Archive for June, 2008

After returning from a quick trip to Vancouver, the highlight of my week was getting to meet Uno, the beagle who won top honors at the Westminster dog show. He had to come by the studio today to meet Snoopy. At one point he walked from office to office and ended up grabbing a Snoopy plush which he ran down the hallway with. Very cute. This slightly fuzzy photo, taken by telephone, was snapped by my pal Lex, who’s new book just came out this week. (I’m not actually choking Uno in the photo on the left… that’s the end of a doggie yawn.) And what’s up with that nice coordinated collar and leash thing you might ask?… would you believe a gift from George W. and the Mrs. Bush.

If you’re reading the currently story line on comics.com then you’ve probably already figured out that this is a bit of a Gilligan’s Island parody, with lesbians.

This has gotten some interesting feedback from readers… a sampling of which follows, where a gentleman reader said that he really enjoyed Jane’s World, “until now.”

“This current installment has clearly “jumped the shark”. Is racist and condescending too. I’m pretty surprised, and kind of disappointed. You do what you do, of course, and there’s probably plenty of folks who have no complaint, but I wish you’d bring it back into the real world, or at least back into something that could possibly maybe happen in the real world. Your strip is at its best when it reflects the concerns of real people in real situations. When it does that, there’s nothing better out there, with real humor, wisdom, and insight. But this one is just a lesbian “Gilligan’s Island”; kind of juvenile and a bit foolish. I prefer the other stuff, and amazing to me, care enough to drop you this line and let you know.”

First, let me say that I appreciate feedback… the good and the bad… it’s all constructive, in one way or another. And I hope he doesn’t mind that I posted this excerpt. This fellow was really nice about the feedback and just expressed his opinion in a friendly way.

The funny thing is that when I’ve let Jane’s World go down more serious story trails I’ve had more readers who’ve written to say they enjoy the humorous, fantasy trips better.

I’m formulating a theory about this… This fellow who wrote identified himself as straight and I suggested to him that maybe his perspective was different. I think many gay and lesbian people, depending on what part of the country they live in, have to deal with a little too much “reality” on a daily basis and it’s nice to have a lesbian comic that isn’t even about being lesbian sometimes… it’s just plain goofy.

Feel free to add an opinion here… cause I may be totally off base.

I did also tell this reader that when I went back to watch the original Gilligan’s Island episode I was shocked by how sexist, racist and elitist it was… my JW version is actually PC by comparison!
Sadly, I guess I never even noticed it as a kid… glued to the TV.

I thought I’d post another comic that was done for Jane and Jane magazine, but it was a bit too racy for their demographic, so it was never printed in the magazine. (By the way, the Etowah Hotel is a real place, in Etawah, Tennesee. I snapped a photo of the vintage sign when I was driving through there a year or so ago.)