I don't know how widely Big Nate is syndicated in newspapers but as part of the GoComics stable, I'm guessing it's seen by quite a few people. When I occasionally flip through the criminally misnamed "funny pages," Big Nate is a beacon of mild entertainment, one of a scant few such dim lights in the cold, black, humorless night that is today's newspaper comics section. That is to say, I don't love it, but I'm not physically repulsed by it either. Sometimes I feel something like a smile approaching when I read it.
Not June 19th, though.
Look familiar? It should, assuming you're familiar with one of history's greatest works of literature: Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. (I understand if you never return after clicking that last link, as a C&H search engine is a transmogrifier that converts spare time into spent time.)
I don't know if the Big Nate strip is a less funny rip-off, a less funny accident, or a less funny homage. But without some clearer nods to its source material (for example, if Peirce's strip had appeared on the anniversary of the C&H strip's original publication date), I'm ruling out homage. It's possible Peirce was channeling Calvin and Hobbes accidentally, not realizing where his oh-so-clever inspiration was coming from, which happens to the best of us (even The Beatles; I'll let my dad elaborate on that one). I hope that's the case.
Either way, this reminded me a lot of my last post about sampling. Sure, everything's stolen, and I bet someone will point out a comedian from the '50s from whom Bill Watterson stole this bit (as a matter of fact, judging by the search engine, Watterson recycled his original strip with slightly enhanced colors four years later...is it stealing if you steal from yourself? As John Fogerty of CCR knows, yes, sometimes; once again, I defer to my dad on this explanation). But it's much less palatable when no personal spin is added, especially when these are two artists using the same exact medium. And it's worse when no explicit credit is given. Cite your sources, Peirce, if that is how your name is really spelled.
Edit, July 3, 2011: Whoops. In the second sentence, I originally called the creator of Big Nate "Leonard Peirce," but his name's actually Lincoln Peirce. I guess the "fool" in the title is me, too! Also, someone has since edited Peirce's Wikipedia page to reflect his job as a cartoonist rather than a cartoon. Looks like I'm making a difference in the world.
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Glad to provide some musical- legal background!
Plagiarism is sometimes quite unintentional-- but one can be punished for it anyway. George Harrison spent years in court defending his authorship of the big hit "My Sweet Lord." Bright Tunes Music, the publisher of "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons thought George had ripped the song off. George eventually lost the case, though the court agreed the melody appropriation seemed accidental. Harrison then wrote "This Song" for his LP "Thirty Three and 1/3" including the line "This song has nothing Bright about it!" Har!
Previously, George's Beatle bandmate John Lennon used a line similar to one from Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" for The Fabs' "Come Together": "Here come old flattop, he come groovin' up slowly." Chuck had sung "Here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me." Lennon was most likely giving a wink and a nod to his idol Chuck, but the publisher Big Seven Music Corp. owned by Morris Levy wanted payback. To avoid a lawsuit, Lennon agreed to record some of Levy's other copyrights. Thus was Lennon's "Rock and Roll Music" album inspired!
Brian Wilson had gotten into hot water with Chuck Berry's publishers years earlier. "Surfin' USA" was virtually the same melody as Chuck's "Sweet Little Sixteen." Chuck won music AND lyric credit for future pressings of the Beach Boys hit.
The oddest case is John Fogerty being sued for plagiarizing himself! John wrote "Run Through The Jungle" for the Creedence Clearwater Revival LP "Cosmo's Factory in 1970. In the 1980's, long after Fogerty's acrimonious departure from Fantasy Records, he recorded a song for a solo album called "The Old Man Down The Road." There's no denying it sounds a bit like "Jungle." Fantasy, which owned the original song's publishing, sued Fogerty for ripping himself-- but mostly them-- off. That case finally got kicked, though the part of the case concerning whether Fogerty was owed legal fees for the unsuccessful suit eventually wound up before the US Supreme Court! Justice may be blind, but it's not deaf.
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