# "Reply All" comic strip--what is this crap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344 "2012-09-10T22:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/41 "2012-09-12T01:17:51Z")
There’s a line between charmingly bad (Hyperbole & a Half, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Cyanide & Happiness) and just plain shitty. This comic isn’t on the good side of that line. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/42 "2012-09-12T01:20:45Z")
> [@](#): > > As for the comic style, that’s pretty common in web comics–it’s clearly intentionally bad. In fact, if it wasn’t originally a web comic, or intentionally based on one, I’d be really surprised. > > I mean, a lot of you like Home Movies or similar Cartoon Network animation, right? You seem to be confusing “simple” with “bad”. XKCD has simple art: Just a few lines to define a person. But the lines all go where Munroe wants them, and they effectively convey the emotions and personalities of the people depicted, so it’s nonetheless good art. Similarly for, say, South Park. But that’s not what this art is. The artwork in Reply All _isn’t_ simple-- The characters have _eyelashes_, for crying out loud, and five-fingered hands, both of which are extremely rare for comic strips. But even with all that detail, the artist still fails to convey any emotion or personality, and it looks like she just can’t control the pen (or more likely, mouse). Thus, this art is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/43 "2012-09-12T02:02:49Z")
My first thought was “MS Paint” as well. Christ, that strip is bad: unfunny with the most amateurish art possible. How does someone that bad manage to get published??? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/44 "2012-09-12T02:08:43Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > How does someone that bad manage to get published??? She’s a lawyer at the DHS. The editor was probably given the choice: publish this crap or never fly again. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/45 "2012-09-12T23:06:37Z")
Never heard of this strip before this post. On her website [http://www.replyallcomic.com/](http://www.replyallcomic.com/) she comes across as a likeable enough person to me in the blog posts. I just don’t really think that comics are the right medium for her style of writing/humor. There are also some examples at the bottom of the main page of her male artist friend’s “bootified” drawings of her characters. I have to say that I think the guy’s take on the comic art is better even though as a straight gal I am not into cheesecake drawings. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/46 "2012-09-12T23:41:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You seem to be confusing “simple” with “bad”. XKCD has simple art: Just a few lines to define a person. But the lines all go where Munroe wants them, and they effectively convey the emotions and personalities of the people depicted, so it’s nonetheless good art. The first time I saw sex depicted in XKCD ([this one](http://xkcd.com/487/), to be exact), I was astounded that the stick figures depicted exactly what Munroe wanted them to and that they actually played into the joke of the strip. Reply All wishes it were that funny _and_ well drawn. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/47 "2012-09-13T01:22:14Z")
Up to now I thought the comic in the Metro called Buckles was bad (a dog, seemingly from Canada, with no discernable sense of humour). But Reply All is truly dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/48 "2012-09-13T06:53:33Z")
If she did it for her own personal enjoyment, well, fine. OK. But she accidentally hit the “Reply All” button and now everyone has to suffer. She must be so embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/49 "2012-12-06T15:22:34Z")
UPDATE The voting started a couple days ago, and runs through December 17. Dogs of C Kennel is beating Reply All 94% to 6%! ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/50 "2012-12-06T17:00:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Trib has been running other strips versus “Dogs of C Kennel” for at least a year, and I sincerely wish something could beat out the lame dogs. IMO, the humor is something written by a 12-year-old comics fan in 1974, after staying up all night reading “B.C.”. I rarely, if ever, find it even moderately amusing or entertaining. Interesting insight, since apparently it’s drawn by the same guy that currently draws _B.C._ ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/51 "2012-12-06T18:09:11Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Ashely Pomeroy. > > When I was at comic con this year I got the second full sized little Nemo book. The pages are the size of the Newspaper it was originally printed on. about 2’ by 3’. I was talking with the people that published the book. The do have an ipad app for little nemo. I have not personally looked at it on ipad. They also publish a similar full sized book with Gasoline alley. > > [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-nemo-in-slumberland/id408483081?mt=8](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-nemo-in-slumberland/id408483081?mt=8) McKay must’ve had a cyborg hand to draw all those Nemos and the other strips not to mention every frame of Gertie. Contrast it to Davis, who has a factory to turn out 3 daily panels of Garfield. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/52 "2012-12-06T20:54:32Z")
