I am writing in response to Lauren Saul’s comic in Tuesday’s Daily Free Press (‘Iggy and Rolf: April Fool’s edition,’ April 1, pg. 13). More than the comic itself, I am extremely disappointed with the newspaper’s editors.

First of all, Lauren Saul’s comic is called ‘Rhoda,’ not ‘Iggy and Rolf.’ I understand she was attempting this April Fool’s Day to seem witty by taking a spoof off someone else’s cartoon, but she has gone too far. She has not only taken Derek Larson’s title for the day (which he should think about copyrighting) but she has placed his name on the comic ‘(not) by Derek Larson.’ She also stole the second panel of his comic strip from Monday and placed it, exactly as it is, in the first panel of her comic (‘Iggy and Rolf: 10 signs that you might be a scumbag,’ March 31, pg. 8). Where I come from, we call this plagiarism.

Second, the comic is not very good let’s not forget that she put his name and comic title on her comic in a way that appears to the glancing reader that Larson wrote it and really forgot how to write a comic. (No matter how offensive you may find his strips, he gets a point across.)

Finally, I understand that Lauren may not have thought she was stealing when she stole Derek Larson’s comic title and pictures, but I would hope that the editors at The Daily Free Press would point out to her certain things, such as ‘use your own title’ and ‘if you want to have Iggy or Rolf in your comic, draw them yourself.’

Taking a spoof off someone’s ideas and hard work can be funny if done well. But taking well, taking just sucks.

Matthew Skolsky

CAS ’03