Sherman's Lagoon
Encyclopedia
Sherman's Lagoon is a comic strip
by Jim Toomey
that is syndicated daily in over 150 newspapers worldwide. It first appeared in the Escondido Times-Advocate
on May 13, 1991.
The strip takes place at the fictional Kapupu Lagoon by the island of Kapupu in the South Pacific Ocean
, west of the Elabaob Islands in the Palau
an archipelago
of Micronesia
.
The strip is centered on the misadventures of an overweight, lazy Great White shark named Sherman, his controlling, hot-tempered wife Megan, and the friends and foes they share their tropical home with.
, and often tries to please his friends and family, but most of the time falls short because of his low IQ. On rare occasions, he has been shown bringing Megan gifts for no special reason and acting romantic; however, these instances are few and far between and most of the time he's obnoxious, lazy and hopelessly out of touch with his wife. Some strips imply he cross-dresses. He often baits "hairless beach apes" with a variety of items attached to the end of a fishing rod, including beer bottles, wallets, and other props. In addition, Sherman likes to fight giant squid
, sometimes for dinner, sometimes just for fun, and at least once over a loan. Dolphins and giant squids are his two seaborne enemies. One recurring storyline is the 'roadtrips' he takes with his best friend Ernest to places like the Ganges River, the Nile, the Amazon, and various other places. In a serial published in 2004, he and his wife Megan had a baby shark, whom they named "Herman". Since then, some of the strip's serials have focused on Sherman and Megan's amusing attempts to care for their newborn child. A series of strips brought in the concept of shark finning
, and Sherman was actually 'finned' and died. In 'Shark Heaven', the angel said there were already too many sharks there, so he would give him a second chance.
of the comic strip. Fillmore's hobbies include reading, caring for his own son, and having as many conversations with the other sea creatures as possible. Most of the time he is seen simply leaning against a rock reading a novel, and acts as sort of a straight man for the other more outgoing characters. Once a year, Fillmore makes the long trip to Ascension Island
in hopes of finding a permanent mate. However, he strikes out every year, either due to his hopeless nerdiness, his complete lack of ability to even engage in a simple conversation with a girl, or his overpowering cologne. Once though, he won the Ascension Island challenge and had an entire island of she-turtles to himself. He promptly fainted from shock and missed out again. However, he has come close on a few occasions, but the only female to ever fall completely in love with him was an enormous sea elephant, thanks to Ernest's 'pheromone cologne'. One serial even saw the turtle transform into a woman for nearly two months of the comic's duration because he hadn't had a mate for so long. During one trip to Ascension Island, he found a baby sea turtle and adopted him, naming him Clayton. He wishes his lagoon neighbors would act more sophisticated, and has been shown watching 'Masterpiece Theater' and operas. He possesses a kind heart, and most of the time simply wants someone to talk to. He has stated in one strip that he is a virgo
.
of the strip. He is rude, abrasive, insulting, stingy, and a borderline criminal. Hawthorne, unlike other hermit crabs, prefers a beer can rather than a "normal" shell. His interests include scamming the other members of the strip out of money or resources, cracking jokes and insults, and pinching hairless beach apes (and Sherman). A recurring storyline is Hawthorne's many get-rich-quick scheme
s and business ventures, usually tailored to rip his friends off. Some of his businesses have included a general store, a photo lab, an airline, a bank, a nuclear power plant, and a casino. His businesses usually flop, either due to bankruptcy, his own incompetence, or his losing interest in his own scheme. His ownership of the local newspaper, the Lagoon Tribune, appears to be the only business he has been able to manage through the course of the strip. He is also the Lagoon's mayor from time to time. More recent strips imply that he's been in jail. Other ventures of his included using steroids on an oyster to get him to produce a pearl a day. (Eventually, Megan, not knowing that the oyster was Hawthorne's, took it to make a Martha Stewart-style oyster provencalê for dinner.) In earlier strips, Hawthorne would shed his shell once a year and simply strut around naked. (Nothing but his rear-end is seen). He also enjoyed mooning scuba-divers and his friends, and running around singing "I feel pretty, so so pretty!" However, recently it seems that he has removed his can for good and walks around in the buff, and his friends don't show the disgust they did in earlier comics. His crab hole has been portrayed several different ways. Early on in the strip it was shown as a posh cave mansion with chandeliers, rugs, china cabinets, and luxurious furniture. Recently, it has been portrayed as the typical bachelor pad, housing a beat-up couch and socks and pizza crusts that move on their own. Although little is known about his past, he once revealed to Thornton that he was born in Las Vegas. He hates Windows computers
, and therefore Bill Gates
as well, once taking great pleasure in pinching his toes.
