I was taken aback by the reaction to last week’s blog entry. The interesting and confusing thing is that the discussion did not begin and end here, oh no. In this age of social media, the discussion was carried on over Facebook, Twitter, and, can you believe this ACTUAL real life!
People I work with are still approaching me with mild disbelief in their eyes, saying :”So you’re pulling the swearing out of your strip”. Then the discussion begins anew.
Honestly, I thought I’d said all I can say about this subject, but then I saw a post from someone on a message board who referred to what I was doing as “pandering”. He wasn’t being insulting, he was commiserating, basically saying “yeah, man. In order to be successful you have to do a certain amount of pandering.”
Pandering? Really?
Now, just so we are all talking about the same word, here is how the online dictionary define’s the word “Pander”
Gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.)
Politicians use this word a lot. Back in 1992, Senator Paul Tsongas referred to an opponent who I believe was Al Gore, may have been Clinton, as a “Pander Bear”. Ha!! Always made me laugh.
The way this guy used the word, it made it sound like I was placating and indulging the audience by watering down my strip.
Am I pandering?
No. What I have done is remove an element from the strip that I believe was not only unnecessary, but was actually detrimental to the readability and thus the enjoyability of the strip for many readers.
I’m still drawing the strip I want to draw. It has all the stuff I like and is still a vehicle for my thoughts and feelings. If I were truly pandering, I’d take out the fighting, the obscure pop culture references, and the somewhat angry point of view. Have you guys ever read “Animal Crackers”? It’d be like that. Here it is : Animal Crackers Typical Newspaper strip. Innocuous, gag a day fare. That ain’t me. I like to tell long, rambling stories that turn on a dime, forget where they are headed, and then come on back. That’s my idea of a comic strip. I want to go for a ride and laugh along the way. That is what I will continue to do.
One thing that suprised me in all of this is the messages I’ve recieved from readers who say they now share it with their kids. Friend and fellow webcartoonist Justin Thompson of the excellent Mythtickle said “I can’t wait to show this to my son”. “His son?” I thought. It never occurred to me that kids might like a comic about a little rabbit that beats up big bullies. Holy crap! How stupid am I? Of course kids would be into this!
This has made me think a little more deeply than I usually do about the writing. I want the strip to work on 2 levels the way the old Warner Brothers cartoons did. Stuff the adults will laugh and wink at each other about, and stuff that will make the kids happy as well. “Popeye” under EC Segar and later under the vastly underrated Bud Sagendorf did this as well.
Getting back to the original question: is the strip still a form of Self-expression with out the swearing. Yes.
You see, back when I started the strip, I was creatively frustrated. I was in a job I hated, working for people I hated and well..hating every minute of it. The strip was an outlet for surplus creative energy. It was also an outlet for a lot of pent up aggression, thus the swearing.
5 years later, I’m in a job I love and I’m working for people I like. Its also creatively fulfilling. I still love doing the strip, but the obscenities no longer express what I feel or who I am. I’m glad, personally.
It’s still an expression of anger at times, but positive anger. Yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron. It isn’t. You’ll see.
To all of you who are new to the strip, thanks for coming. I promise to do my very best to give you a damned entertaining strip that you can share with your friends and even read to your kids.
To all of you that were here from the beginning, I thank you and ask you to stick around. It’s going to be fun!
-John
PS Join me on my Ustream channel Saturday and sunday mornings. I usually start drawing around 8:30 or 9:00. I draw the strip and answer questions. Come and see! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/chippy-and-loopus
Well, I suppose that about covers that. I’m glad I discovered your strip later so I don’t have any feelings either way for the previous language choices. To be honest, a few f-bombs don’t bother me if that’s the characters way. I like that you’re now using exclamation, punctuation marks etc for cursing. The words I fill in with my mind when chippy goes off are generally much worse than what you would have used anyways. Your strip is funny, endearing, and beautifully rendered. I’m a happy camper.
Hey John! I really enjoy the new look and style of the strip. Swearing IS funny, especially when it’s someone’s natural mode of speech, but it can also camouflage character. I’ve always really enjoyed Loopus’s dialogue, not because he doesn’t swear so much, but because his words are such a distillation of who he is. I feel like I’m getting more fun complexity from Chippy now that the writing is allowing him to hit punch lines more specific to his thoughts and character, rather than going for the funny cursing. Minimizing the cursing actually maximizes it! When he does curse, it’s way more funny now because it’s a little more scarce, and sneaks up on you. It feels more natural, and has a bigger impact, spicing the humor just right. You’ve struck a great balance of charm and rebellious. Welcome to your stride! And thanks from all of us readers!
Darrell!! Glad to hear it!! And I’m glad to have you aboard!! Thanks so much for the heaps of compliments!!!
Donnie!! Where have you been? It’s been AGES sir!!! Thank you so much for chiming in!!! This means a lot, as you were probably reader #3 or #4. Your thoughtful analysis is insightful sir, and you raise some issues I hadn’t considered before. Thank you so much for chiming in. And gimme a call, damnit!!!
Sometimes to progress or find a new lead, things need to change- im on the fence about swearing. Sometimes to be funnier- some bleeps need to come out ( imagine George Carlins’ 7 words w/o swearing) – yet there’s Bill Cosby that can make y laugh your head off w/o any swearing.
I doodle a cartoon every now and then since i was in high school- i let my characters swear, drink beer n do potty jokes, mainly because i have to watch my language at work ( deal with the public) and in general – its sort of an outlet to be uncensored.
John! We really do need to catch up soon! To clarify my rambling comment, I think using the symbols instead of f-bombs gets you the punch of cursing without the stigma of actually writing it out. Besides, it’s such a great convention specific to comic strip history to use the symbols. Somehow I just think it’s more funny to let the audience fill in the profanity. Look at the most recent strip; 5 panels and 3 punch lines! All without anything but the symbol curses! That’s a strong strip!
I don’t think I would have noticed the “lack” of cursing if I hadn’t read the post. That’s to say the writing and the action work so well as a package that the change didn’t take me out of the strip. I read the punctuation as a an actual swear anyway. Chippy is my hero – he’s who I’d like to be if I weren’t so genteel
Long time reader, first time (I think) poster.
Donnie!!! Gimme a call!!! Let’s have lunch! Or dinner!!! Your comment didn’t ramble at all!!! It was clear and insightful!!! Thanks again!!!
Leshka!! Thank you and thanks for commenting!! Do so more often!! I think we’d all like to be Chippy. More than likely, we are Carl, or Loopus. I seem to be Loopus a lot these days.