Funniest comic strip and your favorite character

[Harmonious Discord]

The funniest comic strip I read was Bloom County. Alas no more.
My favorite character: Opus with his outlook on life, and obsessing on those body parts.
My favorite runs:
Cloning Bill the Cat
Star Trek in the wheel chair.
Banana computer

[middsy]

The best comic strip by far is VIZ, a comic made here in Northern England, and the winning characters have to be 'The Fat Slags'. You can find the magazine on the net, but be warned it is offensive, but funny!

[ChiefScott]

Calvin and Hobbes. Period.

[AuraSeer]

It's a hard decision; I'll have to say Citizen Dog. But you can't make me choose between Fergus and Cuddles.

Dilbert is a close second, mainly because the managers at my last job had a habit from quoting the strip without knowing it.

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I'm not a warlock.
I'm a witch with a Y chromosome.

[AuraSeer]

That should be "a habit of"

[cmkeller]

Lord, this is tough. I love the old Dilbert, before he got too obsessed with the office jokes. I mean, maybe they pay the bills, but it's not nearly as funny as finding dinosaurs hiding behind the couch or Elbonians who treat pigs as equals. I also loved Bloom County.

Currently, the strip I enjoy most is Robotman. The Teletubbies thing a few months ago was a gem.

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Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com

"Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks."
-- Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective

[Drain Bead]

Calvin and Hobbes
Fox Trot
Red Meat

I know I'm forgetting two because I can't remember what they're called. I'll find their names and add them on here.

Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side, no question about it.

And dammit, both strips were retired around the same time. I have no reason to read the comics any more. :(

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"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."

[omniscientnot]

Far Side. Bloom County. Dilbert (some). Wizzard of Id. Early to middle Doonesbury. Don Martin's Captain Klutz (Mad Magazine). Early Herman (Jim Unger - not sure many know of him).

[pricciar]

I love Mutts, my favorite currently running. Reminds me in a vague way of Krazy Kat, which is classic, I wish I could find more reprints of it, I have one big book of them, would love to find some more.

I do miss Calvin and Hobbes, there is a website that is reprinting old strips, so its cool to read them every once in a while.
If anyone wants the site let me know, and I will find where I wrote it down.

pat

[pricciar]

Oh, and Dilbert. I used to love it, but lately I get the same feeling from it, that I get from the Family Circus. Bil Keane seems to write strips with the express purpose of being put up on someone's fridge. Lately, Dilbert has seemed to be written with the purpose of being put outside someone's cubicle.
I love when he leaves regular office things and talks about Phil supreme leader of Heck, and the dinosaur.

pat

[Greg Charles]

If I ever find myself short a soulmate, I'll look no further than this message board. I can only reiterate previous suggestions.

Pogo (Pogo himself is my favorite character, but I like Porky a lot too.)
Calvin and Hobbes (impossible to choose a favorite character.)
Bloom County (Favorite characters: Milo and Oliver)
Sluggy Freelance (at www.sluggy.com (http://www.sluggy.com)))[/url] (favorite characters: Torg and Kiki)

I used to be a huge Doonesbury fan, but I think it's run past its prime. The only thing that could save it now would be for Dan Quayle to be elected president, and it's just not worth it.

I never really got into Asterix, but I am a fan of Lucky Luke (also written by Goscinny), and Herge's Tintin.

[phouka]

Hmmm . . .

I especially like FBOFW *because* it shows change and evolution in the family structure. That and Lynn Johnson is a consumate artist.

I like Rose is Rose, again for Pat Brady's artistry and the occasional genre within the comic strip. I do think she needs to work a little more on new strip ideas.

Other than that:

-Foxtrot
-Calvin and Hobbes
-Bloom County
-Far Side

Comic strips that need to be retired:

-Peanuts
-Garfield
-Nancy
-any soap opera strip

Comic strips that need to be taken out and shot:

-Love is . . .

