Many skeptical viewers were quick to dismiss Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s crude animated series, South Park, as a passing fad that wasn’t much more than the novelty of foul-mouthed children made out of construction paper. Now, over 20 seasons and 300 episodes after, South Park has firmly proven itself as one of the most evergreen adult animated series of all time. South Park isn’t just constantly evolving, but it’s grown into one of the most trusted pieces of high-minded satire.
South Park isn’t going anywhere with at least six more seasons and 14 direct-to-streaming movies on the way, but that doesn’t mean that it’s built to take over any form of media. Lots of television shows migrate over to comic series, but this is a direction that could both help and hinder South Park’s legacy.
10 Would Be Great: It Allows More Potential For Character-Driven One-Shots And Spin-Offs
Over the course of 300 episodes, South Park has truly been able to flesh out the community that occupies its titular neighborhood, as well as the areas that surround it. South Park has so many characters to experiment around with, there are sometimes episodes that completely ditch the core cast in favor of something more experimental. These entries receive mixed receptions, but they’d perhaps be more palatable in a comic context. Efforts like giving Butters his very own comic issue or indulging in Coon and Friends stories could work great in a comic version of South Park.
9 Wouldn’t Be Great: It Disrupts The Production Schedule That They’ve Perfected
A long production schedule to make sure that everything gets properly done isn’t a bad thing, but South Park has operated for decades with their own specific model for how they get the show done. South Park is produced in such a tight timeline that an episode can be completely put together in less than a week. This might seem daunting to most, but it’s the system that works for South Park. Turning South Park into a comic would introduce a completely different production schedule, which could wreck the success that they’ve been able to find.
8 Would Be Great: A More Stylized Art Design Could Be Utilized
South Park is a deeply intelligent series, but it’s also highly pedestrian when it comes to its presentation style. South Park routinely pokes fun at the series’ rudimentary art design and presenting something so simple in a comic book isn’t as appealing.
South Park comics could really go for broke in this area and develop detailed and complex art styles that distinctly contrast from the television show. Comics are much more capable of catering towards different artists and each comic could go in a different direction that helps delineate it from the TV show.
7 Wouldn’t Be Great: Their Reference Points Are Film And TV, Not Comics
There’s no hard and fast rule that a medium of entertainment can only criticize other examples of the same medium, but it’s possible that a comic packaging would mess with South Park’s success. When South Park makes major swings with parodies and satire, it’s typically popular movies and television that are put under scrutiny. It seems like Parker and Stone have fewer comic reference points and a South Park comic would struggle by limiting itself to such. The South Park video games are full of great video game gags, but their comic knowledge doesn‘t appear to be as robust.
6 Would Be Great: It Can Mark A Return To Shorter, Episodic Storytelling
Any TV show that’s been running for multiple decades is going to experience change in certain areas. One major way in which South Park has evolved since its start is that they’re more willing to engage in serialized storylines, some of which will dominate an entire season of the series. When these serialized experiments work, they’re amazing, but they’ve left many fans longing for more episodic and “classic” installments. South Park comics could do great work in this area and embrace sillier and shorter stories while the TV show sticks with its serialized content.
5 Wouldn’t Be Great: The Progressively Serialized Storylines Would Struggle
South Park doesn’t like to restrict itself to a certain model, but during the show’s later seasons there’s definitely been a push for more serialized storytelling. It’s possible for South Park to juggle many balls at once and devote ten episodes to an interconnected idea.
However, serialization in comics is a much more comprehensive endeavor. Admittedly, if South Park comics committed to a 25-issue story then something like this could work. Otherwise, the comics would likely tell more contained stories, which isn’t what South Park has been doing lately.
4 Would Be Great: It Can Engage With The Show’s Past In A Way That The Series Can’t
South Park is a series with tremendous continuity that isn’t forgotten, but doesn’t always get a chance to be explored in the series. It would feel weird for there to be a random episode that’s set back during a past season or to tell a story that takes place concurrently with “Imaginationland” or another major event. However, this freedom exists in the comics and they could use them to creatively mine the show’s past for overlooked stories as the TV show looks forward to the future.
3 Wouldn’t Be Great: So Much Of The Series Is Conveyed Through The Characters’ Voices
It may sound silly to commend South Park for its vocal work when 99% of the show’s cast are all voiced by the same two people. However, it’s hard to argue that the crude and silly voices that come out of Cartman and company are a large part of South Park’s initial appeal. The characters’ voices are so iconic and carry more weight than the audience even realizes. Readers can fill in the blanks with a South Park comic, but newcomers would miss a vital part of the experience and other South Park customs, like musical numbers, would similarly suffer.
2 Would Be Great: It Can Get Away From Such Timely Narratives
South Park has several different types of episodes that it likes to engage in, but the show has become expected to comment upon current events due to the timely nature in which an episode can be produced. South Park’s ability to comment upon what’s going on in the world has helped it become such a relevant animated series, but this level of interaction would disappear in a South Park comic. Longer production schedules for comics wouldn’t allow for such timely storylines to be done. This means that South Park comics would need to tell more random and evergreen stories.
1 Wouldn’t Be Great: They Thrive Through The Restrictions Of Cable Television
Censorship is something that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have become well-acquainted with through their work on South Park. To be fair, Comedy Central has given the animated series a ton of leeway when it comes to what they’re allowed to say and do on television. Brief edits have happened over the years, but it’s also made Parker and Stone quite comfortable working within the restrictions of television standards. Details like the length of an episode or its timeslot may seem perfunctory, but South Park has found clever ways to take advantage of its limitations.