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January 08, 2008
Mystery Man
It appears as though our friend Chris over at Tumbleweedtown was on to something yesterday when he suggested that Carmen was talking to a third person at Winslow's campaign headquarters. In the 4th panel of today's strip there's suddenly, magically, a new character in Prickly City. Even though he's not named, has no lines, and only seems to be there to fill up space. Just like we would expect from Scott Stantis.
The rest of the strip is about Winslow working the phone lines for the New Hampshire primary. As I mentioned yesterday in the comments section it's a bit odd to see that Winslow, who went from having millions in contributions before the Prickly City primary to having nothing because he spent it all on those "hysterical" dancing llamas, now amazingly has enough money for a campaign headquarters and a phone bank (and maybe even an employee). Consistency, thy name isn't...well, you guys know.
It's not a terrible strip - someone mistaking Winslow for an animal other than a coyote is always fertile ground for comedy, especially since that fake question was posed to Stantis during his WaPo chat a while back (from my favorite town in the world, "Ahack, UR"). But then Carmen has to go and ruin it all by having the last word and making some stupid "joke" about Winslow being a real mammal of the people. Cue the crickets.
I like how Stantis' insistence on telling his readers every single freakin' day what the storyline is about in detail clashes with his desire to make a joke. In that first panel, how silly is it for Winslow to call someone and refer to them as "New Hampshire Voter?" Would anybody vote for a candidate who calls them at home and doesn't even refer to them as Mr. or Ms.? I'm not really complaining - I mean I know why Stantis did it like that, and it can be chalked up to how stupid Winslow is, but it's one of those things that can only happen in Prickly City because Stantis is such a terrible writer and couldn't be bothered with coming up with a clever way to show and tell us what Winslow's doing.
At least now we have something to look forward to: who's the mystery man? He reminds me of Jason from that cartoon "Home Movies" (he's the one with his finger in his nose up above) crossed with Dan Rather (maybe it's just the suspenders and the tie). Is he a journalist covering the campaign? A volunteer? Carmen's new boyfriend? We'll probably never know, but hopefully Stantis will FINALLY add some new blood to a strip that's desperately in need of a transfusion.
Comments
I had forgotten about that old Washington Post chat that Stantis did! That fake question from Robbie was hilarious. Ahack, UR...greatness, especially when Stantis is an idiot and says "I'm trying to figure out where UR is."
Well, it feels good to have correctly called that (kind of like how John called when Carmen would renounce her peace on earth shtick), and it's promising that Stantis has introduced a new character, even if he hasn't spoken yet.
I agree wholeheartedly about the strip. Carmen's line really ruins it, otherwise it'd be decent. That line just isn't funny at all.
http://tumbleweedtown.blogspot.com/2008/01/now-im-not-gambling-man.html
Okay, over at Tumbleweedtown today I wrote a news item about a new comics-themed magazine, "Stay Tooned!" which is going to feature a profile of Stantis and other Southern cartoonists in its debut issue. I encourage you to subscribe or at least buy the Stantis-themed issue; this magazine will depend on a subscriber base for survival and it will be great for the industry. I had the opportunity to ask the magazine's editor, John Read, some questions for this piece and he seems like a very nice, dedicated man. I'm also interested in what Scott Stantis told him, but the magazine doesn't come out until mid-January...
http://tumbleweedtown.blogspot.com/2008/01/prickly-city-peccary-publication.html
Posted by: Chris at January 8, 2008 03:44 PM
Here's an article about black cartoonists (and an upcoming protest) that seems to also apply to how editors view conservative comics:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003694006
Of course, the conservative cartoonists aren't helping their case.
Posted by: Annie at January 9, 2008 09:59 AM
