New annual from the creators of the Madam & Eve cartoon good for many chuckles and laughs. (Review by Caroline Smart)Stephen Francis & Rico are the creators of the highly popular Madam & Eve cartoon strip.
Stephen Francis is a multi-award winning writer, radio and TV personality. Besides being the creator of Madam & Eve together with artist Rico Schacherl, Stephen has also written over 28 episodes for the Madam & Eve television series. One such episode won second place at the recent Rose d'Or Festival in Switzerland, scoring a coveted bronze award for best international situation comedy.
Besides keeping a regular supply of daily cartoons going, Rico Schacherl also works on a wide variety of illustration and cartoon projects with clients ranging from corporate communication, editorial, education, magazines, publishing, television, comics and advertising. Further projects include animation concept and character creation and art direction for SABC 2’s education programmes School TV, X-Marks the Spot and Just Chill; and e-TV’s popular animated show Jozi Zoo.
The Madam & Eve cartoon strip features a woman with a beehive-styled hairdo, hooped earrings and a permanently supercilious expression. This is Gwen – aka Madam. Her domestic is Eve – a feisty black lady with huge eyes and a hairstyle that looks something like a sideways Stetson with the back part cut into slices.
Eve’s nemesis is sharp-tongued Mom (Gwen’s diminutive flat-headed mother) who is rather partial to gin and tonic. The fourth member of the household is Thandi, a sharp-minded little girl with tightly braided hair erupting in twin sprouts of strands tied with a ribbon.
Gwen and Mom (both in pearls) and Eve are often seated in front of the television – which allows Stephen Francis & Rico the scope to have much fun with political comment. Mom is not averse to educating Thandi with her jaundiced take on public affairs, much to the horror of Gwen whose remonstrations reverberate from the kitchen. Often Thandi is banished outside to the front doorstep for offering her own comment which is invariably closer to the truth!
The new Madam & Eve annual published by Jacana Media is good for many chuckles and laughs as it moves from the closing period of the Thabo Mbeki presidency through Kgalema Motlanthe’s tenure, the demise of the Scorpions, the activities of Julius Malema, election fever, Jacob Zuma’s rise to power and the build up to the 2010 World Cup. Along the way, there are jabs at everything from the VIP blue lights brigade, the sidelining of the Springbok as the national emblem, the SABC’s trials and tribulations, Somali Pirates of the Caribbean and Zuma’s bodyguards.
Strike While the Iron is Hot is published in softcover by Jacana Media. Recommended Retail Price is R150. EAN/ISBN-13: 978-1-77009-779-7 – Caroline Smart
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