Voters Baffled by Economic Options

The Midtoon Herald, February 20, 2009

For the first time since Midtoon's inception, few voters are participating in this week's poll. We took to the street and asked some residents what reasons could be behind the marked reduction in participation.

"Midtoon sucks," said Mario, a teenager from Midtoon High, who says he is Erik's best friend. "Look, let's be honest about it. They got it all wrong. Erik is not a suitable main character for this strip. I am."

When asked why, if he is Erik's best friend, he has yet to appear on the strip, he simply said that "Maybe Erik is waiting to introduce me at the right time, or perhaps he is afraid I will take the spotlight from him."

Whatever the reason, it doesn't seem like Mario will be making an appearance any time soon, so we better get to the matter at hand.

"The people are burned out by this economic crisis," said Ann Lovely, and elementary school teacher. "They read comic strips to escape their harsh reality, at least for a few seconds. If the strip reminds them of their life problems, then it is not a real escape. What they have to do is make it less real."

Not everyone agreed with Ms. Lovely, though. Hashish Malik, an employee of City Hall, said that "If the story is not real, it does not resonate with the readers. The readers need to identify themselves with the characters, or they will go watch a movie or something instead of spending their precious time reading the strip. What they have to do is make it more realistic."

We took the liberty of presenting the suggestions to John Campos, who assured us that they will follow them. When asked which one they would follow, he responded "both of them. I do not see any contradiction in making the strip less realistic while making it more realistic. You see? It is so logical that it would make no sense to take time to explain it."

This reporter is also baffled... What do you think?

Disassociated Press

Early results “not satisfactory”, says Erik Campos, but Midtoon to abide by the will of the people.

With a strong show of emotion, Erik Campos, creator and main character of the Midtoon comic strip confided to this reporter that he is “disappointed with the early results of this week’s poll.”

As of this writing, Erik Campos had received no votes in the poll that would help decide which character will be followed in the next story arc. “I know people may want to see someone else,” he said. “But heck, I am the main character, and zero, nada, zip!”

Erik trails his younger brother Javier, his step mother Mabel, who runs second and even an undetermined character, loosely described as ‘another character’ in the polls.

These results were characterized as ‘surprising’ and ‘unusual’ by the author, who totally believes he should be a close runner up on this poll, if not the winner. “We will be conducting an audit of the automatic voting machines used in the polls,” said John Campos, who shares with Erik the dubious honor of being at the bottom of the list. “We will not rest until we get to the bottom of this.”

The Executive Producer of Midtoon, Neftali Rivera said in a press release that “even though Erik may be frustrated, we do not have any reason to suspect electoral fraud.” Rivera later added that “The polls are still open and the results are not yet final, but we assure you that after the people of Midtoon express their opinion with their votes, we will abide with it. This is one of the most important tenets of democracy, and we stand committed to respect the will of the people.”