Last month while interviewing Uclick’s CEO Douglas Edwards he hinted that big news was coming, that they were going to release a direct to mobile comic feature by a big name creator. For those of us who believe mobile will be a big market for the future of comics, I was excited that Uclick (now Universal Uclick) was pioneering the direct to mobile market. So it was with great disappointment I learned that this big announcement was the return of Stripperella – a short-lived mature audience animation character created back in 2003.
Sure the iPhone App comes with a big name, perhaps none greater in comic books than Stan Lee, but the script is embarrassingly amateurish replete with the character rushing to fight crime briefly before scurrying back to her pole dance routine then back out to save the city again. The antagonist in this series is Mad Melter who is threatening to melt the city if his demands are not met (but don’t worry Stripperella has an “anti-melt” cream she applies lustfully which proves to save her – but not her clothes – later in the story).
For a comic that is touted as “a story of a woman who lives a double life and how it affects her psychologically,” it’s primary purpose appears to be to draw a buxom woman in as many provocative stances as possible surrounded by trite dialog and innuendo. I don’t know which audience Universal Uclick is aiming for, but anyone outside of the 13 year old market would (should) probably be insulted by this feature.
The app is $2.99 on that iTunes App Store.
Resurrecting that cringing, crass and cacophonous representation of a character is a poor idea. Especially in this iteration. Let it die.
For the good of humanists everywhere.
In my head, all the characters from Fat Albert are saying in unison – “Nooooooo Class.”
Rest In Peace, Barb. No need whatsoever bringing back this junk. Whats next ? Ren & Stimpy ? Beevis & B***head ?
Reviving Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead would make a lot more sense as they were actually successful projects.
Wiley,
Puh-leeze. The Ren & Stimpy revival from Spike TV was a failure and no executive with an ounce of common-sense would give John K. (R&S creator) money to make another cartoon.
I didn’t care for the Ren and Stimpy revival, but at the time everyone thought it was a good idea and there was a lot of excitement.
I didn’t know there was a Ren & Stimpy revival. And it doesn’t surprise me that it was a failure… which was the point I was trying to make regarding Stripperela. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
So, in the interest of clarity, the subject of this is thread is, in my opinion, a truly bad idea. I’d be interested to see if there’s anyone who thinks otherwise. Haven’t seen one yet.
This outlandish failure serves to enforce that Marvel is only interested in big film productions and a small television market to compliment their book sales. An extreme lack of forward thinking that is very disappointing. Also a puzzling lack of insight by Universal UClick which has actually been very forward thinking in the past. It seems both parties agreed to the lowest common denominator just to get content out there, not really caring about the quality or the audience.
Oh yea, and PS: A Beavis and Butthead revival done correctly would have every teenage knucklehead anxious for the content.
Meat heads have money. Meatheads have iPhones. Sounds like “EPIC FAIL” will still bring in the bucks… Maybe the 2003 boondoggle will break even finally, who knows?
Stan the Man – that sounds good. But Stan the Meshugenah? Doesn’t really rhyme so well, does it?
Did I say “EPIC FAIL”?
I meant “EPIC TAIL”. 😉
@Garey Mckee What’s with the reference to Marvel? I was unaware they had anything to do with Stan’s Stripper-Hero.
I agree with Wiley; Uclick is liable to have more success with a comics/cartoon property that was/is proven successful in its original venue. Stripperella (which was Stan’s non-Marvel creation, Gerry) was awful the first time around, and was not improved by making it “mobile comic.”
Awful comics on the iPhone? Oh noooes! Oh wait a minute — most of those free (and paid) iPhone comics are awful already. Hmmm. With a name like Sripperella, at least the strip loudly proclaims AWFUL in the title. Tittle? No, title. 😉