In Britain, the wearing of women's clothing is a comedy staple, so I can't quite believe that the addition of a bra would make 12 people cancel their subscription. It's useful, of course, to see in which direction I shouldn't take the strip, but I didn't for a moment think that a Mandrill wearing a bra would be considered unsettling. Perhaps it's because he's a soldier? Or maybe I am making a leap, here. Maybe the 12 just got bored with the strip. I did intentionally write one that I thought would be a little controversial a while ago, but nothing happened. In fact, at the time, I was continuing to pick up email subscribers. Here it is:
(You can see the changes I've made to the artwork in the recent strip at the top here, too). Just goes to show, you can't second-guess your readership.
3 comments:
Here's the lesson I learned. You might think Spot the Frog was non-controversial, but early on a reader complained that I showed Spot in a kitchen sink full of soapy water. That would kill a real frog, you see, and what if a kid reading the strip did the same thing with his pet frog? So I stopped putting Spot in the sink, killing a host of story lines. Lesson learned: don't listen to readers. For every reader who is bra-phobic, you'll likely have ten who love undergarments.
The bra joke was hilarious.
This reminds me of a radio show in england where the host, comedian Chris Morris, pretended to take a tortoise out of its shell. He phoned a vet to find out what to do. The vet's advice, in all seriousness, was to put it in the freezer.
It was a weird show.
Good advice, Mark. I guess I shouldn't compromise my stupid monkey vision. Thanks for the post on your blog too. Very, very much appreciated.
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