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January 04, 2007
Aka Tempest In A Teapot
What a glorious year so far here at Shrubville HQ. While CJo was still wiping the hangover out of his eyes on New Year's Day, he got word from the ever-vigilant FredN. that the Chicago Tribune had given "Prickly City" the heave-ho.
Now, CJo started Shrubville back in September of '04 primarily because of the Tribune running "Prickly City." For his entire life he'd been a Tribune comics reader and never before had a strip so sickened (yet fascinated) him or made him so angry (yet happy) as Prickly City did. (Well, except for Stantis' other comic strip which the Tribune used to carry.) Unofficially he always thought Shrubville would be temporary, active until the Tribune discontinued "Prickly City," which he knew was inevitable as even the right-leaning, moving at dinosaur-speed Tribune wouldn't keep such crap around for too long.
But along the way something funny happened. He moved to another part of the country. A place where the people are arrogant assholes, the baseball team rhymes with "Bled Cocks" and the newspaper -- which, by the way, rhymes with "Rotten Chode" -- ALSO carried "Prickly City" (AND "Mallard Fillmore" for that matter). So while the cancellation of PC in the Trib brings him joy, the joy is somewhat muted by the fact he's still punching his Corn Flakes box on a daily basis there in the Land of Puritanical Inanity, where homosexuals can marry but you can't buy a six-pack of beer at a grocery store and until 1994 you couldn't get a haircut on a Sunday.
Nevertheless, he's also saddened by the simultaneous loss of "Candorville," which was described as expertly-drawn, with well-defined characters, smart and cutting, and, most-of-all, it has a sense of humor (i.e., it is the anti-Prickly City).
I don't know what all this has to do with me, because I was never a fan of the Tribune's comic section, or any other paper's comic section for that matter. I don't believe I've ever read Candorville, but I reckon if Candorville was any good they wouldn't have dumped it.
Frankly, Mr. Shankly, a good comic doesn't need newspaper publication and/or syndication in this day and age. Pulp is quaint. Achewood doesn't need to destroy our valuable natural resources to put out consistently high quality entertainment, nor does Medium Large. By using pixels to publish their works, they even eliminate the Number One complaint levied here at Shrubville against the Prickly City comic strip: its lack of timeliness.
Oh yeah, that reminds me of today's strip: I can vaguely recall from a month ago a tampax in a teabag out of New York about questionable reading materials for youths. I reckon he's saving the storylines about the Katherine Harris of the West or Nine-fingered Tom DeLay for another day. If Prickly City lasts that long.
Comments
Frankly, I'm saddened that the newspaper industry is failing, because reading comics on paper is WAY better than reading it on some goddamn monitor.
Alas.
But I'm optimisting, and say that the newspaper industry will survive for few more decades.
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 4, 2007 09:56 AM
*optimistic.
Hey, it's midnight here in Japan. Give me a break.
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 4, 2007 09:56 AM
With Prickly City out of the Trib, I'm not sure I care anymore. But man, today's is bad. Does anyone under the age of 80 use the work "trollop" anymore? I suppose it could have been worse, the book could have been "My First Chippy", because that would suit Scottie's time-warped life.
Posted by: Annie at January 4, 2007 10:01 AM
Check it out! Jewish World Review posted tomorrow's "Prickly City" early
http://jewishworldreview.com/strips/pc/pc010507.jpg
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 4, 2007 10:19 AM
