Liberty Meadows

Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues Template:Infobox comic book title Liberty Meadows is an American comic strip and comic book series created, written and illustrated by Frank Cho. It relates the comedic activities of the staff and denizens of the eponymous animal sanctuary/rehabilitation clinic. The comic strip launched on March 31, 1997, and ran until December 30, 2001.<ref name=Holtz>Template:Cite book</ref>

Publication history

Liberty Meadows is the evolution of University² (University Squared), a strip Cho wrote during his college years for The Diamondback, the student newspaper at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Originally, it was syndicated and appeared in many newspapers, while also being collected in comic books produced by Insight Studios. At the end of 2001, Cho ceased syndication, partly because editors kept censoring it, and announced he would publish it directly in comic book format.

Cho self-published the comic book at first, with Image Comics taking over printing and distribution with issue #27. The comic book went on a hiatus in early 2004, after issue #36. June 2006 saw the publication of issue #37, and Cho commented at the time that he would be "trying to have a couple of issues of Liberty Meadows out per year".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Issue #37 was the first issue that did not contain material previously published in newspapers, also being the last issue published to date.

From around 2008 until May 2011, the rights to Liberty Meadows were in the hands of Sony Pictures Digital which wanted to develop it as a downloadable series, and then Sony Pictures Television which wanted to develop it as an animated television series. After a change in executives at Sony the projects went inactive, and the rights reverted to Cho, who in May 2011 announced plans to publish issue #38.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On February 5, 2012, Frank Cho stated that work on Liberty Meadows had effectively stopped due to other commitments. "I thought I could do Liberty Meadows and my Marvel and outside work but I can't. I have a mortgage and child support that I have to pay each month. As much as I want to do Liberty Meadows (believe me I want to), the other jobs pay better".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Style

Cho makes references to and parodies other comic strips, such as Dilbert, Cathy and Peanuts.<ref name=WashingtonPost>Shin, Annys (August 29, 2010). "Personal Liberties: Comic book artist Frank Cho has made a career of being bawdy and bold". The Washington Post.</ref>

Characters

The humans

• Brandy Carter – A beautiful animal psychiatrist.<ref name=AboutLB>Template:Citation.</ref> Her appearance is based on that of actress Lynda Carter, Bettie Page, and women Cho was attracted to in his youth.<ref name=WashingtonPost />
• Frank Melisch – A nerdy veterinarian. Frank is in love with Brandy but afraid to tell her.<ref name = AboutLB />
• Tony – An accident-prone maintenance man.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Julius – The owner of Liberty Meadows animal sanctuary and an avid fisherman.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Jen – Brandy's roommate, a sexy rocket scientist who enjoys toying with men.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Al – Owner of Al's Treetop Tavern, the local bar where many of the other characters hang out. An educated man and believer in various conspiracies.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Roger – Brandy's ex-fiancé who's trying to win her back.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Barbara Carter – Brandy's controlling, malevolent mother. She hates Frank, and is constantly scheming to fix Brandy up with Roger.<ref name=AboutLB />
• John Carter – Brandy's doting father. The complete opposite of Brandy's mother.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Evil Brandy – Brandy's evil twin from a mirror universe. A megalomaniacal criminal mastermind. In volume 3, she tied up Brandy, duct-taped her mouth shut, and shoved her in a closet in an attempt to impersonate her and kill Frank.Template:Citation needed
• Alternate Frank / "Ace" – Frank's super-studly twin from a mirror universe. The most feared lawman in the world and Evil Brandy's nemesis.Template:Citation needed

A Liberty Meadows gallery File:Liberty Meadows Gallery.jpg
Tony	Ralph	Dean	Julius	Leslie	Jen	Truman	Oscar

The animals

• Ralph – A midget circus bear with a perpetual squint and a penchant for inventing dangerous gadgets.<ref name =AboutLB />
• Dean – A former fraternity house mascot rescued by Brandy, Dean is a lecherous, sexist pig with a drinking problem and an addiction to cigarettes. Dean is at the clinic for detox but keeps breaking the rule forbidding smoking.<ref name=AboutLB/> A recurring segment has him hitting on various women in bars, only to have them beat him for his boorishness.Template:Volume needed
• Leslie - A dim-witted frog with hypochondria, and Ralph's friend.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Truman – A cute, naive young duck who always addresses the humans as "sir" and "ma'am."<ref name= AboutLB />
• Oscar – A mischievous dachshund and Truman's best friend. Oscar is the only animal in the strip who is not anthropomorphized, and does not speak aside from typical canine vocalizations.
• The Cow – A psychotic villain who suffers from mad cow disease.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Khan – A giant catfish who serves as Julius' constant nemesis. He appears in strips that depict the characters fishing.<ref name=AboutLB />
• Mike – A raccoon with obsessive–compulsive disorder.

The author

• Frank Cho, aka "Monkey Boy" – Creator of the strip. Appears in the strip as a chimpanzee to break the fourth wall.

Collected editions

The comics collecting the daily strips have themselves been collected into a series of books:

ISG Hardcover	Collects	Deluxe Signed	Unsigned Trade
Liberty Meadows: Big Book of Love	# 1 – 5	Template:ISBNT	Template:ISBNT
Image Comics	Collects	Hardcover	Softcover
Liberty Meadows Book 1: Eden	# 1 – 9	Template:ISBNT	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows Book 2: Creature Comforts	#10–18	Template:ISBNT	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows Book 3: Summer of Love	#19–27	Template:ISBNT	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows Book 4: Cold, Cold Heart	#28–36	Template:ISBNT	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows: Cover Girl	#1–37 (covers)	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows 10th Anniversary Edition	# 1 – 9	Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows Sunday Strips, vol. 1		Template:ISBNT
Liberty Meadows Sunday Strips, vol. 2		Template:ISBNT
Big Book of Love included an all new introduction piece and the Sunday strips, both in color. Eden also included the intro piece (in black and white), but did not include the Sunday strips.

Awards

Frank Cho has won many awards, including: the prestigious National Cartoonists Society’s Awards for Best Book Illustration (2001) and Best Comic Book (2001),<ref name="NCSAwards">Template:Cite web</ref> the 2008 Eagle Award,<ref name="EagleAwards">Template:Cite web</ref> the 1994 Charles M. Schulz Award for Excellence in Cartooning,<ref name="CharlesSchulzAwards">Template:Cite web</ref> College Media Association for Cartooning,Template:Citation needed and Germany’s Max & Moritz Prize for Best International Comic Strip.<ref name="Max und Moritz - Nominees and Winners">Template:Cite web</ref> He was also nominated for the Harvey and Eisner Awards.<ref name="2000 Eisner Nominees">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="2009 Harvey Nominees">Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Citation
• Template:Citation. Liberty Meadows daily strips and Frank Cho's art blog.