on his nose. Ernest can gain access to virtually any computer in the world, and has hacked into almost every file on the internet. (He once ordered Vermont to declare war on Canada.) He is also known for his crazy inventions, such as a chip that takes control of people's brains. He also built a probe and sent it to Mars
; unfortunately, it was destroyed by Sherman. He has gone on many adventures with Sherman to exotic places in the world, such as the sunken RMS Titanic, the Amazon River
, the Ganges, and a Russian lake in Abkhazia
. On one of their adventures they found themselves in a fountain in Las Vegas, and ended up gambling away all their money in a casino (as well as several of Sherman's teeth). Like Hawthorne, he hates Bill Gates. He is seldom the central character in the strip's serials. His role is usually solving the lagoon's problems. He once used his computer skills to crash a tanker filled with Prozac in the lagoon to stop a pod of suicidal whales from beaching themselves. On occasion, he is the cause of the lagoon's problems (In one strip he tapped into an undersea cable and caused a worldwide tele-communications failure). He was also almost arrested once for illegally downloading every movie on the planet, but wired them all into Fillmore's computer, causing him to be sent to prison instead. Little is known about his family, though earlier strips showed him being one of several dozen brothers and sisters.
of the strip. His first appearance was early on in the strip, when he apparently fell asleep on an iceberg and drifted into the lagoon. He has made it a point to show up every year to hibernate on the beach, sometimes not returning to the North Pole
at all. He was much more active in early strips, as he was depicted waterskiing and attending windsurfing classes. He struggled with homesickness when first introduced, saying that piña colada
s reminded him of the snowdrifts of home. When inquired as to why he kept returning to the lagoon, he replied that the snowdrifts reminded him of piña coladas. He was shown once at the North Pole, accompanied by Hawthorne. There, his polar bear friends simultaneously guzzle Coca-Cola
s and the 'pole' has been replace by a Starbucks
. Among other things, he sometimes serves as a guinea pig for Ernest's experiments, once testing a mousse that made his hair fall out. (He apparently has a tattoo on his butt that he got in the army.) His relationship with Sherman has been portrayed as both a friendship and a rivalry. He loves to eat frozen tundra-lemmings, and has bragged of devouring an entire team of Russian scientists and their sled dogs. He grew more inactive as the strip progressed, being too lazy to even attend the birthday party Fillmore threw for him. He is mostly shown napping on the beach and drinking a smoothie out of a martini glass.
. He's most often referred to as "One of those really ugly fish." He doesn't speak too often, aside from belching, and has a habit of eating stuff found on the bottom of the sea. Before Fillmore and Sherman discovered this, they thought he was singing opera, but they later discovered that he had swallowed a radio. In earlier strips he was less ugly and could talk, once being shown doing a Groucho Marx impression. In another strip he pulled a gun on the other characters for making fun of him. One of his few speaking lines was a shrill: "AAGH! I'm hideous!" after he wore a cursed necklace that made him look like Ted Koppel
. Recently, Bob has returned to the strip in his original mute form: a spotted, big-lipped fish with bulging, misshapen eyes and a belching habit.
