Pooch Café
Encyclopedia
Pooch Café is a Canadian and American comic strip
written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan.
The strip follows Poncho's life with his master, Chazz, and Chazz's cat-loving wife, Carmen (who owns a brood of six cats), and Poncho's adventures with his fellow dogs Boomer, Hudson, Droolia (a female Bullmastiff with a drooling problem), Gus (a Scottish Terrier), Beaumont (or "Bobo", the owner of the titular cafe), Poo Poo (a Bichon Frise), and a zen goldfish named "Fish". Other semi-recurring characters are Tito (the garbage man), Sheldon (a pigeon with a pork pie hat), and Margo (the dog-walker). The strip takes its name from the cafe where Poncho and his friends gather to compare notes about life among the humans.
The universe of the comic strip is one in which dogs are recognizably canine in some of their behavior but with many anthropomorphic traits. For example, Chazz, Carmen and other human characters are able to talk not just to Poncho but to Poncho's dog friends as well, all seeming to speak the same language. The dogs however are unable to communicate with cats - who speak only cat—and therefore the cats are rarely seen speaking. Fish for some reason is able to speak all languages.
Many people attach commendable characteristics to dogs, such as loyalty and unconditional love. However, Poncho embodies other less-dwelt-upon traits; he's greedy and self-serving, a fact of which he is blissfully aware. Poncho hates cats with a passion, and dreams of the day he and his canine companions can catapult all the cats of the world into the sun. This plan is often referred to during the dogs' "Catapult-All-Cats-Into-The-Sun" meetings, which are led by Boomer. Chazz and Carmen are often driven to their wits' end by his constant schemes, but still love him unconditionally, tough though it may be. Poncho also holds a grudge against Carmen for coming between the sacred master/dog relationship he shares with Chazz, and also for forcing them to live with cats. He often designs schemes to pit the couple against each other, delighting in any turmoil that subsequently ensues.
The strip is set in contemporary North America. Poncho appears in most of the strips, while a small number focus on other supporting characters. The broad themes of the strip deal with Poncho’s misadventures, his unique views on cats and his relationships and interactions with other characters in his society.
Pooch Café is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate after a short time with Copley's syndicate, and currently appears in approximately 275 papers worldwide. There are two book collections, (temporarily out of print but being reprinted in spring 2009) and a third book entitled “Bark to Work Legislation”.
The creator runs a blog, where fans can connect with Paul Gilligan and interact with other fans on its message board. There has even been some speculation that a few recent strips may have been influenced during this open fan/author dialogue.
Paul Gilligan reports on his website that he's inked an option deal with Sony Pictures Animation to bring Poncho and friends to the big screen.
Paul Gilligan's affair with art began in 1970, in kindergarten, when he realized that he was bad at sports and that art was his only other option for impressing girls. Weaned on Mad magazine, super-hero comics and “Bloom County,” Paul attended Toronto’s Sheridan College for animation and illustration and took comedy writing at the Film Institute in Ottawa.
He tested out other jobs over the years such as gas jockey
, carny
, night watchman and florist, before joining the Ottawa Citizen newspaper as its on-staff illustrator, where he won awards in both illustration and design. He also found work in advertising, editorial cartooning, storyboarding, comic books and animation, and finally set up shop in downtown Toronto as a freelancer, where his roster of illustration clients grew to include the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Disney, and Wired. During this time he created a number of strips, the culmination of which was Pooch Café.
Pooch was the first comic of the new millennium, debuting on Jan 1, 2000. In 2003 it was picked up by Universal Press Syndicate, and since then it has found its way into over 220 newspapers around the globe, including recent additions like London and Moscow. However, it was removed from the UK's Daily Mirror on 20 February 2010, after a three-and-a-half-year run, replaced with re-runs of The Perishers.
Paul does not currently own a dog, but he skulks around dog parks doing research, and is an avid viewer of “Dogs With Jobs” and “Scooby-Doo” reruns.
in 2008; the award is referred to as the Reuben Award. http://poochcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/reuben-entry-2008.jpg
had been hired by Sony Pictures Animation
to write an adaptation of Pooch Café for a CG-animated feature film.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan.
