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Cherry (comics)
Encyclopedia
Cherry is an adult comic book
with a protagonist of the same name, written and drawn by Larry Welz
.
trademark
, as confirmed by Welz himself. It has also been suggested that Welz decided that the "Cherry" name alone was better as a brand and looked better as a logo. Inside the comic Cherry's name was changed to Cherry Popstar, and that name was used in a number of stories, but she was most frequently referred to by just her first name.
The original series has also spawned a spinoff title in 1992 - Cherry's Jubilee - which ran four issues, and featured stories from other writers and artists alongside work by Welz. In addition, individual issues are collected in a series of Cherry Collections. Welz has also produced an issue of Cherry Deluxe featuring a story by Neil Gaiman
.
The original publisher of the comic was Last Gasp
through Issue 13. Kitchen Sink Press
published issues 14-15,as well as reprinting the Last Gasp issues with some modifications (mostly ads). Beginning with issue 16, Welz formed Cherry Comics which currently publishes Cherry and related titles. Again, earlier issues were modified for the new printings, and some bear a "Second Edition" mark.
Though the comic is largely known as an erotic or pornographic book, it does garner critical merit for its humor and occasional political commentary. The Cherry character has also appeared in several free speech/censorship
awareness campaigns. The series is among the largest-selling of the underground comics, and is among those titles credited with reviving that genre.
Contrasting the subject matter with more "innocent" connotations, Welz draws the comic in a simple style reminiscent of Dan DeCarlo
, whose style was also the basis for the Archie comic book series
, though he does experiment with different drawing styles, including a 3D
edition. The strip so closely followed the "Happy Teenager" genre typified by Archie that lawsuits were threatened, but these failed to stop Welz, who overtly lampooned the Archie characters in a story "Vampironica", though that particular story was pulled from subsequent printings.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
with a protagonist of the same name, written and drawn by Larry Welz
Larry Welz
Larry Welz is an American cartoonist and commercial artist, and the creator of Cherry Poptart . He is a noteworthy early contributor to the underground comics movement based in the San Francisco area in the late 1960s and early 1970s.In 1969 his work was published in Yellow Dog, a tabloid comic...
.
History
First published in 1982 the comic series was originally called Cherry Poptart, but the title was changed to Cherry beginning with Issue #3 following litigation or threats of litigation by Kellogg's over its Pop-TartsPop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts is a brand of rectangular, pre-baked toaster pastries made by the Kellogg Company. Pop-Tarts have a sugary filling sealed inside two layers of rectangular, thin pastry crust. Some varieties are frosted. Although sold pre-cooked, they are designed to be warmed inside a toaster or...
trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
, as confirmed by Welz himself. It has also been suggested that Welz decided that the "Cherry" name alone was better as a brand and looked better as a logo. Inside the comic Cherry's name was changed to Cherry Popstar, and that name was used in a number of stories, but she was most frequently referred to by just her first name.
The original series has also spawned a spinoff title in 1992 - Cherry's Jubilee - which ran four issues, and featured stories from other writers and artists alongside work by Welz. In addition, individual issues are collected in a series of Cherry Collections. Welz has also produced an issue of Cherry Deluxe featuring a story by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
.
The original publisher of the comic was Last Gasp
Last Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
through Issue 13. Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
published issues 14-15,as well as reprinting the Last Gasp issues with some modifications (mostly ads). Beginning with issue 16, Welz formed Cherry Comics which currently publishes Cherry and related titles. Again, earlier issues were modified for the new printings, and some bear a "Second Edition" mark.
Though the comic is largely known as an erotic or pornographic book, it does garner critical merit for its humor and occasional political commentary. The Cherry character has also appeared in several free speech/censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
awareness campaigns. The series is among the largest-selling of the underground comics, and is among those titles credited with reviving that genre.
Contrasting the subject matter with more "innocent" connotations, Welz draws the comic in a simple style reminiscent of Dan DeCarlo
Dan DeCarlo
Daniel S. DeCarlo was an American cartoonist best known as the artist who developed the look of Archie Comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, modernizing the characters to their contemporary appearance and establishing the publisher's house style...
, whose style was also the basis for the Archie comic book series
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, though he does experiment with different drawing styles, including a 3D
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
edition. The strip so closely followed the "Happy Teenager" genre typified by Archie that lawsuits were threatened, but these failed to stop Welz, who overtly lampooned the Archie characters in a story "Vampironica", though that particular story was pulled from subsequent printings.
Family
- Cherry— The main character is a high school student who is described by the comic's publishers as "blonde, cute, sexy, fun, friendly & smart." Her character is bisexual and promiscuous, and can seemingly become sexually aroused simply by breathing. Cherry does not age, but perpetually has "just turned 18".
- Pepper— Cherry's mother, a divorced MILF, Pepper is a grown-up version of Cherry, looking very similar and apparently having the same sexual appetites. She and Cherry co-star in some stories, and Pepper stars alone in others. In Cherry #14, Cherry's father is revealed to be either George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, Davy CrockettDavy CrockettDavid "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
, Jesse JamesJesse JamesJesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
, or James DeanJames DeanJames Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, as Pepper had group sexGroup sexGroup sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Group sex can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders...
with all of them at the same time.
- Cinnamon— Cherry's little sister. She appeared in one single-page mini-story in Issue No 2 in which she was indignant about not being allowed to perform any sex acts in the comic, due to being underage. Weltz explained in The Gauntlet in 1992 that the issue and the character were intended to address the serious issue of concerns raised by his publisher that if Cherry was depicted as being under 18, the strip could be classified as child pornography.
Boyfriends
- Johnny Fuckerfaster — Cherry's best male friend.
- Ronnie — A boy with a "tuff" car on whom she performed oral sexOral sexOral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
so she could drive (and subsequently wreck) the car. - Joey — A sexual partner who helps her with her homework.
- Steve— Cherry's "boyfriend".
Girlfriends
- Ellie Dee—Cherry's best friend, Ellie is tall, slender, and dark-haired, and wears large, round eyeglasses. A lover of computers and gadgets, Ellie is often drawn into sexual situations through technological accidents. Occasionally her computer transports her (and sometimes her friends) to 'online' worlds. In issue #8 Ellie is prominently featured in a Dorothy GaleDorothy GaleDorothy Gale is the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum, and the best friend of Oz's ruler Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels...
/OzThe Wizard of Oz (adaptations)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
parody called "Ellie Dee in the Land of Woz". In keeping with her stories' technological themes, her name is a homonymHomonymIn linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
for LEDLight-emitting diodeA light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
. - Patty Melt—Another of Cherry's girlfriends, she is short, buxom, and freckled. Patty is as sexually eager as Cherry.
- Lola Palooza—Another of Cherry's girlfriends. A rich, stuck up character into bondageBondage (BDSM)Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
and domination.
Others
- Captain Eeyow—parody of Captain EoCaptain EOCaptain EO is a 3-D science fiction film starring Michael Jackson and directed by Francis Ford Coppola that was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s...
, the Michael JacksonMichael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
science fiction character, found in the 3D issue. In the Eeyow story, Cherry pulls off his pants to find no genitalia of either gender. - Steve Tyler—Cherry's favorite rock star.
- Mr. Feeney—A teacher Cherry had sex with.