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April 2011
April 13, 2011
April 12, 2011
Those Cute Canadians, and The Onion
I have extremely ambivalent feelings about writing this -- it's a small matter, and I'm not sure what good could possibly come of it. But I was reminded of an unpleasant episode in my cartooning life, feel compelled to write about it.
Back in the mid-90s, I believe late 1995 or early 1996, I was approached by a Madison, WI newspaper I'd never heard of, The Onion. They had just started an online presence, and were starting to gain some national attention (I remember they were very proud of a mention in The New Yorker magazine).
I thought they were fantastic, and we came to an agreement for them to publish Tom the Dancing Bug. I don't remember who I dealt with, or what the terms were, but I sent them a bunch of comics to start with, and I'm pretty sure they ran at least some before they canceled the arrangement only a few weeks into it.
One of the comics from that starter set I sent them was this comic, which was originally published by my client newspapers on the week of November 3, 1995. At the time, there was a Canadian referendum on the issue of Quebec secession.
So imagine my surprise when, very shortly after our arrangement had been terminated, apparently on May 7, 1996. this article appeared in The Onion.
It’s Monday morning, and Toronto resident Steve Dorman shares a quick breakfast of “eggs” (a native food) with his “wife” (an officially state-sanctioned mate), and discusses yesterday’s poor showing by the hometown team in “baseball” (a popular local sport). After a kiss on his wife’s cheek, he hops on the “subway train” (a mode of subterranean transport) to the office.
This is life in exotic Canada City, the capital set deep in the heart of the mysterious land known as Canada (pronounced CAN-a-da).
Like his estimated 35,000 fellow countrymen, Dorman is proud to be a “Canadian.” Located 120 miles north of Buffalo, NY, Canada is, according to Dorman, “a nation with a government and laws distinct from those of the United States.” It also has a military, a system of taxation, and periodic free elections to select political leaders. It even has its own currency, says Dorman, various denominations of “dollars” that can be exchanged for the many products manufactured in Canada, including Canadian bacon and ice.
Canada City, Canada’s largest community, is located in a place called a “province,” a subdivision not unlike the cantons of Switzerland. There are 10 Canadian provinces in all, from Nova Scotia in the east to British Columbia in the west. And, much like America’s states, nearly every one of the provinces has its own capital. But make no mistake—there’s nothing provincial about these provinces. Canada has both feet planted firmly in the 20th century.
“In fact, Canadians enjoy advancements such as refrigerated food, zippers and printing,” notes Dor-man, an “accountant” who goes to work wearing the comfortable trou-sers, dress shirt and necktie that form a traditional Canadian costume. “Our industries are large and varied, ranging from logging to automobile manufacturing.”
Not too shabby for a nation that just 240 years ago had no electricity.
One area in which Canada certainly has the U.S. beat is languages. Canadians speak not only English, but also French. In fact, according to Prime Minister (roughly Canada’s equivalent of a president) Jean Chrétien, “French is the primary language in some parts of the country, and English is in others. The national language question has divided our nation terribly, with Quebec even recently threatening to leave the union.”
Canada has produced many prominent people who have gone on to great success in hockey. Among them is Colorado Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy, who says hockey is the “national sport” of the Canadianers.
“It’s in our blood, it’s part of our heritage, and it brings people together,” he says of the sport Canada picked up from America in the late ’50s. So appreciative is Canada, it even has hockey teams called the “Oilers” and “Jets,” named after its favorite American football teams.
Despite the language problem and other difficulties, at least one Canadianer is op-ti-mistic about his country’s pro-spects in the new millennium.
“Canada will remain free, proud and strong in the new century,” says Dorman, heading off for another day of what in Ca-nada is known as “work.” “Our nation will continue to be a beacon to those throughout the world who value liberty, dignity and human rights.”
Aww, isn’t that cute? At times like this, there’s really only one thing left to say: Oh, Canada!
The article includes this feature:
As an article, it's more fleshed out than the comic, but it's the same comedic premise, with my "Canada has its own government" line used in the headline, some of the same jokes, the same "Did You Know?" feature, and it even closes with, "Aww, isn't that cute?"
Now, accusations of plagiarism in the field of humor are never pretty. They tend to carry the egocentric view, "No one but me could have possibly come up with a joke this good." In fact, people can independently think of the same gag, joke, comedic premise, etc. all the time. There can also be subconscious copying, in which you think you devise a joke, but you're really unconsciously remembering one. I understand that.
(Although that concession may be undercut by the fact that I just wrote on this blog about accusations of The Onion of copying one of my comics a few weeks ago. I was mostly kidding around with this, but this older, very real accusation of course was in the back of my mind.)
But to me, this was a clear case of deliberate, conscious copying, because they had received the comic from me, and then published the very, very similar article using the exact same comedic premise only a few weeks or months later. This was no coincidence. And it was particularly unpleasant for me because they did this right after canceling the strip after a very short run.
I definitely should have said something at the time, but I never did. And I wouldn't have mentioned it now if not for the fact that they just republished it -- it's currently on their front page -- and I've gotten a number of tweets pointing to it, which is particularly irksome.
Well, I've gotten that off my chest. It may have been one person who did it, and I never gave the organization the chance to find out exactly what happened. I still think The Onion is terrific, and I view this as an aberration.
Onward.
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April 11, 2011
MoCCA 2011
Had a blast at MoCCA! Thanks to everyone, including the attendees and cartoonists who were so nice and fun; and especially to the staff and volunteers of MoCCA who made it all possible.
One corner of the fun:
April 10, 2011
April 08, 2011
MoCCA Fest Tomorrow!
Tomorrow: I'll be at the MoCCA Fest, the premiere festival for cartooning and comics arts.
3:30 - 4:30 at the MoCCA Sketch Table
4:30 - 5:30 in Panel Room A, "The State of Editorial Cartooning", with Tim Krieder and Ted Rall.
I'll have books to sell/sign/sketch in, so come by and say hi.
MoCCA Fest 2011
Saturday April 9th and Sunday April 10th 11am-6pm
At the Lexington Avenue Armory
68 Lexington Ave (Between 25th & 26th Streets)