Friday Follies
Skip to comments
Cartoonists swipe file? Al Capp and Jesus? Webtoon a non-profit?
Juxtaposition
Juxtapositions, like the above, happen frequently, colleague Mike Peterson occasionally features them in his columns. He could feature them every day if he so wished. But it seems that controversy has arisen over just such a comparison of cartoons. Two of the cartoons won awards this year while one is eight years old.
The cartoon by Darco that won the Grand Prix at the World Press Cartoon was called out for being very similar to a cartoon published by Belgian cartoonist Luc Descheemaeker in 2017 and a cartoon by Hicabi Dermici that won a prize at the World Press Freedom Cartoon award earlier this year.
This issue is far from an isolated incident.
A lot of international cartoon awards are surrounded by accusations of plagiarism, posted mainly on social media with examples of cartoons that are to a greater or lesser extent similar to the cartoon that has won an award.
In the wake of this latest controversy, I have seen a number of suggestions made by cartoonists that could remedy the situation…
Tjeerd Royaards tries to answer the question: “Is a cartoon worthy of an award simply because the idea and execution are great, even though it’s not unique?”
The Gospel According to Al Capp
Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip was an acknowledged masterpiece by The Left during the Forties and Fifties and by The Right from the Sixties to the Seventies. But cartoonist Capp did have his, um, peccadilloes.
So it seems strange to me that a preacher man would use such a sexually suggestive creation to promote the teaching of Jesus. But Rev. Johnny Phillips for The Morganton News Herald does just that (or here):
… For example, take a spiritual glance at Daisy Mae. At first all one grasps is the picture of a beautiful young woman. All spiritual analogy is lost if one’s perception ends there. But one can learn that behind the immediate visual impression of her lay the heart of a true believer striving for her goal. Daisy Mae was in love with Li’l Abner and pursued him in every Sadie Hawkins Day race. It took her 25 years to win him, but in 1952 Daisy caught Abner and Marrying Sam had a gig as a wedding officiant.
In one of Christ’s lesser known parables (The Persistent Widow), there is almost the identical teaching about prayer life. The widow felt that a judge ignored justice for her, so she relentlessly showered him with pleas until he attended to her case…
But young, dim-witted Li’l Abner, the paragon of naivety, might have an even deeper lesson for all of us to live out…
Webtoon Posts $11 Million Q3 Loss
The biggest comics website in the world has posted a loss! Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly reports:
Webtoon Entertainment, a leader in webcomics and owner of Wattpad, reported an 8.7% increase in revenue for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, with sales hitting $378 million. Higher costs, including higher income tax expense, however, resulted in a net loss of $11.1 million compared to net income of $20 million a year ago.
Following the release of the financial report, Webtoon’s stock price tumbled, falling by over 20% when the market opened this morning.
Sean Kleefeld has some thoughts:
Now, as you may recall, Webtoons made a few headlines in September around some contract deals with Disney. Following that up so quickly with an announcement about making a deal with Warner Brothers… but the announcements are all about plans and “forthcoming projects.”
…it seems to me that Webtoons, since its IPO last year, has been spending more cash that its bringing in and, more notably, has mostly been spending much of that on licensing agreements instead of content or app improvements…
Comments 5
Comments are closed.