, as stated in one strip - reminiscent of the moai
on Easter Island
. The other characters come to Kahuna for wisdom, though Kahuna's logic cannot always be trusted, as he was unable to help Ernest solve a simple word problem. He's also known to have magic tiki powers. In one strip he turned Sherman and Fillmore into humans so they could go to a Rolling Stones concert. On another occasion, it was said that he transformed Sherman into a Q-Tip for his own personal use. His arch-rival, a Polynesian fish deity, is Apo-Ko-Hai. A war was nearly started between the two because of Sherman's gluttony, but Fillmore ended the conflict peacefully (except for Sherman, whom he made dress up like Dolly Parton
.). Kahuna has little tolerance for beer, and has stated that he is 800 years old.
was funny.) He appears to be a good, well-behaved child, only going out of control when Fillmore volunteered to babysit him. (Although it should be noted that when he was given a bucket to put his toys away in, the only thing he managed to do was pee in it.) He appears to take after his father, once coming in first place in a baby drooling contest.
crash. Clayton is usually seen wearing a baseball cap.
who wears thick glasses similar to Ernest's and a striped tie. His character wasn't developed much, as he often appeared in crowd scenes or strips where another straight man was needed. His character was retired in the early 90's.
ed him at the breakfast table, and again when he willingly donated his brain in lieu of Sherman's, who went brain dead from watching too much of the O.J. trial
. When the other characters found Sherman's brain (which had been taken by a fish during surgery) they decided to freeze Herman's in tin foil rather than try to return it. He has not been seen in the strip since.
. His role is to fight Sherman, and he is usually the victor. (He was shown getting eaten in one strip, but this could have been another Giant Squid.) In one strip, Sherman found that he could not beat the squid at his own game (Twister), and challenged him to a Monopoly match. They have also been seen playing chess, but once again resorted to violence to solve their differences. He had not been seen in the strip for several years, leading many fans to speculate that his character had been retired. However, he showed up in a recent strip at a fancy restaurant where he fought Sherman, leaving him in the end twisted into a pretzel.
or asking him for two ten-dollar bills as change for a five-dollar bill. Sherman once attempted to have him and the Dolphin sign a peace treaty, only to have the Dolphin trick Sherman into signing a contract leaving all of his possessions to him in the event of his demise, followed by a contract donating all of Sherman's organs for immediate research. It could be believed that the Dolphin is in fact a master con artist.
The strip is serialized with the story running for a week or more on some occasions.
The daily strip usually runs to four panels. The Sunday strip is in a two tiered format with a large logo panel appearing on the left of the strip.
The strip's humor is aimed more at late teens and adults, with frequent lampoons of famous pop culture icons, such as Michael Jackson
, Martha Stewart
, Cher
, Elvis Presley
, Barry Bonds
, Dick Clark and Pamela Anderson
, to name just a few. It also occasionally takes jabs at political figures, such as Bill Clinton
.
For the most part, the strip's characters respond to death with indifference or coldness, as much of the plot revolves around what Sherman and Megan are going to eat for dinner. For instance, one comic had Megan declaring she was in the mood for Italian, and the two sharks immediately sought to find an Italian swimming in the water. Also, a large group of tourists swimming in the lagoon is referred to as 'the buffet'. Poodles are regarded as a delicacy, and Sherman regularly eats smaller fish that swim by. One strip saw a fish committing suicide by swimming into Sherman's mouth while he yawned. Characters have also been seen going to shark-themed restaurants. ('Leg of Pam', 'Bloody Mary's, and 'Beans and Frank' have been named from the menu.) However, on one occasion Megan pulled a tourist under, then let him go unscathed, thus practicing her method of 'catch and release'.
The strip occasionally breaks the fourth wall
, with characters acknowledging that they are living in a comic strip. One such strip had Sherman asking Hawthorne when their new video series (called 'Barnacle the Purple Arthropod', a parody of Barney the Dinosaur) would to be produced, and Hawthorne replying 'It's only been one panel.' 'Felt like two.'
Another strip parodied Peanuts
, with Hawthorne holding a football and Fillmore running to kick it. The ball rebounded off the side of the panel and hit Filmore in the head. (This incident followed a conversation they had in which Hawthorne told Fillmore that he wouldn't pull the ball away like Lucy Van Pelt
because 'We aren't living in a comic strip'.)
