"Miss Pepper"

Summary

'Miss Pepper' is a super hero comic book character created by Mark Edden Ferschtre.

Historical Basis

Mark Ferschtre's wife, Ellaina Ann Ferschtre who was an army nurse, was killed in combat during the Battle of Saam's Town. Ferschtre fell into a state of depression and became an alcoholic. When tasked with coming up with a new comic book character to support the war effort Mark was at a loss at first. One of his doodles at home, a doodle of his wife, accidentally made its way into his paper work. When a co-worker inquired him about what he thought was supposed to be the new concept art, Mark was going to correct him but was struck with an idea.

Spread

"Miss Pepper" was produced and distributed nationally through Hadden Comics, most commonly being sold through book stores and drug stores, although you could find them almost anywhere. A special edition of the first issue was distributed to military bases throughout PepperLand, and some even given away to troops for free. Hadden Comics out sourced international distribution through various companies in their respective territories. Some of the countries that got an official release include Uroboros and The United Kingdoms of Kurag . Hadden put very little in the way of marketing for 'Miss Pepper' but word of mouth spread, and suddenly copies started flying off the shelves. By issue number 5, it out sold Rauße, Hadden's previous best seller.

Variations & Mutation

'Miss Pepper' was originally released in comic book form. The original run has 20 issues. A year after the first issue was released Hadden began production of an animated series. Mark Edden Ferschtre executive produced the 8 episode series while also supervising the comics. More were set to be made but were canceled due to the war ending. By that time Hadden Comics became a branch off the main company which rebranded itself Hadden Animation Studio and set off to work on an animated series of Rauße. The 20th and final issue of the comics came out on September 30th, 1606. Ferschtre had an end planned and was able to finnish the series on his own terms. Ferschtre did not want to continue the comics after the war ended, quoting,

"Miss Pepper is was really meant to inspire hope to survive and make it through the war. But now that the war is over I don't have the desire to continue the series. We have achieved the goal and so had 'Miss Pepper'."

Mark Edden Ferschtre

Due to popular demand, Ferschtre agreed to make one more episode of the animated series to cap off the animated version. However they quickly scrapped that idea and instead worked on an animated feature length film which would also wrap up the animated version. It is essentially an adaptation of the last issue of the comic, which the animated series shared little of its story with. The theatrical movie titled, Miss Pepper and The End, was released August 31st, 1611, celebrating five after the ceasefire signed. It was a stunning piece of animation and became the highest grossing movie in Pepper Land at the time. Due to the popularity of the movie Ferschtre was pressured by the studio to start another comic series of 'Miss Pepper', which he reluctantly agreed to. In between directing a few episodes of the Rauße animated series, Ferschtre worked on the second run of 'Miss Pepper'.

In Art

'Miss Pepper's popularity inspired many artists. Her image inspired propaganda posters and she became the face of the war effort. However there was another form of popularity which was certainly not intended. 'Miss Pepper' was very popular among servicemen not only for the quality of the comics or what she represents, but also for her beauty. As the popularity of the comics rose so did demand for additional content of 'Miss Pepper' and she became the most popular pin-up model. Pilots and ground crews began painting her image on and naming their planes after her. Pin-up artists started selling prints of 'Miss Pepper'. Soon it even spread to the civilian side of pin-up art. It became common to find at least a few images of 'Miss Pepper' in military barracks across the country. When Mark Edden Ferschtre caught wind of 'Miss Pepper's popularity as pin-up model he felt uncomfortable and disgusted. He tried to sue some of the most popular pin-up artists who made the most pin-up art of 'Miss Pepper' for copyright infringement. The case gained massive attention, for a time it was almost bigger news than the war. The legal battle which started in November of 1605 did not end until December of 1606. The courts reviewed all the current copyright laws currently in effect, and ruled in favor of the pin-up artists, that they can draw pin-up art of 'Miss Pepper' because it falls under the parody clause of Pepperland's Intellectual Property act of 1598.

Date of First Recording

The first issue of the comic was release March 1st 1604

Related Ethnicities