Shrubville

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January 03, 2007

Another One Bites the Dust

TODAY'S STRIP

What a glorious year so far here at Shrubville HQ. While I was still wiping the hangover out of my eyes on New Year's Day, we got word from the ever-vigilant FredN. that the Chicago Tribune had given "Prickly City" the heave-ho.

Now, I started Shrubville back in September of '04 primarily because of the Tribune running "Prickly City." For my entire life I'd been a Tribune comics reader and never before had a strip so sickened (yet fascinated) me or made me so angry (yet happy) as Prickly City did. (Well, except for Stantis' other comic strip which the Tribune used to carry.) Unofficially I always thought Shrubville would be temporary, active until the Tribune discontinued "Prickly City," which I 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. I 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 me joy, the joy is somewhat muted by the fact I'm still punching my Corn Flakes box on a daily basis here 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.

So as long as "Prickly City" appears in a newspaper that is delivered to my house on a daily basis, Shrubville will go on and on and on and on.

But back to the Chicago Tribune...as posted by FredN., the Tribune's announcement regarding the cancellation was as follows:

Effective this week, Bill Amend, creator of "FoxTrot," is cutting back on his production schedule, and will produce the comic strip on Sundays only. In its stead, Mondays through Saturdays, we offer "Lio," by Mark Tatulli, about a curious boy with a bizarre imagination. ("FoxTrot" will continue to run in the Tribune's Sunday Comics section.) We are also introducing two new strips to our everyday lineup: "Raising Hector," by Peter Ramirez, about a police officer who retires from the force to be a stay-at-home dad, and "Ink Pen," by Phil Dunlap, about an employment agency for out-of-work cartoon characters. To make room, we are discontinuing the strips "Candorville" and "Prickly City."

How hilarious is it that to fill the three empty slots, the Tribune chose TWO of the strips penned by Stantis' guest artists (Tatulli and Dunlap) of a few weeks back. That's gotta hurt Stantis right THERE [points to shoulder].

Of course, the sad note to all this is the Tribune's decision to discontinue "Candorville," which was one of the better strips they ran. To me, this smacks of the Tribune editors wanting desperately to cancel "Prickly City" but feared a conservative backlash, so as a pre-emptive conciliatory gesture they also dropped the perceived "liberal" strip. It certainly wasn't for lack of quality, as "Candorville" is expertly-drawn, has well-defined characters, is smart and cutting, and, most-of-all, it has a sense of humor (i.e., it is the anti-Prickly City).

So for the good of the Comics, if you have a spare minute, write a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune and ask for "Candorville" back.

Which brings us to today's Prickly City: no surprise: it sucks.

Comments

Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 3, 2007 10:40 AM

Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 3, 2007 10:45 AM

Posted by: FredN. at January 3, 2007 10:57 AM

Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 3, 2007 11:02 AM

Posted by: Charles Brubaker at January 3, 2007 11:04 AM

Posted by: speedyhed at January 3, 2007 01:00 PM