This was a comic strip that almost got me into trouble. Not the one you see, but the one I ALMOST did.

While trying to come up with a clever punch line – something related to “kings” – I thought, “What about famous people named King?”

I wanted Gypsy to lose her cool and do something bad to Jack. When I Googled famous people with the name “King”… Rodney King and Martin Luther King popped up. You can see where this whole joke went into dangerous territory. Bad things happened to those guys. It was perfect!

Thinking I was on to a clever punch line, I had gypsy say, “Rodney or Martin Luthor?” the idea being “You want me to treat you badly?”

It dawned on me pretty quickly that this was not going to go over well with the black community. I asked a friend if he thought this was over the edge. He confirmed that it would indeed piss people off.

So, I dumbed it down. Turned it into a Three-Stooges-like punch line. I can almost hear Curly say “Treat me like a king!” and Moe replying “Here’s your crown!” DONK!

John Vogel