What can you say about Ziggy? In some ways, he's like the little engine that could; despite being representative of a perpetual loser with bad luck, he is quite a successful franchise. There's really not too many ways that they haven't licensed the character (a live action movie is about the only thing I can think of).
That is the key to the character. Tom Wilson developed the character while working for a greeting card company, so mass market appeal was foremost in his mind. Can you blame him, though? Are we not all capitalists at heart?
The main thing that makes Ziggy such a great character doesn't lie in how easy he is to draw, or in how easy he is to make sellable merchandise out of; it is because he is so easy for the average person to identify with.
All these comics come from the 35th anniversary collection of Ziggy comics. I purposely chose the majority of them from the 70s and early 80s because (to me) that was when the strip was at it's peak of creativity.
by Tom Wilson (with a few near the end by Tom Wilson Jr.)
from A Little Character Goes a Long Way (ISBN: 0-7407-5824-1) 2006
The wordless panels show the character at his best; sometimes surreal, but genuinely humorous
This next one is definitely a product of it's times; from back when all of the conspiracy-theorists believed the government listened to every conversation on the phone system
This has a rare one showing Ziggy unshaved and unshowered
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★LINKS★
If you don't read the paper, you can still read ZIGGY online everyday at GoCOMICS.
The one and only animated ZIGGY cartoon is available on YouTube, but to watch the whole thing you'll have to dig through a bunch of shorter clips.
They found Ziggy's ears!
The epic Pearls Before Swine + Ziggy crossover:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
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