The clothes are back on
November 6th, 2009 at 11:36am Linda Grist Cunningham
Sometimes I just love a tempest in a teapot. Takes my mind off the serious issues I deal with everyday. Occasionally it’s fun to get all pseudo-excited about not much. So, when Jeremy’s parents took their clothes off in the Zits strip, well, I pulled it, sent nasty-grams to the syndicate and cartoonists.
Zits is back on Sunday.
OK, yes, I was sorta serious. Some of our readers were just nuts over naked cartoon characters and didn’t “get it” that the strip was riffing off the fat cherubs of “Love Is…” fame. But, really, as I told the syndicate rep, I just don’t have time for dumb stuff. Put the clothes back on.
Bless the folks at King Features. The responded seriously and well. This from comics editor Brendan Burford:
“Hello Linda, John Killian alerted me to the unfortunate feedback you’ve been receiving about the recent ZITS comic strips. As you and John both noted, you never know what might touch a nerve with readers, and I apologize for the grief you’ve experienced as a result of the naked cherub-like LOVE IS… parodies featured in ZITS this week.
“We felt that many Americans know the characters from the LOVE IS… feature and that this was a fair parody. We also felt that the nudity of the characters in the ZITS strips was no more gratuitous than the cherubs in the original feature, and decided to allow the strips through. I assure you we did consider these strips, both from a legal stand point (the parody) and a taste stand point (the nudity) before allowing them through the pipeline.
“To my knowledge, out of the 1,600+ newspapers that ZITS appears in, your readers are the only ones who have had such a problem with the depiction. That said, these complaints don’t always reach my desk.
“The ZITS creators, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman are at the very top of their profession and we’re proud of how many people relate to, laugh with and are touched by their strip everyday. I know you can expect to see only the very best quality from them for many years to come. Although some readers may have been bent out of shape over these couple of strips, the joy and laughter ZITS brings readers throughout the year can’t be measured. It frustrates me that sometimes the noise made by a dissenting few can eclipse the overwhelming number of people who find something truly wonderful on a daily basis.”
I say, well said. Now, back to seeing what other mischief is happening in the comics.
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18 Comments Add your own
1. Truman Fable | November 6th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Just for the record, it’s not the parents who are nude, Linda. That’s their son Jeremy and his girlfriend Sara that’s been Love Is-ing this week.
And while the mediocre mashup hasn’t been all that big a deal, you must admit Friday’s offering was pretty eyebrow raising. Is…is Jeremy actually taking a picture of Sara’s bare bottom from directly behind her?!? Wow. Just…wow. Good thing no junk was involved!
Now if only we can talk Eduardo Barreto to do the same thing for Abbey Spencer and Sam Driver in Judge Parker. Yow!
2. Linda Grist Cunningham | November 6th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Oh, Truman, you are so right. What was I thinking? I guess yesterday’s navel on Jeremy got me discombobulated. Thanks for the catch!
3. the dude abides | November 6th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Just in case anyone missed this….
Once again, Rockford is number one!!!
@LGC:
The vocal minority seems to win so many battles in this town. Please don’t make it any easier for them.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to sell even more papers to Rockford’s most small-minded, that darn Garfield is naked too - you should probably Photoshop some pants on him before anyone gets offended…
4. Écureuil Écumant | November 7th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Gee, I can’t even get pseudo-excited about a little silliness and mischief to take the mind off the more serious stuff — like comics censorship.
5. hokumboy | November 7th, 2009 at 9:44 am
” I guess yesterday’s navel on Jeremy got me discombobulated. ”
Isn’t attention to detail essential to being a good editor?
This point, and the shameless use of our fallen troops at Fort Hood to drop the subject in the previous post, seem to say an awful lot about you, Linda.
6. Seve Ballic | November 7th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Linda, I’m completely embarrassed for and of you. The idea that a comic strip would be pulled due to lack of clothing is ridiculous. I’ve seen the strips and I’m more offended by your attempt to protect ME from something others find offensive is infuriating. You need to focus on important issues in this community and it sure as H*** is not what cartoonist is doing or not doing. Crime in this city is a joke, school are unsafe, unemployment is rampant, local politicians are completely unaccountable and the daily paper spends the time and energy to jump on a soap box and proclaim how their moral compass has saved us citizens yet again from brain melting obscenities. Again I am embarrassed of and for the RRStar and its staff. I believe the letter sent back to you from the Comics Editor Burford was polite and sincere but I also feel it was writing with a roll of the eyes and disbelief that someone would or could be so shallow as to be offended by the Zits strip. Just when I feel the RRStar could not be more ridiculous you, always prove me wrong.