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 Jim Toomey
Jim Toomey
James Patrick Toomey is a popular American cartoonist famous for his comic Sherman's Lagoon. Toomey received his B.S.E. from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering in 1983, an M.L.A...
that is syndicated daily in over 150 newspapers worldwide. It first appeared in the Escondido Times-Advocate
North County Times
The North County Times is a local newspaper in north San Diego County, California owned by Lee Enterprises. It is headquartered in Escondido. The current publisher is Peter York....
on May 13, 1991.
The strip takes place at the fictional Kapupu Lagoon by the island of Kapupu in the South Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, west of the Elabaob Islands in the Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
an archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
of Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
.
The strip is centered on the misadventures of an overweight, lazy Great White shark named Sherman, his controlling, hot-tempered wife Megan, and the friends and foes they share their tropical home with.
Sherman
The main character of the strip. Sherman is overweight, lazy and an eating machine. His immaturity and child-like personality frustrates his wife, Megan, to no end, and provides ample opportunities for some of his friends to blindly rip him off. Although not the most intelligent of all the characters, Sherman is a good-hearted great white sharkGreat white shark
The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...
, and often tries to please his friends and family, but most of the time falls short because of his low IQ. On rare occasions, he has been shown bringing Megan gifts for no special reason and acting romantic; however, these instances are few and far between and most of the time he's obnoxious, lazy and hopelessly out of touch with his wife. Some strips imply he cross-dresses. He often baits "hairless beach apes" with a variety of items attached to the end of a fishing rod, including beer bottles, wallets, and other props. In addition, Sherman likes to fight giant squid
Giant squid
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species...
, sometimes for dinner, sometimes just for fun, and at least once over a loan. Dolphins and giant squids are his two seaborne enemies. One recurring storyline is the 'roadtrips' he takes with his best friend Ernest to places like the Ganges River, the Nile, the Amazon, and various other places. In a serial published in 2004, he and his wife Megan had a baby shark, whom they named "Herman". Since then, some of the strip's serials have focused on Sherman and Megan's amusing attempts to care for their newborn child. A series of strips brought in the concept of shark finning
Shark finning
Shark finning refers to the removal and retention of shark fins and the discarding of the rest of the fish. Shark finning takes place at sea so the fishers only have to transport the fins.Shark finning is widespread, and largely unmanaged and unmonitored...
, and Sherman was actually 'finned' and died. In 'Shark Heaven', the angel said there were already too many sharks there, so he would give him a second chance.
Megan
Sherman's controlling wife. She always wears a string of pearls around her neck (this also distinguishes her from Sherman in the black-and-white strips during the week). She quite possibly possesses the most fiery temper and personality of the comic strip, and easily intimidates other characters to get her own way. Fillmore is downright terrified of her. She is a perfectionist and a control freak; however, she can be just as lazy as her husband. Her activities include cooking, shopping, caring for Herman, fishing for humans with Sherman, and often threatening Hawthorne for a number of practical jokes played on her. She almost always ends up coming to her husband's rescue, whether saving him from a swarm of tiger prawns or preventing Hawthorne from stealing all his money. Although she often expresses her frustration with Sherman (and has threatened him more than once) she does love him deep down. She is an avid follower of Martha Stewart, and has thrown parties in her honor in several strips. A semi-recurring storyline is Megan's attempts to be accepted into rich clubs, one of them being SnobCrest. However; she is always turned away, either because of Sherman, or her own rough personality. On one or more occasions, Megan has also fought the Giant Squid.Fillmore
The lonely bachelor sea turtleSea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
of the comic strip. Fillmore's hobbies include reading, caring for his own son, and having as many conversations with the other sea creatures as possible. Most of the time he is seen simply leaning against a rock reading a novel, and acts as sort of a straight man for the other more outgoing characters. Once a year, Fillmore makes the long trip to Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
in hopes of finding a permanent mate. However, he strikes out every year, either due to his hopeless nerdiness, his complete lack of ability to even engage in a simple conversation with a girl, or his overpowering cologne. Once though, he won the Ascension Island challenge and had an entire island of she-turtles to himself. He promptly fainted from shock and missed out again. However, he has come close on a few occasions, but the only female to ever fall completely in love with him was an enormous sea elephant, thanks to Ernest's 'pheromone cologne'. One serial even saw the turtle transform into a woman for nearly two months of the comic's duration because he hadn't had a mate for so long. During one trip to Ascension Island, he found a baby sea turtle and adopted him, naming him Clayton. He wishes his lagoon neighbors would act more sophisticated, and has been shown watching 'Masterpiece Theater' and operas. He possesses a kind heart, and most of the time simply wants someone to talk to. He has stated in one strip that he is a virgo
Virgo
-Astronomy:* Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo* Virgo , a constellation* Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy* Virgo Supercluster, a galactic supercluster-Surname:* Virgo...