I see the humor. It’s not shockingly funny, or particularly amusing. Nor is it really that original. It’s the kind of thing you observe and comment in your daily life. Maybe lament about to your friends. “Geez, my mom is so neurotic, she makes a list of ways to improve her life, and they’re all things for _me_ to do.” Isn’t that half of Seinfeld? That said, the artwork is truly dreadful - worse than early Dilbert. > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > and sometimes [completely](http://www.gocomics.com/replyall/2012/09/08)incoherent. The joke is that mom is calling while on the toilet. The moments of incoherence are when she’s grunting out a log. Thus the “fiber” comment. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/53 "2012-12-06T23:08:24Z")
My theory is that some editor believes that a certain demographic will find the strip funny, even if they do not. Since they believe that, say, 25-35-year-old single women will identify with the strip and find it Hi-larious, they don’t worry too much that they think it’s terrible. One hopes that nobody thinks Mallard Filmore is funny, but lots of editors probably believe that Fox News addicts literally roll out of their chairs laughing at his subtle digs and wry observations on the state of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/54 "2012-12-06T23:13:59Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I see the humor. It’s not shockingly funny, or particularly amusing. Nor is it really that original. It’s the kind of thing you observe and comment in your daily life. Maybe lament about to your friends. “Geez, my mom is so neurotic, she makes a list of ways to improve her life, and they’re all things for _me_ to do.” Isn’t that half of Seinfeld? > > That said, the artwork is truly dreadful - worse than early Dilbert. > > The joke is that mom is calling while on the toilet. The moments of incoherence are when she’s grunting out a log. Thus the “fiber” comment. I don’t think so. I think it just means that she’s constipated sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/55 "2012-12-07T00:13:04Z")
Whiny remark. Whiny retort. Whiny remark. Wry punch line. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/56 "2012-12-07T00:26:57Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I don’t think so. I think it just means that she’s constipated sometimes. I don’t believe merely being constipated leads one to be “clueless and slow and slightly confused”, whereas if you’re trying to squeeze out a log, it’s more difficult to process what you’re being told, and you have to pause and hold your breath, and the person on the other end of the line might think you were slightly distressed. At the very least, it’s difficult to carry on a smooth conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/57 "2012-12-07T00:59:07Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Jesus, this is shamefully awful. How on earth does this woman have a career? At the very best, her strips are just scraping by with the tiniest smidgen of a humor particle ([random example](http://www.gocomics.com/replyall/2012/07/15)), usually [devoid](http://www.gocomics.com/replyall/2012/07/16) of anything resembling humor I think I can tell what she’s going for in that second one. My sister has a tendency to blab the ending of/plot twists to work of fiction. If you say something like “Oh, I’ve been meaning to see/read that, how is it?” she’s likely to answer with something like “Pretty good, it turns out the husband was the killer all along.” So I’d be the perfect person to find this particular strip an at least mildly amusing “funny because it’s true” observation…but I didn’t, because it was executed in such an incompetent manner. Aside from the art, which is so bad it looks almost like a parody of bad art, the joke just isn’t well written. The ending the mother gives away is so obvious that the main character’s annoyance about the “spoiler” doesn’t make sense. If the joke was supposed to be that the main character was sarcastically complaining about the mother giving away the ending of a totally predictable potboiler then that doesn’t really come across either. It doesn’t help that the character is drawn with so little expression (is she supposed to be surprised in panel 3?) or that her face is mostly blocked by her coffee cup in the final panel. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/58 "2012-12-07T01:26:52Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The joke is that mom is calling while on the toilet. The moments of incoherence are when she’s grunting out a log. Thus the “fiber” comment. > [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I don’t think so. I think it just means that she’s constipated sometimes. I don’t think she’s on the toilet either. The cartoonist is too incompetent to rise even to the level of potty humor. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/59 "2012-12-18T16:13:44Z")
FINAL UPDATE: Dogs of C Kennel wins with 5786 votes vs. Reply All’s 360, a 94% to 6% spread that stayed consistent for pretty much the entire two-week voting period. \*Tribune \*readers can kiss Reply All’s sorry ass goodbye after December 30 when a new competition begins. Dogs of C Kennel will become a permanent part of the comics page and won’t have to defend itself again. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344/60 "2012-12-20T15:04:18Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > _Reply All_ is almost in a tie with _Family Circus_ as the worst newspaper strip I’ve ever had the displeasure to read. After decades of mildly amusing banality, _Family Circus_ redeemed itself with [this strip](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.392703-Warhammer-40k-invades-Family-Circus). Forward, for The Emperor! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reply-all-comic-strip-what-is-this-crap/634344.md?page=4)