Overview
Pooch Café is a comic strip that follows the humorous antics of a self-serving, squirrel-fearing, food-obsessed, toilet-drinking mutt named Poncho.The strip follows Poncho's life with his master, Chazz, and Chazz's cat-loving wife, Carmen (who owns a brood of six cats), and Poncho's adventures with his fellow dogs Boomer, Hudson, Droolia (a female Bullmastiff with a drooling problem), Gus (a Scottish Terrier), Beaumont (or "Bobo", the owner of the titular cafe), Poo Poo (a Bichon Frise), and a zen goldfish named "Fish". Other semi-recurring characters are Tito (the garbage man), Sheldon (a pigeon with a pork pie hat), and Margo (the dog-walker). The strip takes its name from the cafe where Poncho and his friends gather to compare notes about life among the humans.
The universe of the comic strip is one in which dogs are recognizably canine in some of their behavior but with many anthropomorphic traits. For example, Chazz, Carmen and other human characters are able to talk not just to Poncho but to Poncho's dog friends as well, all seeming to speak the same language. The dogs however are unable to communicate with cats - who speak only cat—and therefore the cats are rarely seen speaking. Fish for some reason is able to speak all languages.
Many people attach commendable characteristics to dogs, such as loyalty and unconditional love. However, Poncho embodies other less-dwelt-upon traits; he's greedy and self-serving, a fact of which he is blissfully aware. Poncho hates cats with a passion, and dreams of the day he and his canine companions can catapult all the cats of the world into the sun. This plan is often referred to during the dogs' "Catapult-All-Cats-Into-The-Sun" meetings, which are led by Boomer. Chazz and Carmen are often driven to their wits' end by his constant schemes, but still love him unconditionally, tough though it may be. Poncho also holds a grudge against Carmen for coming between the sacred master/dog relationship he shares with Chazz, and also for forcing them to live with cats. He often designs schemes to pit the couple against each other, delighting in any turmoil that subsequently ensues.
The strip is set in contemporary North America. Poncho appears in most of the strips, while a small number focus on other supporting characters. The broad themes of the strip deal with Poncho’s misadventures, his unique views on cats and his relationships and interactions with other characters in his society.
Pooch Café is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate after a short time with Copley's syndicate, and currently appears in approximately 275 papers worldwide. There are two book collections, (temporarily out of print but being reprinted in spring 2009) and a third book entitled “Bark to Work Legislation”.
The creator runs a blog, where fans can connect with Paul Gilligan and interact with other fans on its message board. There has even been some speculation that a few recent strips may have been influenced during this open fan/author dialogue.
Paul Gilligan reports on his website that he's inked an option deal with Sony Pictures Animation to bring Poncho and friends to the big screen.
History
In creating Poncho, Paul Gilligan said, "I wanted a main character everyone can identify with. Poncho is whatever I want him to be - a dog, a best friend, a child or whatever the scene calls for and the Pooch Café is a place dogs can go and complain about life among the humans."Paul Gilligan's affair with art began in 1970, in kindergarten, when he realized that he was bad at sports and that art was his only other option for impressing girls. Weaned on Mad magazine, super-hero comics and “Bloom County,” Paul attended Toronto’s Sheridan College for animation and illustration and took comedy writing at the Film Institute in Ottawa.
He tested out other jobs over the years such as gas jockey
Gas jockey
A gas jockey, or gas station attendant, is someone who works at a full service gas station performing services other than working the register. Their jobs include pumping gas, wiping windshields, checking your oil, and in the past, cranking your car to get it started...
, carny
Carny
Carny or carnie is a slang term used in North America and, along with showie, in Australia for a carnival employee, as well as the language they employ...
, night watchman and florist, before joining the Ottawa Citizen newspaper as its on-staff illustrator, where he won awards in both illustration and design. He also found work in advertising, editorial cartooning, storyboarding, comic books and animation, and finally set up shop in downtown Toronto as a freelancer, where his roster of illustration clients grew to include the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Disney, and Wired. During this time he created a number of strips, the culmination of which was Pooch Café.
Pooch was the first comic of the new millennium, debuting on Jan 1, 2000. In 2003 it was picked up by Universal Press Syndicate, and since then it has found its way into over 220 newspapers around the globe, including recent additions like London and Moscow. However, it was removed from the UK's Daily Mirror on 20 February 2010, after a three-and-a-half-year run, replaced with re-runs of The Perishers.
Paul does not currently own a dog, but he skulks around dog parks doing research, and is an avid viewer of “Dogs With Jobs” and “Scooby-Doo” reruns.
