# The New York Times Magazine: What's the deal with the Funny Pages? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739 "2008-07-25T15:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/1 "2008-07-25T15:37:57Z")
I’ve been reading the magazine for years. And I haven’t seen one comic that was funny, or even attempted to be funny. I don’t even bother reading them any more. Is the whole joke that they’re not funny, but they’re called the Funny Pages? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/2 "2008-07-25T15:42:20Z")
In thirty or so years of reading “the funnies” in various newspapers, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed audibly at them. I don’t think that’s the point, even for some I love and grew up with such as _Peanuts_ or _Hagar the Horrible_. I think they’re more designed to be _gentle_, after you’ve read the front pages full of war and murder. That’s probably why they’re usually next to the puzzles. I don’t think there’s some “whole joke” that they’re not meant to be funny. I think they do their job adequately - and as the newspapers are hard-nosed businesses, I suspect the editors do too, because pretty much every major global daily paper has a “funnies” page. Actually, they might also be designed to hook kids into the masthead brand from an early age, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/3 "2008-07-25T16:12:50Z")
The current strip is now on Chapter 5. You can find all 5 chapters here: (reg req) [The Funny Pages - The New York Times Magazine - Series - NYTimes.com](http://www.nytimes.com/ref/magazine/funnypages.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) Someone please show me one thing in any of these 5 strip that’s funny, or even meant to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/4 "2008-07-25T16:16:42Z")
I think they are supposed to be of the graphic story genre, not comic genre. Perhaps the name is based on the Times never having real funny pages. And I dislike them the same way I dislike the genre in general. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/5 "2008-07-25T20:05:36Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] I think they are supposed to be of the graphic story genre, not comic genre. Perhaps the name is based on the Times never having real funny pages. And I dislike them the same way I dislike the genre in general. [/QUOTE] fwiw, I live down the block from the editor of the NYTimes Sunday Magazine - \*\*Voyager \*\*is right, “Funny Pages” is a sardonic reference - they are NOT meant to be funny, they are meant to be a graphic-novel-type story for grown-ups, broken into parts. There may be funniness occasionally but only in service to the story. The artists they use are known for their grown-up graphic novels, like Daniel Clowes who wrote Ghost World. I happen to not really like them - between their grown-up, often downer themes and the need to keep them mentally strung together while I wait for the next section, I am inclined to think “why bother?” ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/6 "2008-07-26T02:52:58Z")
Yeah, that one last year where the Canadian explorer guy ended up dying from a heart attack–such hilarity! I have liked some of the serials, though. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-york-times-magazine-whats-the-deal-with-the-funny-pages/457739/7 "2008-07-27T03:33:51Z")
I’m sorry they got rid of the essay page, because those were often actually funny. Perhaps they didn’t fit with the theme of the non-amusing Funny Pages?