What comic strip would you like to see brought back from the grave?

[Show_Biz]

Some comics, like Calvin and Hobbes, Outland, Peanuts, etc. have little chance of being resurrected soon.

Some, like Little Orphan Annie, Mickey Mouse, and the dreaded Mary Worth, have separate lives from their original artists.

Others, like Dagwood, Hi & Lois, and Sally Forth get co-written/drawn or handed down or farmed out by the original cartoonist.

Basically, it depends on who owns the rights and how much they want to cash in.

Which comic would you ask for, [i]back up from the grave?

[tomndebb]

Pogo (but it would truly be from the grave as only the original Walt Kelly could do it justice.)

The funny Doonesbury.

The Far Side.

[Patty O'Furniture]

[tomndebb]

Rex Morgan, M.D.?
Judge Parker?
ooooo...ooooo...I know

I know

.

.

.

.

.

Brenda Starr!

[ConMan]

In no particular order:

The Far Side

Bloom County

Calvin & Hobbes

[Brunetter]

Without a doubt ... Calvin and Hobbes! Wise, humourous, beautiful drawings, and the odd heartwrenching poem .. capturing the spirit of childhood SO completely!

I also agree that it would be nice to see some FUNNY Doonsebury comics again! How long's it been, 15 years?

[Una Persson]

Two words: Bloom County.

[NickyLarson]

Doonesbury is hilarious still.

Brenda Starr, unfortunatly, is still around.

Sometimes I miss Dondi, but then I get back on my medication and that feeling goes away.

[L.Ron Hoover]

Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes
Bloom County (Penguin LUST!!!)

[Argeable]

Undoubtedly, it's Calvin and Hobbes. They totally rock. Of course, Far side was awesome too, but it couldn't compare. I'm sure there are some others, but I am just a youngin...

[Cowboy Greg]

Definitely Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes.

Anybody know what Berke Breathed and Bill Watterson are doing these days?

[SterlingNorth]

I'll toss in my vote for Calvin & Hobbes and Bloom County also. I grew up on those and they were heads and shoulders above the rest of the 80s stuff.

But I also want to give a shout out to Walt Kelly and Pogo. Nobody and I mean nobody can write and drawn anything as witty, beautiful and great as he can. He is high up on my not too small list of Great Non-Pointy-HeadedTM artists!

[Biotop]

THE comic to bring back: Nancy. But you'd also have to bring back Ernie Bushmiller. No Plastinos, or Scotts, or whoever's doing it this year. Ernie's Nancy was one of the bizarrest, cleverest, and at the same time simplest comic strip ever.

Many before me have commented on the 3 rocks, Sluggo's speech problems, Fritzi's lean, etc. etc. So I will just quote a comic. Now I pick up one of the few Nancy collections I own and just open to a random page:

Frame 1: Nancy is standing next to Sluggo, who is sitting on a wood crate peering through a hole in a fence. A sign on the fence says "Ball Park".

"I see you bored a hole" says Nancy.

"I bored TWO holes" replies Sluggo, pointing to another hole higher up in the wall.

Frame 2:

Nancy: "What is the other hole for?"

Sluggo: "That's for the seventh-inning stretch"
_____

July 8th 1971. A later work, but pure Bushmiller.

[Mac]

Hey let's not forget!

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/main.htm

[kiffa]

Odd Bodkins, yes definately Odd Bodkins.

[Ruffian]

Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side.

Without them, I have no reason to read the comic pages anymore.

[UpperUS]

Why didn't anyone say Fearless Fosdick?
Thathas to be the best strip ever. And it should be easy to draw, the guy had a square chin.

[Me!! Joe!!!]

While "Bloom County" and "Calvin & Hobbes" were both great strips, I personally would love to see the ressurection of two REALLY old comic strips that were obvious inspirations to both Watterson and Breathed.

"Krazy Kat" by (I think his name was)Walter Herriman was a surreal little strip about a cat who loved a mouse, and the mouse that hated his guts. (which i'd bet money inspired the idea for 'Itchy & Scratchy' on "The Simpsons.") "Little Nemo in Slumberland" was a strip about a little boy (Little Nemo) with fantastical imaginative dreams and fantasies, much like Calvin. Both of these strips were amazing to look at, and if you see Krazy Kat, you can see how Berke Breathed was "inspired" to create Outland.

