# Comic strips that you wish would just fade away. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 27, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927 "2000-11-27T22:32:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/1 "2000-11-27T22:32:26Z")
Everyone has their favorites in the Daily paper Comic section.I’ve noticed I’m skipping more and more lame comics to read MY favorites.IMHO I wish these strips would DIE a horrible flaming death! 1)Cathy…This is THE most USELESS comic ever drawn.Ever notice she says “aack” in every strip? 2)Beetle Bailey…If I see one more strip with Sarge pummeling Beetle into a pulp…I’ll scream. 3)The Lockhorns…We get it already,they hate each other.One word, DIVORCE! 4)Gasoline Alley…Might of been good in the forties,time to retire. 5)Blondie…Same Hackneyed plots recycled weekly. 6)Hagar the horrible…See statements for #5. ---
**Author:** ![Mamapotomus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@Mamapotomus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mamapotomus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/2 "2000-11-27T22:37:08Z")
**The Family Circus**!!! Just what every comic needs- ghost grandparents, cartooning by “children”, and stupid follow-the-arrows-to-see-where-Billy’s-been. Repeat. Repeat. For fifty years. Die! Die! Die! whoa… I feel so much better now! I still HATE that cartoon, though. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/3 "2000-11-27T23:10:14Z")
The soap opera comic strips! Our paper has what seems like a dozen, and if you have not been reading them for the past 47 years, you don’t get them! And they aren’t funny! And sorry to say this, but Peanuts. The man is dead. Yes, he was funny. He was original. But I don’t want to read his “stupid blockhead”, “kite stuck in tree”, and “snoopy does whatever”. It is old! And Garfield. He likes to kick Odie. He drinks coffee and hates mondays. Jon is a loser. There is the entire plot. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/4 "2000-11-27T23:20:11Z")
Mutts. Every day, it outdoes itself in stupidity…or in sappiness. Shnock it off, already. ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/5 "2000-11-27T23:20:59Z")
Spawn. Begone, o evil abomination! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/6 "2000-11-27T23:27:42Z")
I have to second the Anti-Family Circus position. How many times can a simplistic play on words be funny?!?!? How many times can a portrayal of kids being loud and boisterous be funny?!?!? I think everyone realizes that family’s are kooky!!! Can’t you at least make one of them go insane and start eating cow dung or something?!?!? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/7 "2000-11-27T23:30:57Z")
Why does every sentence in _Rex Morgan M.D._ end in an exclamation mark! Is this supposed to heighten the action! I find it most annoying! People who talk to me like this occasionally get whacked upside the head! Do all of the people in the strip have bladder problems! Is this crying wolf! It is irritating! Highly irritating! The _Family Circus_ has got to go. I have no use for Garfield (talk about recycled plots), Heathcliff, Tank Macnamara, Hagar, Blondie, soap opera strips… Cathy and Foxtrot are repetitive but a little bit better… Doonesbury, B.C., The Wizrd of Id, Peanuts can be good. Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County and The Far Side are sorely missed. Dilbert is good but doesn’t make up for the Holy Trinity. Do they still print Herman? ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/8 "2000-11-27T23:39:45Z")
\>\>\>\>\>Do they still print Herman? \<\<\< NY Daily News does…unfortunately. Oh…I forgot to add B.C., old,awful…yawn. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/9 "2000-11-28T00:23:54Z")
Another vote for “Cathy” here. Maybe a nice farewell strip is in order, where Cathy, in another fashion-induced fit, runs screaming through the department store. She trips on a rack of “this year’s bathing suits”, becomes airborne, and lands face first on a shoe rack, where a stiletto heel impales her in the eye causing massive hemorrhaging and her immediate demise. And maybe she can take out “Frank and Ernest” while she’s at it. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/10 "2000-11-28T00:29:25Z")
Garfield: There was a recent strip that was actually enjoyable. Other than that, not one funny strip since eternity. Family Circus: Bland, banal, unfunny, old. Beetle Bailey: Bland, banal, unfunny, _decades_ behind the times (tanks don’t look like that anymore, all right?). Hagar the Horrible: Bland, banal, unfunny, too many recycled gags. Blondie: An almost surreal amalgam of 50’s values and modern pop culture. Also way too many recycled gags. Peanuts: Look, the man was a visionary, but I find something downright disturbing about continuing to publish the works of a dead man in the newspaper. If I want to see old cartoons, I’ll go borrow the books again. B.C.: Used to be good, then religion started cropping up everywhere and it’s never been the same. The comics page is not the medium for proseltyzing. Get Fuzzy: Oh boy, another strip about a good-for-nothing cat and the clueless hack who owns him. As for Cathy…I dunno. A lot of strips go dangerously into cornball land, but it’s stayed in tune with the times, there have been some _very_ funny strips, and the characterizations are at least plausible. Not the greatest, but at this point I’ll take it. ---
