Sherman's Lagoon is a daily comic strip by Jim Toomey that is widely syndicated in newspapers worldwide after its first appearance in the Escondido Times-Advocate of Escondido, California, on May 13, 1991.
The story of Sherman's Lagoon takes place in the fictional Kapupu Lagoon by the island of Kapupu in the South Pacific Ocean, west of the similarly fictional Elabaob Islands in the Palauan archipelago of Micronesia. It is centered on the misadventures of a lazy, overweight great white shark named Sherman, along with his controlling, hot-tempered wife Megan and the friends and foes who share their tropical home.
Style The strip's humor is aimed at late teens and adults, with frequent lampoons of famous pop culture icons, and occasional jabs at political figures.
For the most part, the strip's characters respond to killing prey to eat with indifference or coldness, as much of the plot revolves around what Sherman and Megan are going to eat for dinner. For instance, one comic had Megan declaring she was in the mood for Italian and the two sharks immediately sought to find an Italian swimming in the water. Also, a large group of tourists swimming in the lagoon is referred to as 'the buffet'. Poodles are regarded as a delicacy, and Sherman regularly eats smaller fish that swim by. One strip saw a fish committing suicide by swimming into Sherman's mouth while he yawned. Characters have also been seen going to shark-themed restaurants. ('Leg of Pam', 'Bloody Mary's, and 'Beans and Frank' have been named from the menu.) However, on one occasion Megan pulled a tourist under, then let him go unscathed, thus practicing her method of catch and release.
The strip occasionally breaks the fourth wall, with characters acknowledging that they are living in a comic strip. One such strip had Sherman asking Hawthorne when their new video series (called 'Barnacle the Purple Arthropod', a parody of Barney the Dinosaur) would be produced, and Hawthorne replying 'It's only been one panel.' 'Felt like two.' Another strip parodied Peanuts, with Hawthorne holding a football and Fillmore running to kick it. The ball rebounded off the side of the panel and hit Fillmore in the head (this incident followed a conversation they had in which Hawthorne told Fillmore that he wouldn't pull the ball away like Lucy Van Pelt because 'We aren't living in a comic strip').
Characters
The Sharks
Sherman The main character of the strip. Sherman is overweight, lazy and an eating machine. His immaturity and childlike personality frustrates his wife, Megan, to no end, and provides ample opportunities for some of his friends to blindly rip him off. Although not the most intelligent of all the characters, Sherman is a good-hearted great white shark and often tries to please his friends and family, but most of the time falls short because of his low IQ. On rare occasions, he has been shown bringing Megan gifts for no special reason and acting romantic; however, these instances are few and far between and most of the time he's obnoxious, lazy and hopelessly out of touch with his wife. Some strips imply he cross-dresses. He often baits "hairless beach apes" with a variety of items attached to the end of a fishing rod, including beer bottles, wallets, and other props. In addition, Sherman likes to fight giant squid, sometimes for dinner, sometimes just for fun, and at least once over a loan. Dolphins and giant squids are his two seaborne enemies. One recurring storyline is the 'roadtrips' he takes with his best friend Ernest to places like the Ganges River, the Nile, the Amazon, and various other places. In a serial published in 2004, he and his wife Megan had a baby shark whom they named Herman. Since then, some of the strip's serials have focused on Sherman and Megan's amusing attempts to care for their newborn child. A series of strips brought in the concept of shark finning and Sherman was actually 'finned' and died. In 'Shark Heaven' the angel said there were already too many sharks there, so he would give him a second chance.
Megan Sherman's controlling wife. She always wears a string of pearls around her neck (this also distinguishes her from Sherman in the black-and-white strips during the week). She quite possibly possesses the most fiery temper and personality of the comic strip, and easily intimidates other characters to get her own way. Hawthorne considers her a bossy control freak. Fillmore is downright terrified of her and also considers her a control freak. She is a perfectionist and a control freak; however, she can be just as lazy as her husband. She seldom if ever listens to her husband (which is implied in a strip to be part of the reason Sherman married her since he says a lot of stupid things). Her activities include cooking, shopping, caring for Herman, fishing for humans with Sherman, and often threatening Hawthorne for a number of practical jokes played on her. She almost always ends up coming to her husband's rescue, whether saving him from a swarm of tiger prawns or preventing Hawthorne from stealing all his money. Although she often expresses her frustration with Sherman (and has threatened him more than once) she does love him deep down. She is an avid follower of Martha Stewart and has thrown parties in her honor in several strips. A semi-recurring storyline is Megan's attempts to be accepted into rich clubs, one of them being SnobCrest. However she is always turned away, either because of Sherman or her own rough personality. On occasion, Megan has also fought giant squids. She can also be a bit mean spirited. Megan decides to run for school president because she wants to have unlimited power and immediate approval for her every whim.
