Some Time On Earth (Or Something Like Earth)

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

A quick rundown on The Norm, a comic by Michael Jantze

IN SEPTEMBER, of last year, Michael Jantze decided not to renew his syndication deal for his comic strip, "The Norm".
  1. As the strip winds down,, the character Norm discovers his on the go wife, Reine is pregnant
  2. After an unsuccessful attempt with his long time buddy Ford to buy out his old company BBB Publishing, Norm considers several career options.
  3. After the strip concluded in the papers, reruns were published online at The Norm's website.
  4. Solicitations were made to the fanbase, to keep the strip going online, while Michael pursued other options himself, (screen plays, books, teleplays, etc.)
  5. After the first week of the new year, new episodes of The Norm are published five days a week online (no Sunday colour, awwwwwwww)
  6. UNlike other comics which are usually written and drawn three to six weeks in advance of publication, The Norm is written and published online Daily, having that fresh zing and the ability to comment on the current hot button issues at hand that are relevant to the Norm, its creator and its fanatical grass roots readership.*
  7. In the diary section for those who suscribe to The Norm, there is a musical "link" to a pertinent song or musical piece which is on Amazon.com's music store website (is Amazon.com sponsoring the upkeep of The Norm?) There is now also a link to iTunes iMix playlist for January and February for the Norm.com

*Case in point, on the yahoogroups discussion for theNorm, there was a point raised recently about whatever happened to the "baby", that is Reine got pregnant last September, tho' comics ever rarely follow real time, by February, it was never ever discussed in the strip what ever happened to the main impetus that made The Norm take a new turn in life, that is, maturing, growing up a little, and leaving the less responsible Norm behind and now, here is Reine, several months later, looking like she wasn't being a mom anytime soon.

In his own inimitable way, Michael Jantze addressed the concern of his readers, while taking a stab and a good natured poke at other syndicated comics' touchy feely politically correct approach to touchy subjects. Apparently Reine had a miscarriage, probably in the interim months before the strip began anew in January online, andNorm and Reine had gotten on with their lives. Ford spoke to Norm's boss about it, and she got a little carried away trying to show support for Norm "in his time of grief". See you on Friday, when we see how this winds up.

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