.
Hawthorne
The scheming hermit crabHermit crab
Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most of the 1100 species possess an asymmetrical abdomen which is concealed in an empty gastropod shell that is carried around by the hermit crab.-Description:...
of the strip. He is rude, abrasive, insulting, stingy, and a borderline criminal. Hawthorne, unlike other hermit crabs, prefers a beer can rather than a "normal" shell. His interests include scamming the other members of the strip out of money or resources, cracking jokes and insults, and pinching hairless beach apes (and Sherman). A recurring storyline is Hawthorne's many get-rich-quick scheme
Get-rich-quick scheme
A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to acquire high rates of return for a small investment. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 1900s....
s and business ventures, usually tailored to rip his friends off. Some of his businesses have included a general store, a photo lab, an airline, a bank, a nuclear power plant, and a casino. His businesses usually flop, either due to bankruptcy, his own incompetence, or his losing interest in his own scheme. His ownership of the local newspaper, the Lagoon Tribune, appears to be the only business he has been able to manage through the course of the strip. He is also the Lagoon's mayor from time to time. More recent strips imply that he's been in jail. Other ventures of his included using steroids on an oyster to get him to produce a pearl a day. (Eventually, Megan, not knowing that the oyster was Hawthorne's, took it to make a Martha Stewart-style oyster provencalê for dinner.) In earlier strips, Hawthorne would shed his shell once a year and simply strut around naked. (Nothing but his rear-end is seen). He also enjoyed mooning scuba-divers and his friends, and running around singing "I feel pretty, so so pretty!" However, recently it seems that he has removed his can for good and walks around in the buff, and his friends don't show the disgust they did in earlier comics. His crab hole has been portrayed several different ways. Early on in the strip it was shown as a posh cave mansion with chandeliers, rugs, china cabinets, and luxurious furniture. Recently, it has been portrayed as the typical bachelor pad, housing a beat-up couch and socks and pizza crusts that move on their own. Although little is known about his past, he once revealed to Thornton that he was born in Las Vegas. He hates Windows computers
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, and therefore Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
as well, once taking great pleasure in pinching his toes.
Ernest
The brainy fish of the strip. He is Sherman's best friend, as they share the same maturity level. He wears thick, oversized glassesGlasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
on his nose. Ernest can gain access to virtually any computer in the world, and has hacked into almost every file on the internet. (He once ordered Vermont to declare war on Canada.) He is also known for his crazy inventions, such as a chip that takes control of people's brains. He also built a probe and sent it to Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
; unfortunately, it was destroyed by Sherman. He has gone on many adventures with Sherman to exotic places in the world, such as the sunken RMS Titanic, the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
, the Ganges, and a Russian lake in Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
. On one of their adventures they found themselves in a fountain in Las Vegas, and ended up gambling away all their money in a casino (as well as several of Sherman's teeth). Like Hawthorne, he hates Bill Gates. He is seldom the central character in the strip's serials. His role is usually solving the lagoon's problems. He once used his computer skills to crash a tanker filled with Prozac in the lagoon to stop a pod of suicidal whales from beaching themselves. On occasion, he is the cause of the lagoon's problems (In one strip he tapped into an undersea cable and caused a worldwide tele-communications failure). He was also almost arrested once for illegally downloading every movie on the planet, but wired them all into Fillmore's computer, causing him to be sent to prison instead. Little is known about his family, though earlier strips showed him being one of several dozen brothers and sisters.
