# If you could take one comic strip outta the paper forever... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366 "2003-06-17T02:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Zydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zydoll)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/21 "2003-06-17T05:25:14Z")
I’ll throw in another vote for the Family Circus- why this sappy puke-inducing (not humorous) drivel continues to thrive in the paper is completely beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/22 "2003-06-17T05:31:48Z")
I … hate … loathe … despise … Doonesbury. Ditto for Andy Capp. What’s the one that’s about the Canadian family? It sucks too. Is Mary Worth still around? The Lockhorns need to go, too. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/23 "2003-06-17T05:38:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnoopyFan \* > \*\* > > What’s the one that’s about the Canadian family? It sucks too. > > \*\* For better or worse? If so, I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/24 "2003-06-17T05:42:25Z")
Either Cathy or Marmaduke. They’re equally bland. I’m beginning to develop an appreciation for Family Circus, though. But I’m laughing _at_ Bil Keane, not with him. The strip is so unfunny that it’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/25 "2003-06-17T05:48:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Already in Use \* > \*\*I’m beginning to develop an appreciation for Family Circus, though. But I’m laughing _at_ Bil Keane, not with him. The strip is so unfunny that it’s funny. \*\* You had me worried for a minute. ---
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/26 "2003-06-17T06:36:57Z")
Dennis the Menace. I detest the strip, I hate the show, and vomit upon the movies. The next to go, Cathy. ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/27 "2003-06-17T06:40:01Z")
Cathy. I have hated that monster ever since I was a teenager and would see Guisewhite go on talk shows and “read” a bunch of her strips. You could hear the crickets chirping in the background. How many times can one draw the same three storylines? 1. Summer is coming and Cathy needs a bathing suit, but nothing fits. 2. Mom wants Cathy to find a man and settle down, why doesn’t she marry that nebbish guy she’s always talking about. 3. Cathy is starting a new diet. Is there any other storyline I’m missing? Isn’t that about it? I could write that comic in my sleep. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/28 "2003-06-17T06:54:09Z")
Everything except **The Boondocks.** Sure, it’d mean sacrificing some of my other favorite strips, but if it gets rid of _all_ the dreck in one go, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/29 "2003-06-17T07:19:48Z")
Prince Valiant, Mark Trail, Family Circus (bring back The Far Side if you need to fill in the space for a 1-framer), BC, and Hagar the Horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/30 "2003-06-17T08:20:49Z")
_For Better or Worse_ announced that it is wrapping up and will be ending soon. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/31 "2003-06-17T11:17:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\*_For Better or Worse_ announced that it is wrapping up and will be ending soon. \*\* If by soon you mean 7 years… It’s more a soap opera than a punchline comic and shouldn’t be judged in the same way as an unfunny funny comic. IMO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/32 "2003-06-17T11:41:16Z")
No one’s mentioned **Curtis**?!?! Curtis should go because it’s unfunny, stupid, and propagates stereotypes. A lot of the ones you guys have mentioned are sucky simply because they’re bland and dull - but some people do like them, so they do serve a little bit of a purpose. It’s just that we sophisticates don’t find Family Circus, Cathy et al. to be terribly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/33 "2003-06-17T11:52:30Z")
_Snuffy Smith!_ Not funny, moronic, and insulting to Southerners. And the “cute” misspellings drive me batshit.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/34 "2003-06-17T12:28:10Z")
**[Nest Heads](http://www.nestheads.com/main.htm)**. Completely unfunny morons. And I’m the exact demographic they’re attempting to portray. There was also **[Cats With Hands](http://www.ucomics.com/catswithhands/index.phtml)**. Totally unfunny (oddly enough, by Joe Martin, who does the excellent Mr. Boffo). However, due to a poll (and my comments, which were quoted), the local newpaper pulled it a month ago. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/35 "2003-06-17T12:31:54Z")
Definitely Family Circus and Dennis the Menace, the two most annoying strips in the universe. But I’m also going to go out on a limb and say… Peanuts. Yeah, that’s right, Peanuts. Sure, it’s great, brilliant, a classic. But Schultz is DEAD. Every strip is a rerun. We’ve read them already. Take it out and make room for a living artist who deserves one of those limited spaces on the comics page. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/36 "2003-06-17T13:03:32Z")
Is “Shoe” still around, the one with the birds who run a newspaper? Gag me, that thing was never funny. Hagar the Horrible, Andy Capp and Drabble are all terribly mediocre. Blah, get rid of 'em. I like For Better Or Worse, but the other serial comics (Mary Worth, Apartment 3G, Rex Morgan, MD and Dick Tracy, most notably) really drag. Get punchy or get gone. It’s the 21st century, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/37 "2003-06-17T13:04:27Z")
One of my favorite comments about **The Family Circus** is from the movie [Go](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0139239). Timothy Olyphant’s character, Todd Gaines, explains why he can’t stop reading The Family Circus: “You open the paper and there’s the Family Fuckin’ Circus in the lower right corner, just waiting to suck. I’m inexplicably drawn to it.” Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/38 "2003-06-17T13:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FisherQueen \* > **But Schultz is DEAD. Every strip is a rerun. We’ve read them already.** Many of them many, many times. He ran out of ideas decades before he ran out of time. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/39 "2003-06-17T13:07:14Z")
Kudzu. Must. Go. Its humor is dated by at least a year, and the jokes weren’t even funny a year ago. If that weren’t enough, it sets up a Monday gag, then repeats it the first panel of every strip the rest of the week. The joke is that this strip is still in print. Kudzu. Must. Go. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/40 "2003-06-17T13:09:55Z")
Definitely “For Better or For Worse.” And then Cathy. Can’t she just fucking marry Irvine and move out to the suburbs? Enough already! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366.md?page=3)