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"Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is enlightenment." - Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher

[dougie_monty]

I'd probably put "BC" at the top of the list.
Sometime in the early 60s was my favorite of the BC strips:
BC walks along the seashore and sees a clam suddenly get up on legs and walk.
At first BC is dumbfounded. Then he yells,
I SEEN HIM!!!! CLAMS GOT LEGS!!!!" Then the clam says, "Now I have to kill him."
The most delightful comic-strip character these days is Edda Burber, the larger-than-life lovely blonde genius in "9 Chickweed Lane." She deals deftly with her mother, her grandmother, her boyfriend Amos, and the formidable "Sister Caligula," a teacher at the parochial school she attends. No question about it--Edda is someone to be reckoned with. :)

[The Ryan]

Doonesbury

Life is Hell

This Modern World (quote: "Oh my God! That youth is really at risk!" "What are you talking about? All I see is that little white kid in front of that speeding car...oh")

Troubletown (quote: "Lots of children come into this liquor store. Gay employees would be a bad influence")

Zippy (sometimes)


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-Ryan
" 'Ideas on Earth were badges of friendship or enmity. Their content did not matter.' " -Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

[Falcon]

Hmm...here are mine:

Dilbert (most days)
Cathy
Doonesbury
Bloom County (Oh whimsical notion, we hardly knew ye.)
Foxtrot
Stone Soup

[AzRaek]

Dougie, I'm so thrilled that someone else likes 9 Chickweed! My mom and I just hooted at every strip, then they eliminated it from local papers. When I got mom a computer, I put the website on her Fav list and showed her how to use it. The Grandmother's scowling grimace is the funniest sight!

[Globe-trotter]

Bloom County (I love the bit with Opus and Lola Granola)
Far Side
Calvin and Hobbes

Hmmm.
I need to find new comic strips ;)

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I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895)

[Jophiel]

My favorites would be Fox Trot, Mutts, Doonesbury, and I enjoy Rhymes With Orange on its good days. In my opinion, Dilbert stopped being funny about a year ago and now it feels like Scott Adams is just going through the motions. The Far Side had its good strips (panels?) but I think people look at it with rose colored glasses. Reading the old collections, I can't help but notice that I only laugh at about one in 10 cartoons. Most of the rest just make me go "Umm... I get it, it's just not really funny." Oh well.

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"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."

[timmar68]

I love Cathy, Foxtrot, Rose is rose, and Jumpstart. :)

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MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!

[TheNerd]

Calvin and Hobbes and the Far Side when they were still being made. Now it's sluggy freelance (www.sluggy.com) and Userfriendly (www.userfriendly.org)

Paper? Dilbert.

[Gr8Kat]

Calvin and Hobbes was the absolute best. I was horrified to see it retire while others continue to slog on well past their prime. "The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long" (From Bladerunner, I believe). And of course I loved Hobbes :)

Bloom County was another great one, as well as The Far Side. Again, that candle thing.

The exceptions to the rule, IMHO, are Dilbert and For Better or For Worse. However, I think maybe FBOFW should have retired by now, also. I don't think it's lost any of its quality, exactly, it just depresses me to see the kids grow up and leave home and stuff. I don't like change. Charlie Brown, Milo and Binkley, Calvin, those damnable Family Circus kids, they never aged. Why do Michael and Elizabeth? And why was April born? And why did Farley die? Depressing.

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[pluto]

I'd have to vote for Calvin and Hobbes also, but a great comic book, rather than a strip, was (is?) Asterix and Obelix, unfortunately hard to find in the U S of A.


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"non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem"

1. Zippy the Pinhead
2. Calvin and Hobbes
3. Far Side
4. Bloom County(and its offshoot, Outland)
5. Doonesbury(in the 70's)
6. Geech
7. Life in Hell
8. Pogo
9. Rose is Rose
10.Wizard of Id

Now, I gotta say this. I do not understand the popularity of Dilbert among intelligent people. It was kinda funny at first, but it's just the same jokes over and over.

Why is it that we continue to read Nancy and Peanuts even though we stopped liking them when we were 10? I don't know, but we do.

The creators of Garfield and Marvin (which are really the same strip) should be severely clawed, vomited upon, dragged through baby shit, and buried alive in a giant litter box.

