Yelling Bull in a Crowded Family-Oriented Theater

I haven’t seen Katrina, Queen of the Trees, in a long while. I’m not even sure that her name is Katrina. She only appeared for a few weeks. She was too much mammal in a strip about too-much frog.

This daily is noteworthy to me because I cursed in a mild and indirect fashion. Buddy, the frog yelling, “Bull,” is looking for Bull, another frog character. His final “Bull!” makes me laugh. It’s like yelling BULL in a crowded family-oriented theater, with no one noticing.

Or, perhaps it was noticed, and considered unremarkable. When you’re writing a strip, you never know for certain what’s allowed, until it isn’t.

Bull, as profanity goes, is tame, domesticated, Bowdlerized, nearly invisible. But in a family strip — that’s how it was sold; I never thought of Spot the Frog as family-oriented — yelling Bull! felt subversive. I wrote a lot of subversive dailies in Spot, but few noticed.

Futility Closet

Futility Closet

I keep waiting for someone to list the Top Five Science Cartoonists That You Don’t Know About But Should. The addendum is that I hope my name appears on the list. Or that I can scrawl it in, if no one’s looking.

Until then, I have my champion in Greg Ross and his Futility Closet (which proves just how eclectic and esoteric his subjects can be, if my work fits comfortably in the company of his compendious amusements.)