It's Not Just a Comic Strip. It's Another Comic Strip.
What does it take to get a new comic strip syndicated in newspapers today? Why, it takes persistence. It takes luck. It takes moxie. It takes a naked, unapologetic grasp for as much attention as humanly possible without resorting to bribes, blackmail or--how shall we put this?--any "Italian" connections. Which brings us to the matter at hand...
From the people who brought you Barkeater Lake, Medium Large and Sally Forth comes the new comic strip Aluminum Siding, available for a limited time Monday through Saturday right here at Drink at Work.
Aluminum Siding is the story of the Burns and the Yates, two families and new next-door neighbors who have only one thing in common--a property line. It's also about small town/big city culture clashes, near-fatal lawn accidents, disturbing potluck dinners, unlicensed theatrical productions and the untimely demise of a teddy bear. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. To get the full story, please meet our cast of characters.
We have high hopes for syndicating Aluminum Siding but we need your help. If you like the strip, please tell others. If you have feedback, please share it. The comic will run daily for the next two months, to both generate interest and insight. Consider it an online communal submission process and should--miracle of miracles--the feature actually be picked up, you'll all have a special place in our hearts when we see it in print, between reruns of Peanuts and Fred Bassett, before it's eventually replaced with a tire ad.
Thank you and enjoy!
Ces and Corey
posted by Francesco Marciuliano at 10:09 AM
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6 Comments:
I thought Andy Capp and Alley Oop were "fresh" strips by new writers and/or artists after the original writer quit/died/retired, which puts them in the same category as Shoe and Dennis The Menace. Not that those strips are preventing the creators from spinning in the grave. Are you saying we can't have anybody take over an established strip? **cough**Sally Forth**cough**
Fred Bassett is reruns, but I don't know what other currently syndicated strip other than Peanuts is truly Nick-At-Nite classics.
Nit-picking aside, good luck with the syndication. It sounds like you guys have really put a lot of thought into characters and storylines. More so than the writers of most bad TV sitcoms.
I'd work on differentiating the eyes of the characters more. they all currently share the same shape and size.
Also, what's the marketing angle? Have you identified a void that this would fill? Lampooning HAVES and HAVE-NOTs is a decent idea, but I wonder if the suburban setting will unneccessarily lump it in with all the other suburban family strips that dominant the page ... just my humble.
Uh, it's not a "suburban" strip: the Yateses have moved to "the country." I think that's actually a fresher take: there are actual (and often wealthy) urbanites moving out to what they think of as "the country" (which is often really small towns), and I think there's some pretty good potential in that conflict. I'm not utterly thrilled with the first two strips...but we haven't even met all the characters yet, so it's early days yet.
Uh, if it's a country strip -- and nowhere in their description do the lads use the word country -- their houses are pretty damn close to each other as I can see his moving van and their house in the same panel.
Now, I'm no 2FS, but that juxtaposition would seem too close for true "country" living. But what do I know, I'm just a speaker repairman from Utica.
I think it feels more like "small town" than either "suburb" or "country," and that's fine with me. My own childhood was spent shifting from suburb to small town and back (we moved a lot because of my dad's job), and there's a lot of good material to be found in small-town life. (As I've said, a big part of what I love about Barkeater Lake is that it reminds me of some of the towns I grew up in, only less soul-destroyingly dull.)
I know from personal experience that when you find yourself driving 30 miles one way just for a Big Mac, the town you're living in is officially too small.
Is this for real or is it a joke that I'm to simple to get?
Or both?
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