Today's Zippy The Pinhead

[ashfire]

I don't know how many of the CCA members have newspapers that carry Zippy the Pinhead. Well todays strip has Zippy and I guess his girlfriend turn into manga charactors and the only problem about it is that they refer to manga as infinitely creepy, psycho-sexully disturbing world.
There are other things that was put into the wording about big-eyed Keane paintings and Japanese tendency to mix cuteness with porn.
Its a good thing I don't like the strip in the first place but the way it was drawn drew my attention and this really put me off about the artist that draws it.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

hmm, i should try to find todays paper... but darn... its late

[ShiroiHikari]

o.O I've never heard of this comic. I hate how people won't give manga and anime a chance. it's not all sick and disturbing!

[Debitt]

Find the creator's e-mail/home address and send he/she a very nice letter about how almost everything they portrayed in that strip was wrong.

[Fireproof]

I read it online. >.< Me mad now...

[ShiroiHikari]

well that was...nice.

[ashfire]

The Washington Post has a on line comics section which has Zippy the Pinhead if your paper doesn't carry it or there maybe a on line site for the comic strip. You can contact the the artist on that site.
I emailed the artist of Luann on there on how liked the idea that Luann's brother Brad was becoming a firefighter and a EMT in the comic strip.

[ShiroiHikari]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/comics/Zippy_the_Pinhead_Color.dtl

there's the link. prepare to be offended >>;

[Raiden no Kishi]

Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to have comics. ^_^

Rai

[Mr. SmartyPants]

i want to barf now...

i am going to send that man an email

[Debitt]

I'd actually like to know how many angry messages he's gotten at this point.

[shooraijin]

It seems to be down now, or at least, there's a new comic up.

[Arnobius]

When I tried the link, it said the comic was unavailable. Don't know if the link was bad or if it was pulled.

I always thought that thing was a waste of space anyway...

[ashfire]

The Washington Post website for the comics allow for the readers to look at comics from other papers and also look at a month of comic strips that were ran in the papers.

[Arnobius]

Finally found access.
I have to say that I think it more stupid than offensive, as it was basically a drawn out way of saying "I hate anime style art".

The bit about combining cuteness and porn is not something the anime industry is innocent of, though the author is wrong to imply it's the norm...

and even the Japanese are mixed on the anime style. In the manga Even a Monkey can do manga (not for minors) there is a commentary on "anime style" art which is generally disparaging of it.

He's not saying anything not said before, though he manages to be more irritating about it-- which is about par for Zippy (Hmm, maybe a manga artist should do a comic about how Zippy sucks...)

[soul alive]

and just to make it easier for those of you who would like to send a complaint to the author of Zippy (of course, your complaint is going to be well thought out and polite in expressing your anger...) click the link: http://www.zippythepinhead.com/contact.htm

[Ingemar]

o.O I've never heard of this comic. I hate how people won't give manga and anime a chance. it's not all sick and disturbing!

Yes, but how many American comics are sick and disturbing? I'm sure there are some, but they are rather obscure. The last sick and disturbing American comic I saw was tucked away in a comic shop in Manhattan.

[Joshua Christopher]

If no one was ever offensive we'd still be playing Pong and watching The Brady Bunch.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

i told hiom that he was steryotyping manga... he replied to me:

Ryan-
It's my job to appall peolple on occasion. But don't take it too seriously.
I even like some Manga---just not the soft core porn/ big eye stuff. Not
because I'm a prude--but because it's junk comics.

-Bill Griffith

what a looser...

[Debitt]

>_> And that makes his work THAT much better than manga with big eyes, eh MSP?

[ShiroiHikari]

wow, he actually replied to you. that's almost kind of cool.

well, I'm done being worked up over this now...there's plenty of other stuff to be angry about XD;

[Mr. SmartyPants]

thats the good ol way to forget things yet be completely mad...

i was actually going to say another word but i forgot what it was

[Godly Paladin]

I don't know if one guy's opinion is *really* something to get all worked up about. It's annoying, yes, but this sort of thing might encourage his type.

[Felix]

That guy makes me mad.....but..you shouldn't try and force someone to believe differently...true..he's wrong..byt the best thing, I think, to do is just to ignore him completely!

[Arnobius]

The fact that he responded is interesting, and his response clarified things. It's an issue that anime fans should acknowledge as a valid one among non fans, and that's the growing sexualization of minors in anime. This is the issue that most people I know who don't like anime, yet don't think it as "satanic" make as their key concern.

