Comics Sherpa Removed These Comics by Jeff Swenson

First Cynic Comic Strip
collection now in print.
Buy it now for
below retail.

COMICS SHERPA ASKED TO REMOVE THESE TOONS
By Cartoonist Jeff Swenson
Trying to keep up with the changing nature of humor on the web ain't easy when the standards require family fare.

Hi Jeff,
I'd fallen behind on my reading, and hadn't noticed the new tack you've taken with the strip/panel until I received complaints on some. I'm afraid the gore (and sex) are a bit too adult for Sherpa, which, as stated in the agreement, tries to stay within the "family friendly" zone.
Would you please take down, or swap out, 7/2, 6/25, 6/11, 6/4, and 5/28?
It's not about the work itself, just the inappropriateness of posting it here.
Thanks, Jeff!
All the best,
Comics Sherpa Support

I was recently asked to remove the Frenetic Wanderings cartoons shown at the end of this article by a support staff member of Comics Sherpa at comicssherpa.com. These cartoons are probably familiar to regular visitors of Swensonfunnies.com or Freneticwanderings.com and to be honest I've never received a complaint specifically about these toons. On the contrary, I had someone send in some comments from the Comics Sherpa feedback link that they liked the comics but didn't like my series title. I have also requested the number of complaints filed against the cartoons and if possible to compare the number of complaints against the number of views that didn't result in any complaints. I'm not trying to cause trouble, it is more of an issue of curiosity as to whether the complaints are in the majority or in the minority. Unfortunately it is the minority that often speaks for all of us and does not represent majority tastes in humor.

This is not to say that these cartoons are not offensive in some manner or fall outside of the guidelines of Comics Sherpa. I believe it is the editorial right of Comics Sherpa to decide what kind of material is best for their business. I'm not writing this brief article to complain, merely to express some thoughts about the syndicates and mainstream newspaper funnies in general. The support staff member who contacted me is a good guy and has to maintain the standards agreed upon by his company that best suit their commercial needs.

For those who do not know Comics Sherpa is an outlet run by Universal Press Syndicate and charges cartoonists who are not syndicated by them to post their work on their site. As a business idea it is a step in the right direction, taking steam away from the likes of webcomics.com which has been around forever but has fallen into stagnation. Webcomics.com is free but if the site isn't maintained or promoted than it doesn't serve the needs of self-syndicating cartoonists. Ten dollars a month (which is what Sherpa charges) isn't a huge bill to have a chance at a wider audience who likes to read comics, though if you think success is automatic just because you have a listing on a major syndicate's website you've got a lot to learn. Any launching of a new feature usually requires a heavy marketing campaign and even then it can take up to 5 years for a feature to build momentum; even by being placed in newspapers every day where one paper can garner 200,000 readers.

I am still trying to get a response from Comics Sherpa support on if I can see the stats of how many views my feature Frenetic Wanderings receives in a month and if it is worth the ten dollar fee because I'm realistic enough to know that just a listing may only get as few as 20 pageviews a month while with my own site feed I can get up to 150,000 views and that's not including the archives I sometimes loan other webmasters or visitors to my own sites. For Comics Sherpa, leasing site space to a cartoonist is more in their benefit than the cartoonist's, including adding content to their overall site network. In other words, I pay them for people to read my comic on their site and they can place advertising on my feature page. As far as building content, selling ads and then on top of that receiving a monthly fee from hopeful cartoonists--it's all win-win for Comics Sherpa. I'm not complaining, I'm actually admiring what they're doing from a business perspective.

But getting back to the individual comics I've been asked to remove: why hasn't mainstream funnies kept up with our national sense of humor here in America and even abroad? Or why can't comics syndicates represent family comics as well as more adult-oriented comics? I'm not talking "adult" as in nudity, I'm talking adult as in situational comedy. Every sitcom I've watched on the big three (ABC, CBS, NBC) has adult humor in it, even the shows we may consider to be family shows like Everybody Loves Raymond. Let's throw two animated family comedies into the mix as well: The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Certainly there is adult humor thrown into these shows and yet I bet if you asked the average watcher of these shows if these comedies could count as family fare they might say yes. They both espouse family values while at the same time including more adult-oriented issues.

