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Gilman Vs. The Rominator - Article in progress

Gilman Vs. The Rominator was an underground comic drawn by Brian R. Boeckeler and published from 1990-1991. Each strip was hand-drawn in black ink and formatted on a single 8 1/2" x 11" sheet subdivided into boxes. The strips were printed on characteristic off-white high grade heavy stock paper and hand-numbered. The first few issues were hand-distributed for free for promotional purposes, and later issues were sold in underground comic stores. The first store to carry Gilman Vs. The Rominator was Mike's Sports Cards, located in southeastern Wisconsin. After the comic gained popularity in the Midwest, it was picked up by several widely distributed magazines. The strip appeared in an issue of Guns & Ammo and was published regularly in the British science fiction magazine Critical Wave. The strip's rapid rise in popularity led to allegations of "selling out" among hardcore fans, and Boeckeler chose to discontinue the strip in 1991 amidst this criticism. Despite its short run, the comic is viewed today as a cult classic, and original numbered pressings of the strip are collectible and are occasionally sold on online auction sites.

Plot

Each strip involved a confrontation between Gilman, n middle-school aged boy, and his math teacher, known as the Rominator, who possessed superhuman strength and intelligence despite being elderly. Gilman was an egotistical, smart-mouthed student who usually sought to outwit or defeat the Rominator, but inevitably failed miserably. Gilman was killed by the Rominator at the end of every strip, but nonetheless reappeared in subsequent strips, a motif later made famous by the character Kenny in South Park. Gilman Vs. The Rominator is thought to be the first appearance of this motif in printed media. Each strip featured a different form of death for Gilman. For example, in the popular strip 46, Gilman is decapitated during a basketball game against the Rominator, and the strip ends with the Rominator shooting baskets using Gilman's head as the ball.

Strips frequently ended with a witty one-liner from the Rominator, often including a deliberately corny math reference. For example, after the basketball incident, the Rominator says "Use your head to learn math, use math to learn to use your head." Other one-liners insulted Gilman's manhood, as in strip 4, where Gilman and The Rominator participate in a golf tournament in which The Rominator loses all of his golf balls in a water hazard. After Gilman taunts the Rominator, the Rominator tosses Gilman into the lake and proclaims, "Now all your balls are in the lake!"

Controversy over online publication

In the years since the strip's original run, several attempts have been made to publish Gilman Vs. The Rominator on the web. The strip's creator has made it known that he is vehemently opposed to online reproduction of his work, however, citing copyright infringement. In 1999, he mounted a legal challenge against the web site www.rominator.com, which hosted scans of the strip and facilitated fan trading of original strip pressings. The site was eventually shut down. This has led to a dearth of online material related to the strip, besides a few fan discussion forums and the occasional eBay auction.

Influence

Gilman Vs. The Rominator is considered a classic "cult comic" and its influence can be seen in a variety of media. A few examples include:

• Figures clearly resembling Gilman and The Rominator can be seen in many of Seth Fisher's crowd scenes, this was almost certainly intentional as Fisher was an acknowledged fan.
• A software package for managing backed up Nintendo DS games is named Rominator after the character.
• A computer repair shop in Phoenix, AZ run by a fan is called "Doc Rominator".
• Florida race car driver Jerome Watland has adopted the nickname "The Rominater".