**Author:** ![Bobort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bobort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobort)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/11 "2000-11-28T00:51:57Z")
Although _Family Circus_ may be the most insipid cartoon you can find, IMO its existence was inadvertently redeemed by the [Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://zompist.com/dfcindex.html). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/12 "2000-11-28T00:53:25Z")
Does anyone have the link that site that spoofs “The Family Circus”? ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/13 "2000-11-28T01:37:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DKW \* > B.C.: Used to be good, then religion started cropping up everywhere and it’s never been the same. The comics page is not the medium for proseltyzing. Thank you. I thought maybe it was just me. Also, if you look at the little URL at the bottom of B.C., you’ll see [creators.com](http://creators.com) Coincidence? While I don’t especially care for The Family Circus, either, there was a strip from about a month ago that “Billy drew”. I thought it was kind of funny in a bizarre way. Billy is wondering what Grandpa might be watching on TV up in heaven. Two of the shows Grandpa was watching were “Non-Survivor” and “Saturday Night Dead”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/14 "2000-11-28T01:44:06Z")
Mallard Fillmore. Imagine Rush Limbaugh with a duck bill but no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/15 "2000-11-28T02:05:10Z")
Bobort wrote: > [@](#): > > Although _Family Circus_ may be the most insipid cartoon you can find, IMO its existence was inadvertently redeemed by the [Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://zompist.com/dfcindex.html). Woo hoo! I thought the D.F.C. was gone forever! (Two of MY captions were accepted back when it was still active. I feel so proud.) It’s too bad they didn’t archive the “Red Zone” captions, though. Those were almost as funny as the good ones! ---
**Author:** ![Bobort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bobort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobort)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/16 "2000-11-28T02:20:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \*\*\* > It’s too bad they didn’t archive the “Red Zone” captions, though. Those were almost as funny as the good ones! \*\* Poop keeps the tent wher it is! ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/17 "2000-11-28T02:26:36Z")
The Hall of Infamy: - **Cathy** : it’s dismally drawn, and flogs the same old neurotic “gags” into the ground, already. - **Family Circus** : banal, sterile, one-note retreads of every panel Bill Keene has done since the pleistocene. - **Baby Blues** : I’m sorry, I _hate_ this strip. The kids are just feral annoyances. Calvin captured the dizzy childhood trip behind the precocious little-boy hellion. It belittles kids by playing to parent woes. - **Mallard Fillmore** and **Doonesbury** : neither are funny nor insightful. “Topical” knee-jerk filler. Yawn. - **Garfield** : I forget who said Garfield is a nasty little boy in a cat suit. He isn’t even that any more. And Jon deserves to be clawed. The trinity, indeed. **Dilbert** is okay, but it’s a one-note, one-joke strip. I mourn the loss of Gary Larsen especially. Veb ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/18 "2000-11-28T02:31:41Z")
Funky Winkerbean. Used to be funny, but for the past several years it’s been crap: more like a soap opera concerning alcoholism, cancer, etc. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/19 "2000-11-28T02:37:04Z")
Bobort wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by tracer_\*\* > > It’s too bad they didn’t archive the “Red Zone” captions, though. Those were almost as funny as the good ones!\*\* > > Poop keeps the tent wher it is! Whoooooah I’m trippin’ my nutsack in a frenzy of dik play! ---
**Author:** ![ElusiveMiser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@ElusiveMiser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElusiveMiser)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927/20 "2000-11-28T02:39:51Z")
I get the Boston Globe. There is a one panel comic called “Top Secrets” drawn by Paul Zep, or whatever. Anyway, Paul, me, and any other straight dopers who agree are coming to your house real soon to give you the beating you so deserve for drawing and writing that horrid, abominable comic!!! Who’s with me?!?!?! Also, an example of why I can’t stand Family Circus: Kids: “Mommy? What does Y-E-S spell?” Mom: “Yes.” Kids:(talking to dad) “Dad, can we have popsicles? Mom said yes.” Dad: “Okay.” Kids:(With popsicles in hand and sad looks on faces) “It doesn’t taste as good when you lie.” GHHAHAHHAHAH!! DIE DIE DIE! Get out of my newspaper!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-that-you-wish-would-just-fade-away/42927.md?page=2)