Recovered Property
“Simpsons did it!”
It has recently come to our attention that the Comic Press, a “newspaper” at the University of Oregon, has been running a twitter feed titled “ASUO Spew” for quite some time. We have sat idly by while the Comic Press has made use of our own recycled jokes, references and phrases over the last two years, but this is the final straw.
“SPEW” first appeared in the Oregon Commentator on November 21st, 1983 and it still runs in our current format today. Is it coincidence that another publication on our campus has began using a twitter feed with the same name for (approximately) the same purpose?
SPEW, as it appeared in the 3rd issue of the Oregon Commentator. November 21st, 1983 page 2.
Let’s put this into perspective. The Press‘s founder, Kai Davis, was a one-time Commentator contributor (Vol. 25, Issue 5) who decided to steal as much as he could from the Oregon Commentator in order to make his shitty mash-up of recycled Onion and Commentator jokes, coupled with the Dino Comics the Commentator ran five years ago (ex. Vol. 21, Issues 4 & 5 page 11).
Here’s a list of the things the Comic Press has stolen from the Commentator to date:
- “Poetry Corner” which has appeared in several editions of the Comic Press. The Oregon Commentator has been running a version of “Poetry Corner” since at least Fall, 1998 (ex. Vol. 15, Issue 2 “Lil’ Mookie’s Haiku Corner”)
- Dino Comics (Vol. 21, Issues 4 & 5 page 11)
- “Happy Hour Rundown” from the Comic Press, Vol. 2, Issue 12. The Oregon Commentator has been printing the “Pub Crawl” in it’s “Back to the Booze” issue for years.
- “Edu-Graphic” that ran semi-regularly in the Comic Press last year (ex. Vol. 2, Issue 9). “Graphs by Drew” has been in the Commentator since at least February 2007.
- “Mission” that appears on the second page of the Comic Press. The Commentator has been running it’s mission statement since the early 1990’s. This would not be of consequence except that most publications do not make a habit of publishing their mission statement in every issue.
- “UO Emergency Text Message Alert System a Rousing Success!” ran in the Comic Press on April 23rd, 2007 with “funny” versions of fake texts. “Text Message Alerts We’d Like to See” ran in the April 7th, 2009 edition of the Commentator just a few weeks earlier.
- “Athletic Center Map” (Vol. 2, Issue 10) ran in the Comic Press with “funny” sections being labeled on the UO Campus map. The Commentator has been running “fake campus maps” for years (ex. Back cover of”Back to the Booze” October 2006)
The Comic Press also had some sort of crush on our editor from last year, CJ Ciaramella. He appeared on the front cover of Vol. 2, Issue 11 of the Press as well as the back page “Word Jumble” of Vol. 2, Issue 12.
In addition to Davis’ secret man-crush on Ciaramella, they decided to include numerous references to beer and boozing. Obviously trying to steal a line from us, you folks on campus might be interested to know that the Commentator first introduced their favor for drink in 1993 with a “Star Trek” drinking game. Our mascot is a anthropomorphic mug of beer for Christ’s sake. The Press even tried to challenge us to a keg race last year (The “Hate Issue” of the Commentator, “Mail Call” Vol. 26, Issue 6). The Commentator, as the champions of alcoholic favor in campus media, told the Press they needed to first beat the Oregon Voice before they moved on to the “big leagues”.
Shortly after we forwarded our response on our blog, then-Publisher Guy Simmons and I spotted Comic Press Publisher Kai Davis putting change in his meter as were walking down past Mac Court. We were both wearing Sudsy Tees, making us instantly recognizable. With the courage of an eagle and the heart of a lion, Davis met our gaze as we came nearer and… promptly looked at the ground. Such balls.
The Comic Press is a worthless pile of garbage. But I’ve learned something today. When you’ve been around for going on 26 years like the Commentator has, it’s only natural to expect that someone, somewhere is going to end up copying you. We just wish we were inspiration for the Comic Press instead of a source of direct material.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. From the looks of all the flattery going on in the Comic Press, they’re trying to bed us, quick.
Sorry Comic Press, we don’t fuck losers.
