# Comics that just aren't funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295 "2006-02-27T10:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**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, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/42 "2006-02-27T23:41:28Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > It isn’t by Pat Brady, it’s by _Sally Forth_’s Francesco Marciuliano. The strip is [Medium Large](http://www.drinkatwork.com/mediumlarge.html). Ah, that’s why I couldn’t find it! I was mixing up Sally with Rose… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/43 "2006-02-28T00:46:37Z")
What? No votes for [**The Born Loser**](http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/bornloser/)? It makes me long for the days of **Priscilla’s Pop**. Also not funny: **Andy Capp** , the adventures of a wife-beating drunk, and **The Lockhorns** , the US version of Andy Capp. And of course, **Mallard Fillmore** plumbs the depths of not funny. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/44 "2006-02-28T01:05:44Z")
Is my local paper the only one still running the suckfest that is **B.C.**??? ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/45 "2006-02-28T01:15:51Z")
**Dinette Set**. Every day I wake up and hope that it will have been cancelled. And every day I’m disappointed. Here’s the [link](http://www.comics.com/creators/dinetteset/). Imagine if Peggy Hill wrote a comic strip and you’ll pretty much have it. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/46 "2006-02-28T01:20:44Z")
> [@Harriet the Spry](#): > > Did any of you ever get an abomination called Liberty Meadows? I read it every day while it was in our paper, hopng it would be funny one time. It never was. Eventually, it was replaced. It got its start in my college campus newspaper. I didn’t like it then, either. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/47 "2006-02-28T01:53:25Z")
_The Family Circus_ can [funny](http://www.drivenbyboredom.com/gallery/gallery.php?x=26). Bil Keane can not. ---
**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 28, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/48 "2006-02-28T02:16:06Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > It isn’t by Pat Brady, it’s by _Sally Forth_’s Francesco Marciuliano. The strip is [Medium Large](http://www.drinkatwork.com/mediumlarge.html). [The third strip down](http://www.drinkatwork.com/mediumlargewk45.html) is the comic that introduced and addicted me to Medium Large. I view Francesco Marciuliano as the funny pages equivalent of Bob Saget. And if you’ve ever seen Saget’s stand-up (as opposed to his horrible, horrible TV shows) you’ll know just how high a compliment I mean that to be. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/49 "2006-02-28T05:56:48Z")
The L.A. Times has got one called “Ballard Street” (I think). Must be funny to some, but not to me. Day after day, same premise: neighborhood kooks doing strange things. …Like an old coot who likes to dress up like a shark before his wife serves him fish sticks - or something. The L.A. Times has “Chickweed Lane” that occasionally manages to be quite, er, sexy. I like it then. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/50 "2006-02-28T15:42:34Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > **Dinette Set**. Every day I wake up and hope that it will have been cancelled. And every day I’m disappointed. I can usually get the most subtle expressions of humor. Still, I just fon’t “get” Dinette Set. Unless the humor is based on just how mundane and “midwestern” the characters are, but even then, the premise, if there really is one, gets old. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/51 "2006-02-28T21:41:09Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > **Dinette Set**. Every day I wake up and hope that it will have been cancelled. And every day I’m disappointed. > > Here’s the [link](http://www.comics.com/creators/dinetteset/). Imagine if Peggy Hill wrote a comic strip and you’ll pretty much have it. I’ve seen this cartoon a number of times. I think the cartoonist is busier coming up with text to put in the background of each strip than she is with the dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/52 "2006-02-28T22:25:30Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > **Dinette Set**. Every day I wake up and hope that it will have been cancelled. And every day I’m disappointed. > > Here’s the [link](http://www.comics.com/creators/dinetteset/). Imagine if Peggy Hill wrote a comic strip and you’ll pretty much have it. I followed the link. Not too bad, actually. Seems to be going for an understated, “About Schmitt” kinda vibe. It definitely has a keen sense of irony, which Peggy Hill does not. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/53 "2006-03-06T10:50:59Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Also not funny: **Andy Capp** , the adventures of a wife-beating drunk, and **The Lockhorns** , the US version of Andy Capp. I’m not going to defend **Andy Capp** , but I wish to point out that Andy is not a wifebeater. He treats her like crap, to be sure, but every other strip ends with him sporting a black eye and stars around his head from being clobbered with her rolling pin. