My simple solution (before knowing about the .NET port of YUI Compressor) was to:
copy /b jquery.js+jquery.superfish.js+jquery.qtip.js+NOTICE core.js
java -jar yuicompressor-2.4.2.jar --charset utf-8 -o core-min.js core.js
That has been working fine for me even though I can't quite understand why the /b (binary) flag was the trick that got rid of the strange characters. If anyone wants to enlighten me in a comment I'd appreciate it.
与恶龙缠斗过久,自身亦成为恶龙;凝视深渊过久,深渊将回以凝视…