From the rules to Five-Card Nancy:
As for the game, you have five panels from Nancy as your cards, as well as a draw pile. You play cards to try to tell a story; other players vote on whether your “next panel” fits or not. Get rid of all your cards to win…
Reading that article about “B.C.”, I have a newfound respect for Gary Trudeau. I’ve never really like Doonsebury*, and always thought it belonged more in the editorial cartoons than in the funny pages, but when he said this:
“What’s the problem – that, God forbid, Johnny Hart still believes in God? These are good,” Trudeau said. “What’s important is that he still honors his first professional obligation, which is to entertain. If he wants to stimulate people into thinking about the nature of faith, more power to him. I don’t disagree with the law professor. [Hart] is writing about his values as much as I am writing about mine.”
My respect for him went up a thousand fold. Way to go, Gary!
“Family Circus” and “For Better or for Worse” both infuriate me. They’re basically the same comic for different generations.
“Boondocks” is the only contemporary comic I really love. It’s hard to imagine not so long ago when we had “Calvin and Hobbes” “Bloom County” and “The Far Side” all at the same time.
There was a Dennis strip maybe 15 years ago or so that cracked me up enough that I cut it out. Dennis’s father is putting an LP on the stereo–Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos–and Dennis is scampering out the door, saying, “I’m going over to Mr. Wilson’s to listen to some Fats Waller records.”
You can read it online at ucomics.
Jump Start used to be rather funny (not quite **Boondocks-**level funny, but a decent read), but ever since they introduced the kids, it’s gotten into “generic family comic strip” mode. I still read it every day, as there’s occassionally a flash of funny (Crunchy is good for a few laughs), but it’s clearly a shadow of its former self.
And quoting from dantheman:
Oh, yeah, poor brave Johnny Hart, the only Christian comic-strip artist on a funny page just jammed with Pagan, Jewish, Muslem, Buddhist, and atheist comics. :rolleyes:
Right, there’s nothing particularly brave or new about putting biblical messages in comics. Charles Shulz did it all the time; he was just better at it.
My vote is for “Life in Hell.” I love Matt Groening and think the Simpsons are great, but every week it just seems like he’s not trying anymore with LiH. It used to be funny but now it’s just been reduced to a parody of itself. Every week it’s either Akbar and Jeff bouncing around naked and saying stupid things, or the rabbit (I’ve forgotten his name) sitting in the middle of a room saying something clever. >yawn<
I’m glad nobody’s mentioned Rose is Rose yet (or if they have, I missed it). It’s sappy, but I like it. Especially the strips with Peekaboo the cat.
sigh Yes, those were the good old days.
Whuh?
Family Circus is a never-changing strip based around cute little kiddie malapropisms.
For Better or For Worse is a storylined serial strip with developed characters that addresses a changing spectrum of life issues.
I can’t even fathom how you could compare the two. They’re worlds apart.
Well… they both suck, so they have that in common!
A second vote for Life in Hell. It makes me wonder how much Groening has ever really had to do with The Simpsons.
Yeah, Life in Hell in the 80s was pretty good. Though even then he kinda went overboard with the Republican bashing. Okay Matt, you hate Republicans. We get it. Shut up. More rabbit jokes, less political commentary.
Damn straight – Sparky quoted, he didn’t preach.
As for finding Biblical messages in comic strips, just wait until mid-December… 
My opinion of Gary Trudeau just went up a few notches. I’ve got no problem with Johnny Hart putting religious messages into his strips. (Anything which pisses off the secular humanists is fine with me )
That said, B.C. has gotten pretty stale. The same can be said about Garfield, Wizard of Id, Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, and pretty much every other “classic” comic. (Garfield being the worst.) They all reed to be retired.
I reserve speical hatred for Mallard Filmore. This guy is one of those jerks that makes his cause look bad. Being a fairly conservative guy myself, I can say that I’m ashamed of this strip.
I reserve speical pity for Peanuts. Keeping it in the papers is akin to having your grandma taxidermically preserved and sitting her at the kitchen table. Let it go already.
I had no idea Life in Hell was still being made.
Aren’t Wizard of Id, Beetle Bailey, Hagar, Hi and Lois, B.C done by some of the same people? The similarities are … well, annoying. 
Life in Hell had some great moments, but after the SImpsons came along it seemed that all Groening could do was make Akbar & Jeff’s heads talk back and forth for 24 panels.
I thought he ended LOH.
Nope, it’s still in the LA Weekly, for one.
Submitted for your disapproval: Tumbleweeds, the lame comic strip set in the old west with cowboys and Indians. If artist T.K. Ryan depicted the any other ethnic group the way he portrays Native Americans, he would be run out of town on a rail. Plus, it’s just not funny; did I say it was lame? It’s lame.
Tumbleweeds is still around?!?! And Wee Pals?
Man, you guys have sucky newspapers.