Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A field guide to the many Karl Maldens in Ziggy's life



One thing that doing Zomby!!! has taught me is that, with the possible exception of David Lynch's The Angriest Dog in the World, Ziggy is the most repetitive cartoon feature in history. The same few scenarios are repeated over and over to the point of madness: Ziggy watches TV, Ziggy goes to a restaurant, Ziggy gets backsassed by animals, etc. I've seen several scenarios repeated multiple times, and I've only been doing this for about two months now.

In addition to these repeated scenarios, I've also started noticing generic character types that keep cropping up. Of course, I've already pointed out the generic female functionaries. But I've recently become aware of an equally-important stock character in the Ziggy-verse: the generic Karl Malden-type guy. The beloved character actor Karl Malden may have passed away at the age of 97 in 2009, but his spirit lives on through the lumpy, bulbous-nosed, often-balding men who haunt Ziggy on a daily basis.

Check it out: