# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![finette6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@finette6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finette6)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/141 "2003-06-20T23:50:34Z")
They read the comics so you don’t have to… [http://www.citypaper.com/2003-06-11/funny.html](http://www.citypaper.com/2003-06-11/funny.html) ---
**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 21, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/142 "2003-06-21T03:47:29Z")
Yeah, well, there’s a reason comics are in Parade - those are the ones that weren’t even good enough for the regular paper. They’re like New Yorker cartoons without the burden of humor. ---
**Author:** ![IUHomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@IUHomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IUHomer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/143 "2003-06-21T04:09:43Z")
Rose is Rose. I don’t care about her turning into a Harley chick slowly in 10 different ways. Its not funny and is just an excuse to do the same joke over and over. I don’t care about the kid’s dreamship and guardian angel. Family Circus for the 2000’s. ANd just to prove I am not against all family strips, I do like Baby Blues. ``` Marmaduke. Big dog gets into trouble. My God, how many different ways can you do that joke!! Same with Dennis the Menace. I love the Simpsons where Jay North is on there and talks about his "two part episode" where he steps on Mr. Wilson's flowers or something. Bart is listening and says "Uh Huh." This may have been funny or even realistic in the 50's (I doubt it, really), but now it just seems archaic and stupid. Family Circus. Just sucks. America's Funniest Home Videos condensed down to a single panel cartoon. The Boondocks and Doonesbury can stay, but I agree they don't seem as funny to me as people claim they are. I always get this feeling of a huge build up in Boondocks, then I read the punchline and think, "EEhh...kind of funny, could be better." ``` ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/144 "2003-06-21T04:57:37Z")
Taking this subject from the opposite tack: I will make the imperious, but absolutely factual, assertion that in the history of comics (all right, I haven’t read all of the comics of the 1920s, '30s '40s and '50s, but I have seen a fair number of them) there have been exactly **four** that rose to the level of **genius** (in chronological order): **Krazy Kat** **Pogo** **Peanuts** (pre-1970) **Calvin and Hobbes** I will further say that of these, Calvin and Hobbes was without doubt the greatest, in part because alone among them, it almost never repeated itself. (Okay, so Watterson only did one third the number of strips that Kelly did, and half that of the other two. But perhaps that was part of the genius: knowing when to stop.) There are, of course, a myriad of other reasons why C&H was the greatest strip ever, but they are so self-evident that there’s no need to cite them. At a second level of excellence we find (in no particular order) the various strips of Rube Goldberg, Smokey Stover, Doonesbury, Bloom County (but not, I think, Outland, which didn’t quite click), and The Far Side. Of the current crop, only Doonesbury, Non Sequitur, Dibert, Zippy the Pinhead, and Boondocks are anything other than bland mindless dreck. As far as I’m concerned, you could get rid of all the rest without any loss. (Of course, I’m willing to admit at my age that I may have forgotten one or two that deserve to survive.) Oh, yeah. Sherman’s Lagoon isn’t too bad. But basically, since Calvin and Hobbes ended, there’s no real reason to read the comics. ---
**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 21, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/145 "2003-06-21T07:05:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*But basically, since Calvin and Hobbes ended, there’s no real reason to read the comics. \*\* Whew! Glad that’s settled. Now, who wants some pie? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/146 "2003-06-21T11:26:25Z")
They could stop _For Better or for Worse_ today and I would be happy. I am always amazed to find out there are actual fans of this trite, predictable, unfunny maudlin pap. If _Sally Forth_ is the master of the wry look, _FBOFW_ is the master of the look of goggle-eyed amazement over the simplest of ideas. The final panel of at least half the strips goes something like this: (Elizabeth’s friend): “Well, Liz, not everyone is as well off as your family”. (Elizabeth): (Expression of goggle-eyed amazement!) or (Dr. Patterson’s assistant): “Well, Dr. Patterson, women have a different perception of the world than men do” (Dr. Patterson): (Expression of goggle-eyed amazement!) Oh, and when Farley died, you could see that coming six months out. I have a prediction for some future plots: the grandfather has Alzheimer’s. Also, Liz is going to get involved with the helicopter pilot, but it won’t last. ---
**Author:** ![Bandanaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bandanaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bandanaman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/147 "2003-06-21T12:06:51Z")
Jumpstart and Curtis both blow dead rats. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/148 "2003-06-21T16:24:08Z")
Count me as another one who doesn’t like Rose is Rose (although I’m not sure why–something about it just bugs me.) And as for Cathy–I think the reason’s for wanting to drop that one have pretty much been covered several times on this board, so I’ll just say I agree. Another one I can’t stand is This Modern World, which is in the local alternative paper rather than the dailies. It has all the sublety of a runaway locomotive, and I do like to see some wit and sublety in political humor. Bloom County had a political message but at least it was funny and didn’t just preach to its readers. (Pointless aside: the local alternative paper used to have some really cool comics, but it dropped most of them. That’s the main reason I rarely bother reading it anymore. There were other reasons, but that was the last straw.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/149 "2003-06-24T03:39:41Z")
Hey, guess what! _Dysfunctional Family Circus_ (at least, the archives of it) is still available online after all! Just click on [http://www.wildsea.net/dfc/textindex.html](http://www.wildsea.net/dfc/textindex.html)! ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/150 "2003-06-24T05:02:10Z")
Thank you, **commasense** for mentioning the genius of _Krazy Kat_. I only really discovered the charms of the strip last year with a book I found at my local library. Despite being in a months long bad mood funk, the strips snapped me out of it and had me laughing like I hadn’t in a while when I really needed to. One of the few times I was tempted to “lose” a library book, to keep it for myself. I didn’t, but I thought about it for a while. ---
**Author:** ![MrSarcasticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@MrSarcasticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSarcasticus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/151 "2003-06-24T05:23:31Z")
Come on, no one leafed through the FAMILY CIRCUS paperbacks in the grocery store as an 8-year-old because it was the only thing you could relate to? You liked it when you were young. It at least score points for nostalgia value. The NOT ME demons got old and creepy, though. But since I never had access to MARMADUKE at an early age, I just gotta say, this is pure incompetence. And let’s not forget our weekend PARADE flier. HOWARD HUGE is pretty damn sucky, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/152 "2003-06-29T04:45:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by widdershins \* > \*\* > Beetle Bailey - to paraphrase Jimmy James on Newsradio, “I quit reading Beetle Bailey when I figured out nobody was going to get killed.” The only changes I can see from the occasional glances at it are that pointless tech guy (“Sparks”?, “Gizmo”?) and Lt. Fuzz’s hair is only 20 years out of date instead of 30now. But his old afro would almost be back in style now._\* The tech guy is Chip Gizmo. And the brother is Lt. Flap, not Fuzz. Lt. Fuzz is the blond hick, so called because his thought processes are somewhat fuzzy. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/153 "2003-06-29T17:36:07Z")
Thanks, I’ve always gotten the two Lt.'s names mixed up for some reason. I remember posting some intentionally lame and stupid names in a thread about the naming promotion the strip did for the character, but couldn’t remember what his full name was once it was chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366/154 "2003-07-01T04:29:24Z")
I always assumed the name “Lt. Fuzz” implied that he had peach-fuzz whiskers. The name complements his wimpy, childish character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-take-one-comic-strip-outta-the-paper-forever/182366.md?page=7)