So why is it that comics have to be restricted to "Family Circle" and "Hi and Lois" type humor? Ultra-nonoffensive safe humor? Isn't there room for both family-safe humor and humor that keeps in step with the public and TV standards of humor? Isn't that why comics that break out of the mold like "Boondocks" receive notice and when they instigate controversy it becomes a good thing for the comic strip's promotion and visibility? AND the syndicate's ability to market the strip to a target audience instead of trying to market to everyone?

I remember growing up reading Bloom County which was full of cute sexual references, done in harmless, playful way and even had some morbid Looney Tunes inspired violence. It's one of the most revered comic strips to be remembered. And let's not forget Doonesbury which has always been controversial and is always offending due to it's politics (and pot smoking to boot). Both of these strips have survived the test of time while other "family" strips have been forgotten.

The best family strip put out of course is Calvin 'N' Hobbes, mainly because it reveled in the ferocious and violent imagination of a little kid--there was no explicit blood-spilling but the threat of violence was everywhere, especially when a kid imagines he's a dinosaur. And how many friggin times did Calvin imagine an all out brawl with his Tiger? If there was room for Doonesbury starting in the seventies and Bloom County, Calvin 'N Hobbes and The Far Side starting in the eighties and hitting peak popularity in the nineties, isn't there room for humor that builds on the past and goes further in 2000 plus? Boundaries on humor are being pushed everywhere except it seems in syndicated comics and what you're allowed to discuss in comics is also limited. Comic strips take baby steps, sometimes backward steps, while sitcoms on Primetime and especially Cable take giant leaps. Doonesbury criticized The Vietnam War in the seventies. Try to submit a strip these days that is critical of war, religion or other areas of controversy and you may have a rough go of it trying to convince a syndicate that your ideas have a possible audience.

Someone at this point might ask how a syndicate would sell a strip that pushes boundaries? That's not hard to answer. Online there are limitless possibilities if you have the marketing skills, money, imagination, and a way to merchandise a breakout feature. Already Universal has started Ucomics.com which has morphed into GoComics.com and then added ComicsSherpa.com. Why not add something like ExtremeComics aimed at college students; humor that has more of an edge and is not intended for a family audience. Isn't that what Cartoon Network is doing with Adult Swim and it's a big success?

The syndicates are ignoring a major market that has come about as a result of the web. There are hundreds if not thousands of websites dedicated to offbeat, morbid, twisted humor that average Joes like you and me read everyday and are not shocked or outraged because the humor is hardly surprising compared to what we see on our televisions. These funnies, which are often in bad taste, are also emailed back and forth and posted in MySpace.com on a regular basis. I think the syndicates are conceding ground to competition created by smart asses all over the web who aren't concerned with any editorial guidelines but simply what makes people laugh.

Once a syndicate does realize this and does put out that one feature that breaks and buries the mold, those cartoonists who have struggled on the web to get out their brand of humor which defied the syndicate standards will most likely be overlooked. It is unlikely that our features will be picked up and represented because we do not have the contacts some other professional cartoonists do. The syndicates may approach those professionals that they know within their network to create these new extreme features for them, regardless if they had any involvement in pushing boundaries to begin with.

The other possibility is that someone on the web has a breakout hit with adult-oriented humor--it would have to be huge though to get the attention of a syndicate. I mean huge as it indicates a shift in the public attitude towards off-color humor and overpowers the minority complaints of "that shouldn't be in the funnies." When that happens, cartooning outside of the syndicates may have to push the boundaries even further and truly adult humor will find a new audience that likes to search out what is the next cutting edge thing.

