# Comic strips in other countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497 "2006-07-21T16:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/41 "2006-07-23T17:57:31Z")
> [@Charlie Tan](#): > > Your doubt would be wrong. . . Read what he wrote more carefully. He said he doubted that _neither_ of them existed, not that _either_ of them existed. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/42 "2006-07-23T22:46:15Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Krokodil writes: > > \> . . . sheltered New England preppies . . . > > Really? The original characters who were introduced as new students at Walden when the strip started in 1970 were Mike Doonesbury, Mark Slackmeyer, B.D., Boopsie (Barbara Ann Boopstein), Zonker Harris, and Bernie. Mike grew up on a farm in Oklahoma. B.D. presumably only got into Walden because of his football playing and never acts like a preppie. Bernie was presumably Jewish. Zonker Harris was a slacker born in California. From their last names, Mark and Boopsie might also be Jewish. I can’t think of any characters in the strip who seem to act like “sheltered New England preppies.” What are you talking about? Think of some of the drier exchanges between Lacey Davenport and her clueless suitor Jeremy, or any exchange between Lacey and anybody else. For that mater, consider Trudeau’s odd grasp of street argot; the entire strip is filtered through a New England preppie’s perceptions. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/43 "2006-07-24T00:01:29Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Charles Schultz did a precursor strip for a couple of years called _Li’l Folks_. When he then started the strip we know, he called it _Peanuts_ because of the English-language phrase “to be worth peanuts” (i.e., to not be worth much). The idea was that it’s about the problems (seeming trivial to adults) of children. Actually, Charles Schulz hated the name _Peanuts_. He wanted to call his strip _Li’l Folks_ as well, but there was a comic strip already out there called _Little Folks_, so _Peanuts_ was chosen by the syndicate. The name probably comes from the idea of calling small children “peanuts,” such as the “peanut gallery” on the _Howdy Doody Show_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/44 "2006-07-24T01:50:54Z")
One of the more popular British strips is one with a name familiar to Americans, but has a totally different lead character and sprang up completely indepently of the American one…Dennis the Menace. [Toonopedia entry](http://www.toonopedia.com/dennisb.htm) [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_the_Menace_%28UK%29) The British Dennis the Menace was created independently of the US version by David Law and debuted within days of Hank Ketcham’s Dennis strip. Unlike Dennis Mitchell, who unwittingly gets into trouble because of his good nature and high spiritedness, the British Dennis is more of a hooligan who goes out looking for trouble. Like Dennis Mitchell, this Dennis is hugely popular in his home country with a fan club of 1.5 million and had had a couple of television series produced. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/45 "2006-07-24T10:13:12Z")
Here’s the Wikipedia entry for Garry Trudeau: > **[Garry Trudeau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Trudeau)** > > Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the Doonesbury comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series Alpha House. > Trudeau won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1975, making him the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer. He is one of only two comic strip artists to win the award, the other being Berkeley Breathed, whose work was influenced by Trudeau. > Tr... Preppie? Yes, in the sense that he went to a well-known prep school. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all doctors. They didn’t hang out with the usual preppie set though. They ran a tuberculosis sanitarium. Krokodil writes: \> Think of some of the drier exchanges between Lacey Davenport and her \> clueless suitor Jeremy, or any exchange between Lacey and anybody else. For \> that mater, consider Trudeau’s odd grasp of street argot; the entire strip is \> filtered through a New England preppie’s perceptions. Lacey and Jeremy are minor characters, and they’re being made fun of in those exchanges. The point of introducing Lacey as a character was for Trudeau to show that he could be sympathetic to a Republican. In the series of cartoons where she was introduced, because Ginny had run against the main, corrupt Democratic incumbent for Congress, she and Lacey were splitting the vote against him and would have caused him to be re-elected. Ginny dropped out and supported Lacey. Lacey is shown as being an old-fashioned, old-money Republican (and before that point, perpetual losing candidate), and Trudeau is trying to show that he respects her views even though he disagrees with them. None of the other characters are preppies, as far as I can remember. I don’t see anywhere that Trudeau has a preppie grasp of street argot. Sometimes he sounds like he’s too far over the hill to understand the younger characters in his strip (but then, I’m too far over the hill to be sure myself). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/46 "2006-07-24T10:32:49Z")
I don’t think any newspapers would dare print it, but [Modern Toss](http://www.moderntoss.com/cartoons) has just got its own UK TV show (that sucks, sadly). However, I find the cartoons themselves rather amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/47 "2006-07-24T11:10:33Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Lacey and Jeremy are minor characters, and they’re being made fun of in those exchanges. The point of introducing Lacey as a character was for Trudeau to show that he could be sympathetic to a Republican. In the series of cartoons where she was introduced, because Ginny had run against the main, corrupt Democratic incumbent for Congress, she and Lacey were splitting the vote against him and would have caused him to be re-elected. Ginny dropped out and supported Lacey. Lacey is shown as being an old-fashioned, old-money Republican (and before that point, perpetual losing candidate), and Trudeau is trying to show that he respects her views even though he disagrees with them. None of the other characters are preppies, as far as I can remember. I don’t see anywhere that Trudeau has a preppie grasp of street argot. Sometimes he sounds like he’s too far over the hill to understand the younger characters in his strip (but then, I’m too far over the hill to be sure myself). To me, this is the sign of an apalling cartoon- ie, you’ve got to have a level of devotion to the strip that’s only surpassed by _Coronation Street_ fans if you’re to have a snowball in a microwave’s chance of understanding it… ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497/48 "2006-07-24T11:12:34Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I don’t think any newspapers would dare print it, but [Modern Toss](http://www.moderntoss.com/cartoons) has just got its own UK TV show (that sucks, sadly). However, I find the cartoons themselves rather amusing. Really? I don’t get many of them at all, and I’m usually pretty-well tuned for British humour… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-in-other-countries/365497.md?page=2)