# Comic Strips you love, and love to hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989 "2012-01-09T23:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/61 "2012-02-26T22:58:34Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > […] Mary Worth and Apt. 3-G are stupid, badly drawn, and sloooooow moving (though not as slow as Rex Morgan, MD. A whole year can go by on one storyline in Rex Morgan)…[…]. _(Specifically addressing **this** comment, not the rest of Salinqmind’s thread)_ What kind of critic **are** you?! Granted Mary Worth, Apartment 3-G, On Stage, and Rex Morgan, M.D., are what we used to call “soap opera strips,” the art work is elaborate and skilled! In a book on cartooning, the late Dave Breger called that style “Illustrative” and “Precise.” What can you seriously consider superior comic-strip art to _those_ strips? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/62 "2012-02-26T23:03:51Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > _(Specifically addressing **this** comment, not the rest of Salinqmind’s thread)_ > What kind of critic **are** you?! Granted Mary Worth, Apartment 3-G, On Stage, and Rex Morgan, M.D., are what we used to call “soap opera strips,” the art work is elaborate and skilled! In a book on cartooning, the late Dave Breger called that style “Illustrative” and “Precise.” What can you seriously consider superior comic-strip art to _those_ strips? :eek: Mary Worth? _Elaborate and skilled?_ It looks like a ransom note, with odd body parts and facial features clipped and glued together by a blind toddler! That is part of the hilarity–totally awful artwork crashing into totally awful writing! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/63 "2012-02-26T23:23:33Z")
All my comic reading is on-line, so my [comics.com](http://comics.com) comics page looks like this: Baldo - Mexican characters and moderately funny Ballard Street - occasionally warped Bloom County - reruns are still better than 90% of what’s produced today Bound and Gagged - occasionally warped Doonesbury - still relevant after all these years The Duplex - I used to be these guys Foxtrot - just funny Foxtrot Classics - just funny reruns The Fusco Brothers - odd Heart of the City - occasionally heartwarming Non Sequitur - one of my faves Brewster Rockit - just plain warped Calvin and Hobbes - the classic Citizen Dog - dead but nor forgotten Cleats - soccer kids In the Bleachers - sports panal Strange Brew - poor man’s Far Side Tank McNamara - sports Animal Crackers - mildly funny The Argyll Sweater - seriously bent Stone Soup - one of my faves 9 Chickweed Lane - #1 with a bullet Arlo and Janis - the 60’s live! Drabble - I am Ralph Get Fuzzy - lost it, but still worth reading Frazz - #1 with two bullets The Knight Life - Keith is a genius Luann - I teach Monty - I own this cat Over the Hedge - bent Pearls Before Swine - bent Rose Is Rose - worth is for Peekaboo The Flying McCoys - poor man’s Far Side Ten Cats - new strip Candorville - sometimes worth the story Cheap Thrills Cuisine - recipes The K Chronicles - see The Knight Life ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/64 "2012-02-26T23:27:25Z")
I read Dilbert on Sundays. Its best days are past but it still has its moments. I retain affection for Blondie even though it’s probably been at least 40 years since anything earthshaking took place in the strip (not counting Blondie getting a job). In the Consistently Loathe department, there’s the Family Circus, starring the blandly repellent breeders, their loathsomely pseudo-cute offspring and brain-dead canine. It didn’t help that in med school, the instructor in the most useless course used to punctuate her lectures by showing Family Circus cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/65 "2012-02-26T23:28:48Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Mary Worth? _Elaborate and skilled?_ It looks like a ransom note, with odd body parts and facial features clipped and glued together by a blind toddler! That is part of the hilarity–totally awful artwork crashing into totally awful writing! Is that **so?** Give me an example–by e-mail. To [montgomerydou55@hotmail.com](mailto:montgomerydou55@hotmail.com) . ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/66 "2012-02-27T01:44:02Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Is that **so?** Give me an example–by e-mail. To > [montgomerydou55@hotmail.com](mailto:montgomerydou55@hotmail.com) . I don’t have to–just look at it any day of the week! The artistic incompetence is sheer _gold_. ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/67 "2012-02-27T04:18:15Z")
