Yo! To join yesterday’s post, here’s another Hubert and Abby comic strip from this past week. I thought I’d post one again to give cartoonist Mel Henze a little boost. We’re all about helping the little guy here at Zingerding. Strips like Garfield don’t need the extra buzz.

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What’s with that bottle of “Fiz?” Did Hubert spill it so he can stand in it? Did he pee on the table? It’s an odd thing to reveal in the final panel. If it has anything to do with the zinger, it is beyond me but I think it’s funny anyway!

Yo, here’s a comic strip called Hubert and Abby by Mel Henze. Hubert is a hamster or guinea pig or some sort of house rodent. Abby, well she’s a nurse. I just began reading the strip and so far, so good. Abby seems to just float by in life doing the best she can. Hubert causes trouble around the house more out of ignorance than rebellion. He is always giving his two cents that Abby at least entertains listening to.

I like this strip from this past week. I’m a fan of when nonsensical thoughts make sense to those who speak them. Hehe. The whole concept of swapping days around was also a common theme in my favorite comic strip, Pogo. I like it here too. Enjoy!

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Last month, I blogged about newspaper syndication, explaining what it is and giving them some praise. However, the system is faulty more than it is supportive of the cartoonist, the newspaper and the syndicate itself. Why is this? Simply because the business of newspapers comic strips has changed over the decades, even before the internet. Syndication was in fact a pretty good system at one point and parts of it still are.

Though the business has changed, the syndication system has not adapted well. The result is not so much in how comic strips are distributed, rather in what has happened to the funny pages. They have become stagnant with a lack of fresh new comic strips.

A business must grow to not only succeed, but to survive. Growth comes from continuous higher returns. The life of a comic strip used to end when a cartoonist retires or dies. The result is a sudden loss of income for the syndicate. But this provides a great opportunity to introduce a new strip, right? The problem is that the new strip cannot make as much money as the old strip, because it takes time for the new one to gain popularity and readership. This is then a financial loss for the syndicate. Their growth is stunted.

The syndicate’s answer to this problem is to continue the old strip as either reruns or under penmanship of a new cartoonist. This way, they avoid having to take a loss and can at least keep their current level of income from that strip, even if it is no longer substantially gaining readership because it’s like 30+ years old! Throw into the mix several syndicates competing for that rare open slot and you have a tough situation. Newspapers, cartoonists and you, the readers suffer.

Do you think there is a better answer? Let me ask you my dear blog readers, what do you think can re-ignite the funny pages, the same old comic strips or fresh new ones?

Yo! I’ve introduced Pogo to you before. This Pogo comic strip is perhaps the most famous of all the work by cartoonist, Walt Kelly. It was done for Earth Day in 1971. I’m not going to talk about this one today. I’ll just let the strip speak for itself. Click it to enlarge and see the amazing artistry.

Yo. About a week ago, I blogged about several snowman-themed comic strips. Here is one more from a strip called ‘Off The Mark’ by cartoonist Mark Parisi. He actually has a bunch of snowman comics on his site under the winter category. His differ from the other ones I posted earlier in that his jokes aren’t about the snowman being built by someone (though maybe they are) but rather they have life, ala Frosty. And with that comes a whole bunch of funny new concepts. A majority of his snowman strips revolve around the carrot nose. This is a mark of a good cartoonist, that he has thought up several funny ideas based on a very particular theme, not just the snowman, but his nose. Great job, Mark! This one made me laugh. Click it to enlarge it.

This is the final post on our series of WWII anti-Japanese comics. Check out Terry and Pat strip searching a Japanese POW. That’s right, have the juvenile Terry be the one to remove the guy’s “g-string”. There’s nothing weird about that!

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Then we get a nice little summary of military propaganda with a humiliated Japanese man in his g-string. Also mentioned is the “short, squat, fairly heavy beard”. Beard? There is no earlier mention of a beard but if you look at the previous pages, one would conclude it is meant to say “build”. Oops, someone must have forgotten to proofread.

