Joshua Quagmire (sometimes shortened to
JQ) (born 1952) is an American
cartoonThe word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time....
ist for underground and more commercially popular comic books, best known for his creation
Cutey BunnyCutey Bunny is a furry superheroine created by Joshua Quagmire for a humorous line of American underground comic books that first appeared through Army Surplus Komikz from 1982 to 1985. She has since appeared through various other comic titles such as Critters from Fantagraphics Books and one-shots...
.
Quagmire's biographical information is a bit sketchy. It is not known whether or not "Joshua Quagmire" is a
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
. He was raised in the
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
area, though he has remarked that his grandfather served in the
Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
; Quagmire has dedicated a story, "The Last Time I Saw Tommy", to his grandfather.
Joshua Quagmire (sometimes shortened to
JQ) (born 1952) is an American
cartoonThe word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time....
ist for underground and more commercially popular comic books, best known for his creation
Cutey BunnyCutey Bunny is a furry superheroine created by Joshua Quagmire for a humorous line of American underground comic books that first appeared through Army Surplus Komikz from 1982 to 1985. She has since appeared through various other comic titles such as Critters from Fantagraphics Books and one-shots...
.
Quagmire's biographical information is a bit sketchy. It is not known whether or not "Joshua Quagmire" is a
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
. He was raised in the
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
area, though he has remarked that his grandfather served in the
Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
; Quagmire has dedicated a story, "The Last Time I Saw Tommy", to his grandfather. On the few occasions he has drawn himself into a story, he has never shown his own face. He is a frequent guest at the San Diego Comic Convention.
Cutey Bunny, a
furryFunny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
ine and a
pasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a "hodge-podge" or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of
Go Nagaiis a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica.He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating the seminal works Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s.- Early life :Go Nagai was born on...
's Cutey Honey, first appeared in the self-produced underground comic
Army Surplus KomikzArmy Surplus Komikz was created in October 1982 to specifically feature Joshua Quagmire's Kelly O'Hare: Cutey Bunny series of superheroine comic books. Some issues were distributed by Eclipse Comics. The series ran sporadically for 5 issues through 1985...
in 1982 as well as in Cerebus' Unique Story section. The story, writing, and art style recall not only
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
, but the madcap MAD Magazine and syndicated comic strips of the 1940s and 1950s, together with a
burlesqueBurlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. In 20th century America, the form became associated with a variety show in which striptease is the chief attraction.-Etymology and early history:...
sense of both humor and sexuality. Quagmire uses an "ensemble cast" of characters who will tend to show up no matter what the situation or genre; along with Cutey, they include:
- Vicky Feldhyser, a sadomasochistic
BDSM is a compound acronym derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , sadism and masochism ....
switchIn BDSM, a switch is someone who participates in BDSM activities sometimes as a top and other times as a bottom or sometimes as a dominant and other times as a submissive. True switches are very uncommon; partners may switch roles based on mood, desire, or to allow each partner to experience their...
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
fox and sometimes-rival secret agentSecret Agent is a 1936 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll and Robert Young...
to Cutey, whom she lusts after
- Taffy, Cutey's little sister
- Fatty Tubbins, a cat, and Cutey's friend and companion (who is also frequently credited as Quagmire's inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After the penciler gives a drawing to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
)
- The Space Gophers, a quintet (or sometimes more) of not exceptionally bright interplanetary-traveling gophers, all of whom are named "Al"
- Pandora, a Scottish
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-brogued female robot who travels with the Gophers
- Gran'ma Phooby, Cutey's "grandmother", of indeterminate species and dreadful cooking skill
- Heidi and Etsuko, a pair of German and Japanese (respectively) scantily clad female elves, typically involved in some nefarious espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as the legitimate holder of the information may change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
plot
- The Purple Puffle, an odd creature who appears mainly as a background ornament
There are a few projects which Quagmire has done outside this ensemble, such as the more serious
CyberFox or the more overtly sexual
Bronco Bunny.
Quagmire is also fond of introducing caricatures of real personalities to his comics.
Bob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG was an American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO tours entertaining American military personnel...
and
Bing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death....
, in character as they were in the popular "
Road to...Road to... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as "Road pictures." The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
" movies, frequently appear to help Cutey Bunny. A frequent adversary is "Uncle Joe" - quite obviously
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
- and his
marionetteA marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires, formerly strings but dropped due to increased durability of wires; a marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control...
henchman, "Howdy Ivan". And Cutey, as an American secret agent, is often shown taking orders from a doddering
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
or a sinister
George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States . He was also Ronald Reagan's Vice President , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence....
. Even fellow comic book writer
Chris ClaremontChris Claremont is an award-winning American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 17-year stint on Uncanny X-Men, far longer than any other writer...
appeared in one issue, helping unmask a villain who turned out to be
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
in disguise.
Although
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
was never taboo in Quagmire's comics, they have been more emphasized in his recent works. Typically, he has been even-handed in his treatment - he recounts the tale of a
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
friend of his, who, upon reading an Uncle Joe story, couldn't determine whether it was for or against socialism and said that it seemed to be "anti-every ideology". However, Quagmire has become more pointed in his criticism of
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
and other contemporary leaders based on Quagmire's opposition to war and the current state of world economics and the environment. For example, in a 2004 story, Heidi and Etsuko join the
Department of Homeland SecurityThe United States Department of Homeland Security is a Cabinet department of the United States federal government with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the U.S...
, and are dispatched to the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
to search for
weapons of mass destructionThe term weapon of mass destruction is often used to describe a weapon that can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general....
- and remove the stickers on them which read "Made in U.S.A." However, they succeed only in finding weapons in practically every country in the area
except IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
.
External links