Hashbrown Haus

I grew up on Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and of course, Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote were all well known names in my household. It was entertainment for three generations as there were many times my Grandfather, my Father and my brothers and I would sit and enjoy those timeless Looney Tunes on Saturday Mornings on ABC.

Those times are long gone since ABC was bought out by Disney and not even TimeWarner’s Cartoon Network still airs what was, to me, the peak of the American Animated Humor Short Feature.

It would seem, also, that the “stars” of those shorts have fared no better according to recent exhibition work by artist Hyungkoo Lee. Lee’s show Animatus, formerly displayed at Arario Gallery, and now on display in Turin, Italy through January, offers up the sad remains of some of America’s most beloved icons. For more about it, click here!

I’m talking about Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho, and yes, that IS how I would describe it in 25 words or less.

Liberty Meadows started out as a syndicated strip in newspapers, but creative differences led Mr. Cho, or “Monkey Boy” as he refers to himself, to seek other publishing avenues. Namely, collections published monthly by Image Comics.

Now, the strip, itself, revolves around gorgeous women, ineffectual men, and mostly bawdy, but sometimes cute and cuddly animals interrelating in, around and throughout fictional Liberty Meadows Animal Sanctuary. There’s romance, intrigue, mystery, comedy, suspense, and…breasts? That’s right, Breasts. Lots of Breasts! In fact, Frank Cho likes breasts so much that during a recent stint on New Avengers, penciled by Cho, Ms. Marvel singlehandedly defeats the villain known as KLAW with only her breasts ( It had something to do with energy absorption, go figure).

His draftsmanship is impeccable. His people are cartoons, yes, seldom over the top in exaggeration or expression, but rendered with such sparse economy of line as to make them seem effortless. His animals are of the bombastic, “kablooey” sort, full of whimsy and crass adult salaciousness. The lettering, while most definitely stylized, only adds to the overall manic feeling of the strip. All of this, together with the absurdist and hilarious writing and gags, makes Liberty Meadows a shining example of what newspaper comics could be- but then again, why should something this great be relegated to the musty confines of the “Features” section in a newspaper- People would probably mistake it for just another bland and humorless diversion placed next to Family Circus or above Jump Start.