Just in time for the Beijing Olympics, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has debuted a bizarre anti-doping comic strip for kids called The Case of the SpoilSports (PDF). It stars Rattus Holmes and Felis Watson, the … um … oversized, anthropomorphized pets of — you guessed it — Sherlock Holmes and John Watson who are hired to investigate suspected steroid and stimulant use by local athletes.
I’m not sure what bothers me most about the strip: that they got Sherlock Holmes’ famous address wrong (211 B Baker Street instead of 221 B); that Holmes’ neighbors own a television; or that the two most likely candidates for doping, Rattus Holmes and Felis Watson, are never investigated.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Man, silly preachy comics have sure gone downhill since Storm, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage fought the evil Smokescreen to save kids from the evils of smoking.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I always thought doping referred to boosting the number of red blood cells, mostly from blood transfusions.
It would have been funny if they got Captain America to talk about the evils of taking performance enhancing drugs. Granted, he is dead, but it would have been hilarious for the hero who owes everything to a performance enhancing drug called Super Soldier Serum to lecture the children.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
The term “doping” is used for all banned substances – I think it’s derived from the same source as “dope” as a term for things like cocaine and heroin. The agency that monitors steroid abuse is the World Anti-Doping Agency.
August 5th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I particularly like that they couldn’t find anyone to do lettering.