Urban Trash
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| Urban Trash | |
|---|---|
| File:UTlogo.jpg The official logo, as seen on the website, as well as on Sunday strips. | |
| Author(s) | Jeremy Nell |
| Current status/schedule | Running |
| Launch date | March 14, 2005 |
| Syndicate(s) | independent |
| Genre(s) | Humor, Satire, Slapatick, Politics |
Urban Trash is a witty and satirical daily comic strip, originating in South Africa on 14 March 2005, focusing on the exploits of urban street life in South Africa. Its writer and and artist, Jeremy Nell, has unofficially claimed an incrementally growing readership of between five hundred thousand and nine hundred thousand. The strip's syndication medium is largely traditional, although untraditional formats (such as the internet) seem to have a great impact on the comic's readership. Urban Trash is read via four printed publications around South Africa; one printed publication in Namibia; one printed publication in the United Kingdom; and three prominent South African (news) web portals. It has notably become synonymous with cultivating a particular South African flavour with its frequent usage of stereotypical lifestyles and language. (This has also spurred mild criticism from some readers, labelling Urban Trash as "controversial" and "politically incorrect.")
While the strip is considered very funny, it has a slightly dark and edgy subtext - one that conveys the apparent social and poitical problems in South Africa, such as crime, drugs, and courruption. Additionally, the characters are, by and large, apathetic lowlifes with little to no ambitions in life.
The comic strip's tagline is "A kak[1] comic strip by Jeremy Nell", which results in a combined play on the word 'trash' and the nature of the content of the strip.
Urban Trash is illustrated in full colour, and appears daily from Monday through to Friday. One Sunday strip per month is created, and no strips appear on Saturdays.
Urban Trash
Background
Urban Trash first started out as a couple of monks, located in Tibet, with the names 'Frank' and 'Frik'. But Jeremy wanted to localise the - then unnamed - comic strip to a South African context. In keeping with the same two characters, he developed them into a poor, lower-to-middle income bracket environment. 14 March 2005, saw the first - what was then known as 'Streetkak' - strip appear online, via two discussion boards at www.tashitagg.com and www.jnforums.com. Within a few days, Jeremy had altered the name of 'Streetkak' to 'Urban Trash', as he believed that using a swearword in the title would win disfavour with potential publications, and by the end of March he had set up a website at www.urbantrash.co.za (now www.trashmedia.co.za). Sporadically, and whenever he had an opportunity to write and illustrate (which was mostly weekly, and sometimes biweekly), Jeremy would do a strip followed by uploading it onto his website. The editor of a South African entertainment portal, TashiTagg.com, immediately (that is, in April 2005) requested to syndicate Urban Trash on his website, regardless of the irregularity of the strip's availability. (As a result of various changes to the portal, Urban Trash is - as of September 2006 - no longer featured on TashiTagg.com.)
Shortly succeeding his departure from the corporate world, Jeremy started producing Urban Trash daily (7 November 2005 onwards), and soon thereafter saw the strip attracting (independent) syndication in various publications.
The following months saw the characters' profiles developing further, as well as new characters emerging.
Current day, and criticism
Jeremy alleges that Urban Trash has received much criticism from an array of readers directly via email and phone, and via some of his editors. According to the 'Contact Me' page on the Trash Media website, Jeremy has experienced a handful of malicious emails - one in particular lambasting his work for being racist, for using outdated stereotyping, and for using foul language. Jeremy once posted a message on his website, saying that the editor of a publication featuring Urban Trash, contacted him about an Afrikaans assemblage that found his work offensive.
Conversely, Urban Trash has accumulated a great deal of positive feedback.
The strip boasts a healthy line-up of eight regular characters, combined with a few less regular characters.
The first Urban Trash collection, titled 'Don't Langarm[2] On The Streets, My Lanie[3]!', is understood to be available in book stores soon.
On Friday 20 April 2007, Jeremy announced on his website that his pre-sale campaign had been unsuccessful, and that it had been halted with immediate effect. The first book's publishing prospects therefore remain uncertain.