Herman Son of Megan and Sherman. His birth appeared in the April 26, 2004 daily strip after a serialization on Megan's pregnancy that first appeared in the January 25, 2004 Sunday strip. He was named after one of Sherman's brothers. Shortly after his birth, he suffered from an eye disease that placed both eyeballs on the side of his head. Sherman confessed to Megan that it was the result of a recessive flounder gene in his side of the family (incidentally, Sherman also used this opportunity to tell Megan that he never thought Seinfeld was funny). He appears to be a good, well-behaved child, only going out of control when Fillmore volunteered to babysit him (although when he was given a bucket in which to put his toys, the only thing he managed to do was pee in it). He appears to take after his father, once coming in first place in a baby drooling contest. Now, though, he talks and grows up like a normal kid.
Herman #2 Sherman's annoying and obnoxious twin brother who takes up residence in Lake Erie. He is hated by Megan and not regarded fondly by his brother (who was given 'good-morning' swirlies by him as a child). He's also shown ignorance, as when introduced to Thornton he thought the bear was Polish because he was from the North Pole. Herman met his death twice in the series: once when Megan 'accidentally' harpooned him at the breakfast table, and again when he willingly donated his brain in lieu of Sherman's, who went brain dead from watching too much of the O.J. trial. When the other characters found Sherman's brain (which had been taken by a fish during surgery) they decided to freeze Herman's in tin foil rather than try to return it. He has not been seen in the strip since.
Rupert Sherman's nephew. He was a minor character in earlier strips, showing up now and then to be educated by Sherman, as Herman hadn't been born yet. His character wasn't developed much and his appearances were few and far between. He soaked up everything Sherman told him, even adopting his now retired catchphrase, "Can I eat this?"
The Turtles Fillmore The lonely bachelor sea turtle of the comic strip. Fillmore's hobbies include reading, caring for his adopted son, and having as many conversations with the other sea creatures as possible. Most of the time he is seen simply leaning against a rock reading a novel, and acts as sort of a straight man for the other more outgoing characters. Once a year, Fillmore makes the long trip to Ascension Island in hopes of finding a permanent mate. However, he strikes out every year, due to his hopeless nerdiness, his complete lack of ability to even engage in a simple conversation with a girl, his overpowering cologne, and his pompous, arrogant attitude. However, he once won the Ascension Island challenge and had an entire island of she-turtles to himself. He promptly fainted from shock and missed out again. He has come close on a few occasions, but the only female to ever fall completely in love with him was an enormous sea elephant, thanks to Ernest's 'pheromone cologne'. One serial even saw the turtle transform into a woman for nearly two months of the comic's duration because he hadn't had a mate for so long. During one trip to Ascension Island, he found a baby sea turtle and adopted him, naming him Clayton. He wishes his lagoon neighbors would act more sophisticated and has been shown watching Masterpiece Theater and operas. He possesses a kind heart, and most of the time simply wants someone to talk to. He is also somewhat controlling as he is often quick to criticize. He has stated in one strip that he is a Virgo. He is also completely unaware of his own faults despite his friends pointing them out. This suggests he has a narcissistic personality.
Clayton Fillmore's adopted son. He was found hatching on the beach after Fillmore arrived on Ascension Island for nesting season (only to find that the entire event had been canceled). The moment he was born, Clayton was nearly devoured by a seagull, but was saved by Fillmore. Clayton's first words are thought to be "300 megahertz microprocessor," but he is seen speaking earlier in the strip's history. Clayton attends boarding school, though he occasionally comes home to visit his father and figurative "Uncle Sherman". His computer skills possibly match those of Ernest, as he once stated that he could make eBay crash. Clayton is usually seen wearing a baseball cap.
The Fish
Ernest The brainy fish of the strip. He is Sherman's best friend, as they share the same maturity level (due to Ernest's young age). He wears thick, oversized glasses on his nose. Ernest can gain access to virtually any computer in the world and has hacked into almost every file on the internet (he once ordered Vermont to declare war on Canada). He is also known for his crazy inventions, such as a chip that takes control of peoples' brains. He also built a probe and sent it to Mars. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by Sherman. He has gone on many adventures with Sherman to exotic places in the world, such as the sunken RMS Titanic, the Amazon River, the Ganges, and a Russian lake in Abkhazia. On one of their adventures they found themselves in a fountain in Las Vegas and ended up gambling away all their money in a casino (as well as several of Sherman's teeth). Like Hawthorne, he hates Bill Gates. He is seldom the central character in the strip's serials; his role is usually solving the lagoon's problems. He once used his computer skills to crash a tanker filled with Prozac in the lagoon to stop a pod of suicidal whales from beaching themselves. On occasion, he is the cause of the lagoon's problems (in one strip he tapped into an undersea cable and caused a worldwide telecommunications failure). He was also almost arrested once for illegally downloading every movie on the planet, but wired them all into Fillmore's computer, causing him to be sent to prison instead. Little is known about his family, though earlier strips showed him being one of several dozen brothers and sisters.
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