MADAM & EVE, South Africa’s most successful comic strip ever, celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. The strip was first published in The Weekly Mail.
Madam (a Johannesburg northern-suburbanite) and Eve (her “domestic maintenance assistant”) have won the hearts of millions as they journey through the rocky landscape of the new South Africa while keeping some semblance of domestic bliss.
Their creators, Stephen Francis, Harry Dugmore and Rico Schacherl, have also managed to maintain some semblance of professional bliss.
Today the strip is carried in 12 publications covering every city in South Africa. In addition Electronic Mail & Guardian sends it across the world daily, prompting feedback from fans and bemused internet surfers. Recently, an eM&G reader wrote from America asking what a mielie lady is.
Madam & Eve books have sold very well. Their first, in 1993, The Madam & Eve Collection, was a best-seller that sold out andhas become a collectors’ item. It was followed by Free At Last, All Aboard the Gravy Train and Somewhere over the Rainbow Nation.
They are celebrating their anniversary at the launch of their next book, Madam & Eve’s Greatest Hits at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Saturday June 14, where an exhibition of cartoons will be held at the BMW Pavilion, before it moves to Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Durban and Johannesburg.
Where will Madam & Eve go from here? A television series is in the planning stages and it promises to be a “live-action sitcom”. Stay tuned.