[Rodd Hill]

1. Zippy the Pinhead
2. Calvin & Hobbes
3. Family Circus (just kidding!)

[Doctor Jackson]

Pogo - THE classic comic, period.
Calvin and Hobbes
Far Side
BC
Sherman's Lagoon
Andy Capp

Others, there are others....

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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik

[According to Pliny]

The best current strip is Citizen Dog.

I also have a fondness for Mutts. There's something almost existential about that strip.

(Can't wait to see if my bolds worked!)

[KJ]

My favorite comic of all time is Calvin & Hobbes. My favorite one that is still running is definately Foxtrot.
And, just FYI, my least favorite comic is Family Circus, followed in close second by Marmaduke. I swear, even I could do a better comic than these.

[Narile]

My favorites in rough order:

Kevin and Kell,
Ozy and Millie,
FastTrack,
Safe Havens,
UserFriendly,
Rose is Rose,
Adam@home,
For Better or Worse,
Sally Forth

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>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry....unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<

---The dragon observes

[Gr8Kat]

I'd forgotten about Mutts and Rose is Rose (Maharishi Peekaboo!). I don't get to read some of these strips very often because they're only in the Portland paper which I don't take. (I don't take the Salem paper, either, so really I don't see ANY strips very often.) Another one that I like that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet is Over the Hedge, about a Raccoon and Turle (I've forgotten their names.) It kind of reminds me of Mutts (but maybe just because it features animals and was added to the Portland paper at the same time as Mutts).

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[cmkeller]

Oh, and I forgot to mention my favorite character. That's got to be Duke from Doonesbury. The Duke stories are the highlights of that strip.

Chaim Mattis Keller

[BunnyGirl]

I used to LOVE Bloom County. It folded (::sigh: :) and he brought out, for a while, some other lame take off. Personally, I thought it's follow-up was not good. Calvin & Hobbes was a long time favorite too.

Favs:
Fox Trot
Dilbert

I don't get the paper so I can't think of others. I do buy all the Fox Trot books though.

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And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss
of one weak creature makes a void in any heart, so
wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of vast eternity can fill it up!
-Charles Dickens "Dombey and Son"

[dougie_monty]

It's good that others of the Teeming Millions like 9 Chickweed Lane. I even e-mailed Ms. McEldowney to ask her to proposoe that my local paper--the South Bay Daily Breeze in Torrance, CA--pick the strip up. She sent me a nice reply saying she contacted her strip's syndicate.

[According to Pliny]

Am I the only male who finds some of the depictions of the teenage daughter and her mom in 9 Chickweed Lane to be...uh...shall we say arousing? The fact that one of them is supposedly 15 is just as disturbing as the fact that they are comic strip characters!

[torq]

Over the Hedge, about a Raccoon and Turle (I've forgotten their names.)

RJ and Verne, in that order.

I haven't seen anyone mention Arlo 'n Janis, which is way up there on my list. The best run of it I've seen is when Janis thought Arlo was flirting with women online, so she got her friend to chat with him online under a fake name.

Oh, favorite character, Arlo: "You can go to Saddam Hussein's house if you'll study."

[Ike Witt]

Bloom County was my all time fave, with The Far Side a very close second. The best out there today are Foxtrot, Mr. Boffo and Red Meat.

[Big Iron]

Calvin and Hobbes
Zippy
Robotman
Dilbert (until a couple of years ago -- Adams has lost his edge since giving up his day job, not that I blame him)
Bloom County
Doonesbury
The Fabulous, Furry Freak Brothers
Wonder Warthog
Mr. Natural
Hate
Doofus
Trashman, Agent of the 6th Int'l

And the two greatest of all, by far ...

Flaming Carrot, man of mystery, and Reid Fleming, world's toughest milkman.

Yes, I know the title says "characters."

[Rodd Hill]

Oh my God, how could I leave out "Life in Hell", and "Reid Fleming"? Just last night, cleaning out a drawer, I found a Reid Fleming pinback from about 16 years ago, with our hero saying "78 cents or I piss on your flowers!"

cmkeller: did you see the Duke compilation about 9 years ago called "action figure"? It came with an actual Duke action figure, complete with Uzi and martini glass. Brilliant!

