Favourites from the funny pages

[MyLeakyBucket]

Everyone loves the funny pages. You know its the reason 96.8% of Americans read the newspaper. So if you were stranded on a desert island with only one comic strip to keep you company alongside the coconuts, which one would you choose??

[Reverend Jax]

Lots classics missing, obviously, but you need to add Zits and Non Sequitor/Homer, and since you have retired strips like C&H up there, you need The Far Side on this poll too.

[Da Cap'n]

Garfield and then maybe Fox Trot!

[The NZA]

Aw man, Garfield stopped bein funny by volume ten or so....he just keeps eating.

Ziggy's still running? Not in the miami herald...

I know Calvin'll get love, so i went with Bloom County, my original favorite political parody. I learned about the cold war from Opus.

[La Lindsay]

i read the comics from my least favorite to my most. so the comic i usually read last is foxtrot. and of course family circus is always first.

 

[Referring to the Family Circus comic strip]

Todd : And it's always there, in the lower right hand corner, just waiting to suck.

-Go

[MyLeakyBucket]

Oh man I apologise about forgetting Far Side, Peanuts too. I suck.

 

As for Zits and Non-Sequitor, I have to confess I don't know much about the U.S. funny pages so haven't read too many of these. Generally put the most famous ones in the poll that I have read and/or know well. Apologies.

 

IC, nice to have a fellow Bloom County fan. Gotta love that anxiety closet. Ackk! furballs.

[Reverend Jax]

Non-Sequitor is probably right up your alley. I would describe it as The Far side meets Bloom County. The strips alternate daily between one panal far Side-esque type gags, with one scene with a caption, liek this one from yesterday:

And the other days follow the life of a family with a father whose a sad rundown liberal radio talk show host and his two young girls who are dark and devious, who are too much for him. Here's a good one (last Sunday):

The author of it, Wiley Miller (or just Wiley as he's credited) also draws and writes homer, very similar to Non-Sequitor, set in ancient times, sort of.

 

Zits is a great strip about a sarcastic 15 year old teenage boy and everyone in his life. He embodies most of the stereotypes of teenagers, but the strip doesn't let the stereotypes define the character, which is a very easy trap to fall into if your writing a character which embodies stereotype. Instead, they play with the stereotypes and use them to mold a pretty real relatable 3 dimensional character. I attached a few of that one.

 

I only mention this because with the internet, you can check out some of America's greatest strips form anywhere int eh world, and it's a shame that you haven't even been able to check those out some that you can decide whether they're for you or not.

[MyLeakyBucket]

Love the Non-Sequitors, they're pretty damn excellent.

 

I do visit the uComics website occasionally to read differwent strips. Will certainly start reading those on a regualr basis.

 

You a Doonesbury fan Jax?

[Reverend Jax]

I most certainly am. I can thank my father for that. You know I used to read every comic strip int eh newspaper except for Doonsbery? He would always say stuff like "did you read Doonsbury today?" and whatnot. He even gave me a Doonsbury book of his from the Seventies. Once you're old enough for the jokes to not ALL go over your head, it's addictive.

 

What do you think of this Amputee story line they've been running with for months now? It's a pretty long story arc for Doonsbury (then again, in the broad sense, maybe of their storyline go on for decades).

[The NZA]

When I was in San Fran once, i was lucky enough to see the Comic Art Museum and they had a great exhibit on political satire, showed all the strips that got censored out of the big papers....learned more about Doonesbery and its french roots, some scathing Boondocks, and classic Bloom County ones..i didnt realize how far back good political satire went, it was really cool.

[MyLeakyBucket]

Oh man, good political satire goes a long way back. SOme of the Punch cartoons from the Victorian and Edwardian period in the UK are very good.

 

That museum looks pretty sweet. Have to remember that if I'm ever back in the Bay area.

 

I most certainly am. I can thank my father for that.

 

You too? I have my dad to thank for so much stuff, including introducing me to C&H, Doonesbury, Bloom County, etc... (he has me to thank for the Boondocks tho which he now loves ). Reading a lot of the old Doonesbury, even now I don't understand it all, but most of it is damn funny. Really admire Treadeau (spelling?) for how well he has managed to keep it fresh by aging the main characters and changing the minor characters every now and again.

[Reverend Jax]

I got into C&H independently of my dad, a few months after turning seven, by seeing a friends copy of Revenge of the Baby-Sat, being interged by the cover, and asking to see it. I wasn't love after than I bought both the

Essential and Authoritive C&H treasuries and read them over and over again.

I would as my dad for the comic pages ever day, just to read Calvin & Hobbes, then give it back to him.

 

One day he said "did you read any comic that mentioned something that caught your eye?" and I said "Yeah, Calvin & hobbe swas really funny." He said "No, another one." He gave me the comic page and he wouldn't tell me which one he was talking about. I read every one of them, and it was torture, cause I hated reading (learning disability making it really hard early one), until I got to the last one: Fox Trot. The first installment from the 2-week story arc where Jason is begging his parents for a Super Nintendo. I couldn't relate to it more. I literally had had a routine of begging my mom an dad every morning, every day coming home from school, and dozens of other time through out the day.

 

So I started reading Fox Trot, and fromt here, I slowing started reading the rest. Except Doonsbury, which I took to nearly a decade later.

[MetalHeart]

oooh man I love Doonsbury!!

[Reverend Jax]

Two more great recent non-sequitors

[MyLeakyBucket]

Ahhhh Greek mythology.

 

Nice work Jax. The more Non Sequitur I read the more impressed I become. Great stuff.

[Reverend Jax]

You really oughta keep up with it at http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/

Edited October 27, 2004 by Jack's Meandering Thoughts

[MyLeakyBucket]

I have been, albeit sporadically. Generally if I am really short on time I just go straight to the Doonesbury and leave it there, otherwise I read quite a few.

[Reverend Jax]

A major developement in the B.D. story arc:

 

[Reverend Jax]

It's no secret Zonk is a stoner. No secret at all. There is very little subtly or discretion in regards to that, but in today's strip, it was out and out stated.

 

 

MLB, do you know if Doonesbury has ever done this before?

[MyLeakyBucket]

Yeah plenty of times.

 

I remember the story arc when Zonker was arrested for possessing marijuana seeds. Also, most the early strips have Zonk in B.D.'s football huddle with a cigarette letting out stars as well as smoke. Not too subtle.

 

Thanks for posting the odd strip Jax, have missed a few recently, including the great BD one two posts ago.

[Reverend Jax]

Several Newspapers pull Doonesbury for having Bush call Rove 'Turd Blossum'

 

The said part is that that has been reported as being and actual Bush nickname for Rove.

[Reverend Jax]

According to Wikipedia, after over 6 months of repeats, The Boondocks was officially canceled. Of course, an article from Sept 26 saying it MIGHT not return was cited in the History section, but the cancelation was not cited.

[CjDucky]

I voted for Garfield but only because for me that was the best on the list. My all time fav is Dilbert.

[Reverend Jax]

Seriously? Now Doonesbury,Bloom County, The Boondocks, AND Foxtrot all have fewer votes that Garfield?

[The NZA]

idve gone for bloom county, followed by boondocks and foxtot, but calvin and hobbes is in its own league.