My faves: Crock Lio Peanuts Ziggy Blondie Dilbert 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/68 "2012-02-27T07:09:57Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > _(Specifically addressing **this** comment, not the rest of Salinqmind’s thread)_ > What kind of critic **are** you?! Granted Mary Worth, Apartment 3-G, On Stage, and Rex Morgan, M.D., are what we used to call “soap opera strips,” the art work is elaborate and skilled! In a book on cartooning, the late Dave Breger called that style “Illustrative” and “Precise.” What can you seriously consider superior comic-strip art to _those_ strips? :eek: Dude, David Breger’s been dead for over forty years - as, for the most part, are the artists and writers he was talking about when he praised soap strips. I don’t know how _Mary Worth_ and _Rex Morgan_ of 1966 (when Breger’s last book was published) compare to those strips today - but their contemporary incarnations are simply horrible. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/69 "2012-02-27T09:31:01Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I don’t have to–just look at it any day of the week! The artistic incompetence is sheer _gold_. :rolleyes: If my local newspaper carried Mary Worth, I wouldn’t have to ask you, now, would I? I haven’t seen Mary Worth in 40 years so I want an explanation. \ ***Originally posted by Miller:** Dude, David Breger’s been dead for over forty years - as, for the most part, are the artists and writers he was talking about when he praised soap strips. I don’t know how Mary Worth and Rex Morgan of 1966 (when Breger’s last book was published) compare to those strips today - but their contemporary incarnations are simply horrible. \* OK, I know Earnst and Saunders aren’t around any more. That’s why I asked. I want a contemporary example. I have also noted, in this thread, an apparent hatred of Family Circus, implying that the critics thereof want kids who would put one in mind of the children that H. L. Mencken must have had. Well, that’s too bad. If that’s what you want, start your own comic strip! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/70 "2012-02-27T11:01:02Z")
About the only paper I even glance at these days is the Metro, which leaves me with three comics to comment on: [Nemi](http://www.metro.co.uk/games/nemi/) - Goth humor. Used to be funny and original but the shark was truly jumped when she acquired a boyfriend. Learn To Speak Cat which I won’t link to because frankly just the act of reading it causes brain damage. Written by a five-year-old as far as I can tell, and not in a good “Axe Cop” kind of way. There’s a third one about a dog and his owners but it’s so banal and unfunny it makes Fred Bassett look like Bloom County. I can’t even remember the name, that’s how dull it is. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/71 "2012-02-27T11:06:23Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Learn To Speak Cat which I won’t link to because frankly just the act of reading it causes brain damage. Written by a five-year-old as far as I can tell, and not in a good “Axe Cop” kind of way. I’ll chop your head off! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/72 "2012-02-27T12:12:27Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Oh, yeah…Ces Marciuliano, the writer for _Sally Forth_ has a wicked sense of humor, which he can only unleash so far in a mainstream newspaper comic. That’s why he has a blog! > > [Medium Large](http://medium-large.com/) > > He posts a lot of comic parodies, and Sally isn’t immune, either. This is great! > **[Ted Forth’s Tips for Valentine’s Day (Smooooooooth Lovin’ Edition)](https://mediumlarge.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/ted-forths-tips-for-valentines-day-smooooooooth-lovin-edition/)** > > Ted Forth: Husband. Father. Strategic Planner. Possible Member of “The Guilded Hand.” And Celebrated Love Machine. But how does Ted keep the sparks a-flyin’ and Sally’s hear… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/73 "2012-02-27T13:47:20Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > :rolleyes: If my local newspaper carried Mary Worth, I wouldn’t have to ask you, now, would I? I haven’t seen Mary Worth in 40 years so I want an explanation. You might want to buy yourself a computer and get yourself an internet connection–if you were online, you would be able to look up the strip. But since you do not have a computer I will link you to today’s strip: [http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/) Not quite as hilarious as it can get, but the artistic incompetence is pretty evident, Not that I am complaining–_Mary Worth_ gives me hours of fun. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/74 "2012-02-27T14:43:43Z")
[Here’s a good Mary Worth from a week ago](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/17506/2012-02-20.php). Has anyone EVER held their coffee like Mary’s doing in that first panel? Is that even physically possible? ETA: Or even the 2nd panel, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/75 "2012-02-27T16:10:31Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > You might want to buy yourself a computer and get yourself an internet connection–if you were online, you would be able to look up the strip. But since you do not have a computer I will link you to today’s strip: [http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/) > > Not quite as hilarious as it can get, but the artistic incompetence is pretty evident, Not that I am complaining–_Mary Worth_ gives me hours of fun. I went back a few days to find one that was REALLY egregious. [Enjoy.](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/17598/2012-02-22.php) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/76 "2012-02-27T16:46:09Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I went back a few days to find one that was REALLY egregious. [Enjoy.](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/comics-games/comic/Mary-Worth/17598/2012-02-22.php) I actually have that one up at my desk–every so often, I lean back, totally rearrange my facial features, and say “heh, heh.