I've been trying with no luck to find anthology books of either of these strips. Alas, while they always appear in books about "the history of comics" no publisher has had the bright idea to do a book specifically about them...

[blank]

I'd go with Li'l Abner. Not the political stuff, but he was the only artist that drew pretty women and buff men and scrawny old coots. Nobody has done that since.
I think there's a real opportunity for some artist.

[Kricket]

Bill the cat for president!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a whole collection of Opus stuffed animals.

If my hubby would have had his way our son Dylan would be Calvin, and it's bad enuff that he carries a Tigger everywhere. Oh, Goddess help me I can see it now!

On our van we have a Calvin and Hobbes sticker and my son insists that it is Dylan and Tigger.
Favorite ones are the ones with the snowmen!
And I know we will have our own troubles with babysitters!

The Far Side rocks! Very twisted!

[Sassy]

Odd Bodkins

and

Pogo

*sigh*

[Ukulele Ike]

Good news, guys...Dan O'Neill's "Odd Bodkins" is still being produced...online, anyway.

http://www.oddbodkins.com

I'd have to second "Lil' Abner." Not only did Capp do bodacious cheesecake and beefcake, but he was brilliant at sustaining a complex storyline, and he was really damn funny, too. At least before he got old and crotchety and conservative sometime in the early 1960s.

"Fearless Fosdick," BTW, was Lil' Abner's favorite "comical strip character." Abner finally married Daisy Mae Scragg in 1952 after Fosdick married his long-suffering fiancee Prudence Pimpleton in order not to be thrown off the force (police cutbacks made it necessary to fire all unmarried cops). Abner, as the only over-nine member of the Fosdick Fan Club, was pushed into marriage due to the Club Oath to do anything Fosdick did in real life. When it turned out that Fosdick's marriage was only a dream, Abner abandoned his luscious new bride at their honeymoon hotel in New York and haaded back to Dogpatch, where Mammy smacked him on the skull with a frying pan and pointed out that Fosdick was only a character in a stoopid comical strip and that Abner was completely and irrevocably married.

[Alpine]

Besides the classics mentioned, I miss Where the Buffalo Roam (http://www.shadowculture.com/wtbr/index.html).

[dougie_monty]

Moon Mullins
Tumbleweeds (no longer run in the South Bay Daily Breeze in Los Angeles County)
Alley Oop
Li'l Abner
Out Our Way
Our Boarding House
Encyclopedia Brown
You Can
Brenda Starr

[dougie_monty]

Oops! Add Dotty Dripple (a rare sexy-and-smart mother of half grown kids!) :)

[kiffa]

I always thought you were a weird, unusual sort. Now I know for sure. Many, many thanks for the website note for Odd Bodkins.

[ultress]

The Far Side, my favorite of all time.

[Sassy]

Good news, guys...Dan O'Neill's "Odd Bodkins" is still being produced...online, anyway.

I think I sent you that link, Uke - but it isn't the same as seeing it in print. Did I tell you my SO studied cartooning with O'Neill?

[Grendel69]

Far Side, Bloom County, and Calvin and Hobbes...
If you ever want to find out about a person give them these three strips.

Maybe we have an heir...Anybody read Boondocks?

I say that we sacrifice some of the still running cartoons that are not worthy of existing so we can bring 'em back from the graveyard. First victim.....

Cathy.

"ooooohhh I gained 2 pounds!!! I can't go out on the date tonight. Might as well gorge myself on this fudge..."

It's the same stereotypical cartoon every damn day. If the feminists ever decide to go after the strip, I'll have no poblem with that.

[Little Nemo]

Well, my pick should be even more obvious than Opus'.

Fat Angel, do you know that the complete run of Little Nemo has been collected in book form? It's a six volume series from Fantagraphic Books and contains every Little Nemo strip, including the In the Land of Wonderful Dreams series, along with the color run of the Dream of the Rarebit Fiend series, all in their full original size and colors.

Dougie Monty, both Alley Oop and Brenda Starr are still being written.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Tumbleweeds (no longer run in the South Bay Daily Breeze in Los Angeles County)

Still running in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as of last Tuesday or so. I subscribe to the Dallas Morning news, and only occasionally read the Startlegram.

