The Quigmans used to be funny.
In the late nineties I started reading the Quigmans comics by Buddy Hickerson everyday in the San Jose Mercury News. I loved the wacky humor. I used to cut out some and save them in a big envelope—for what future purpose I didn’t know. (Maybe I envisioned a blog a decade later?)
Another funny Quigman comic. But notice under the name it says, "This ran previously."
Years later the Quigmans changed. It seemed less funny and more weird—including the artwork.
After a few more years, the Mercury News reduced the size of the Quigman’s comic strip (so small it was hard to read!) and reduced its rotation from daily to every other day. I stopped cutting them out of the paper.
I thought maybe Buddy was either pooped out or humor-blocked.
About this time I needed to produce a website for my first Percy book. I searched the Internet for a freelance web designer that was creative in a whimsical cartoony way. I found a guy in Texas named Mike—who had lots of experience in design and flash animation. He also had written his own comic strip.
I emailed Mike and explained what I had in mind to see if he was interested in taking on my project. I also mentioned that I read his comic strips. I asked Mike if he was familiar with the Quigmans comics because his reminded me of them.
Well, Boy Howdy, did I open up a can of worms with that question!
It turned out that not only did Mike know Buddy, but that they were one-time collaborators and now BITTER enemies. Mike said Buddy ripped off his comics and didn’t credit or compensate him. He had proof which he posted along with blistering commentary slamming Buddy as the lowest of low. (The verbal vitriol was extraordinary.)
I responded back that I was appalled Buddy could do such a thing. I was hugely disappointed because I had been such a fan. I remember telling Mike that I thought Karma would catch up to Buddy. I also told Mike that my favorite Quigmans comic was the one about the hairdresser named Mrs. Krepleck. I asked him if that was his comic.
I never heard from Mike again. He never answered my question about Mrs. Krepleck. He never gave me an estimate or indication he was interested in designing my website. (He did, however, post my email which is still on his site, like eight years later!)
At the time I was sort of relieved because Mike’s anger level was so off-the-charts it scared me. (I did say in my last email to him, “I hope you never get mad at me.”)
Eventually I forgot all about this Internet incident. The Mercury News stopped publishing the Quigmans and I quit thinking about the comic, too.
One of my all-time favorite comics ever. Was it written by Buddy or Mike??
Then the other day in my beyond-messy house I was looking for something else and ran across a Xerox copy I had made of a Quigmans comic—the “famous” Miss Krepleck comic. The reason I call it “famous” is because I used to read it and laugh at it so much that Ye Ol’ Hubby Man started calling me Mrs. Krepleck. (And he still does…)
I wondered what happened to Mike and his quest to damage (justly or unjustly, depending how you read the situation) Buddy Hickerson’s reputation as a talented cartoonist.
Turns out Mike owns quigmans.com. He has it set up as a “Buddy Watch” site, where he dogs every comic Buddy publishes. He reports when it was previously published—as recycling a comic is professionally lame and a violation of syndication ethics. Mike calls the Quigmans “one of the worst comics ever to grace the funny pages.”
The Quigmans no longer appears in any major newspapers and in general is disparaged by the “comic ranks” as a sham of a strip—and a rip off of The Far Side—written by an “oblivious dick” as Mike calls Buddy.
What a shame what happened to this comic strip. Oh well, I’ll always have Mrs. Krepleck.
