Ted

Remember a bit over a year ago, when they announced "Teddy Bear" -- a movie from Family Guy's Seth Macfarlane that sounded suspiciously like Sam and Fuzzy? (Prompting the creation of this strip.) Well, it has a trailer now.

If anyone had any worries that the now-named Ted was actually goint to rip off Sam and Fuzzy, well... the trailer will probably put most of them to rest. It's pretty standard Macfarlane foul-mouthed-guy-and-his-talking-animal-sidekick schtick through and through, way more like his other work than anything you've ever read here.

Still, there is a guy in a tie, and a talking bear. I'm not going to lie... it's hard for me not to look at a screencap like the one below and feel, just for a second, like I am peering into some alternate universe where someone was actually crazy enough to make a live-action/CG Sam and Fuzzy film.



It's a good thing a live-action Sam and Fuzzy film would probably be a terrible idea, though... because as unlikely as such a project would have been before, in a post-Ted world I'm sure it will be pretty much impossible! After all, unless Ted ushers in a whole era of bear-based films, no one is going to want to make something that looks like a rip-off.

-Sam Logan

Won't get fooled again

No April Fools gag this year -- partly because the holiday fell on a non-update day, partly because I was off at ECCC at the time, and partly because I just totally forgot!

And speaking of ECCC... thanks for an awesome time at the show, everyone! Emerald City has a rep for being one of the best mainstream comic conventions in North America, and once again, it proved that reputation was well-earned.

-Sam Logan

Emerald City Comicon

ECCC starts today! Anyone else in or around the city of Seattle heading to the show? Come by the booth and say hi! You can find me at booth #203 (one of the two Topatoco booths), along with a broad assortment of Sam and Fuzzy books, shirts, and other swag.



Anyhow, things got a little hectic in the lead-up to the show! But I still managed to put together a little mini-Q and A feature for today, to address two of your most common Cooper-related questions!

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Cooper Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"So are you trying to ship Morris x Cooper as a couple now? Or is Morris just sad that she won't come back to being a detective?" -Jimmy C

A romantically involved Morris and Cooper was a popular fan theory back in the day. Which is interesting, because they've been in the comic so rarely that their relationship -- be it romantic, friendly or just professional -- was never really explored at all.

Personally, I think this week's comics are all the more effective because the reader, like Cooper, doesn't know exactly what kind of relationship they had. No one really knows what's wrong or what's missing except for Morris. And for my money, that's what makes it a little extra heart-breaking.

And what am I here for if not to break hearts?

"In Wednesday's comic, shouldn't Cooper be saying she's 'done with the bartending program?' " -Jill

Chalk this one up under the "I had absolutely no idea" column!

Using the word "done" without the word "with" is apparently a predominantly Canadian grammatical tick. (Although it is apparently used in some parts of New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Philadelphia, too.) I have talked to a bunch of my fellow Canucks, including a few writers and English majors, and they all backed me up on this. "I'm done the dishes," and "When are you done work?" are totally normal sentences in Canadian English, and few up here would bat an eye at either of them. But, as I've learned this week, most of the rest of the English-speaking world thinks they sound like complete crazy-talk. Who knew?

Now, normally I am happy to stick with distinctly Canadian spellings and so on, as you may have guessed from Sam and Fuzzy's many extraneous "u"s. However, I think I might go back and change this one. After all, Cooper isn't a Canadian, so it doesn't really make much sense for her to say something in an alien dialect!

Anyhow, that's a wrap for this week! I am totally done this newspost.

-Sam Logan