The DMN runs the Boondocks, except on Sundays. For some odd reason, they run some comics only on Sundays, and others only on Monday through Saturday.

[matt_mcl]

Gotta be the big three: Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, Bloom County.

I'd also love to see Mafalda - this very twisted Argentinian comic strip - again.

[Jo3sh]

As much as I agree with the consensus that seeing Bloom County, Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes again would be wonderful, I'm actually GLAD that the authors stopped drawing them. Berke Breathed, Gary Larson, and Bill Watterson all stopped drawing for essentially the same reason: they were tired of the grind of being funny on a deadline. I'd much rather go back through my collection of books and revisit the classics that still break me up than see these strips get old and boring.

The paper is already full of strips that have dragged on a LOOOOOONG time, simply because the authors want to keep collecting a paycheck. Beetle Bailey comes to mind. I don't think I've EVER seen a funny one, and it's about six gags repeated over and over. Beetle is lazy. The Sarge is violent. General Halftrack whistles at his sexy secretary. Killer likes girls. Who gives a shit anymore?

We ALL still care about these classic strips, simply because the authors quit while they were ahead.

[OpalCat]

In no particular order:

The Far Side

Bloom County

Calvin & Hobbes



That's my list, right there.

[OpalCat]

Frame 1: Nancy is standing next to Sluggo, who is sitting on a wood crate peering through a hole in a fence. A sign on the fence says "Ball Park".

"I see you bored a hole" says Nancy.

"I bored TWO holes" replies Sluggo, pointing to another hole higher up in the wall.

Frame 2:

Nancy: "What is the other hole for?"

Sluggo: "That's for the seventh-inning stretch"


Was this supposed to convince us the strip was funny? I never liked Nancy and the above just reaffirms that it isn't even vaguely funny.

[¦:•)]

I like Henry (yes, he still reruns in the Chicago Reader, but that's same as dead)

[Biotop]

OpalCat,
I may not be able to convince you of the merits of Nancy, but I will try. Some quotes from others :

"Any strip that can be around for as long as 'Nancy', and not be funny once, has really got something going for it."
Michael Frith, Art Director of Henson Associates as quoted in "Confessions of a Nancy Fan" by Brian Walker

" 'Nancy' is the definition of a comic strip. Look it up in 'Webster's Illustrated Dictionary', and you'll find a postage stamp-sized reproduction of a 'Nancy' strip right next to the definition of 'comic strip'."
Art Spiegelman, quoted from the same source.

"'Nancy' only appears to be simple at a casual glance. Like architect Miles Van Der Rohe, the simplicity is a carefully designed function of a complex amalgam of formal rules laid out by a designer. To look at Bushmiller as an architect is entirely appropriate, for 'Nancy' is, in a sense, a blueprint for a comic strip. Walls, floors, rocks, trees, ice-cream cones, motion lines, midgets, and principals are carefully positioned with no need for further embellishment. And laid out with one purpose in mind--to get the gag across. Minimalist? Formalist? Structuralist? Cartoonist!"
Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik from "How to Read 'Nancy'" an essay in "The Best of Ernie Bushmiller's 'Nancy' edited by Brian Walker

"Never has a comic strip been more simply or subtly created, or more underrated than 'Nancy'.
Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy
Quoted from "Nancy Eats Food" Kitchen Sink Press 1989

"Ernie Bushmiller is my comics Kafka. He liberated me from 'the big laugh' as the sole purpose of a humor strip..."
Jerry Moriarty from "The long long trip to Nancy's house" from "How Sluggo Survives" Kitchen Sink Press 1989

"Bushmiller created a kind of humor that didn't have to be funny..."
Jerry Moriarty, as quoted in "Confessions of a Nancy Fan" by Brian Walker

______________

"Nancy" was a truly amazing strip. I, too, used to reject it before a good friend did me a favor by showing me the light. Now when life seems bleakest I often turn to these old comics stored carefully in my basement. I recommend them highly.

When you liberate "Nancy" from the burden of being funny, you can allow the true genius of Bushmiller to come streaming in to your open mind. And you will realize that "Nancy" was funnier than most any of the comics so deservedly loved today. Not funny at all yet very funny. "Nancy" was not only a comic, it was a daily koan!