Thornton
The sleepy, hibernating polar bearPolar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
of the strip. His first appearance was early on in the strip, when he apparently fell asleep on an iceberg and drifted into the lagoon. He has made it a point to show up every year to hibernate on the beach, sometimes not returning to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
at all. He was much more active in early strips, as he was depicted waterskiing and attending windsurfing classes. He struggled with homesickness when first introduced, saying that piña colada
Piña Colada
The piña colada is a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with rum, cream of coconut, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with a pineapple wedge or a maraschino cherry or both...
s reminded him of the snowdrifts of home. When inquired as to why he kept returning to the lagoon, he replied that the snowdrifts reminded him of piña coladas. He was shown once at the North Pole, accompanied by Hawthorne. There, his polar bear friends simultaneously guzzle Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
s and the 'pole' has been replace by a Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
. Among other things, he sometimes serves as a guinea pig for Ernest's experiments, once testing a mousse that made his hair fall out. (He apparently has a tattoo on his butt that he got in the army.) His relationship with Sherman has been portrayed as both a friendship and a rivalry. He loves to eat frozen tundra-lemmings, and has bragged of devouring an entire team of Russian scientists and their sled dogs. He grew more inactive as the strip progressed, being too lazy to even attend the birthday party Fillmore threw for him. He is mostly shown napping on the beach and drinking a smoothie out of a martini glass.
Captain Quigley
The ever-persistent fisherman trying to hunt down Sherman. Their rivalry apparently goes back years. Sherman once stated, "My mother ate his mother." Quigley has used a number of different tools in his quest to catch Sherman, ranging from an ordinary fishing pole to a killer robot dolphin. On of his more elaborate traps was an exquisite chicken dinner laid on good china on a table with linen cloth. (Sherman didn't buy it because he doesn't believe red wine should be served with that dish.) He caught Sherman once; however, Hawthorne rescued him 'commando style'. (He rigged the fishing trawler to blow, unfortunately, he forgot to get Sherman off first and almost killed him in the process.) He also may have captured Fillmore. He seems to be constantly outwitted by the shark and his friends.Bob The Bottom Dweller
A bottom-feeding sea creature whose species is unspecified, though he might be a type of flounderFlounder
The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic...
. He's most often referred to as "One of those really ugly fish." He doesn't speak too often, aside from belching, and has a habit of eating stuff found on the bottom of the sea. Before Fillmore and Sherman discovered this, they thought he was singing opera, but they later discovered that he had swallowed a radio. In earlier strips he was less ugly and could talk, once being shown doing a Groucho Marx impression. In another strip he pulled a gun on the other characters for making fun of him. One of his few speaking lines was a shrill: "AAGH! I'm hideous!" after he wore a cursed necklace that made him look like Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel
Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008...
. Recently, Bob has returned to the strip in his original mute form: a spotted, big-lipped fish with bulging, misshapen eyes and a belching habit.
Kahuna
An undersea statue. He is possibly a deityDeity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
, as stated in one strip - reminiscent of the moai
Moai
Moai , or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the...
on Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. The other characters come to Kahuna for wisdom, though Kahuna's logic cannot always be trusted, as he was unable to help Ernest solve a simple word problem. He's also known to have magic tiki powers. In one strip he turned Sherman and Fillmore into humans so they could go to a Rolling Stones concert. On another occasion, it was said that he transformed Sherman into a Q-Tip for his own personal use. His arch-rival, a Polynesian fish deity, is Apo-Ko-Hai. A war was nearly started between the two because of Sherman's gluttony, but Fillmore ended the conflict peacefully (except for Sherman, whom he made dress up like Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
.). Kahuna has little tolerance for beer, and has stated that he is 800 years old.