I understand that as a commercial website Universal Syndicate is always going to be struggling to find out what is desired from the reading public. However, I believe they are missing out on a large portion of the net by not trying out humor that isn't that safe. Some of the top sites out there like Newgrounds.com, Collegehumor.com and Ebaumsworld.com all have content that the younger crowd flocks to. And that's what the advertisers want--that's the demographic they lust after. I'm not saying that a comics syndicate has to go as far as a dirty joke or crude picture but let out the reigns a bit, diversify your offerings. You're on the net now, you're not stuck in the world of print. A minor prude complaint is one voice yelling at a hurricane of net users who love their irreverent comics, jokes and photo funnies gags.

The following comics were asked to be removed. I do not wish that anyone should complain to Comics Sherpa as I am not making a complaint myself. I maintain that Comics Sherpa has every right to ask me to remove these comics. This is not censorship, this is their business and I agreed to their terms to keep the material appropriate according to their standards. If they deem these comics to be inappropriate then I have to respect their editorial wishes even if I may disagree with them on what is appropriate on the net. Fact is, looking at one or two of these I may have to agree that I went too far concerning their site's current audience. I recommend visiting Comics Sherpa to find other cartoonists you may not have heard of before but will like their material.

Removed 5-28	Removed 6-4
Removed 6-11	Removed 6-25
Removed 7-2

This is an email I recieved in response to this article from a long time reader of The Cynic and Frenetic Wanderings. He gave me permission to post it anonmously.

i am a conservative catholic and ive never been truly offended by any of your material even when i haven't agreed with your politics as represented in your work...i can handle reading different views and ideas your work is neither pornographic nor violent...i've only seen sideviews of breasts etc..that's a far cry from explicit sex scenes

a little too much whitewashing is going on if people are having issues with your work....you unabashedly get your point across in the manner in which you choose to and it barely approaches the equivalent of a movie R rating

adult readers tastes are a bit too tame if they can't handle humorous, topical and most importantly FUN strips such as Frenetic Wanderings and The Cynic

you mentioned The Boondocks....i've never been a fan of the comic strip....it's intelligent but overall i just find it issue after issue of "bashing whitey"..: p

i do enjoy the tv series quite a bit though!..theres some stereotypical bashing in there too but its hilarious and topical...it's fleshed out better in animation in my opinion...the main chracter is a cynical kid...but hes also good-hearted and loves his family and friends...it would be nice if there was at least one other high profile white character than the ed asner voiced greedy evil businessman

i have always enjoyed all sorts of comic strips....i have collections of Pogo, Heathcliff, Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Calvin and Hobbs, three books collecting a 1940s Batman strip....and more

theres always room for material like Family Circus..i still enjoy when they print an issue that follows a dotted line depicting the childrens path for that day..heh..and i enjoy truly inspired offerings like Calvin and Hobbs and The Far Side....i was very glad to find an original strip such as The Cynic online

theres too much consolidation of media ownership and control of whats makes it to a newspaper or tv/computer screen....and both sides of the political spectrum call for censorship...how ironic what those who coined the phrase Big Brother are doing today

ideas, books, fiction etc are just printed words....they cant hurt....some who would put more radical ideas into action certainly
can.....but simply expressing ideas shouldnt be curtailed

those on the far right who burn books or behead reporters for drawing a cartoon....and those on the left who censor in the name of a completely inoffensive world or want to express themselves but cant take possible heated responses

for example the dixie chicks...certainly theyre not a radical bastion of liberal thought and policy and much was made of nothing..and certainly they did not deserve threats of physical harm because they expressed a controversial thought

i take issue with the fact that they whined about people getting mad at their words...you have a right to express yourself...no one ever said you get a free pass from criticism or anger once you open your mouth or take out a pen though

keep up the good work...oh and in regards to your above comments about merchandise....i certainly would enjoy a stuffed doyle figure...and maybe a drooling scott...or a heather with oversized front and tail sections..heh...a pastor pratt figure would be even more hilarious..: p

Long Time Reader,
Posted Anonmously with permission from the emailer.

RETURN TO MAIN MENU

Untitled Document