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember ever seeing evidence of his hitting her. As for **The Lockhorns** , I admit to having found it funny on occasion, because my parents are an awful lot like that. I am also the only person on earth, it seems, who likes **The Fusco Brothers** , but I’m well aware that it’s indefensible. Definitely not funny: **flodnak** , you say the last original gag in **Garfield** was in 1997? I think you slipped a digit. Word on **Dinette Set** and **Fred Basset**. I’m told that FB strips always have a missing final panel that shows a foot booting the dog across the room. **Ballard Street** ’s visuals make my eyes burn. Haven’t liked **Monty** since Robotman left. When he was in it, though, it was one of my very favorites. I don’t like **Boondocks** as much as I used to, basically since McGruder decided to make Jazmine retarded. **Better or Worse** has become a sprawling mess of unresolved plotlines and minutiae presented as drama. (Liz gets assaulted? Eh, moving on. Elly hates vacuuming? The horrah, the horrah!) **Jump Start** was good for a while, but for some reason, when Marcy fell pregnant with the twins, I lost interest overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/54 "2006-03-06T14:55:47Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > Hunh? Liberty Meadows is brilliant IMO. Fantastic art, funny talking animals, and hot chicks with big boobs. What’s not to like? Whenever he’s “breaking in new pens”. Yawn. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/55 "2006-03-06T17:59:08Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > **Dilbert** - I know I’m likely in the minority here, but bring back the freakin’ dinosaurs already. The purpose of this strip seems to be to get people who are unhappy at work to clip strips out, hang them on their cubicle walls, and feel like they’re Rebelling Against The Man. Frankly, I feel the same way. Dilbert’s been declining for several years now. It was hilarious at first, but now I read it mostly out of habit. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/56 "2006-03-06T18:04:29Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > For some reason, I always read **Rose is Rose**. Yes, it is appalingly stupid and does rival **Family Circus** for most saccharine strip ever, but it’s so unapologeticly obnoxious about it. I get the feeling if I growl and spit in disgust over it, the artist will feel that she’s done her job. Pat Brady is actually a guy. Not sure if this makes it better or worse. I like “Rose is Rose.” I know, it’s saccharine, it’s schmaltzy, and I don’t usually like that kind of comic, but for some reason I like it anyway. I think it might be the cat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/57 "2006-03-06T19:00:00Z")
How can anyone say that Peanuts has declined? It’s author is DEAD. None of the strips have been new for years and years now. The Peanuts appeal isn’t really about knee-slapping gags anyway: it’s just a classic bunch of familiar characters playing to type. In that, it belonged to a different era. Recycling it into this one is just part of the phenomenon: it’s comfort food rather than anything new or groundbreaking. What I don’t understand is why we can’t have more Calvin & Hobbes-like strips. There have to be some talented artists and cartoonists out there. Where the hell are they and why aren’t they in newspapers? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/58 "2006-03-06T19:19:11Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > How can anyone say that Peanuts has declined? It’s author is DEAD. None of the strips have been new for years and years now. The Peanuts appeal isn’t really about knee-slapping gags anyway: it’s just a classic bunch of familiar characters playing to type. In that, it belonged to a different era. Recycling it into this one is just part of the phenomenon: it’s comfort food rather than anything new or groundbreaking. > > What I don’t understand is why we can’t have more Calvin & Hobbes-like strips. There have to be some talented artists and cartoonists out there. Where the hell are they and why aren’t they in newspapers? They’re online, because the newspaper features syndicates are obsessed with not offending _anybody_. **So** obsessed, that they censor new cartoonists until the kids just give up because of the aggravation. Online offers meager returns, but at least no out-of-touch moron is telling you that your character can’t throw a pie at somebody “because it’s an imitative act”. :rolleyes: Anyway, newspapers are becoming irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/59 "2006-03-06T19:59:51Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > **Dinette Set**. Every day I wake up and hope that it will have been cancelled. And every day I’m disappointed. > > Here’s the [link](http://www.comics.com/creators/dinetteset/). Imagine if Peggy Hill wrote a comic strip and you’ll pretty much have it. When I first ran across this cartoon, I thought I was missing something. But then I grew fascinated by not only the complete lack of humor but sheer awfulness of it. I made everyone I knew read it, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining how awful it was, but then everyone I knew had the same visceral distaste for it. Reading it feels like being forever on the outside of a group of people’s in-jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295/60 "2006-03-06T20:28:46Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > What I don’t understand is why we can’t have more Calvin & Hobbes-like strips. There have to be some talented artists and cartoonists out there. Where the hell are they and why aren’t they in newspapers? Have you taken a look at _Frazz_? Very stylistically reminiscent of _Calvin and Hobbes_–smart writing, gentle humor with a bit of a bite, and a main character who could well be the grown-up Calvin after he’d assimilated the Hobbes personality, while the young-Calvin role has been taken over by the smart but bored 8-year-old Caulfield. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comics-that-just-arent-funny/346295.md?page=2)