Мадам и Ева: Южноафриканский комикс о новой эпохе

Comic strip

Madam & Eve is a daily comic strip originating in South Africa. The strip, by Stephen Francis and Rico Schacherl, is syndicated in 13 publications and claims a daily readership of over 4 million people. The strip was first published in July 1992, in a black and white weekly format in The Weekly Mail (now the Mail & Guardian) and in a monthly colour format in Living magazine. In 1993 the creators added five daily cartoons, also in black and white. In 2000 Madam & Eve was made into a television sitcom.

A satirical strip, it started in 1992 and was based around the theme of a middle class white woman, Gwen Anderson ("Madam"), and her black maid, Eve Sisulu, coming to terms with the new South Africa as the Apartheid era drew to a close. Theirs is a relationship of affectionate squabbling. Perhaps in the spirit of equality, neither character is portrayed as particularly sympathetic. Madam is always coming up with silly ideas in order to fit in more with the new way of life. Eve meanwhile keeps coming up with ways of obtaining extra cash out of Madam and others.

The strip often pokes fun at political figures, both South African and elsewhere in the world (much in the same way, though not as consistently, as the US strip Doonesbury). Past targets have included former South African president Thabo Mbeki, former South African president Jacob Zuma, businessman Schabir Shaik and Winnie Mandela. Further afield, jabs have been directed at US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Pop star Michael Jackson and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Even Nelson Mandela has been a source of fun. Although he is usually highly regarded both in and out of South Africa, Madam and Eve has treated him no differently from any other politician. For example, when he and Frederik Willem de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, a series of strips had their lawyers discussing its sharing with Mandela insisting on a 60–40% split on the grounds that he had featured on more magazine covers and Hollywood movies.

The idea for Madam & Eve originated with Stephen Francis, an American expatriate. The three founding creators of the Madam & Eve strip, Harry Dugmore, Rico Schacherl, and Stephen Francis, first worked together on Laughing Stock, a satirical magazine launched in Johannesburg in 1988. Following the closure of the magazine (after 13 issues), the three worked on other projects in the greeting card division of the same company. That company folded, and the trio launched Madam & Eve in July 1992. Dugmore left the partnership in 2001.

Known professionally by his first name, Rico is a cartoonist and illustrator living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. Born in Austria in 1966, He left Rapid Phase in 2001.

Gwen Anderson, also known as Madam, is a typical white South African woman. The original "Madam" is loosely based on Stephen Francis' own mother in law, also named Gwen. Of her family we have met one son, Eric, and her mother and aunt.

Eve Sisulu is Madam's "domestic maintenance assistant." Eve frequently opens a booth selling different goods and services for a side income, and is sometimes found asleep on her ironing board, both deliberate homages to Charles Schulz' Peanuts (Lucy and Snoopy, respectively). When Schulz died, a tribute cartoon appeared showing Eve sleeping on a doghouse and Snoopy sleeping on an ironing board.

The character of Mother Anderson was originally introduced as Abigail ("Mother") Anderson in 1993. The character visited Madam & Eve on a trip from England, and soon disappeared again from the comic strip. Her first appearance was so popular that the character returned in 1994 and has stayed in the comic since, as a permanent character. A twin sister, Edith, was introduced in 1995, but a year after that character's appearance "Mother Anderson" became known as "Edith Anderson," the name which has stuck since. She is well known for her addiction to gin and tonic. She is often referred to as "Gogo" (a South African affectionate term for an older woman) in more recent strips.

Thandi Sisulu was introduced in 1994 as Lizeka's baby sister. She has often been "paired" with 80 year old Mother Anderson. Since Eric and Lizeka no longer appear regularly, Thandi is described, as of 2005, as "Eve's precocious cousin who lives next door."

Eric Anderson, Gwen's son, was introduced in early 1993 as a college student. The character was allowed to graduate from college a few years later, but remained unemployed. When the character reappears it has been said he had been on a trip to India or Tibet. The illustrator's (real name: Enrico Schacherl) real life brother's name also happens to be Erich.

Lizeka was introduced as Eric's college girlfriend in late 1993. Being Zulu, she allowed the writers to explore humour in having an "interracial couple." As of 2005, this character has all but disappeared from the strip.

Another inspiration of Stephen Francis: Francis would be frequently awoken from naps by a woman street vendor, calling out that she had Mielies (known as ears of corn in the USA & Canada, and maize elsewhere). The writers originally spelled the word "mealies," but settled on "mielies" by 1996. The woman who peddles them past Madam & Eve's house is often paired with Mother Anderson, who often gives chase, wielding a "kattie" (catapult) for having had her nap interrupted.

Madam's recurring psychiatrist who appeared as a replacement for the old doctor. When he first appeared she thought he was a witchdoctor.

The parktown prawn is a large King cricket that manages to create regular havoc in Madam's household whenever it appears, due to its repugnant shape and difficulty to kill using normal insecticides. The prawns in the cartoon behave like university students who are on holiday – insecticide gives them a drug trip, and they call it 'zol' – a South African slang term for cannabis. The Prawns have been known to leave a prawn shaped silhouette in frying pans applied to them to kill them, and to get amusement from scaring the ladies in the Anderson house.

Three enigmatic laborers sitting on the back of a bakkie (pickup truck) often appear in strips which have Madam stuck in traffic. Typically, they do nothing but stare at her with otherwise blank expressions, which drives Madam nuts: "It never fails! For years, wherever I go in traffic, I always end up behind these same three guys on the back of a bakkie!" — from the strip of 2 November 2006.

Appearing yearly before Christmas, the area's dustbin men are trying to collect their "Christmas bonus" from Madam and Mother Anderson. While they become more and more creative in their efforts by the year, the latter become more and creative in avoiding paying the bonus.

The "little aliens" occasionally come to earth and to decide whether South Africans have morally developed as a species, if not, they will nuke them. The tokoloshes are small creatures from African folklore who try to take the characters away at night if they don't have bricks under their beds.

Some art from Madam and Eve has been placed into galleries, such as the exhibit at the Caisa Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, which lasted until 30 June 2005. The comic has also been covered and reviewed internationally, including a New York Times article by Bill Keller, published on 5 April 1993, a Washington Post article by Paul Taylor, France's newspaper Liberation, in 1994, and the international magazine The Economist, in 1997. Their cartoon collection books have been published in Denmark, France and Sweden, and some cartoons are occasionally reprinted in a comics magazine in Norway. In the run up to the first free elections in South Africa, the UK Newspaper "The Guardian" (known in the US and elsewhere as the "Manchester Guardian"), ran the strip for several weeks. Because the comic is available online, and the books are available internationally, the cartoonists have, on occasion, explained some topics to their international readers through their characters. Many of these have been translations, such as mielies being corn or maize, or a "robot" being a traffic light/signal.