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November 04, 2007
Another Open Letter To Scott Stantis
Dear Mr. Stantis,
For several years now we here at Shrubville have been criticizing your work on the conservative comic strip Prickly City. Originally it was in response to your radical pro-Bush Republican politics - not just the silliness that's natural when it comes to supporting Bush, but because you weren't funny while supporting this administration.
But over the last year or so our criticisms of Prickly City have been as much about your ability (or should I say inability) to draw. How many years have you been a comic strip artist, Mr. Stantis? Why is it you seem to be digressing in your abilities every day instead of improving? Then again maybe you're following the lead of your idol George Bush, who somehow, some way, despite the odds, becomes a worse president every day - and he's been the Worst President In History for some time now.
Today's strip is one of the worst yet. A surprisingly obese Winslow (both he and Carmen have major weight issues - one day they're fat, the next skinny) is typing away on a laptop - not terrible, but I'm starting to wonder if fat Winston is a replacement for skinny Winslow. The hand reaching out of the monitor isn't terrible, although it's hard to tell why it's choking Winslow - is it the telecom industry illegally spying on us, and attacking the poor coyote for wanting to know about celebrities? Things clear up a bit - I think - when Winslow's head turns into a balloon and the monitor-hands want to "pop" him, giving us Carmen's punchline. Not one of your worst, I must say - even kinda clever. At least based on Prickly City standards.
But it doesn't matter how good the punchline might be. Your inability to represent Winslow's head as popped is one of the most atrocious, lazy, stupid things I've ever seen. At first I thought that instead of a pin the arms reaching out of the monitor had dissected poor Winslow's head, cutting it down the middle and splitting it open to remove Winslow's brain, which is nowhere to be seen. But no, that doesn't make any sense - he was a balloon a minute ago and Carmen is making a joke about pop culture. So is that what happens when things "pop" in your world, Mr. Stantis? They divide down the middle and separate like a Transformer? Oh, and Winslow's suddenly skinny again. And Carmen has some kind of worms trying to crawl out of her hair.
We all understand why you still have a job - you're a conservative, and since "liberal" newspapers are so liberal they feel the need to carry your strip for "balance." Lord knows there are probably better conservative strips out there (then again, maybe not - conservatives don't exactly have a great sense of humor for some reason), but if they dared yank you without pulling a left-leaning strip you and your Republican buddies would raise holy hell. So rather than give the public something good, we get stuck with the crap you churn out every day.
But please, do us all a favor: take some drawing lessons. Maybe all you need is a refresher course. Or find someone to start drawing the strips for you. Heck, I'll bet they even have some good ideas and could even write a few of the strips. Maybe even take Prickly City off your hands for good. Because it's become extremely obvious that you could care less about Carmen and Winslow anymore. You don't care about consistency in your storylines. You do zero research other than watching Sean Hannity and listening to Rush. And you've lost any desire to draw something original or even makes sense (I'm surprised we didn't get even more days of Winslow standing behind a podium this week - that was sooooo riveting from a visual standpoint).
So I'm asking you, as one of the few people who takes the time each day to read Prickly City, either learn how to draw and write or find someone else who will. Because at this point you're not just annoying, you're pathetic.
Best regards,
The Furnace
(written not dictated)
Comments
So, if Scott Stantis only has a comic as a result of liberal papers trying to achieve balance, doesn't that make him a beneficiary of affirmative action? If so, shouldn't he immediately withdraw the strip from those papers on general principle?
C'mon, Scott! Put your money where your mouth is!
Posted by: Doc Sane at November 4, 2007 10:52 AM
1) The "art" today is laughable. That drawing does look like an unfolding Transformer, not a popped head.
2) There are only two politically conservative strips out there as far as I know (other than "Prickly City"): "Mallard Fillmore" by Bruce Tinsley and "State of the Union" by Carl Moore. The former is even worse than PC, but the latter is decent (although unlike the others, it does not have recurring characters except for caricatures of politicians). If the liberal papers really want balance AND a quality conservative strip, they should pick that strip, not PC or "Mallard Fillmore."
3) Meanwhile, "Ziggy" gets political! http://www.gocomics.com/ziggy/2007/11/03/
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