7. Jim Phelps | November 7th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I agree with Mr. Ballic. The RRSTAR needs to spend its energy pursuing serious issues with this kind of energy and dilligence.
I submit, in good humor, this new City Motto:
Rockford; 56 square miles surrounded by Reality…
8. John Hewitt | November 7th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
The most self-defeating part of your censorship is that many people will be curious and go find these harmless comics on the web. Then, they will not only see that you overreacted, but they will also know that they don’t actually need your newspaper to read the comics. Because the comics is the one section most of your readers still have in common, you’re going to lose more readers by this move that you could have possibly lost by leaving them in. Good luck in your next job. I assume it will not be in public relations.
9. chris73456 | November 7th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Well said, Jim. Should be on the welcome to Rockford signs.
10. teacher_dave | November 7th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I must confess to being completely bewildered by your comments. You acknowledge that the complaints about naked cartoon characters are a tempest in a teapot, yet you pulled the strips anyway? Seriously?
11. Steve H | November 8th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Linda says: “But, really, as I told the syndicate rep, I just don’t have time for dumb stuff.”
If the original censorship, and then this blathery follow-up, don’t count as “dumb stuff,” then the bar has been pushed well over the horizon. What on earth could possibly BE more trivial? Anything?
12. Jeffrey Stewart | November 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Seriously? In today’s Rockford Register Star newspaper there is a notice from Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham that states that the Zits cartoon will be pulled until the “nude” character storyline has ended? Nude characters, really? This series paid homage to the popular cartoon of the 70’s ‘Love Is…’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is…).
Is the concern nudity? Cartoon characters as children with no clothes on? The ‘Love Is…’ cartoons ran in papers nationwide for many years. They were proudly displayed in offices, and as statues with famous memes like ‘Love is not having to say I’m sorry’. Well I am sorry for this decision. We pay news outlets to filter our information, often because we agree with their point of view. I do not agree with this POV.
The Zits cartoon is the main reason I look at the comics. I am a child of the 70’s and appreciate the reference. Were there complaints? Do some not get the cultural reference? Is there some community standard that I am not familiar with being violated? Are there not much more controversial items in the paper everyday?
Let’s call this what it is: censorship. Are there other readers out there that also find this to be seriously ridiculous? If so, please let Ms Cunningham know.
Oh, for those that missed yesterday’s Zits do to RRStar censorship, here it is: http://www.arcamax.com/zits/s-640941-419820
13. Jeffrey Stewart | November 8th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
In todays paper, Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham posted part of the response from King Features comics editor Brendan Burford to her complaint. Here is part of it:
“To my knowledge, out of the 1,600+ newspapers that ZITS appears in, your readers are the only ones who have had such a problem with the depiction. That said, these complaints don’t always reach my desk.”
Sheesh
What gets me riled up about this filtering isn’t so much this particular action, what concerns me is what standards are at play and what filtering occurs that we do not see, it just never makes the paper.
Clearly they own the press, so they get to decide what gets printed. But as a customer I can decide if I subscribe or not. Just please remember, there is no such thing as a non-biased news organization. Use you critical thinking skills please.
Yes, this may be a trivial issue in the big picture… or is it. Thank you Linda for bringing to issue into focus.
14. Jet | November 8th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Really sad that you still think it is Jeremy’s parents.
I would also like to see some of those “complaints” you got.
Blogged it for the purpose of preservation. click on my name for the post.
15. Jim Phelps | November 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
How oddly appropriate that Mr. Dylan played here so recently:
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
16. chris73456 | November 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
So Is Editors Note just going to hope this will all go away? How about a response? Journalism at its finest!!! Never let the fact get in the way! Sure glad I read this online instead of buying a paper!!!
17. Linda Grist Cunningham | November 9th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
To Jet and Chris, who apparently are having troubled with the string of posts: I have responded on both blogs.
18. chris73456 | November 11th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Having troubled?? I can read and you replied but you did not respond!! Look up the difference–kind of like getting the facts wrong once again!! You answered none of the questions asked of you, just blessed us with your opinion and told us what to think and read once again. Please dont bother–am done with this also, but I do have a question. Are you going to run for office? Sure sound like one!!! Good Luck!!!
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