[cmkeller]

Rodd Hill:

cmkeller: did you see the Duke compilation about 9 years ago called "action figure"? It came with an actual Duke action figure, complete with Uzi and martini glass. Brilliant!

Yes, and I seriously regret not having bought it then. Hopefully, I'll be able to turn it up in a used bookstore or something.

Chaim Mattis Keller

Best current newspaper strip--For Better or For Worse
Best Classic newspaper strip---Pogo
Best on line strip---Kevin & Kell


Worst comic book publishing firm--Marvel Comics

Best current newspaper strip--For Better or For Worse
Best Classic newspaper strip---Pogo
Best on line strip---Kevin & Kell


Worst comic book publishing firm--Marvel Comics

Best current newspaper strip--For Better or For Worse
Best Classic newspaper strip---Pogo
Best on line strip---Kevin & Kell


Worst comic book publishing firm--Marvel Comics

[dougie_monty]

Say, Papa Bear: Can you give me some examples?
I remember seeing Juilette and Edda embracing, and Juliette sitting on a fence with her knees about three feet apart (she was wearing slacks)...are these the examples you mean?

[According to Pliny]

Dougie-
There have been several strips where Edda and Juliette have been depicted in dream sequences as scantily clad superheros. Lots of cleavage and bare hips; that sort of thing. The adjective that comes to mind is "shapely"!

[dougie_monty]

I've seen a few of those. :) I think these women are larger-than-life without super-powers. But as they said once in DC Comics, "We are not responsible for logic in dreams."
You should see some of the stuff in MY dreams! ;) ;)

[ConMan]

#1 - The Far Side
#1 - Bloom County
#1 - Calvin & Hobbes
#4 - ????

I used to read many of the cartoons mentioned on this thread at The Cartoon Cornucopia but the web site had to shut down due to damn lawyers! Anyone know of any good cartoon links?

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"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"
E A Poe

[Markxxx]

Calvin & Hobbes was by far the most consistantly funny strip. Next was The Far Side.

Cathy and Peanuts were funny in their day but should've been retired years ago. Peanuts is especially boring now.

Dilbert is best current strip. Though I must add Blondie's held up through time.

I like For Better or For Worse. I especially like the fact the kids and adults age and people get born and die like in real life. I keep wondering when the For Worse part (one of the parents dying) will come into play

sorry about mult. posts.
dont know what happened, though.nothing i did.
?????????????????????????????????????????????

[dougie_monty]

To Markxxx: Don't hold your breath. The characters in "Gasoline Alley" grow and age too, but Wilt and Phyllis--who must be in their nineties now--are still very much alive.

[rjk]

I have to agree about Calvin and Hobbes, at least among recent strips. But Pogo has to be the best ever (and, yes, Porky was the best character).

And on another note, PapaBear said:
Am I the only male who finds some of the depictions of the teenage daughter and her mom in 9 Chickweed Lane to be...uh...shall we say arousing? The fact that one of them is supposedly 15 is just as disturbing as the fact that they are comic strip characters!

The TV show Red Dwarf raised a similar point, when Lister and Cat were watching The Flintstones (from memory, but close to right, I think):

Lister: I think Wilma may be the most beautiful woman who ever lived. [...] What do you think about Betty?

Cat: I could go with Betty, but I'd be thinking of Wilma.

Lister: This is crazy! She'd never leave Fred!


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Bob the Random Expert
"If we don't have the answer, we'll make one up."

[Persephone]

My personal faves are Calvin & Hobbes, Baby Blues, Far Side, Close to Home, Foxtrot, and Rose is Rose. I like Jumpstart too, when the kids are talking.

[dougie_monty]

I only see Rose Is Rose occasionally because our local paper doesn't carry it. I used to like Pasquale's garbled speech--kids his age always talk like that--and the way his mother used to be drawn, a few years ago. She wasw prettier then.

FBOFW is quite good, I agree. Am I the only one who likes Geech and dislikes Dilbert?

[Markxxx]

I know this is OT but I used to like Family Circus. But now those kids are just idiots.