[RealityChuck]

If you bring a comic strip back from the dead, it'd only be a pale imitation of the original (unless you can get the original cartoonist, of course).

The ones I'd like to see rerun are

Krazy Kat
Pogo
Barnaby

But no new artists on them (though the last incarnation of Pogo was credible -- as long as you don't compare it to the original).

[Nutty Bunny]

I, too, would like to see C&H, the Far Side and Bloom County again, but I also miss Matt Groening's "Life in Hell".

I wasn't moved by the Nancy quotes. I still hate that strip. I understand how a comic strip doesn't necessarily have to be funny (ie, Prince Valiant, etc.), but Nancy clearly has "jokes", they just aren't funny. Jokes are meant to be funny.

I agree that the Boondocks is a great strip--offensive or not. It's edgy, which is what the "big three" were.

[Soupy]

That was one of the best-drawn comics of all time. The only one where people seemed to be moving.

Gordo was a Mexican living in Mexico, drawn by a Mexican national, and and it was the only Latino strip I've seen in large-circulation US dailies.

His cab would bounce and squeeze through narrow hilly streets. He had a cat he talked to, but I forget if we "heard" what the cat thought.

Is it still printed anywhere, does anyone know?

[Oat Willie]

Gordo was great, all right. The cat was P.G., or "Poosy Gato".

Gordo was drawn by Gus Arriola. I saw it in the early 70's, and there's a book in my library published in 1989, "Gordo's Critters / Gus Arriola ; foreword by Herb Caen"

If it had a 20 year run, there must be more fans. But it would be hard to draw, like you say. Most new comic artists I've seen couldn't draw Dilbert.

[Arnold Winkelried]

The best comic book character that will not come back is, of course, Tintin.

[Fanny May]

One of my daughters lives in France now, and sent me a TinTin shirt. I'd never seen him, but he is cute, with the dog.

[Minxsmom]

Give me back Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, and The Far Side.

I have all the books. It doesn't say much for the new strips when comics that I have read hundreds of times over the years make me laugh out loud and I bearly crack a smile over most of the new stuff.

[capybara]

Can we bring Edward Gorey back from the dead?
(It wouldn't surprise me, actually. . .)

[Arnold Winkelried]

FannyMay, Tintin is not just cute. He's been to the moon, has discovered a pirate's sunken treasure, has been abducted by aliens, etc...

In general the comic book tradition in Europe is much more sophisticated than in the USA. Most comic books are book-length adventure stories, with each book being a complete story. Many of the books are intended for adults (by that I mean complex themes and stories, not necessarily sex or violence.)

For example, in my last trip, I brought back a couple of books relating the story of a frenchman hiding in the attic of a house after escaping from a german worker's camp, and his life in hiding. A well-drawn and involved story, and not something that would necessarily interest a child.

[Ukulele Ike]

In general the comic book tradition in Europe is much more sophisticated than in the USA.


Bah. We United Statesians have given to the world Hot Stuff, the Lil' Devil. What say you to that?

[Me!! Joe!!!]

Well, my pick should be even more obvious than Opus'.

Fat Angel, do you know that the complete run of Little Nemo has been collected in book form? It's a six volume series from Fantagraphic Books and contains every Little Nemo strip, including the In the Land of Wonderful Dreams series, along with the color run of the Dream of the Rarebit Fiend series, all in their full original size and colors.

Dougie Monty, both Alley Oop and Brenda Starr are still being written.





This is something I did not know, but am more than happy to learn. I appreciate the tip!

Keep on dreamin', little nemo.

[dougie_monty]

Dougie Monty, both Alley Oop and Brenda Starr are still being written.
By Dave Graue and Dale Messick? I haven't seen either in Los Angeles area strips for moroe than ten years. Did Brenda ever see "St. John" again?

[Arnold Winkelried]

originally posted by Ukulele Ike:
Bah. We United Statesians have given to the world Hot Stuff, the Lil' Devil. What say you to that?


Once again Ukulele Ike's sharp wit has deflated the pompous arrogance of the Eurotrash. :o

[jcp]

One of my favorites years ago when i was a paperboy was "the great atomic aftermath" Anybody remember it?

Re. "Nancy":
A friend of mine in college would always include the a Nancy comic strip in his letters, but he would cut off the last frame. AAAARRRRGHHHH! maybe the only thing worse than reading the strip was not knowing the punch-line.

