005 10:26 AM

Wow. Peach Fuzz got a mention in "Ferrets" magazine.

Peach Fuzz Accolades Keep Rolling In

Kudos

Posted by: on November 11, 2005 12:09 PM

"Bloom County," the first time around - none of that "Outland" crap for me, thanks - was better.

But Calvin and Hobbes is a close runner-up.

Posted by: Knemon on November 11, 2005 03:04 PM

If anybody cares, Rex Morgan, M.D. actually has a current storyline about a badly wounded Iraq vet. It's still unclear what political statement, if any, they're trying to make.

A few months ago, they had a storyline about somebody who died of cancer after he lost his job and couldn't afford health insurance, but they didn't come out and blame either political party.

Posted by: loge on November 11, 2005 03:16 PM

Amazon.com Widgets

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Top Headlines

SpaceX's IPO sets the stage for the colonization of the solar system -- by private enterprise [CBD]

Teen Driver Tayvin Galanakis Wins Jury Trial Against Officers Who Charged Him With DUI Even After He Blew 0.0 on A Breathalyzer And Passed Sobriety Tests. One Officer Accounted For 72% of All DUI Arrests For That PD [dri]

Days before the woman was stabbed in the neck by a taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer, in the same general area, another taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer attacked a boy and bloodied his head with a brick.
What is the UK Regime's plan for protecting the citizens from the savage criminals they've foisted on the populace? They offer NONE. They do, however, have a plan for protecting the savage criminals from the citizens: The citizens must STAY CALM and not get angry and not share videos of citizens being attacked by savage criminals.
The public keeps saying "protect us from the foreign savages you have imported against our wishes and over our objections" and the UK branch of The Regime keeps proposing plans to protect the foreign savages from the public. Soclose to what the public is demanding, just, you know, the complete opposite.
Just a thought: Maybe you wouldn't have to worry about the public attacking the savage criminals if you actually introduced a plan to protect the public from the savage criminals. Maybe they wouldn't feel as if it was necessary for them to protect the public through self-help.

Courtney Subramiam, one of the "journalists" who "previewed" her questions for the decrepit and demented Biden so that he could "answer" it with a pre-scripted response, rewarded by promotion to president of the White House Press Corps

Bonchie
@bonchieredstate

hahahahaha

This is the lady who gave her question to Biden beforehand, and he had it written verbatim in his notes with her picture.

You know what's really terrible? There are Daily Signal reporters in the press room. That's the Real Scandal Here!

English racist garbage-person who's on the wrong side of history warns the corrupt Regime that the people cannot take much more of this -- and won't take much more of this
The English have rebelled before.

All of the various Bob Dylans
by Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

TJM gets lost in the worlds of David Lynch

You might think that movie critics by nature are effeminate and bitchy, but, did you know that grass is green and red peppers are red?

"We have black ghetto fatigue"

Odd 90s-Retro Susan Collins ad against the Nazi Hotchkiss "hobby farmer"
I like the throwback AOL style of the ad.

Podcast: Sefton and CBD bounce around from Maine and its pet Nazi, to the cracks in the Democrat messaging, to the failure of California and its effect on the 2028 election, sea drones rescuing Apache crews, and more!

Seattle mayor shrugs off millionaire-tax concerns as 44% of business leaders consider leaving
It happens in all the blue states, but WA and Seattle will be different! [CBD]

TJM definitively ranks the films of Alexander Mackendrick

VOTE JEFF CARTER FOR NV STATE TREASURER!
[CBD]

Mary Margaret Olohan
@MaryMargOlohan

NEW: Five FBI employees were fired today over the infamous Richmond Catholic memo on "radical traditionalist Catholics," FBI source confirms to @realDailyWire.

Oof. Reviewers do not like Scary Movie 6. The criticism I keep hearing is that the movie mistakes a reference for an actual joke. The movie (they say) keeps Key Jangling a reference to another movie (or some other pop culture ephemera) and you expect there to be a joke but nope, the Key Jangle was the joke. Other reviewers say that the promise that "no lines will be uncrossed" is a fake-out, and that the movie is bland and inoffensively corporate.

TJM introduces you to the movies of Alexander Mackendrick

Whoops! I posted about Dan Goldman losing the NY congressional primary. He might do that, but it won't be tonight -- the primary isn't held until June 23.

One race to keep an eye on: the Levi's heir nepo baby and egregious "Designated Liar" Dan Goldman -- one of the Democrats from a safe district Democrats send out to spread their most indefensible lies -- may actually lose his lower Manhattan/Brooklyn set due to, get this, antisemitism in the Democrat primary electorate.
Antisemitism? In the anti-Nazi Democrat Party? Sounds crazy, I know, but apparently the anti-Nazi Party wants to eliminate Jews.

Henry Rosoff
@HenryRosoff

🚨EXCLUSIVE POLL:

Brad Lander is 34-pts ahead of Congressman Dan Goldman with #NY10 Democratic Primary voters. @ZohranKMamdani is backing the former Comptroller.

@bradlander: 57%

@danielsgoldman: 23%

Poll by @PIX11News & @EmersonPolling.

MORE: http://pix11.com

Oh my Totenkopf Tattoo, that is a DRUBBING!
I'm usually very anti-antisemitism but if the Communist Antisemite Jihadists can pull this one off, Go Communist Antisemite Jihadists, Go!

Democrat Senator Rueben Gallego, who served his wife with divorce papers when she was nine months pregnant so that he could marry his side-piece, counsels us that we should not judge Graham Platner for his infidelity because these things are personal matters, Racists:

Sahil Kapur
@sahilkapur

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., on Platner: "We know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience. He's been very clear and open with his wife, and they worked through whatever they worked through. At the end of the day, this man has had 60 more town halls than Susan Collins has. He's winning the polls, he's willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and I think we should accept that."

Gallego says the drip-drip of revelations won't harm Platner's campaign.

"I think you guys are all in a bubble here right now. The drip, drip that's actually happening is Americans are really, really hurt the fact that gas is still high, food is still high, they can't buy a home, you can't afford rent. They're not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses."

I like that he says that it's okay that Graham Platner sexted 12 different women within months of marrying the woman to sponge off her because he wasn't then "living a political life" -- the clear meaning being, "We all cheat, we just don't cheat when we're running for office, and he didn't know he was running for office when he was sending dicpics to half the women he ran into."
Except he was running: His own wife turned the sexts over to his campaign.
And obviously Reuben Gallego didn't let his "political life" get in the way of his extramarital dating life: