EEEEEEEEK!

Destroying the Lives of Children

Bizarro is brought to you today by Animal Husbandry.

Last week my cartoon was drawing attacks from all quarters. Yesterday's post was a bout a plagiarism accusation, today's is about my mistreatment of preschool icons. Below is the email I received, in its entirety:

I usually do not take the time to write someone about a comic strip. But this time I could not just ignore it.

I take EXTREME OFFENSE at your comic today. I am surprised Sesame Street hasn't talked to you yet. (How does she know they haven't?)
The Birds (Capitalized?) in the your comic strip today are very obviously Big Bird and Foghorn Leghorn.

You are making these characters out to be bullies. That is NOT what these characters stand for.
They are good characters, and I feel you are beating up on their images by using them.

I have two younger children that love to read the comics everyday with me (age 7 & 10).
When they saw what you had drawn, I'm not sure they will never want to see your comic strip again.
They were both extremely offended (as was I) and at the ages they are they knew that Big Bird would
NEVER do anything like that!!!!!! (Then what is the problem?)

It is NOT FUNNY to bully someone's image like that, to infer that they would do anything like that.
(I believe she means "insinuate." "Inferring" is what she's doing.)

To pick on an image that has been out in this world doing nothing but good for over 40 years is SHAMEFUL!!!
You should be ashamed of yourself for picking on something as PURE as Big Bird!

Sincerely,
Name withheld because I'm embarrassed for her.

I responded politely to her note, as I invariably do, and told her that everyone knows that Big Bird would never act this way and that is what makes it funny. I suggested that if she explained that to her children they would no longer be upset by the cartoon and learn a little something about the way humor works, too. I got no response.

Oh, the tremendous weight of social responsibility that a cartoonist bears.

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (+4). Kick-Ass
2 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
3 (-2). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
4 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
6 (-). Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
7 (+4). Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn *
8 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5 *
9 (+1). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
10 (-3). Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat
11 (+8). The Losers: Book One (Vols. 1 & 2)
12 (+16). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
13 (+1). The Boys Volume 6 SC
14 (+3). Yotsuba&!, Vol. 8 *
15 (-3). Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour *
16 (-1). The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
17 (+4). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
18 (-2). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
19 (+5). Scott Pilgrim, Vol 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
20 (+14). Instructions *
21 (+9). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
22 (+18). Hellboy Volume 9: The Wild Hunt
23 (-1). Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead
24 (+13). Irredeemable Vol 2
25 (-). Watchmen
26 (+18). The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel *
27 (-14). 50,000,000 Pearls Fans Can't Be Wrong: A Pearls Before Swine Collection
28 (-2). The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1
29 (+12). Batman: The Killing Joke
30 (+19). Batman: Year One
31 (N). Wilson *
32 (-23). The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 (Vol. 13) *
33 (+6). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
34 (+4). Captain America: Reborn *
35 (R). Marvel Encyclopedia
36 (R). Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities
37 (+10). V for Vendetta
38 (+4). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
39 (+11). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
40 (-8). Rough Justice: The DC Comics Sketches of Alex Ross
41 (-18). Warriors: Ravenpaw's Path #2: A Clan in Need
42 (-11). Asterios Polyp
43 (R). FoxTrot Sundaes: A FoxTrot Collection
44 (R). Wanted
45 (R). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
46 (R). Wolverine: Old Man Logan
47 (N). Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels *
48 (R). Blankets
49 (R). Mercy Thompson: Homecoming
50 (-32). Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover



Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* And there you have it: On the day of the movie release, Kick-Ass hits #1 on the comics charts (and #54 overall). Amazon has it as 'shipping in 2 to 4 weeks,' which means they've sold out of their on-hand stock at this point. Hopefully Marvel are printing more copies so that Diamond can get a few more bucks off the property before they lose their Marvel bookstore distribution.

* The highest debut this week belongs to the pre-order for Daniel Clowes new GN, Wilson.

* Once again the only manga this week is Yotsuba&!, which moves up three more notches.

* Scott Pilgrim volumes rebound a bit, exhibiting staying power that should stick around until the movie opens in August.

* A lot of large swings on the chart this week, both up and down, and many returning volumes on the chart as well.