Back in 2003, Steve McGarry and Rick Stromoski launched Mullets, a nationally syndicated comic strip by two seasoned creators. Focusing on Kevin and Scab, two mulleted, sweet dumbos who work at a hardware store, the strip was fun, funny, and due to the seasoned creators had a fleshed-out cast of supporting characters. And then 60 weeks later, it was done.
…Or was it? Over 20 years later, Mullets is back in crowdfunding form on Zoop, and billed as the “funniest comic strip you never read.” Collecting all the strips, and including a “legacy-destroying” sequel by Luke McGarry, the elder McGarry’s son, you can finally check out Mullets for yourself.
To find out more about the book, Comic Book Club discussed the strip with Steve McGarry over email, including why it didn’t work the first time, and why mullets are so funny to begin with.
Comic Book Club: I’m sure you get this all the time, but I’ll ask, too: which one of you is Kevin, and which is Scab?
Steve McGarry: I’m taller than Rick so I guess that makes me Kevin! Although Rick is probably heavier …
What is it about the mullet hairstyle that’s so funny?
It’s not so much the concept, it’s the abuse. When that longer-in-back hairstyle first surfaced in the 1970s … when it was Paul McCartney in his Wings period or ZiggyStardust-era David Bowie … it was a very cool look. But like so many fashion trends, but when it was adopted by the masses it had morphed into something hideous. By the time it had made its way to hockey pros and senior prom, it was seriously uncool. So it died out.
But then 20 years later, suddenly it came back from the dead. We have a poster that depicts all those mutant variations that popped up in the early 2000s : the skullet, the rat tail, the execumellet, the mull hawk, etc. Kevin and Scab, two dopey heavy metal dimwits, were always going to sport that look. And while rock stars probably employ expensive stylists and hairdressers, you aren’t going to get the same skill level if you get your hair cut at the swap meet. And the mullet is back now back in fashion again! Every 20 years the damn thing comes back from the dead!
Mullets ran for about a year and change before ending. Having read the strip, it’s funny, it’s smart, there’s a good depth of characters… Not to hit a sour note, but what is it about this one that didn’t quite take?
A couple of factors. When we signed the feature to the syndicate, they flew us out to Kansas City and threw a huge party for us at the syndicate head’s palatial home. The next morning we did a presentation to the entire company.. all the sales force, the bosses all wearing Mullets wigs, and we were set for a major launch.
Then two things derailed us. A Mullets sitcom debuted on TV. Our thing had been months in the making, the sitcom was dreadful. It looked like it had been cobbled together in minutes. Everything about it was clumsy, unfunny, and corny. So that was a blow. But worse still, the syndicate hired a new lead salesman. Rick and I were both already syndicated on features with another syndicate … Me with Kid City and Rick with Soup to Nutz … and the new lead salesman had been poached from that syndicate.
The thing was, he hated Rick’s artwork with a passion … and now here he was, tasked with selling Rick’s new feature. So that was an even bigger blow. The salesman lasted just long enough in his new job to oversee our launch and then was gone within a few months. The reality of syndication is that you only get one bite at the cherry … if you don’t get immediate traction then it’s hard to get momentum. The way the sales incentives worked is that three months later, the salesforce would be incentivized to sell the next launch.
It’s being billed as “the funniest comic strip you never read,” but do you ever get folks mentioning it to you?
That’s the thing. When we learned that our launch was being handicapped, we devised Plan B. A friend of ours had a small syndicate that specialized in newspaper editorial cartoons, so we asked him to preview Mullets. He did a mail out to his readers, with a week or two’s preview samples, and asked readers if they like it to write in to us, tell us their local paper and we would do the rest.
We got 5,000 emails from readers raving about the strip. We gave them to the syndicate but it still barely made a dent. By the time we launched, we had a couple of dozen clients. We were committed by now, so figured we might as well go for it. But as I say, once the syndicate had moved on to the next priority, it was an uphill battle. We had both been pros long enough to know that we were flogging a dead horse so we pulled the plug after 60 weeks.
Luke McGarry is doing a new “legacy-destroying” sequel… What can you tease about that?
If you know Luke’s work, you know it will be dark and very funny. His take on Mullets is basically The Banshees Of Inisherin meets Black Mirror.
Revisiting these strips now, does it give you any sort of hankering to do more?
Candidly, newspapers are dead. Nothing new is going to get launched. But the possibility of TV intrigues us, so we’ll see.
Mullets starts crowdfunding on Zoop today.
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