Purely on speculation now, one would conclude that the US military commissioned this little piece from cartoonist Milton Caniff due to the popularity of his strip. Are these Caniff’s sentiments? Most likely not but he was a serious American patriot as seen throughout his career. And during the war, political enemy-hating is what brought prejudices like this to life.

Caniff himself often drew ethnic characters with stereotypical exaggerations like the Chinese guide, Connie here from the ‘Terry and the Pirates‘ comic strip. Then again, Connie is the humor relief character in a serious adventure strip so a sillier execution of style is more appropriate. Even still…

It’s not an excuse but it was a different time, you know. At least today our culture has the decency to respect Arab and Islamic people while we’re at war with them.

Yesterday we introduced this series to you drawn by famous adventure strip cartoonist Milton Caniff. This is part of a guide for American soldiers to be able to tell the allied Chinese from the Japanese enemy. These comics are absurdly racist.

Did you know that all Japanese people have buck teeth? Did you know that they all shuffle when they walk? Did you know they all wore wooden sandals before entering the military, thus having mutated, calloused feet? Gee, I’ll just have to check with my Japanese friends about this. They all seem pretty normal and cool to me but maybe I just haven’t noticed that they “usually expect to be shot”. Come to think of it, Ichiro does expect to be shot when playing Halo 3 on his Playstation.

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Oh and look at Terry, the light-hearted blonde American who pokes fun at the Japanese. Make them talk funny, what a laugh! It really is a disgrace that these comics were passed out, not to mention even made in the first place.

I’ve got the final installment of this series for you tomorrow. Do you think there are secret comic strip guides today telling US military how to tell Iraqis from Saudis? Or terrorists from regular airline passengers like old ladies that get “randomly chosen” for security checks?

Let’s now jump from discussing sexism to racism in comics. Today we’re showcasing a series from cartoonist Milton Caniff who drew the famed adventure strip, Terry and the Pirates. This series was drawn for the U.S. Military and printed the “Pocket Guide to China” which was given to soldiers during their stay in China.

Remember, Japan was a political enemy and the derogatory term “Jap”, was not generally considered offensive during WWII, unless of course you were Japanese. What this comic attempts to do is distinguish the physical differences between Chinese and Japanese persons. While they are indeed two different nationalities, the points made are absurd. People come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, no matter where one is from. To indicate that the Japanese are always shorter is a gross generalization, the heart of racism itself.

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Not only should the Japanese find this offensive, but Chinese as well. If any of you out there know Terry and the Pirates, you’ll also agree how strange it is to call Terry “an average American.” He’s a kid! This is only the beginning. We’ll feature more pages of this series tomorrow. What do you think of these?

Yesterday we discussed the common sexism seen in Andy Capp. This Andy Capp comic strip was printed the following day in the papers. Here, read it. Click it to enlarge.

I cannot even tell if this strip is sexist or not. On one hand, Flo is making a stand by pointing out how wrong it is that cake cutting is “women’s work” eluding to the mindset of women belonging in the kitchen. On the other hand, that’s supposed to be the zinger! So are we to laugh at that? “Ha ha. Women’s work. Good one!”

This one brings up sexism in an unusual way for an Andy Capp strip. Usually, Andy and Flo bicker at each other while Andy makes ignorant comments about women in general. This strip actually points out the negative of such a mindset. Maybe the new creators are bringing Andy into the 21st century after all? Oh wait, read the next day’s strip.

Yo. Andy Capp is still running after all these years. Started in 1957 by British cartoonist Reg Smythe who died in 1998, the comic strip is now created by Rogers Mahoney and Kettle. This is one of those unfortunate instances where comics are kept going for too long.

Check this one out. Click it to enlarge.

Aren’t we past the time where sexism equals humor? Is this funny? I’m a guy and I’m offended. Hey I’m not sayin’ these aren’t issues that comic strips shouldn’t tackle. But that’s not what Andy is about. He is known for his hostile, cutting remarks toward his wife. But it’s the 21st century now, people. It’s not cool to call your wife “pet” while demanding dinner.

Are you offended by such a strip or do you shrug off the crazy ol’ outdated Andy? Leave a comment.