Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
Encyclopedia
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet is a comic strip
by Peter Zale about a technically adept young woman who works at a technology firm. It was the first comic strip to make the leap from the Internet to newspaper syndication. It began online in 1996 and was syndicated to newspapers by Tribune Media Services
from June 5, 2000 to December 25, 2005.
Helen's programming skills and warped use of them led to being defined as a modern day mad scientist
. Such things as making artificial intelligences without thinking it odd are common throughout the series.
A friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters led Zale into strip cartooning and away from his first love, comic books. He published his first continuing comic strips in The Chicago Maroon
while an undergraduate at the University of Chicago
.
Launched as an online-only comic in June 1996, Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet grew in popularity, receiving attention in The New York Times
, New Straits Times
, How, The Plain Dealer and other publications. It was syndicated by Tribune Media in 2000 simultaneous with McGraw-Hill's book collection, Techies Unite. At its peak, it was published in 60 newspapers.
In 1998, Zale and Christopher Baldwin
created what is believed to be the "first Internet comics crossover" with the webcomic Bruno
.
On December 26, 2005, Zale went on sabbatical from the strip to complete his MBA studies.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
by Peter Zale about a technically adept young woman who works at a technology firm. It was the first comic strip to make the leap from the Internet to newspaper syndication. It began online in 1996 and was syndicated to newspapers by Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company.The company has two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products"...
from June 5, 2000 to December 25, 2005.
Characters and story
Helen is a woman too young, too smart and too messed up by her precocity to ever live a normal life. Zale drew her as a very intelligent buxom blond bombshell, casting her against the "dumb blonde" stereotype. Her looks, though, meant almost nothing to her, and her femininity only occurred to her as an afterthought and was usually applied with more aggressiveness than any man had ever seen, mostly upon her boyfriend Spencer Green, a character Zale introduced in a strip he syndicated with the College Press in the early 1990s.Helen's programming skills and warped use of them led to being defined as a modern day mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
. Such things as making artificial intelligences without thinking it odd are common throughout the series.
A friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters led Zale into strip cartooning and away from his first love, comic books. He published his first continuing comic strips in The Chicago Maroon
The Chicago Maroon
The Chicago Maroon, the independent student newspaper of the University of Chicago, is a twice-weekly publication that traces its founding to 1892. During autumn, winter, and spring quarters of the academic year, the Maroon publishes every Tuesday and Friday. The paper consists of four sections:...
while an undergraduate at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Launched as an online-only comic in June 1996, Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet grew in popularity, receiving attention in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
, How, The Plain Dealer and other publications. It was syndicated by Tribune Media in 2000 simultaneous with McGraw-Hill's book collection, Techies Unite. At its peak, it was published in 60 newspapers.
In 1998, Zale and Christopher Baldwin
Christopher Baldwin
Christopher Baldwin is an American illustrator and author of several webcomics, the most significant being Bruno, a look at the life of an introspective young woman set in the real world....
created what is believed to be the "first Internet comics crossover" with the webcomic Bruno
Bruno (webcomic)
Bruno is a webcomic written and drawn by Christopher Baldwin from January 1, 1996 to February 14, 2007. Its storylines revolve around the life of an introspective young woman, set in the real world. Her unusual name comes from the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno...
.
On December 26, 2005, Zale went on sabbatical from the strip to complete his MBA studies.