Will Jared Become a Regular Character?
He's been mentioning this possible future sandwich shop for awhile now, so I think it's time to mention it here, too. What is going on? Will he quit his job with Mr. J.C. Dithers? Will he really open this shop? If so, it would be a sea change in the life of Dagwood Bumstead. Even more importantly, a sea change in the daily enjoyment of comic readers everywhere. Or those that get daily enjoyment from Blondie, whoever they may be (yeah, yeah, all you sick pervs who think 1940s hairstyles on top of a great rack on top of a tiny waist are HOTT!)
If Dagwood does indeed quit his job to open a sandwich shop, does that mean the end of the "Dagwood is lazy/sleeping on the job" jokes? The end of Mr. Dithers threatening to fire him? The end of his lunches at the greasy spoon diner? The end of his carpool? The end of "Dagwood made the carpool late" jokes? The end of Dagwood rushing out the door smack dab into the mailman? (Who has a mailman, Whoops I do beg your pardon, post person, come that early?)
How can this be? How can Blondie function without those staples? Without them, we are left with: Dagwood taking a bath and Elmo interrupting him; Herb borrowing Dagwood's tools and not returning them; Dagwood needing a bite to eat in the middle of the night; Dagwood hovering over a plumber or other repair person; Dagwood and Blondie making witty remarks in front of their TV; Dagwood sharing old Bumstead family stories with Alexander and Cookie . . .
OK, so there are still other "humor" options in the strip, even if Dagwood quits his job to open the sandwich shop. I still think it is an odd choice to make. Blondie already runs a catering outfit, so the "pissy customers/life as a small business owner/member of the service economy" jokes are already covered. So are the food prep jokes. So, what's the point of him opening a sandwich shop? How does this expand the horizons of Blondie? Now if he retired, or became a male nurse, or a high school coach . . . but what's the point of him quitting his job to do THE EXACT SAME THING Blondie already does??
posted by big al at 9:46 PM
12 Comments:
What does the title of this post mean? I'm a little confused?
"If Dagwood does indeed quit his job to open a sandwich shop, does that mean the end of the "Dagwood is lazy/sleeping on the job" jokes? The end of Mr. Dithers threatening to fire him? The end of his lunches at the greasy spoon diner? The end of his carpool? The end of "Dagwood made the carpool late" jokes? The end of Dagwood rushing out the door smack dab into the mailman? (Who has a mailman, Whoops I do beg your pardon, post person, come that early?)"
I know! Blondie strips have been based on those "gags" for the past 75 or so years! I don't want to see Dagwood in the bathtub!
But think of the plethora of new gags!
a) New unskilled teen workers! "uh oh boss, 100 degrees to make bread? I thought you said 1,000!
b) Picky eaters. Enter soccer mom. "Jeffrey can only have his sandwich with bread cut on a 90 degree angle with two inch wide pieces of tomatoes on top of fresh turkey.
I get it..Jared. from Subway. Of course it "clicks" the minute I press submit.
So, what's the point of him opening a sandwich shop? How does this expand the horizons of Blondie?
The real point? To advertise the real-life soon-coming Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppes. http://www.dagwoods.us.com/
Wow . . . just . . . wow. The "Dagwood Sandwich" is probably the best thing to ever come out of this strip, but a chain of real-life sandwich shops? Let's hope they fail miserably, otherwise, you know what's next: Family Circus Day Care, Cathy Bikini Wax, Hagar the Horrible Security.
to the second Anonymous:
"The Dagwood" as a sandwich has existed for years, and is a completely logical extension of the comic strip. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't already happened. The other snarky ideas you pondered aren't directly related to the strip, and won't happen. The comic strip is already a commercial product, the chain of sandwich shoppes is nothing more than good old American(c) diversifying... and will not lead to a dozen additional (and totally unrelated) businesses. When a leads to b, it doesn't automatically mean that cdefghi is right around the corner. A bit of cynicism is healthy, but snark and sarcasm aren't the same as wit, so you might wanna reel in your attitude a bit.
The ongoing "Dagwood considers a sandwich shop" storyline has been particularly brazen, hasn't it? At least Big Al's example contains the shadow of a joke, but if memory serves some of the daily strips have been little more than Dagwood looking off into the middle distance and assembling a sentence with "sandwich shop" somewhere in there. Big Al's reaction says it all: if you don't take it as an ad, there's no point to this cartoon.
And hey, uglinessman, about that attitude and snarkiness thing? Heal thyself. For what it's worth, there have been Cathy tie-ins for various minor commercial products. To wit:
"There are more than 30 books and an array of licenced products that include watches, mugs, sleep wear and panties, stationery, cake pans and much more."
-- http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/cartoonists/66531
How close do panties come to your "would never happen" diss, there? Just how directly are cake pans related to the Cathy strip?
Cathy Guisewite also wrote some strips for the post office as promotional material about their services -- again, completely unrelated to the strip.
OK, Ugliness Man, Anonymous #2 here. So, yes, I realize there won't be F.C. Day Care or Hagar Security. I was exaggerating for effect. I always read this blog as kind of snarky and cynical, and my apologies to anyone who reads it differently or doesn't appreciate the snark.
Now, onto the issue of Dagwood sandwich shops. I think his image has been on some other things for a few years now -- sliced deli meats, maybe? And mustard? Something I've seen at the grocery maybe. So, this isn't unprecedented. Ianscot's got some examples, and of course there are TONS of Peanuts merchandise. So, I'm not blind to the fact that this happens.
However, if the strip Dagwood DOES quit his job to open a shop, or the structure of the strip changes to support the commercial aspect of the RL sandwich shop, then it seems the tail is wagging the dog. IMO, of course! I think the strip is lame enough as it is, and to use it to pimp a commercial entity makes it worse!
I'm glad they choose to spell it SHOPPE with an extra E and P. Because when it's spelled like tham, it guarantees old world craftmanship and attention to detail.
Phnneaus, I think you probably mean to say "Olde World Craftsmanship."
I always thoguth the "Dagwood Sandwich" was made up of all the random stuff you had leftover in your fridge. Right? So they are going to codify it by making the sandwiches various menu items, not free-form like Dag makes them.
I will probably try it out if I see one around here, but I think there are enough sandwich shops (and shoppes)to keep me happy without Dagwood's contribution.
-- Nick
However, if the strip Dagwood DOES quit his job to open a shop, or the structure of the strip changes to support the commercial aspect of the RL sandwich shop, then it seems the tail is wagging the dog.
That's pretty much my reaction, Anonymous #2. The sandwich meat and other tie-ins don't really bother me because any successful strip will have some type of marketing, but it's the whole turning the strip into an advertisement thing that does bother me. If I want to read ads, I'll read the classifieds, not the comics.
Uglinessman, get over yourself. As for a Dagwood sandwich shoppe, I wouldn't want to see one in my
town(s) (Chapel Hill/Carrboro) Hey Al, do you think they would have one in Cary?
Latest Anonymous . . .
If you go into the Pita Pit on Franklin St. they are advertising a Dagwood sandwich tie-in of some sort. I was in and out, or I would have examined it further. I think it may just be a sandich the Pita Pit is offering? Now that I know about Dagwood's Ye Olde Sandwich Shoppe, I will have to go back up there and check it out.
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