Cherry (comics)

 

Welz created Cherry Poptart, first appearing in underground comic Funnybook #1, in 1971. Though the character and subsequent self-titled comic is largely known as an erotic or pornographic book, it does garner critical merit for its humor and occasional political commentary.^[1] The Cherry character has also appeared in several free speech/censorship awareness campaigns.^[2]

Contrasting the subject matter with more "innocent" connotations, Welz draws the comic in a simple style reminiscent of Dan DeCarlo, whose style was also the basis for the Archie comic book series.^[3][1] The strip so closely followed the "Happy Teenager" genre typified by Archie that lawsuits were threatened, but these failed to stop Welz.^[3] The series frequently parodied other pop culture material and current events.^[4]

The series was first published in 1982^[5] by small press company Last Gasp^[6] as Cherry Poptart. The first issue was an anthology, featuring three Cherry Poptart stories, one featuring another Welz character called Trina Tron, and two strips featuring similarly-themed strips from other underground cartoonists – Larry Todd's Vamperotica and Jay Kinney's The Wholesome Twins. This format was dropped for later issues, which largely revolved around Cherry and her friends, though each issue usually featured multiple shorter stories. The Todd and Kinney stories were also dropped from subsequent reprints of the series.^[7] From the third issue the book was retitled Cherry; Welz has stated this was in response to threats of legal action by Kellogg's over its Pop-Tarts trademark.^[7] Inside the comic the name was still occasionally used for the character, but generally the character was simply referred to as 'Cherry'.

On occasion Welz would search for other artists to help on the title in the hope of moving it to a quarterly schedule, though generally he continued the title as a solo effort.^[8] In issue #8 Ellie is prominently featured in aOz mockery called "Ellie Dee in the Land of Woz"; this was originally planned as a spin-off title (tentatively called Cherry's Pal Ellie Dee in the Land of Woz) but instead ran in the pages of Cherry. The name was also a pun on Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak.^[9]

Tundra Publishing also published a spinoff series called Cherry's Jubilee for stories from other creators,^[10] ranging from underground comix figures such as Grass Green to mainstream figures like Marv Wolfman.^[5] In 1993, Kitchen Sink Press took over from Last Gasp as the series' publisher for Cherry #14 through #19, also reprinting the first 13 issues and taking over Cherry's Jubilee.^[10] In 1998, Welz formed his own Cherry Comics, which issued Cherry Deluxe, a planned anthology similar to Cherry's Jubilee; the first issue featured a story by Neil Gaiman.^[1] No further issues of Cherry Deluxe followed but Cherry Comics took over publication of the regular series from #20 onwards, again issuing fresh reprints of the previous issues.

The series is among the largest-selling of the underground comics,^[11] and is among those titles credited with reviving that genre.^[12][3] As of 2024 no new issues have been released for 5 years.

• Cherry: the main character. Cherry Poptart is blonde, liberal, upbeat, promiscuous and insatiable – she will have sexual intercourse with anyone of either sex (including her mother, and any of her female friends) and anything. Cherry does not age, but perpetually has "just turned 18".^[6] She is generally a high school student, though this will change without warning to fit in with a story, and rarely keeps a boyfriend outside a single strip.^[10]
• Cherry's mom: Pepper Poptart looks and acts much the same as her daughter, though when Cherry travels back in time she finds her mother was originally a straight-laced and prudish young lady. Cherry soon trained her in dressing provocatively, masturbation and lesbian sex before helping get her impregnated by one of George Washington, Davy Crockett, Jesse James or James Dean during a group sex session.
• Ellie Dee: Cherry's best friend, a dark-haired computer expert. Her appearances usually end up with Ellie and/or Cherry having adventures involving technology; in keeping with her stories' themes, her name is a homonym for LED. Despite her nerdish trappings, Ellie is every bit as sexually active as Cherry.
• Lola Palooza: a rich, stuck-up mobster's daughter into bondage and domination. She is sometimes an antagonist of Cherry and sometimes her friend.
• Patty Melt: another of Cherry's friends, Patty is short, buxom, and freckled, and once again has a voracious sexual appetite.

The series also featured occasional cameos by another Welz creation, Captain Guts.^[3]

Wary of accusations of creating child pornography, Welz included a disclaimer from Cherry Poptart #2 stating that all the characters were 18 or older.^[13] The same issue featured a single-page gag story in which Cherry's underage sister Cinnamon was indignant about not being allowed to perform any sex acts in the comic, due to being underage. Welz explained in The Gauntlet in 1992 that the issue and the character were intended to address the serious concern raised by his publisher that if Cherry was depicted as being under 18, the strip could be classified as child pornography. The strip remains the sole appearance of Cinnamon.^[3]

On 30 August 1990 Winsor Parker, the owner of Xeno's comic store in Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested after an undercover police officer purchased a copy of Cherry Anthology #1 from the store; the comic was ruled obscene by the judge under the same statute which had befallen recordings by 2 Live Crew.^[14] Parker pled not guilty, claiming he was unaware the material had been ruled obscene in Florida.^[15] Copies of Cherry were seized by Canadian police from Toronto store Dragon Lady comics in February 1991, along with issues of "Omaha" the Cat Dancer, works by Milo Manara and titles produced by Eros Comics. This and other busts in Canada led to the Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund creating the anthology comic The True North to raise funds for store owners facing legal charges.^[16]

Cherry is sometimes featured as a "spokesmodel" for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; since the body's formation it has been promoted in turn in the pages of Cherry.^[5][17]

Amazing Heroes reviewer R.A. Jones listed Cherry as one of the ten best titles of 1986, calling it "depraved, disgusting, pornographic, infantile and utterly lacking in any redeeming value", stating "We all need to be offended once in a while" and praising its lampooning of the "saccharine" Archie comics.^[18] However, Adam-Troy Castro disagreed in a later issue, feeling that the satirical content was the singular joke of the art's resemblance to Archie material.^[19] She was ranked 82nd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[20]

During the late 1980s, Welz made a couple of attempts to make a film version of the series. Initially it was planned as a low-budget pornographic film starring Tammy Monroe as Cherry, but Welz withdrew his co-operation after realising the production was a generic porno. Instead, Berkeley-based company Magic Lightning Productions planned a Cherry Poptart film in 1990, co-produced by Welz and Charles Webb. This was intended to be R-Rated, and reportedly attracted interest from Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema. Welz also entered negotiations with an animation studio to make direct-to-video Cherry cartoons.^[21] However, none of these versions made it into production.

Welz has produced t-shirts, posters and cigarette lighters featuring Cherry. In 2022, he linked up with Discordia Merchandising to make a resin figure of Cherry.^[22]

• cherrycomix.com   — Cherry Comics official online store