Talk:Doofus (comics)

Wording

Doofus is an alternative comic by Rick Altergott about two foolish creeps

. In my view creeps is POV, and I'm planning to reword the entire article so this word can be avoided. ComputerJoe 08:39, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Haven't read much 'Doofus' have ya?** Creeps is accurate, because the strip itself has a strong POV. It'd be like deleting "superhero" from a Spider-Man entry because "hero" was a POV that suggests that Spidey's being a vigilante and occasional outlaw was implicitly virtuous, which from our everyday perspective, seems controversial. 'Doofus' is as much an archetype as a character.

Replacing 'admirers' with 'fans' is inaccurate, as Altergott is a "cartoonists' cartoonist", calling cartoonists like Bagge, Clowes, or Crumb 'fans' is misleadingly informal at best.

Thanks anyway though; I'd applaud any improvements in phrasing, but only if they're correct. Indeed it's doubtful that "foolish creeps" is indeed the best two-word approximation of Doofus and Henry, it'd be fun to hear something better.

(**Read "Doofus Omnibus"!)

User:AC 2/17/06

I have thought long and hard about this but am at a loss to come up with an alternative to "foolish creeps". Doofus and Hotchkiss could be described as:

• unlucky degenerates
• uncouth dimwits
• unsavory rubes
• bumbling perverts
• gutter-minded simpletons
• hapless palookas
• small-town weirdos

Yet none of these traits always apply to them. Neither Doofus nor Henry Hotchkiss are complete simpletons -- both make frequent intelligent, philosophical commentary on their situations as well as on their own aberrant inclinations. Both can be well-meaning, although Doofus himself seems to be the schemer.

Twalls 16:24, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Interesting list. "Unsavory rubes" isn't bad... they are both unsavory and rubes. Less certain is whether Doofus and Henry are dimwits or simpletons, terms that connote lower than average intelligence, which given Flowertown community standards wouldn't seem to be the case. Perverts, degenerates, or gutter-minded are iffy, as those too can suggest a natural condition, while D&H's modes and manners might be an inevitable product of life in Flowertown. Palookas -- Bluto, Popeye or Joe Palooka, all rough & tough -- D&H are not. Weirdos implies self-consciousness, resignation, perhaps even pride of distinction for unusual status, learning or values -- whereas D&H seem to consider it normal to be oblivious or innocent, and they strive to adjust. Uncouth -- sometimes Doofus is absurdly 'couth' (e.g. knowing) or even sanctimonious, I'd imagine if both D&H were sent to finishing school then inherited a fortune they'd still be the same characters**. Unlucky, bumbling, hapless, all correct, yet not essential. Fantagraphic's Doofus copy has used the words creeps and dismaying. Dismaying is apt, it captures the "Ugh" of recognition.

(**which seems to contradict D&H being products of Flowertown, but not if we suppose that town or some equivalent place has somehow attached itself to them. Inscribed on H.P. Lovecraft's tombstone is "I am Providence"; that sense of identification or embodiment of a place could apply less nobly to Doofus and his hometown. What does it mean to "embody" a place is a puzzle in of itself though.) --AC 07:32, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

How on earth is there the slightest shadow of a doubt in *anyone's* mind that Doofus and Henry Hotchkiss are creeps? They spend their time sniffing childrens' bicycle seats, playing strip poker (with each other), and stealing womens' underwear off of clotheslines. Altergott even directly refers to them as "creeps" in one episode. 75.111.158.23 (talk) 02:11, 28 February 2009 (UTC)