Pluggers

Last updated
Pluggers
Author(s) Jeff MacNelly (1993–1997)
Gary Brookins (1997–2020)
Rick McKee (2020–present)
Current status/scheduleCurrent strip
Launch date1993;30 years ago (1993)
Syndicate(s) Tribune Content Agency
Genre(s)Humor, Gag-a-day

Pluggers is a comic panel created by Jeff MacNelly (creator of Shoe ) in 1993 that relies on reader submissions (referred to as "Pluggerisms") for the premise of each day's panel. In the context of this strip, "pluggers" are defined as rural, blue-collar workers who live a typical working-class American lifestyle, accompanied by a mentality characteristic of the G.I. and Baby Boomer generations. In the comic, pluggers are portrayed in the form of anthropomorphic animals, most often a plump bear, dog, chicken, or rhinoceros, sometimes a kangaroo or a cat.

Contents

Publication history

Editorial cartoonist Gary Brookins took over in 1997, three years prior to creator Jeff MacNelly's death from lymphoma in 2000. Brookins retired in 2020, and his assistant Rick McKee took over, still maintaining a similar style to MacNelly's originals.

Pluggers is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency [1] in 60 newspapers, mostly in the Southern, Midwestern, Plains, and Rocky Mountain states.

Characters

Most episodes of the comic focus on illustrating personality traits and aspects of the lifestyles of people who are identified as pluggers, and there are no continuing storylines. Consequently, the names and occupations of the anthropomorphic animal characters are rarely mentioned.

Recurring characters

Past characters

Criticism of strip

The blog Comics Curmudgeon often pokes fun at the comic and its implied populist stance, [5] on one occasion referring to it as a "folksy bit of lower-middle-class reactionary agitprop." [6]

In 1996 Dave Eggers from Salon.com criticized the strip for lionizing the working class despite being written by a committee of "current and former CEOs", and objected to "the self-important and vaguely jingoistic way the creators promote the cartoon". [7]

Gary Brookins himself argues that "Pluggers are self-deprecating and have a healthy sense of humor about themselves. They represent the majority of us who don't live for the latest trend, who keep plugging along without fanfare and try to balance work, play and family life." [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comic strip</span> Short serialized comics

A comic strip is a sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday papers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon</span> Type of two-dimensional visual art

A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoonist</span> Visual artist who makes cartoons

A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons or comics. Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice. Cartoonists may work in a variety of formats, including booklets, comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons, graphic novels, manuals, gag cartoons, storyboards, posters, shirts, books, advertisements, greeting cards, magazines, newspapers, webcomics, and video game packaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Sakai</span> Japanese-American cartoonist and comic book creator

Stan Sakai is a Japanese-born American cartoonist and comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic series Usagi Yojimbo.

<i>Get Fuzzy</i> American comic strip (1999-2013)

Get Fuzzy is an American gag-a-day comic strip written and drawn by Darby Conley. It features Boston advertising executive Rob Wilco and his two anthropomorphic pets, a dog, Satchel Pooch, and a cat, Bucky Katt. While there have been no new comics produced since 2019, the reruns continue to appear in newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Print syndication</span> Sale of news items to other news outlets

Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, political cartoons, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. The syndicates offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own and/or represent copyrights. Other terms for the service include a newspaper syndicate, a press syndicate, and a feature syndicate.

<i>Pearls Before Swine</i> (comics) Comic strip by Stephan Pastis

Pearls Before Swine is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis. The series began on December 31, 2001. It chronicles the daily lives of an ensemble cast of suburban anthropomorphic animals: Pig, Rat, Zebra, Goat, and a fraternity of crocodiles, as well as a number of supporting characters, one of whom is Pastis himself. Each character represents an aspect of Pastis's personality and worldview. The daily and Sunday comic strip is distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication.

