monkeymaster@crackmonkey.org (Monkey Master and Prince Regent of San Francisco)
Thu, 23 Jan 2003 22:06:22 -0800
[!CrackMonkey!] Re: Comics corrections
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<20030124060622.GO14319@zork.net>
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begin Dan Siegler quotation:
> Mr. Crack Monkey:
>
> Re: http://www.crackmonkey.org/pipermail/crackmonkey/2002q3/033225.html
>
> Glad to see your interest in the SF comics scene. However, I'd
> like to offer a few corrections:
We here at the International Crackmonkey Syndicate take a keen
interest in local San Francisco publications. We will put your letter
on file with our records department. If you wish to see a copy of
this document, please visit our public offices between the hours of
10am and 3pm, tuesdays through thursdays (except holidays).
> 1) The comic strip you refer to as "Smartfeller" is actually
> called "Smarter Feller!"
Good to see that the SF Bay Weekly Metro/Tribune continues its
tradition of hiring the best and the brightest fact-checkers.
I'm a relative newbie to San Francisco, by most measures, but
even *I* remember when SmartFeller changed its name to Smarter Feller.
I think he started adding in a second stick man more often or
something as well. A quick Web Search turns up an interview that says
that Dave's sister Beth named the successor strip when Dave wanted to
get rid of a collaborator and reinvent the thing.
The fascination with the Gold Club Guy seemed to span the two
incarnations of the strip, however.
> 2) Troubletown didn't replace anything in SF Weekly. It doesn*t
> even run in the Weekly. Troubletown is a Guardian strip.
If you re-read the mail referenced above, you'll see that I
was talking about the state of both papers. However, you are correct
in that troubletown didn't replace much of anything specifically.
> 3) Puni never got moved to the back of the paper. It's always
> been in the same general place around pages 7-15, as it is to
> this day.
Again, I never once said it was moved to the back of the
paper. The above referenced mail says "moved back in the paper",
meaning it's not a page 3. I may be misremembering the issue when
Smarter Feller was pushed around from page 1 to page 3 to make room
for more ads.
> 4) Yes, I did in fact come swooping-in from the suburbs. (1996)
> I came here to escape the vacuous cultureless mind numbing hell
> of suburbia, like tens of thousands of other folks do every year.
> The creator of Smarter Feller, Dave Eggers, came here from Lake
> Forest, Illinois. Which, you will note, is also a suburb.
I have a small mole on my left arm. You wouldn't really know
it's much of a mole, since it blends in with the other freckles, but
it does grow a rather long hair. I mean, it grows hair like the rest
of my arm, but much faster. Recently it started growing two hairs,
but for a while one was growing faster than the other. I just
discovered that both are growing at the same rate now. Maybe I could
try picking up TV signals on the things.
> 5) I happen to be familiar with the cartoonists you mention.
> They, like me, can be described without hyperbole as "dirt poor."
> I've yet to meet a cartoonist to rise above that income bracket.
> (Even though we all strive too.) In fact, as I type these words,
> I'm feasting upon a luxurious dinner of mac n' cheese in a box.
We here at the International CrackMonkey Syndicate salute your
journalistic authenticity, and support your vegetarian diet of boxed
carbohydrates. If you are left handed, you may wish to apply for the
very exclusive association of Left Handed Vegetarian Esperanto
Speakers, which has meetings at Indian restaurants. In any event,
remember to hold a bottle by the neck but a lady by the waist.
--
Monkey Master
International CrackMonkey Syndicate
Weights and Measures Department