what is apparently known as the "Comic Strip Switcheroo"

AKA, according to Wikipedia, the "Great Comics Switcheroonie" or the "Great April Fools Day Comics Switcheroonie." I don't think i need to further discuss how violated i already feel to have to include the word "Switcheroonie" twice in a blog just to maintain journalistic accuracy.

The story behind this shit that some of you may or may not vaguely remember depending on whether you were an avid comics reader in the spring of 1997, is that tonight i was over at an ex girlfriend and good pal of mine's house and i noticed she had an extremely yellowed comic hung on the side of her fridge with magnets. Upon closer inspection, it was a Zippy strip entitled "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" from 4/1/1997*.

If you don't know this pretty awesome tale already, the kicker of the seeing it was that it was also very obviously drawn by Bill Amend, and not William "Bill" "Griffy" Griffith, as said strip usually is. An unmistakably Amendian Jason-head-on-Zippy-like-body and Peter-without-a-hat-head-on-Griffy-like-body play video games (looks like an NES from the controller design, IMO) much in the same way the Fox brothers have been known to be shown doing. the refrain "Bling! Bling! Bling!" repeats through each of the 4 panels of the strip from the pretty much undepicted TV** they are playing said video games on, and in the last panel one of the Fox brothers says "Are we having a punch line yet?" (which, if you are privy to the whole Zippy-vs-Garfield "Are we having fun yet" brouhaha, is a pretty decent nod to Griffy's coining of the phrase, in my opinion.)

i couldn't find this shit online, but you're welcome to search for yourself -- a more patient webman than i would probably be able to cull at least a few of the strips from somewhere or other. I remember, back in the day, that I found Amend's take on Zippy one of the Switcheroo's weaker japes, and seeing it now just backs up the suspicion I had back when i saw it for the first time: Bill Amend has no fucking idea what makes Zippy what it was. It is basically just that seeing it on the fridge of my long-ago ex girlfriend, with whom I was going out on 4/1/1997 in fact, that made me remember the as since unrepeated glory of that day in Mixtual history, the day a whole shitload of comic strip artists decided that they would all draw each other's strips for a day and turn them in for publication without the knowledge of their editors.

Beyond that I don't remember a giant amount about the specific strips and their respective Switcheroos (let alone -Roonies), but i do remember that this thing nonetheless happened and was something that was pretty amazing for the time it happened, let alone any time at all, when you really think about it. check out the woefully few examples they have linked on Wikipedia*** and if you are tickled do some digging for yourself and see what you can find. At this point I suppose they've missed the 10 year anniversary, but i'd settle for an 11.

*(For the uninitiated, Zippy masthead includes a title for the specific strip on the same line as the title of the strip itself and authorial credit.)

**but in a last-panel twist the noise is revealed to be coming from Quincy, the beloved Fox Trot iguana

***Also, the one of these that Jim Davis evidently drew is probably the best proof that I've ever seen of Jim Davis not having had anything to do with the creation of a comic strip in approximately 15 years

Back in the 'mix

Be forewarned:

My keyboard has some sort of junk up in it and the following keys are inoperable: numeral five, apostrophe, dash, quotations. Some NUM LOCKing and some cutting and pasting and some using of different computers could probably help me solve this problem, but if you notice some grammatical wonkery, it could be due to that state of my keyboard.

So, sorry I like, never blog about the comics. I could make various excuses, but they would be just that, excuses. I know, I've let my public down. Consider me back in business, please.

What better way than a brief tribute to a perennial favorite?

GET FUZZY: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

ONE: Satchel's eating disorder is fucking adorable.

Look at that guilty expression! Lordy I want to cuddle with that cartoon dog!

TWO: Extreme close ups:

The skills that Darby acquired as a fine arts student at Amherst college (nerd alert) are in clear evidence here. Did you know he also worked as a bicycle repairperson (crush alert) before becoming the greatest living comic page contributer? Thanks wikipedia!

THREE: The implication of curse words:


Hilarious!

Man, all blogging really requires of me is cutting and pasting stuff. I should do this more often, it's totes NBD.

AND SPEAKING OF BLOGGING...
Do you like food and people who are total sweethearts? Go here.

K thx bai!