Cartoonists, doesn't it drive you mad when you've written a joke only to see it done by someone else before yours is released? This has happened 3 times recently. I've written a short series about Ollie's toe nails needing clipping only to see the fantastic Pooch cafe doing the same story last week. Then I did a joke about a slug visiting Ollie and Quentin (above) who accidentally dissolves himself whilst 'running with salt' only to discover the great Stephan Pastis has done a similar joke in Pearls Before Swine. Finally I saw another of my jokes in the fabulous Sherman's Lagoon recently. Damn!
4 comments:
Yes it does, but it happens and usually isn't the exact same thing. I console my fact that I'm not in every newspaper and the chances of someone reading my strip and the one the joke coincidentally appeared in are small!
Very true. I think it's just the idea that I'm not being as original as I previously thought.
Everything is derivative, even if it just the formula for being funny. Did you see the video clip of Stephan Pastis (who is in 500+ newspapers) on Daily Cartoonist. He is frank about seeing what worked in Dilbert and copying that formula. Maybe not the joke, but certainly the way of telling a joke. Perhaps originality doesn't pay!
I'm off to go and copy some funny stuff....
I did see it, yes. Very inspiring. I did a similar thing but for me it was Calvin and Hobbes. I'd read them to get the rhythm. I too, chucked in a lucrative career (in graphic design) to become a full time cartoonist.
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