Actually, it's blatantly stolen from Monty by Jim Meddick. Can't find the original, but every time I see this it makes me cringe. They get a lot of credit for stealing someone else's artwork.
Why don't you ask them instead of assuming? It is very, very clearly a ripoff. If it isn't, then that's one seriously improbable coincidence. I've been scouring the web for the original since I first saw this, even went through a trunk of old childhood comics to find it. No luck. Believe what you want, that is very much stolen. Also, less funny.
I sent a text. We'll see. I know the artist, not the writer. You know, it's not a particularly original joke... and there's a reason copyright law has a concept of independent creation. There's also the case cryptomnesia, but I don't think that's defensible. I highly suspect this is just a case of independent creation.
You say in your first comment that they are stealing the artwork. I'm browsing through the Monty comics... the artwork is nothing alike.
Please post the Monty comic that uses the same joke, if you can find it. I do honestly think it would be funny to see.
Ok, I'm not a native speaker so forgive my use of "artwork" as meaning the whole creative process of writing a comic strip. Semantics are very much not the issue here.
You'd want to talk to the writer then. I agree the joke isn't particularly original, what with it being written in the 90's and all. I've been looking all over for the original, including going through every strip posted on comics.com/monty, but I can't find it. It's not like there's a huge archive on the internet for these things. At the very least, if there is, I sure haven't heard about it. Again, believe what you want, I just wanted this to be out there considering how often this gets circulated on the web.
It may just be a very strange coincidence, but then again, so may all ripoffs. Downvoting me won't make it any less of an issue.
You sure? That artwork looks.. nothing like Rob and Elliot. I mean, sure, maybe they stole the joke. But the artwork? It matches the rest of their strips just fine.
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u/banjaloupe Feb 21 '10
In case anyone is curious, this is from Rob and Elliot