28 replies to this topic

[Johnny Sorrow]

I thought this would be fun. I love newspaper comic strips, and I feel they're becoming a lost art. Let's share the strips that made or make you still look for the "Funnies" page.

I love "Doonesbury". I still look forward to it every day. But I still say that "Bloom County" is probably the greatest Strip since Segar's "Thimble Theatre".




"Calvin and Hobbes" of course was amazing.

[Pete]

There is only POGO.

[Kronos]

Pete, on Apr 4 2012, 09:30 AM, said:

There is only POGO.

How old is that example strip? I know POGO of course goes way back to the earliest days of the comic strip.




I still read Dilbert every day. I have it subbed in my GoogleReader. Much of the time, it's not too funny. But Adams has a real knack for grasping the absurdities of cubicle life.

[Pete]

Kronos, on Apr 4 2012, 12:43 PM, said:

Pete, on Apr 4 2012, 09:30 AM, said:

There is only POGO.

How old is that example strip? I know POGO of course goes way back to the earliest days of the comic strip.

Jeez, it's old but it isn't that old. :) Kelly started it in (I think) 1948 and continued until his death in 1973. The above sample is from the mid 60s.

[Kronos]

Maybe I am mixing it up with something else -- Gasoline Alley, maybe?

Anyway, I have never read Pogo. Your sample is fantastic, though.

[odessasteps]

I love Fantagraphics' giant Prince Valiant reprints.

For current stuff, I'd say it begins and ends with Cul de Sac.

[Brisco]

My favorites are Mother Goose and Grimm and Get Fuzzy. I guess I enjoy animal humor.

[Keith6601]

There's a great site   www.gocomics.com  that is great to read many strips.   It updates daily with new strips and also has an archive so you can go back and enjoy some old favorites.  You can also register and save your favorites so you don't have to go searching all the time or even have them emailed to you.

There's some obvious strips missing such as Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Hagar and Mother Goose among others.

[WholeFnMachine]

I'm a huge fan of Calvin & Hobbes, Get Fuzzy, & Fraz.

[Tabe]

Kronos, on Apr 4 2012, 10:29 AM, said:

Anyway, I have never read Pogo. Your sample is fantastic, though.

Never heard of Pogo before this thread and, from that one example, can't say I'll bother checking out more.  

For me, my favorites are:

- Calvin & Hobbes
- Dilbert
- Arlo & Janis

Tabe

[jstout]

No love here yet for Pearls Before Swine? Great strip, even the punny ones are outrageously fun, and the crocs and Danny Donkey are always great.

[Hoardak]

I've heard of Pogo but only seen a few samples.  

From that one strip, I'm assuming that Walt Kelly was a big proponent of dropping acid and using LSD.

[Hoardak]

Luann: was really great up until about three years ago when Toni and Brad finally hooked up.  Since then, Greg Evans seems to have run out of ideas and seems reluctant to have any other major character growth (Luann and Quill).  The current storyline with Toni's niece Shannon disappearing and being believed to be stuck in the walls, seems like the ultimate filler.

Luann also, like most long-runners, is very difficult to get into if you haven't been reading for at least the last ten years.  Evans insistence on STILL including references to Aaron Hill, even though Hill hasn't made a physical appearance in the title in over nine years, is aggravating.

[babylonianfrost]

Hoardak, on May 1 2012, 08:36 AM, said:

Luann also, like most long-runners, is very difficult to get into if you haven't been reading for at least the last ten years.  Evans insistence on STILL including references to Aaron Hill, even though Hill hasn't made a physical appearance in the title in over nine years, is aggravating.

The Gasoline Alley curse. :)
Although every once in a while when I notice that Barney Google reappears in Snuffy Smith, I get a little misty-eyed. :P

As for current strips, Pearls is wonderfully cynical beyond measure, as is Lio.  Frazz is actually a really wonderful strip; it's intelligent while actually being one of the few thoughtful strips without any sort of truly unkind edge to it.  Mark Trail has been shown to me by the Comics Curmudgeon to still have some signs of psychotic life to it on occasion.  I've actually started to enjoy Big Nate since my local paper picked it up; that one's come a long way since the turn of the decade and before.

[Andrew POE!]

The name escapes me but it has a preacher looking guy who talked to a burning bush in a few strips. It was pretty bold and daring to be in the Sunday comics.

Also, For Better Or For Worse is a great strip -- it had some genuinely poignant moments in there and some hilarious ones too. And call me crazy, but I actually liked Cathy and The Lockhorns.

And Brewster Rockit: Space Guy is amusing at times, but really dumb.

[babylonianfrost]

Andrew POE!, on May 1 2012, 11:41 AM, said:

The name escapes me but it has a preacher looking guy who talked to a burning bush in a few strips. It was pretty bold and daring to be in the Sunday comics.

Kudzu?

[Pete]

Since Frost and Kronos brought up "Gasoline Alley," I'd recommend the Drawn & Quarterly reprints from the 1920s... really charming stuff. The Sunday comics could also be marvelously trippy.

[Sprecherscrow]

There is Calvin and Hobbes, and then there's the rest of them.  Dilbert, Peanuts,Dykes to Watch Out For, and many others have all entertained me, but it's a race for second place.

[assfax]

Calvin and Hobbes if you have to be sequential.  Matt Bors does great political cartoons in more of a strip fashion.  That's the only thing I follow in "real" cartooning.


If you count one panelers, Far Side is also a snow leopard.  

Then again, if you count one panelers, Dan Collins is the funniest motherfucker alive.

[Blazing Dragon]

Bloom County. However, the follow up series Outland completely sucked, and by the time the Opus strip came along, it was too late. The magic was gone.

Dick Tracy. Always been a fan, and can't believe Joe Staton is drawing it now.

Mutts and Zitts from the most recent comics, Blondie and Hagar the Horrible from the classics. Mother Goose and Grimm.

And it goes without saying: Peanuts.