<i>Barney Google and Snuffy Smith</i> American comic strip

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally Take Barney Google, F'rinstance, is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearing in 900 newspapers in 21 countries. The initial appeal of the strip led to its adaptation to film, animation, popular song, and television. It added several terms and phrases to the English language and inspired the 1923 hit tune "Barney Google " with lyrics by Billy Rose, as well as the 1923 record "Come On, Spark Plug!"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff MacNelly</span> American cartoonist

Jeffrey Kenneth "Jeff" MacNelly was an American editorial cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Shoe. After Shoe had been established in papers, MacNelly created the single-panel strip Pluggers. The Wall Street Journal wrote: "MacNelly's superb draftsmanship as well as his heightened sense of the ridiculous is in the vanguard of a new generation of American cartoonists."

The comic strip switcheroo was a massive practical joke in which several comic strip writers and artists (cartoonists), without the foreknowledge of their editors, traded strips for a day on April Fools' Day 1997. The Switcheroo was masterminded by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, creators of the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip.

<i>Nickelodeon Magazine</i> American childrens magazine

Nick Magazine is a defunct American children's magazine inspired by the children's television network Nickelodeon. Its first incarnation appeared in 1990 and was distributed at participating Pizza Hut restaurants; the version of the magazine only saw two issues. The magazine returned in Summer 1993 with all types of content, primarily humor and comics. Originally published on a quarterly basis, it switched to bi-monthly with the February/March 1994 issue. It then went to ten times per year starting in March 1995, with a bi-annual December/January and June/July issue until its end in 2009.

Tundra is a comic strip written and drawn by Wasilla, Alaska, cartoonist Chad Carpenter. The comic usually deals with wildlife, nature and outdoor life. Tundra began in December 1991 in the Anchorage Daily News and is currently self-syndicated to over 600 newspapers. The strip was named the best newspaper panel of 2007 by the National Cartoonists Society and nominated again in 2011.

<i>Shoe</i> (comic strip) American comic strip created by artist Jeff MacNelly

Shoe is an American comic strip about a motley crew of newspapermen, all of whom are birds. It was written and drawn by its creator, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, from September 13, 1977 until his death in 2000. MacNelly's last strip was dated July 9, 2000; it has since been continued by Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins, Ben Lansing, and Susie MacNelly.

Slylock Fox is a daily comic strip created by Bob Weber Jr. and published by King Features Syndicate. Bob Weber Jr. is the son of Bob Weber Sr., creator of the comic strip Moose & Molly. The target audience is young children. According to the official website, Slylock Fox appears in nearly 400 newspapers with a combined readership of over 30 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GoComics</span> Comic strips website

GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips and cartoons. GoComics publishes editorial cartoons, mobile content, and daily comics. It is currently owned by Andrews McMeel Universal.

The Comics Curmudgeon is an American blog devoted to humorous and critical analysis of newspaper comics. Its author, Josh Fruhlinger, is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles.

Barkeater Lake is a webcomic by cartoonist Corey Pandolph, originally published by United Media as part of its Comics.com website from early 2004 through January 5, 2007. Pandolph began publishing the online strip independently on January 22, 2007.

Tim Barela is an acclaimed gay cartoonist who is best known for his creation of the comic strip Leonard & Larry. The Leonard & Larry strip first appeared in a 1984 issue of Gay Comix, then were later featured in The Advocate and Frontiers magazines. The comic series has been collected in four volumes published by Palliard Press, and a single volume by Rattling Good Yarns.

Rick Worley is an American cartoonist, known primarily for his comic strip A Waste of Time. He is openly gay and lives in San Francisco.

References

  1. "Pluggers comics by Gary Brookins". Tribune Content Agency.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Cast of Characters". Pluggers.com. 1996-06-24. Archived from the original on February 8, 1997. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  3. 1 2 "ComicStrip/Pluggers". Television Tropes and Idioms. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  4. 1 2 Brookins, Gary  ( w ,  a ).Pluggers.June 10, 2014, Universal Uclick .
  5. "Pluggers – The Comics Curmudgeon". Joshreads.com. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  6. Wednesday, Oct 07, 2009 (2009-10-07). "Behold Plug-Niggurath, goat with a thousand puns! – The Comics Curmudgeon". Joshreads.com. Retrieved 2021-09-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Eggers, Dave (1996-07-10). "Crude Caricatures: A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist goes slumming". Salon.com . Archived from the original on 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  8. "Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Lifestyles Columnists Mike Peters". 2006-10-29. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2021-09-09.