CSotD: Please join in this discussion
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I always like it when you leave comments, though the every-day pace of this blog often makes it hard to get into extended discussions here. We've had a few.
But here's one I'd like your thoughts on, and not necessarily in the comments section here. Over at Daily Ink, editor Brendan Burford has an entry about the use of language in this Baby Blues from two weeks ago. As he notes, Wanda used the word "boobs" and the world didn't end.
I thought it was a funny strip, but the last bit of dialogue did bring me up short for a moment, and I thought, "There'll be some phone calls Monday!" And apparently there were some, but not a mountain of them.
In his blog entry, Burford seems to attribute this to an audience that is growing up and accepting a little more edge in their strips. And I know that a lot of my cartoonist friends and acquaintances will echo that.
In fact, he links to another entry a few months ago with Baby Blues/Zits writer Jerry Scott (who works with artists Rick Kirkman and Jim Borgman on those strips) in which they said things I agree with, though I commented then, too, with similar cautions to what I said this time around.
Maybe the audience is becoming more sophisticated, but there are two other possible explanations and neither of them is good:
1. We've become so degraded in our standards that nothing short of an F-bomb will phase us.
2. Nobody cares what is in the comics anymore.
Make it three possible alternatives: There is also the possibility that comics have made enough of a shift from print to online that the issue of little kids seeing them has become less of a concern.
That's also bad news for a couple of reasons: For one thing, the money part hasn't caught up, and it's one more milestone on the road to not being able to afford to do syndicated strips anymore and, for another, comics have always been an entry point to bring young readers to the newspaper, but, even that aside, they are an entry point to bring kids to comics themselves. Even web cartoonists should be concerned with that last point.
"It's okay; the kids aren't watching" is a collection of two phrases that just don't belong together.
I left this comment at Burford's blog:
I'm torn on this question, because, as a writer, I'm in favor of good jokes and of cartoons with a little edge. As a former newspaper person, however, I'm also aware that the comics page is one thing, as opposed to TV, which is a collection of things from which you can choose.
And comic strips are bite-sized — it's not like choosing to read a column or Ann Landers. It's not like an hour-long TV show. Peggy Charren, who campaigned for children's television, used to say that, if you're reading a book to your kids and two men start having a fistfight in another part of the room, you can't expect the kids not to look up, but, in fact, you can say, "We don't watch that show."
However, a comic strip is not a TV show that requires turning to a specific channel at a specific time. Saying "if you don't like that strip, don't read it," is not a realistic choice — it's there, it's like saying "If you don't like that commercial, turn off the TV when it comes on."
In the olden days, there was differentiation — Rip Kirby was not Miss Peach, and a parent reading strips could skip over Rip Kirby with no objection from the kid, because they'd see the more complex art and agree "that strip isn't for me."
But when the strips all feature simple art, talking animals and especially children, it's hard to make that argument.
I have no problem, by the way, with Wanda breastfeeding Wren, including the nuk-nuk sound effects. That's part of family life and, in fact, I applaud it because it's real and that's good for the comics page.
But would Wanda have made that remark within hearing of the two older kids? Well, she just made it within hearing of a lot of kids their age.
Not saying the decision was wrong. But it sure wasn't clear-cut, and I'm not sure it was right. I think I'd have worked with them to come up with a similar gag that didn't go there.
This is, I think, an important issue, and I know a lot of comics fans, and especially comics creators, will differ from my point of view. And some will agree. And you'll note that Jerry Scott and I are not terribly far apart, except that I'd have modified this specific strip.
Telling me what you think is one thing, and I certainly welcome it, but here's your chance to talk to the guy who actually makes the call for a lot of strips.
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