Herman
Son of Megan and Sherman. His birth appeared in the 26 April 2004 daily strip, after a serialization on Megan's pregnancy that first appeared in the 25 January 2004 Sunday strip. He was named after one of Sherman's brothers. Shortly after his birth, he suffered from an eye disease that placed both eyeballs on the side of his head. Sherman confessed to Megan that it was the result of a recessive flounder gene in his side of the family. (Incidentally, Sherman also used this opportunity to tell Megan that he never thought SeinfeldSeinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
was funny.) He appears to be a good, well-behaved child, only going out of control when Fillmore volunteered to babysit him. (Although it should be noted that when he was given a bucket to put his toys away in, the only thing he managed to do was pee in it.) He appears to take after his father, once coming in first place in a baby drooling contest.
Clayton
Fillmore's adopted son. He was found hatching on the beach after Fillmore arrived on Ascension Island, only to find that the entire event had been canceled. The moment he was born, Clayton was nearly devoured by a seagull, but was saved by Fillmore. Clayton's first words are thought to be "300 megahertz microprocessor," but he is seen speaking earlier in the strip's history. Clayton attends boarding school, though he occasionally comes home to visit his father and figurative "Uncle Sherman." His computer skills possibly match those of Ernest, as he once stated that he could make eBayEBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
crash. Clayton is usually seen wearing a baseball cap.
Broderick
A past character who is not remembered. He is a seahorseSeahorse
Seahorses compose the fish genus Hippocampus within the family Syngnathidae, in order Syngnathiformes. Syngnathidae also includes the pipefishes. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek hippos meaning "horse" and kampos meaning “sea monster”.There are nearly 50 species of seahorse...
who wears thick glasses similar to Ernest's and a striped tie. His character wasn't developed much, as he often appeared in crowd scenes or strips where another straight man was needed. His character was retired in the early 90's.
Rupert
Sherman's nephew. He was a minor character in earlier strips, showing up now and then to be educated by Sherman, as Herman hadn't been born yet. His character wasn't developed much, and his appearances were few and far between. He soaked up everything Sherman told him, even adopting his now retired catchphrase: "Can I eat this?"Herman (Sherman's brother)
Sherman's annoying and obnoxious brother who takes up residence in Lake Erie. He is hated by Megan and not regarded fondly by his brother (who was given 'good-morning' swirlies by him as a child.) He's also shown ignorance, as when introduced to Thornton he thought the bear was Polish because he was from the North Pole. Herman met his death twice in the series: once when Megan 'accidentally' harpoonHarpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
ed him at the breakfast table, and again when he willingly donated his brain in lieu of Sherman's, who went brain dead from watching too much of the O.J. trial
O. J. Simpson murder case
The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...
. When the other characters found Sherman's brain (which had been taken by a fish during surgery) they decided to freeze Herman's in tin foil rather than try to return it. He has not been seen in the strip since.
The Giant Squid
Sherman's arch-rival. He is fat, has short tentacles and two bulging eyes. He has only spoken once in the strip. Otherwise, he makes noises that sound a lot like flatulenceFlatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
. His role is to fight Sherman, and he is usually the victor. (He was shown getting eaten in one strip, but this could have been another Giant Squid.) In one strip, Sherman found that he could not beat the squid at his own game (Twister), and challenged him to a Monopoly match. They have also been seen playing chess, but once again resorted to violence to solve their differences. He had not been seen in the strip for several years, leading many fans to speculate that his character had been retired. However, he showed up in a recent strip at a fancy restaurant where he fought Sherman, leaving him in the end twisted into a pretzel.
The Dolphin
Another of Sherman's enemies. Like the Giant Squid, the Dolphin usually gets the best of Sherman, though he does so by outsmarting the shark rather than fighting him. The Dolphin regularly takes advantage of Sherman's stupidity, such as asking to borrow his credit cardCredit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
or asking him for two ten-dollar bills as change for a five-dollar bill. Sherman once attempted to have him and the Dolphin sign a peace treaty, only to have the Dolphin trick Sherman into signing a contract leaving all of his possessions to him in the event of his demise, followed by a contract donating all of Sherman's organs for immediate research. It could be believed that the Dolphin is in fact a master con artist.
Style
The strip is drawn in great detail and appears in colour. Though the characters live underwater, they are fully equipped with items like computers, laptops, iPods and other items which are drawn as realistically as possible.The strip is serialized with the story running for a week or more on some occasions.
