Liberty Meadows
| Liberty Meadows | |
|---|---|
| Cover of Liberty Meadows #10, featuring Brandy, surrounded by, clockwise from upper right, Frank, Dean, Truman riding Oscar, Leslie, and Ralph. Cover of Liberty Meadows #10, featuring Brandy, surrounded by, clockwise from upper right, Frank, Dean, Truman riding Oscar, Leslie, and Ralph. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Creators Syndicate (when syndicated) Insight Studios (#1-26, Wedding Special) Image Comics (#27-present, Sourcebook) |
| Schedule | Bimonthly (#1-3, #19-36) Monthly (#4-18) Currently irregular |
| Format | Originally syndicated comic strip As comic book (initially reprint, later original): Black and white (exc. covers); landscape format (#27-onward) |
| Publication date | Syndicated comic strip: 30 March, 1997 - 31 December, 2001 Comic book: 1999-2004, 2006- |
| No. of issues | 37 + 2 specials as of June 2006 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Frank Cho |
Liberty Meadows is a comic strip and comic book created, written and illustrated by Frank Cho. It relates the comedic activities of the staff and denizens of the titular animal sanctuary/rehabilitation clinic.
History
Liberty Meadows is a toned-down remake of University², a strip Cho wrote during his college years for The Diamondback, the student newspaper at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Originally, it was syndicated and appeared in many newspapers, while also being collected in bimonthly comic books produced by Insight Studios. At the end of 2001, Cho ceased syndication, partly because editors kept censoring it, and has since published it directly in comic book format.
Image Comics took over publication with issue #27. The comic book went on an unannounced hiatus in early 2004, after issue #36, due to Cho's Marvel Comics commitments. It had been announced that publication would resume with an issue #37 in May, 2006 and Cho would be "trying to have couple of issues of Liberty Meadows out per year" [1]. However, Liberty Meadows remains on hiatus as of Fall 2006.
Style
Cho freely mixes visual styles in the strip, drawing the majority of the cast like Walt Kelly's anthropomorphic animals, borrowing Dave Stevens's pin-up look for Brandy, and routinely throwing in savage musclemen, apes and dinosaurs in an elaborate homage to multiple illustrators, including Frank Frazetta and Barry Windsor-Smith's work on Conan the Barbarian. He also uses frequent literary and visual references from sources ranging from Michelangelo to the movie Deliverance to commercials for Crest toothpaste.
Cho also makes references to other comic strip characters. The Liberty Meadows denizens have found themselves sharing their strip with Calvin & Hobbes, Lil Abner, Hagar the Horrible, Dilbert, and Cathy, among others.
Characters
The humans
- Brandy Carter - A beautiful animal psychiatrist.
- Frank Mellish - A nerdy veterinarian. Frank is in love with Brandy but afraid to tell her.
- Julius - Owner of Liberty Meadows animal sanctuary and an avid fisherman.
- Jen - Brandy's roommate. A sexy rocket scientist who enjoys toying with men.
- Al - Owner of the local bar where many of the other characters hang out. An educated man who believes in numerous conspiracies.
- Tony - An accident prone maintenance man.
- Roger - Brandy's ex-fiancé who's trying to win her back.
- Barbara Carter - Brandy's controlling, thoroughly malevolent mother. Mix one part Mrs. Robinson with three parts Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate. Hates Frank. Schemes constantly to fix Brandy up with Roger.
- John Carter - Brandy's doting father. The complete opposite of Brandy's mother.
- Evil Brandy - Brandy's evil twin from a mirror universe. A megalomaniacal criminal mastermind.
- Alternate Frank / "Ace" - Frank's super-studly twin from a mirror universe. The most feared lawman in the world and Evil Brandy's arch-nemesis.
The animals
- Dean - A sexist pig with a drinking problem.
- Ralph - A midget circus bear with a perpetual squint and a penchant for inventing dangerous gadgets.
- Leslie - A dim-witted frog with hypochondria.
- Truman - A cute and naive young duck.
- Oscar - Truman's pet dachshund. The only animal in the strip who acts (more or less) like an animal.
- The Cow - A psychotic villain. Suffers from Mad Cow Disease.
- Khan - The Biggest Catfish in the Tri-State Area, and Julius' constant nemesis.
- Mike - A raccoon with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
- Sheldon - A turtle who mostly serves as a filler character.
The author
- Frank Cho, aka "Monkey Boy" - Creator of the strip. Appears in the strip as a chimp to break the fourth wall.
Collected editions
The comic books collecting the strips have themselves been collected into a series of trade paperbacks by Image Comics:
| Liberty Meadows Book 1: Eden | (collects Liberty Meadows # 1- 9; | hardcover: ISBN 1-58240-301-5; | softcover: ISBN 1-58240-390-2) |
| Liberty Meadows Book 2: Creature Comforts | (collects Liberty Meadows #10-18; | hardcover: ISBN 1-58240-333-3; | softcover: ISBN 1-58240-432-1) |
| Liberty Meadows Book 3: Summer Of Love | (collects Liberty Meadows #19-27; | hardcover: ISBN 1-58240-401-1; | softcover: ISBN 1-58240-534-4) |
| Liberty Meadows Book 4: Cold, Cold Heart | (collects Liberty Meadows #28-36; | hardcover: ISBN 1-58240-502-6) |
Awards
Cho has received the National Cartoonist Society Comic Book Award for 2001, and was nominated for their Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 2000, for his work on this strip. He also received the "Max und Moritz" award for best international strip at the International Comic Convention in Erlangen, Germany in 2002.