Emperor Norton Comix
Shaenon: Panels from a comic I’m working on. Yeah, it’s about Emperor Norton. But it’s not going to be entirely about Emperor Norton.
Channing: Which is not to say that you couldn’t do a comic entirely about Emperor Norton. He was the best kind of crazy.
I’m…ASSUMING that George Washington II is made up? I think someone would have mentioned it if he wasn’t?
And where is Lopan in all of this?
Made up? Apparently not:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Coombs
No, and neither are the dogs.
…well okay then! History is even weirder than the weird I knew it to be.
My favorite story about George Washington II: One day, Emperor Norton started going around town tearing down the proclamations Washington regularly posted everywhere. Washington went to the police to complain. The police said they couldn’t really do anything about it, but why was the Emperor doing this? Washington told them it was because the Emperor was jealous of his success with the ladies.
“Which is not to say that you couldn’t do a comic entirely about Emperor Norton. He was the best kind of crazy.”
Sandman: Three Septembers and a January. Well, it’s not entirely about Norton; it’s got Dream, Despair, Desire, and Delirium in it.
“His madness keeps him sane” is one of my favourite lines ever.
That is indeed a pretty great story. But so is August, and also Thermidor, and “I did not construct it. It was given to me. And it is no longer for sale” is still one one of *my* favourite lines ever. 😉
Fables & Reflections is the best Sandman collected volume by a not even small margin, is what I’m saying. 😉
I enjoyed “The Dream of A Thousand Cats” myself, although I may be just a little biased for some reason, nyao…. {nonchalantly grooming my whiskers}
“Ah How, what happened here this evening?”
“The Emperor was offered a choice. The Emperor said No. That is the Emperor’s prerogative.”
Tell the story about how Emperor Norton tried to stop the Civil War…
He did issue a proclamation against the Civil War. He also commanded the construction of the Bay Bridge, and according to legend he once stopped a riot in Chinatown by stepping between the two sides and brokering peace.
I was hoping you’d mention that. There was going to be a street brawl between imported Chinese workers and the locals and he stopped it by making a speech. His finest hour.
I also like the way he’d make a daily foot patrol of his empire and the cops saluted him. He fell down dead during one of those.
Must… Have…
Where is Napoleon the 14th in all of this?
He wasn’t born yet. This was about the time of Napoleon III.