[Biotop]

Try this tomorrow in your work lunchroom. Get out the comic page, read the first frames out loud describing the scenes. Then get the folks around you to guess what the punchline frame will be. You can even do this yourself. It's surprising and a little sad how often you can guess where that last frame will go, especially in the comics so maligned in another current thread.

If any of you have access to old "Nancy" comics, you'll appreciate how very difficult it was to figure where Bushmiller was going with that last frame, even though everything in the preceding frames would seem to lead directly there.

[Little Nemo]

I'm sorry but as far as I'm concerned Nancy is a bad comic strip. Saying it takes a special kind of genius to make a joke that isn't funny seems to me to be too much of a stretch. Maybe it's like a "camp" thing of praising the virtues of something that's bad, but as far as I'm concerned good is good, bad is bad, and there's no such thing as "so bad it's good".

Oh yeah, and I never saw the appeal of Krazy Kat either.

[SterlingNorth]

"'Nancy' only appears to be simple at a casual glance.... Minimalist? Formalist? Structuralist? Cartoonist!"
Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik from "How to Read 'Nancy'" an essay in "The Best of Ernie Bushmiller's 'Nancy' edited by Brian Walker

Biotop emphasis added by me
05-29-2000 04:19 PM

I dunno. If a comic strip requires a "How to" manual to be understandable, it has felled. Not that a comic shouldn't have a deeper lever, but there needs to be someone ot the front door.

[bj0rn]

www.calvinandhobbes.com

bj0rn - nothing new, but have fun.

[Padeye]

...but I also miss Matt Groening's "Life in Hell".


Life in Hell is still in the Phoenix New Times , the Tucson Weekly and last time I checked the Village Voice but it consists almost entirely of Akbar and Jeff insult fests. It's extremely rare to see Binky or Bongo and I cannot remember the last time I saw Sheba in a strip. I've been following L.I.H. since the early eighties when I read in the San Diego Reader.

[Kiva]

The best comic book character that will not come back is, of course, Tintin.


While The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes were my favourite all-time comics, Tintin was in a class of his own. Tintin is not a comic, Tintin is EPIC. It's like comparing Laurel and Hardy with Ben Hur. Mark Twain with Dostoevsky. The Beatles with Bach.

[Val2K]

I miss Calvin and Hobbes so much. . .

[teela brown]

Arnold, I agree with you about European comics. I am an ENORMOUS Asterix fan, so when I was in Paris last year, I tracked down a comics shop in order to buy a few hardback copies in French (trying to learn the language, as you remember -- Il sont fous, ces Romains!), and I was astounded at the variety of comics available. They were all in glossy hardback bindings, well printed, and a rather large proportion of them were pornographic. Asterix is still with us, and still pretty good, but never as good as his glory days with Cleopatra, Britain, and Rome.

I vote for Pogo to come back. I collect Pogo comics, and Walt Kelly's drawings, situations, dialogue, characters and poetry are not to be equalled again. RIP, Walt.

[KimKatt]

Yet another vote for the big three - Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, and The Far Side.

But.... to echo sentiments stated earlier, it's probably best that these were retired when they were. Better to go out as a legend than go out with a strip that has been dragged on too long.

Having said that, I still miss all three.

[Show_Biz]

One I'd forgotten about is Little Iodine, the bratty girl, by (?)Hatlo. I remember the "Tip of the Hatlo Hat" to people who suggested ideas.

I believe he also drew "There Outta Be A Law!"

[Ukulele Ike]

Yeah, I remember "There Oughta Be a Law," and that little "thank you" that always appeared in the corner, with a picture of a guy tipping his hat.

Once in a while when I'm paying homage (plagarizing) in an SDMB post, I add a "Thanx and a tip of the hat to -----." In homage to that strip.

[Edwardina]

Far Side, Bloom County, and Calvin and Hobbes...
If you ever want to find out about a person give them these three strips.


My (and seemingly everyone's) three strips, right there. Does anyone remember the Bloom County where Milo and I-forget the old fart's name went hunting the Wild Liberal.

The mating call: "No nukes, no nukes!"

*blam, blam, blamblamblam* "Ahhhhh, gun control! Gun control!"

*weakly, from the grass* "Socialized medicine . . . ?"