Main characters
 |
Poncho has been spending a lot more time at Pooch Cafe since the day his life went down the tubes - or so he refers to the day his beloved master got married to a cat person and they moved into a house ripe with feline infestation. This new female is a threat to the sacred bond between a man and his dog. Now his master is sleeping with the enemy, while Poncho has to sleep on the floor. |
 |
Chazz didn’t quite get the dog he was expecting with Poncho, and vice versa. Chazz likes camping, biking, playing fetch, while Poncho's more interested in keeping the couch warm till it's time for dinner. Chazz pushes Poncho to tap into his inner dog, little realizing that Poncho's inner dog wears a clown suit and rides a unicycle. |
 |
Carmen is Chazz's new wife. She treats Poncho pretty good, but that really doesn't matter, because she's a cat person and therefore a force of pure evil. Her cats are all pure evil too, lifeless lumps of fur that all look alike from a dog's perspective. Poncho is certain they're plotting some heinous criminal takeover, but he can't figure out what it is, because unfortunately he doesn't speak cat. |
 |
Boomer is Poncho's best dog buddy. He's been around a bit longer than Poncho and knows some of the ins-and-outs, but his brain is small and spring-loaded, often sending him into hyperactive rants. And when he gets a few cups of coffee in him, look out. Still, he knows all the best places to eat in the area—a sort of a restaurateur's guide to fine dumpster dining—and his plans for a giant catapult with which to launch all felines into orbit has got the dog community buzzing. |
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Hudson A wealthy, yet humble purebred. Much to the delight of the other dogs, his over-training has rendered him incapable of resisting commands. |
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Trapped in a world 12 inches wide, Fish is often a moral compass and dispenser of sage advice for Poncho, being surprisingly well-versed in Zen philosophy, theology, and cat lingo. |
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Droolia is a slobbering female Bullmastiff who has no masculinity issues at all, and whose one unrelenting goal is to win Poo Poo's unrequited love. |
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Poo Poo is an emasculated Bichon Frise with a pink bow in his hair and serious self-image issues, enough for him to go mad with insanity later on. |
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Beaumont (Bobo) The café's owner and strict enforcer of the "No Collar, No Service" rule. |
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Gus is a scrappy little Scotty dog who talks with a Scottish accent (even though he's from Detroit). |
Recurring subject matter
Some recurring themes in the strip include: Poncho's dislike of cats; the giant cat-catapult the dogs are trying to build to hurl all the Earth's cats into the Sun; his fear of the squirrels in the backyard; his weakness for the use of Havarti cheese as a bargaining tool; his longing to taste Zebra; his infatuation with Jackie Chan; Carmen's not-so-secret crush on Justin Timberlake; Chazz's embarrassment of having to hold an umbrella over Poncho while he does his business in rainy weather; his timid skunk friend "Stinky" who goes off with very little provocation; his attempts to please and improve the life of his friend Fish by taking him for walks or setting him up on on-line dates; his attempts to incur a positive kharmic balance by helping the personality-impaired pigeon Sheldon; his emotional connection to his Plank Of Wood, a remnant from the porch he was born under many years ago, various body parts that resemble urges: such as the stomach for hunger or the brain for cleverness.Poncho's travels
Like the gnome from the movie Amelie, Poncho is traveling the world and visiting the local landmarks of wherever he finds himself courtesy of Pooch Café fans across the globe. Pictures of his exploration can be viewed at http://poochcafe.com/?cat=25Award nominations
Pooch Café was nominated for "Best Comic Strip" by the National Cartoonists SocietyNational Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
in 2008; the award is referred to as the Reuben Award. http://poochcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/reuben-entry-2008.jpg
Collections
As of 2008, three book collections were published.| Title | Publication Date | ISBN | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Dogs Naturally Know How to Swim | 2003 | ISBN 0-7407-3302-8 | Andrews McMeel |
| No Collar, No Service | 2005 | ISBN 0-7407-5003-8 | Andrews McMeel |
| Bark to Work Legislation | 2007 | none | Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird... (only available from Lulu) |
Film
In October 2011, it was announced that Kelly AsburyKelly Asbury
Kelly Adam Asbury is an American director, writer, voice actor, author and illustrator.He attended Lamar University for two years before, in 1980, transferring to California Institute of the Arts, where he studied animation and filmmaking...
had been hired by Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production...
to write an adaptation of Pooch Café for a CG-animated feature film.