In some ways, we anime fans have become desentized to the revealing poses, but when an anime or manga is rated for ages 13+ (believe it or not, Love Hina was originally rated 13+ and not given the 16+ rating until volume 3) and reveals what is normally seen in America in Playboy magazine [Look at Chobits or Mahoromatic], people who aren't anime & manga fans do draw a connection that we do not.

The attitude of "They're just ignorant people" attitude to people who have moral issues is about as dangerous as the "anime is satanic" attitude. We need to show them the difference between the ordinary and the erotic, and set an example by avoiding the harmful.

The image is mild (I think more to the point ones would get me banned, but it indicates the erotic content (which we call fanservice) that does disturb people.

<image pulled ... shooraijin>

[shooraijin]

I pulled the image -- no offense as I recognize you were attempting to be educational, but I don't want the precedent set that it's okay to post fanservice (even of a mild sort such as that, or even for non-prurient reasons).

[Arnobius]

I pulled the image -- no offense as I recognize you were attempting to be educational, but I don't want the precedent set that it's okay to post fanservice (even of a mild sort such as that, or even for non-prurient reasons).

Sorry about that. Didn't think of that consequence when I posted. Won't happen again.

[ClosetOtaku]

Well, know it or not, like it or not, Bill Griffith is an icon of 1970's underground comic-dom. His Zippy the Pinhead is much cleaned-up from the earlier days, but is still as bizarre at times as it was back then (I've read his work, from time to time, since 1979). One of my favorite strips was his lampooning of "Hello Kitty" (this back in the '80s), where the characters talk without mouths, and the tagline "In Japan, no one can hear you scream".

He's certainly entitled to his opinion, and I dare say he's got the credentials to back it up. Sure, we all disagree with him. I'd say on any given day a lot of people do.

That he actually wrote back (in short order, no less) is a testament that he is still connected to his fan base. Many folks of his stature would ignore you. I think he's sincere in his comments.

And, in some ways, I can see his point. Walk down an aisle in Mandarake in Tokyo. Manga and doujinshi everywhere. Much of it is adult-oriented. Very adult oriented. Is it any wonder that manga gets painted with the broad brush of being a perverse form of comic art? It may be unfair, but it is understandable. And he's no fan of Keane or the Garfield-type strips (he hates Garfield, especially because the strip "stole" Zippy's signature line of 'Are We Having Fun Yet?'). Big eyes again.

Oh, well, anyways, just thought I'd offer a little counterpoint. Been a while since I've read Zippy. Good catch, though!

[chibi_chan]

Whats Keane?

[Arnobius]

And, in some ways, I can see his point. Walk down an aisle in Mandarake in Tokyo. Manga and doujinshi everywhere. Much of it is adult-oriented. Very adult oriented. Is it any wonder that manga gets painted with the broad brush of being a perverse form of comic art? It may be unfair, but it is understandable. And he's no fan of Keane or the Garfield-type strips (he hates Garfield, especially because the strip "stole" Zippy's signature line of 'Are We Having Fun Yet?'). Big eyes again.

Very true about the doujinshi. I've seen them on eBay and inquired in the typical shorthand: "Normal or H?" Every response has come back with the one letter answer "H."

Moreover, many doujinshi are X rated versions of mainstream manga. Municipal Force Daitenzin turned out to essentially be a hardcore porn version of Excel Saga. I found a doujinshi of Azumanga Daioh that had graphic sexual content involving Chiyo-chan, which was a perversity that boggled the mind

So, if somebody stumbles across these and think they're part of the legit product, they'll naturally think that anime = porn.

Moreover, consider the marketing of anime porn in Japan, where it is legal to censor certain things (like "Hot 1X year old action") to make it sound like minors are involved with these projects:


[quote="Wikipedia"]Many videos have a title that may or may not suggest they might be using underaged or actual recording of a crime but no title that are circulated with the approval of Eirin, a self-censor organization of productions, break any laws. A common ploy is to have a part of a title replaced with a character or to use a phonetically same, but nonexistent word. For example, a video about "19 years old girls Sex Party" may be sold with a title like "1X years old Girls Sex Party!". The word Joshikosei ( 女]
Anime porn especially makes use of ambiguous females drawn to look like schoolgirls put into these situations.

Well, before I get too far afield here, the important thing is for us to help explain the differences, and recognize that parents do have some legit complaints with sexual content that is aimed at minors...