M (comic strip)

"M" is a Norwegian comic strip, written by Mads Eriksen. it is published in daily newspapers such as "Dagbladet", as well as in its own monthly magazine "M". Previously published as a guest strip in "Pondus" magazine, it established its own dedicated magazine near the end of 2006.Cite web|last=Hellesund|first=Kristian. "Serienett"|title=M får eget hefte|date=2006-10-28|url=http://www.serienett.no/article/313/m-far-eget-hefte|language=Norwegian] The strip has gained a large fan-base in Norway, much due to its quirky humour and numerous pop-cultural references.

ynopsis

A surreal, semi-auto-biographical, strip, its events revolve around Mads Eriksen himself, and The Madam, his live-in girlfriend. The Madam is always drawn with crosses over her eyes, because, Eriksen claims, it is impossible to know what is on her mind. One characteristic of the comic is the unique t-shirts the characters wear for every single strip, these also often containing pop-cultural references.

Allegations of blasphemy

In November 2006, a 94 year old woman from Selbu brought blasphemy charges against "Adresseavisen", a Trondheim-based newspaper that publishes "M", over the content of two strips published in the newspaper. In both strips, Jesus Christ is seen advertising for different products, such as "Pilate's crucifixion cream for manly men". The woman who pressed charges stated that "this has nothing to do with freedom of speech. This is much worse than the Muhammad cartoons." Eriksen responded that "M" is a strip that pokes fun at all sorts of myths, both old and new. A few days later, "Dagbladet" published a strip in which Mads wins a boxing match against God on walkover.Cite web
last= Mads Eriksen
title="M" - "Mads vs. Gud"
date=2006-11-27
url=http://www.madseriksen.no/?m=20061127
language=Norwegian]

No further action was taken, however, as there has been no censorship in Norway over charges of blasphemic content since "Life of Brian" was banned from cinemas in 1979.Cite web|last=Andersen|first=Øystein. "Dagbladet" |date= 2006-11-24|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/11/24/484019.html| title=Jesus-reklame for krem og verktøy (Jesus-commercial for lotion and tools)|language=Norwegian]

Pop-cultural references

Pop cultural phenomena are frequently cited. Among these are:
*Douglas Adams and his "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" science fiction novel and radio show.
*"Firefly" - M refuses to breathe before the cancelled TV-show is brought back on the air. However, the character of Mal is incorrectly referred to as "Mel" in one strip.
*Hunter S. Thompson - Following the demise of Eriksen's coffee pot, it was blown out of a cannon, while Eriksen was wearing a t-shirt that read gonzo, mimicking Hunter S. Thompson's burial.
*Linkin Park and Fred Durst - He has, both in strips and in a national newspaper interview stated that he would rather have his pubic hairs individually removed than listen to Linkin Park. Eriksen himself looks quite similar to Fred Durst, exploited in some strips
*Linux - In one strip, Mads' brother (a computer-oracle) offers advice on how to get rid of trojans, malware, etc, always concluding with "install Linux". At one point a reader asks which Linux distribution he should use, at which point Mads' brother replies: "Gentoo for you, Ubuntu for grandma, HA-HA-HA!!!" In a current ongoing series, Mads has gotten rid of windows and tries to install Linux, but gets help from "Linux Man", A.K.A. his brother.
*"LOST" -There has been one reference to the TV-series LOST
*"The Lord of the Rings" - The Madam is especially fond of Viggo Mortensen and Aragorn.
*Marvel Comics - Galactus, antagonist of "The Silver Surfer", has appeared in "M" on some occasions.
*"The Phantom" - seen intimately embracing a member of "The Singh Brotherhood", The Phantom's arch-enemies, in an M-strip.
*"Poltergeist" - in a story arch of strips, Eriksens dead goldfish comes to haunt his apartment, much in the fashion of Poltergeist.
*"Pondus" and Frode Øverli - In an ongoing "strip war" the two comics have regularly made friendly stabs at each other. It started with Eriksen doing a strip about Øverli sending text messages to all comics artists in Norway, parodizing the style of John Arne Riise. Øverli retorted with an attack on M, and everything escalated from there.
*Stephen King's "The Shining"
*"The Simpsons" - There has been several The Simpsons references in the comic.
*"The Silence of the Lambs" - In one strip Mads dresses up like the villain Jame Gumb.
*"Star Wars" - Mads Eriksen is a big fan of the movie series, and the strip frequently makes references, some so sepecific that getting the joke is restricted to extreme fans. Only satisfied with the original trilogy, the strip's slogan is "Mye morsommere enn Jar-Jar" (a lot funnier than Jar-Jar).
*"The Transformers" - referenced several times
*"Twin Peaks" - Eriksen once uses the voice recording feature on his mobile phone to record a message to "Diane" in the exact same fashion as Agent Cooper and his tape recorder in "Twin Peaks".
*Wikipedia - A door-to-door salesman attempts to sell Mads an encyclopedia, something which causes Mads to go into a laughing fit. The Madam remarks "What are we? "The Flintstones", commenting that encyclopedias in books are obsolete. Throughout the strip, Mads is wearing a t-shirt with a symbol resembling the Wikipedia logo.Cite web
last= Mads Eriksen
title="M" - "Wikipedia"
date=2007-03-08
url=http://www.madseriksen.no/?m=20070408
language=Norwegian]
*Windows Vista - Mads' brother reviews Vista, beginning by making farting sounds with his mouth, continuing on to pulling his t-shirt over his head whilst still making farting sounds.
*World of Warcraft - Mads' friend Øyvind is once seen with a shirt saying "Loot Ninja", a term used in the online-game.
*Yuggoth - Eriksen finds a homeless creature and takes it home. The creature turns out to be Cthulhu from H. P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu". At one point Eriksen says "Cthulhu Fhtagn" - "Cthulhu Dreams" - while the creature is napping in his living room.

ources

* [http://www.schibstedforlagene.no//articles/artid508121.html "M" albums] [http://www.schibstedforlagene.no/tegneserier/tegneserieboker/articles/artid508534.html "M" book] , [http://www.schibstedforlagene.no/tegneserier/blader/articles/artid508395.html "M" magazine] Schibsted no_icon;Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.madseriksen.no "M" strips] no_icon