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/77 "2012-02-27T16:53:56Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I actually have that one up at my desk–every so often, I lean back, totally rearrange my facial features, and say “heh, heh.” “We’re here at Generic Corporation of Santa Royale, where we’ve secretly replaced the boring employee Nora with Lon Chaney. Let’s see if anyone can tell the difference…” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/78 "2012-02-27T17:14:10Z")
[QUOTE=dougie\_monty] I have also noted, in this thread, an apparent hatred of Family Circus, implying that the critics thereof want kids who would put one in mind of the children that H. L. Mencken must have had. Well, that’s too bad. If that’s what you want, start your own comic strip! :mad: [/QUOTE] Not necessary, [someone’s already done it for me.](http://srwp.screenrant.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Addams-Family-by-Charles-Addams.jpg) 😃 And even Family Circus is bearable, [with slight caption alterations](http://jreuter.hubpages.com/hub/The-Family-Sarnath-by-JReuter-and-HP-Lovecraft). ---
**Author:** ![jrbor76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jrbor76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrbor76)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/79 "2012-02-27T18:44:46Z")
Another “love to hate” vote here for better or for worse. I say for worse. All it is is a guilt trip for anyone who’s not a mom or a wife. And I’ll bet that any (well, most) moms or wives out there don’t storm around and scream their head off in real life as much as that woman does in the strip. What _really_ gets me about this one though is the love my local Sunday paper seems to have for it. It’s been a zombie strip for 3-4 yrs now, and my Sunday paper still leads off the comics section with it. I stopped buying the Sunday paper in large part because of that- some time back there was a rerun where the kid slammed her finger in something and it was three straight panels of her crying and turning purple and screaming bloody murder; I read the comics for a laugh, not for… \*that. \*Matter of fact, just for fun, I had a look at yesterday’s paper at the store to see if it was still there. Yep, mom screaming angrily at her son for some reason, front and center in all its migraine-causing glory. Now that my rant is over, strips I love or used to love… Far Side (the king) Calvin and Hobbes (not quite as funny as Far Side, but maybe a better strip overall) Peanuts (especially 60s and 70s glory days. If my Sunday paper had to lead the funnies with a zombie strip, why couldn’t it lead with _this_ one?) Pearls Before Swine (hullooo, zeeba neighbuh… at its most hilarious when it breaks the fourth wall) Pickles (a lot funnier than people give it credit for) Bizarro (wish my daily would run this one) Fox Trot (always wished my daily would have run it) Shoe (from the time I was about 10 or so until the author died, I just remember loving the writing for some reason) Zits (I’m half convinced someone spied on me in my teens for inspiration. Joking.) …and, god help me, the 60s-70s run of Archie (whenever I’m going through microfilms of the local daily, it just catches my eye; I’m sorry but I can’t resist a good sight gag) Most of the bad ones people hate I can ignore. Hell, even my local Sunday paper at least had the decency to bury Marmaduke on the back page. But on the front page, there’s no ignoring that steaming pile of ink that’s the worst thing to come out of Canada until Beiber. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989/80 "2012-02-27T20:52:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Not necessary, [someone’s already done it for me.](http://srwp.screenrant.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Addams-Family-by-Charles-Addams.jpg) 😃 > > And even Family Circus is bearable, [with slight caption alterations](http://jreuter.hubpages.com/hub/The-Family-Sarnath-by-JReuter-and-HP-Lovecraft). “Perversion” is right. Whoever melded Bil Keane’s art with this disgusting writing belongs in a straitjacket. And quoting Nietzsche yet! He died in an insane asylum and, like Hitler and Mencken, is one of many historical figures I would have loved to punch in the mouth. As for Charles Addams, I know his work from the \*New Yorker \*well. But he didn’t plagiarize. He wasn’t too high and mighty to use his own art. Too bad about your (ecch) H. P. Lovecraft. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-strips-you-love-and-love-to-hate/608989.md?page=5)