The daily strip usually runs to four panels. The Sunday strip is in a two tiered format with a large logo panel appearing on the left of the strip.
The strip's humor is aimed more at late teens and adults, with frequent lampoons of famous pop culture icons, such as Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael 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...
, Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...
, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
, Dick Clark and Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
, to name just a few. It also occasionally takes jabs at political figures, such as Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
For the most part, the strip's characters respond to death with indifference or coldness, as much of the plot revolves around what Sherman and Megan are going to eat for dinner. For instance, one comic had Megan declaring she was in the mood for Italian, and the two sharks immediately sought to find an Italian swimming in the water. Also, a large group of tourists swimming in the lagoon is referred to as 'the buffet'. Poodles are regarded as a delicacy, and Sherman regularly eats smaller fish that swim by. One strip saw a fish committing suicide by swimming into Sherman's mouth while he yawned. Characters have also been seen going to shark-themed restaurants. ('Leg of Pam', 'Bloody Mary's, and 'Beans and Frank' have been named from the menu.) However, on one occasion Megan pulled a tourist under, then let him go unscathed, thus practicing her method of 'catch and release'.
The strip occasionally breaks the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
, with characters acknowledging that they are living in a comic strip. One such strip had Sherman asking Hawthorne when their new video series (called 'Barnacle the Purple Arthropod', a parody of Barney the Dinosaur) would to be produced, and Hawthorne replying 'It's only been one panel.' 'Felt like two.'
Another strip parodied Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, with Hawthorne holding a football and Fillmore running to kick it. The ball rebounded off the side of the panel and hit Filmore in the head. (This incident followed a conversation they had in which Hawthorne told Fillmore that he wouldn't pull the ball away like Lucy Van Pelt
Lucy van Pelt
Lucille "Lucy" van Pelt is a fictional character in the syndicated comic strip :Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz. She is the main bully and the older sister of Linus and Rerun. Lucy is a crabby and cynical eight-year old girl, and often bullies the other characters in the strip,...
because 'We aren't living in a comic strip'.)
Sherman's Lagoon Books
- Sherman's Lagoon: Ate That, What's Next?. Cartoons from 1996, published in 1997. ISBN 0-8362-3660-2
- Poodle: The Other White Meat - The Second Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 1998, published in 1999. ISBN 0-8362-8287-6
- An Illustrated Guide to Shark Etiquette: The Third Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 1999, published in 2000. ISBN 0-7407-1247-0
- Another Day in Paradise: The Fourth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 1997, published in 2001. ISBN 0-7407-2012-0
- Greetings from Sherman's Lagoon: The 1992 to 1993 Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in 2002. ISBN 0-7407-2192-5
- Sherman's Lagoon 1991 to 2001: Greatest Hits & Near Misses. Published in 2002. ISBN 0-7407-2676-5
- Surf's Up: The Sixth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 1994–95, published in 2003. ISBN 0-7407-3309-5
- The Shark Diaries: The Seventh Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 2002, published in 2003. ISBN 0-7407-3815-1
- Catch of the Day: The Eighth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 2003, published in 2004. ISBN 0-7407-4670-7
- A Day at the Beach: The Ninth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Cartoons from 2000–01, published in April 2005. ISBN 0-7407-5130-1
- Surfer Safari: The Tenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in August 2005. ISBN 0-7407-5452-1
- In Shark Years I'm Dead: Sherman's Lagoon Turns Fifteen. Published in March 2006. ISBN 0-7407-5702-4
- Planet of the Hairless Beach Apes: The Eleventh Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in August 2006. ISBN 0-7407-6056-4
- Yarns and Shanties (And Other Nautical Baloney): The Twelfth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in August 2007. ISBN 0-7407-6557-4
- Sharks Just Wanna Have Fun: The Thirteenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in September 2008. ISBN 0-7407-7387-9
- Confessions of a Swinging Single Sea Turtle: The Fourteenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in September 2009. ISBN 978-0740785511
- Discover Your Inner Hermit Crab: The Fifteenth Sherman's Lagoon Collection. Published in September 2010. ISBN 978-0740791109