Cartoon character created by Bernd Pfarr in Germany
Monument to the character
Sondermann is a cartoon character of the painter and cartoonist Bernd Pfarr, which appeared, until August 1994, in a column of the same name by the writer Simone Borowiak and, from 1987 to August 2004, regularly in the satirical magazine Titanic. Model for the name was Gerhard Sondermann, the first publisher of Titanic.
Sondermann is a creation of an illustrator, who, as Bernd Pfarr himself once said, wants "to drive reality out of the pictures" (German: "den Bildern die Realität austreiben").
The comic
The world of Sondermann is subject to its own, individual laws: "Negro scrubbing" (German: "Negerschrubben") is a traditional ritual at Sondermann's company, Sondermann and his boss subdue their hunger by "huddling softly together" (German: "sich weich aneinander schmiegen"), consuming a Schnitzel and taking out the trash are common yoga exercises, and Sondermann defeats God (German: "den lieben Gott") in Tennis.
Sondermann's world is populated by strange creatures:
a neighbor, Schulze, who often "comes to detonate" (German: "zum Sprengen kommt");
God, as mentioned above;
the blowdryer-armed super hero Supererpel, who is not actually that heroic;
the brothers Strittmatter, also neighbors of Sondermann, who are penguins and "detonate saurians in their spare time" (German: "in ihrer Freizeit Saurier sprengen");
Mr. Sharp, "lord over seven flies" (German: "Herr über sieben Fliegen"), who is for inexplicable reasons unbeloved by Sondermann, and is also a penguin and the "latest stallion" (German: "neuester Stecher") of Sondermann's mother;
Herr Detlev Siehlbeck, who always carries a dead fish with him and expects that people pet it;
a small dog named Willi, whose "freethinking remarks about the preparation of his food" (German: "freigeistige Ausführungen der Zubereitung seines Fresschens betreffend") impress the Weltgeist so much that they cause metaphysical levitation in it;
and not least Sondermann himself: accountant, single and eager to learn, with a pronounced artistic side, while not insusceptible to erotic or homoerotic attraction.
Early Sondermann episodes mostly limited themselves to the master-servant relationship between Sondermann and his boss. The pandemonium of the above-listed characters grew gradually out of this fundamental conflict. According to writer Robert Gernhardt, the character very soon developed a "life of its own" (German: "Eigenleben"), for which even the editorial staff of Titanic was not prepared.
↑ "ARD Tagesschau". Tagesschau (in German). 12 October 2012. ARD. Gewinner des Wettbewerbs ... Deutscher Cartoon Preis ... Stefan Wirkus ... 1000 Euro
↑ Hamann, Volker (19 December 2012). "Deutscher Cartoonpreis 2013" (in German). Comic Report Online. Retrieved 23 September 2014. Kategorie A werden 1.000 Euro Fördergeld ausgelobt
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