Why The Sunday Comics Are Not - And Never Have Been - Funny

[Inkthinker]

Why The Sunday Comics Are Not - And Never Have Been - Funny (http://www.requestline.com/archive/may97/sunday/index.html)

Good article I think, I agree with a lot of it... worth reading if you plan to ever try syndication-type four-panel comics storytelling for web or print...

Read, share, you know the routine :D

[Akira X]

I've known it from the first time one of my grandparents old person friends asked me if they'll see me in the sunday funnies. Even as a kid I was insulted.

The only two that get a smile out of me are Calvin and Foxtrot.

[DEVin]

http://images.deviantart.com/large/indyart/comics/alex_may_4.gif

I rest my case. There's a new one of these in Drawing Table.

[Justice41]

C&H forever. Now my faves are Mother Goose and Grimm, Rose is Rose and Zits. Your local paper may not carry the same comics.

[jacon]

there's a comic strip that i like... it's called "get fuzzy" it's the only thing i read besides "dilbert" ...that is when i find a newspapaer i read them

[Baloodoo Bill]

All in all, a far more boring read than any of the strips he attacks. C&H was consistently funny, often hysterical and even capable of producing tears. Remember the raccoon?

Peanuts, in it's day, was very funny: Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, Snoopy vs Linus' towel, Snoopy the vulture, The Doctor is in, the Great Pumpkin...

While not known for humor, Prince Valiant was often humorous and on occasion side splitting: Aleta discovers the porcupine, Aleta discovers the skunk.

They may not be what they used to be but, the line, "And never have been," is simply an outright lie.

[Steampunk]

Originally posted by Justice41
C&H forever. Now my faves are Mother Goose and Grimm, Rose is Rose and Zits. Your local paper may not carry the same comics.
i'll give you zits, it rocked (when i used to read the paper on a regular basis), but ROSE IS ROSE??

geez...the inking style is kinda cool, chunky stuff, looks different than everything else...but the ones i read were all crappy jokes and stupid situations...to each their own though, i guess ;)

sherman's lagoon is pretty good

[T-1000]

THE FAR SIDE RULES! Too bad Gary Larsen isn't doing it anymore. :(

[DEVin]

For the most part I dislike cartoon strips. (obviousely).

But only ones that SUCK. In all fairnes, I MYSELF make cartoon strips.. But the bulk of mainstream comic strips, are terrible.

Calvin and Hobbes, was no doubt beautiful, and just ****ing great.

Maybe 2 others are worth mention, but as i said, for the most part, it's complete, horrid, arbritrary waste of space.

And I honestly have yet to laugh at ANY Peanuts...

La Cucaracha (http://lacucaracha.com/) is alright for the most part as well, sometimes delivers a chuckle, but for the most part, I like the art alot.

Boondocks (http://www.boondocks.net/) has pretty not good art, and rarely delivers a laugh. Occasionally, but for the most part, no. I think it got popular based on how "edgy" it is, as far as racial, and political issues. Whatever.

One day, I WILL OWN THE CARTOON STRIP WORLD.

[Bruce]

Zits is the only†hing I look at anymore.

Devin that was the funniest thing I have seen in weeks.

[Chris Piers]

I think Robotman (now called Monty) is pretty damn funny. Zits is pretty good.

Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side were both great. Rose is Rose started to get really good for a while artwise but has never been that funny and now is a bit too stylized for me to dig anymore.

Dilbert was funny writing wise early on, I haven't read it in a long time now though so I'm not sure if the quality was maintained. The art was pretty bad on that one though.

As a kid, I thought Garfield was funny (his first few years weren't too bad in retrospect) and I liked Bloom County. I didn't appreciate Peanuts when I was younger, except for that Christmas animated special but now I look back and it really was innovative at the time to have kids talking in such adult voices. And the artwork isn't that bad either. It's easy to read and the characters are fairly iconic in their simplicity.

These days the Sunday comics are just awful. Things like Hagar the Horrible or Broomhilda? Just crap. So repetitive and dumb. Beetle Bailey is just lazy artwise and jokewise. Ugh, it depresses me. The soap opera comics are a bad joke. No one reads those. Are there any Cathy fans in the world? I doubt it.

[xadrian]

I'd rather read Penny Arcade and PVP that anything in the paper.

I need an occasional swear word or I'm left feeling hollow.

[Chris Piers]

I like those and Red Meat and 4 Seats from the Left. There's some good online funnies.