Style
An obvious characteristic of Jeremy's illustration style, is the loose - yet aesthetically pleasing - linework, and simple flat use of colour. But this hasn't always been the case. Jeremy's early Urban Trash work started out as mediocre black and white drawings, and progressed into full colour after a short few months. His actual drawing style has been an everchanging and evolving process, where he has clearly taken the time and effort to experiment, in obviously trying to define a unique style.
Jeremy's satirical gag-a-day humour has clearly won favour with readers, due to his substantial use of cynical dry wit, and often true-to-life scenarios, allowing the audience to personally relate to the plots. While slapstick in nature, Urban Trash has a slightly dark edge and an underlying ideological tone of seriousness, generally hovering around pertinent issues within the South African context, such as corruption, violence, theft, drugs, politics, homosexuality, and so on.
Main characters
Frank
Simply known as 'Frank', he is a somewhat relaxed entrepreneur who is seemingly involved in virtually any capital-generating venture, with almost always less than successful - and corrupt - results. Frank is sometimes observed having a drink with Frik, at a local pub.
Frik
'Frik' is a typical Afrikaans name in South Africa. By and large, he is perceived as highly strung and a great enjoyer of alcohol. While Frik generates his income via selling food from a caravan (as well as living in it), he has romantic ties with Melanie, albeit that she criticises him for lacking in culture and manners. Frik represents a South African 'jock' (that is, a stereotypical male), and uses phrases like 'china', 'flippen', 'oke' and others.
Officer Koos
Based on public opinion and website feedback, Officer Koos is by far the dominant favourite. He is a representation of a stereotypical Afrikaans white South African police officer: overweight, unintelligent, speaks with broken English, and corrupt.
Africa
Based on Apartheid-created segregation, Africa is a stereotpyical 'Cape Coloured' (a colloquial term used for a member of the coloured community in Cape Town), with his origins sprouting in the 'Cape Flats' (a large stretch of Cape Town, granted to the coloured community during Apartheid, and still currently in existence), where gangsterism is known to be rife.
Christmas
South Africa has a reputation for its popular and enormous minibus taxi infrastructure. However, South Africans are known to criticise this system, because of an apparent driving inability (including disregard for the rules of the road, as well as engagement in forms of competition-related violence) of a number of the drivers. Christmas is no exception.
Lightie
His name is derived from a South African streetwise phrase meaning 'a little guy' or 'lightweight'. Lightie is a representation of a continuing problem facing the poorer communities in South Africa: substance abuse, more specifically, Tik and Marijuana. While conceptually contentious, Lightie has proven to be a firm favourite with readers.
Vincent
Although he is not often seen actioning his occupation, Vincent is a gay hairdresser. He has been known to maintain a friendship with Melanie, as well as often seen shopping in Ravi's store.
Vincent was dropped from the strip, during January 2007.
Ravi
Following on from his use of stereotypes, Jeremy created a South African Indian character by the name of 'Ravi', who owns a store, and always offers a better deal than anywhere else.
Melanie
Melanie (pronounced "mel-ar-nee") is the only female character in the Urban Trash line-up. She is a junior school teacher, often expressing concern for Lightie's drug addictions. She is also regularly witnessed spending unavailing romantic time with Frik.
The Captain
Officer Koos' captain at the police station. He is an unseen character; only the captain's desk is shown. He is always referred to as 'Captain'; nothing else is known about him.
Links
- The official Urban Trash website
- Trash Media (Nell's studio website - same website as Urban Trash)
- Urban Trash on News24
- Urban Trash on iafrica.com
- Urban Trash at The Webcomic List
- Jeremy's profile and random doodles on Cartoonist.co.za
- Urban Trash on IOL
Notes
- ^ The word 'kak' is Afrikaans for 'shit', and is commonly used by a number of English-speaking South Africans
- ^ The term 'langarm' - directly translated into English, means 'long arm' - is taken from the Afrikaans language. It is an indigenous dance step, similar to a Two Step.
- ^ 'My lanie' is a phrase used predominantly by the coloured culture of South Africa, and is of Afrikaans origins. Unfortunately, it has no direct English translation, but generally can be understood as having a similar meaning as 'friend' or 'dude'. For example, the sentence 'Don't langarm on the streets, my lanie!' could be read as - within its context - 'Don't Two Step on the streets, my friend!'.