[spiraleye]

Yeah, anyone seen http://www.bobandgeorge.com ?

[Stark Raving]

Like everything else, humor is subjective. This is just this guy's opinion.

My current favorite is Get Fuzzy. Bucky never lets me down. :D :D

[...o...k....]

Sinfest.






needs to go syndicate.

[Tory]

>yep Zits is my #1 fav. The writing is so on target and the art is great too.
>Get fuzzy is good, but usually is overly wierd for most people. >Calvin and Hobbs is the best i probably have 5 or 6 collection books and i emulated his style back when i was 10 or 11.
>I really like Mutts too, especially the sunday ones.

[NickRocks]

i personally like reading the sunday comics and cartoon strips, for the simple fact that they have humor WITHOUT being vulgar. i love it when they can be funny without having to resort to lowclass insults or pranks...and if you think about it, in another generation, people will find what we thought funny to be lame.

[DeForgeo]

I don't find much in the papers these days. Zits sometimes gets a laugh out of me, and I've always liked Dilbert. . .

Doonesbury is just boring now.

I really grew up on Calvin N Hobbes, Bloom Country and Far Side. My parents used the shove those collections down my throat at an early age, and it's stuck with me. :)

As for online strips, I love Diesel Sweeties (http://www.dieselsweeties.com), The Comic Strip (http://www.scarybear.org) and anything Derek Kirk touches. (http://www.smallstoriesonline.com)

[IuseErasers]

i personally like reading the sunday comics and cartoon strips, for the simple fact that they have humor WITHOUT being vulgar. i love it when they can be funny without having to resort to lowclass insults or pranks...and if you think about it, in another generation, people will find what we thought funny to be lame.




Exactly. They have to try and come up with something funny without being vulgar. They also have to come up with a new joke per strip.

Personally, I find Garfield very entertaining. I don't read a strip and then burst out laughing, but I am entertained by it. What more can you ask for considering The funny pages are basically like getting a free desert with your meal?

[IuseErasers]

And this is the first time I have ever seen someone criticize comic strips.

Geez, is there anything left?

[Inkthinker]

Originally posted by Baloodoo Bill
All in all, a far more boring read than any of the strips he attacks. C&H was consistently funny, often hysterical and even capable of producing tears. Remember the raccoon?

He never attacks C&H, in fact he hails Watterson as one of the masters of the medium, along with Breathed, Larson and others. All of whom eventually left because they found the syndicated comics industry too restrictive and hidebound, which is exactly what the author is talking about.

I really wish Watterson had just moved his material to regular comics or animation... :(

[Baloodoo Bill]

Originally posted by T-1000
THE FAR SIDE RULES! Too bad Gary Larsen isn't doing it anymore. :(

While he never appeared in the Sunday funnies, search out the work of B.Kliban. The original is always funnier than the imitation.

I'm not referring to the Cat T-shirts, those were his "day job." The work he did for Playboy, National Lampoon and others were often hysterical and where Larson got it all including drawing style and subject matter.

[Blairdesigns]

Originally posted by ...o...k....
Sinfest.


YES!!! This strip is awesome. I'd love to see it syndicated...

[Digital Klown]

C&H has always been one of my favourites. And Foxtrot too! But perhaps the only strip that has made me laugh out loud as a young adult is "Robotman." Man, that strip is funny.

[Akira X]

I think overall, society's standard for "funny" has sunken into the murky depths of crap. We're wallowing in mediocrity. Just look at the sitcoms on tv. Crap crap crap crap crap.


Originally posted by IuseErasers
Exactly. They have to try and come up with something funny without being vulgar. They also have to come up with a new joke per strip.

I think that the jokes in sunday comics are insulting to the readers. They don't make you laugh, the pacify you. They sedate you. When you wont even risk alienating or offending someone, than how important is whatever you're going to say? Just crap. I mean, who the **** laughs at Cathy? Maybe they don't deserve better.

New jokes? Are you nuts? It said it right there in the article, they all never change. Dagwood runs into the mailman, contetnt. Jon yells at Garfield, content. Marmaduke is a dog, content. If you can't stand to take a shot now and then and have to sheild yourself under a blanket of crap then that is just sad. But I guess crap just keeps people content. Why else would they eat crap, drink crap, read crap, and watch crap? Strive to be sub-par, shoot for the lowest star, blah the blah blah blah. THAT'S vulgar.