# The world's worst comic strips. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757 "2000-08-17T18:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/1 "2000-08-17T18:17:06Z")
What are the strips that are the _least funny_ to you Dopers? Not necessarily the ones that you don’t “get,” but the ones that are just stupid or ooze a lack of talent. These are my choices, in no particular order: **Non-Sequiter:** I can’t help but imagine that this strip is drawn by a bitter old man who hates everybody and spends his entire day complaining about every little inconvenience. **Doonsbury:** If this guy ever had an original idea, maybe he’d realize how much of a hack artist he is and stop drawing this pathetic strip. **Zippy the Pinhead:** What the…? I have no idea how this guy comes up with his material, but I’m guessing that alot of LSD is involved :D. What do you guys think? What are you least amusing strips? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/2 "2000-08-17T18:23:35Z")
May I be the first to open the floodgates of hatred and disdain for “The Family Circus?” ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/3 "2000-08-17T18:30:17Z")
I can’t believe **Diceman** just knocked Doonesbury. That’s some funny oregano he’s smoking. I’ll agree with Non Sequitur, which is in fact pretty stupid. But **Eve** hit the nail on the head with the Family Circus. There used to be a great strip called the Dysfunctional Family Circus, available on the internet. The premise was that the Family Circus would be a lot more interesting if there were kinky sex taking place offstage. So just imagine the saccharine message of TFC with someone getting anal in the background. Terrific. Bill Keane, the bastard, had the site taken down. MR ---
**Author:** ![Outrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9d8465/32.png) [@Outrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Outrider)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/4 "2000-08-17T18:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\* > **Non-Sequiter:** I can’t help but imagine that this strip is drawn by a bitter old man who hates everybody and spends his entire day complaining about every little inconvenience._\* Actually, this is one of my favorites. It’s cynical, but I wouldn’t call it bitter. I hate **Garfield**. Talk about rehashing the same jokes over and over. I agree with you about **Zippy** and **Doonesbury**. It’s hard to laugh at something that is barely comprehensible. Another bad one is **Mallard Fillmore** , a strip whose idea of political commentary basically boils down to saying “Republicans are stupid” and “Newt Gingrich sucks” Oh, and we all know **Family Circus** is evil. That’s just a given. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/5 "2000-08-17T18:33:50Z")
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. **Wee Pals** is one of the most offensive, insipid, and yes, racist comic strips around. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/6 "2000-08-17T18:56:58Z")
Outrider: > [@](#): > > Another bad one is Mallard Fillmore, a strip whose idea of political commentary basically boils down to saying “Republicans are stupid” and “Newt Gingrich sucks” Say what??? Mallard Fillmore is the most right-wing comic strip in existence! It bashes Democrats, liberals, Clinton and Gore…not Republicans and Gingrich. My vote for world’s worst strip is Kudzu. The guy has a few stock jokes and then recycles them over and over. I mean, there’s beating a dead horse, and then there’s beating the bloody pieces of horse-flesh that used to once be an entire equine corpse…and then there’s Kudzu. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/7 "2000-08-17T18:58:24Z")
Mallard Fillmore’s political commentary is the exact opposite: Democrats = dumb, Newt Gingrich = great. Either way the strip blows. I think we had a thread about this a few month’s back, but here are some of my most-hated anyway: Henry Wee Pals B.C. Cathy Snuffy Smith Ziggy Rex Morgan Wizard of Id Beetle Baily Come to think of it, almost all of my local paper’s comics suck… ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/8 "2000-08-17T18:59:51Z")
What he said, Outrider. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/9 "2000-08-17T19:03:16Z")
The New York Daily News runs four pages of comics daily, and there are some real stinkeroos in there. Thank god, no **Garfield** or **Kudzu,** though. The one that seems to irritate me the most these days is **Cathy.** What’s going on between her and that little rat dog of hers? Are they having sex or something? ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/10 "2000-08-17T19:05:33Z")
We did have a thread on this subject a while back, but I’m all for piling more scorn on bad comics. My vote(s) go to all those assembly-line comics that have been around waaay too long: BC Beetle Bailey Wizard of Id Blondie Running the same stupid old jokes every week for 40 or 50 years gets a tad dull. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/11 "2000-08-17T19:09:28Z")
Just had to check out Mallard Fillmore, and I must say, WTF? Even when they made fun of something I’m also against, I found it incredibly stupid. It seems they want to make a political statement in each strip, and they’re way of making it “funny” is to just make the statement, but add plenty of ellipses, as though the readers would say, “Wow, that would just be some boring political statement, but with those ellipses, I laughed till my sides hurt!” ---
**Author:** ![Levi\_Fuller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Levi\_Fuller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levi_Fuller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/12 "2000-08-17T19:10:29Z")
First of all, Zippy is genius. I don’t care what anyone says. Now that that’s out of the way: Curtis. Just dumb. dumb dumb dumb. and more dumb. Top Secrets, by Paul Szep, who was (I thought) a pretty talented political cartoonist, but this just blows. I don’t know how many people have it, but it’s awful. I agree about Mallard Fillmore. I imagine the author saying “you don’t like it 'cause you’re liberal!” and myself saying “no, I don’t like it because it’s RETARDED.” ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/13 "2000-08-17T19:11:19Z")
“They’re? THEY’RE?!” I’ll just go shoot myself now. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/14 "2000-08-17T19:12:32Z")
How about Nancy? It was bad enough when the original guy did; now it’s even worse. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/15 "2000-08-17T19:22:51Z")
Thank you JeffB!!! I was scanning all these responses thinking, oh, but I like Doonsebury, and yea, Cathy is insipid, etc, etc, but NONE hold a candle to Nancy. the not at all funny when the original guy did it, and now it’s so painfully not funny - and what’s WORSE::::::: I CAN’T stop my eyes from going over it. Gadz. It’s wierd. I HATE the sucker, never even get close to a smile, but I can’t seem to force my eyes to skip over it. Now, I routinely skip over lots of other comic (mostly the Rex Reed type of thing), but why, oh why can’t my eyes stop actually scanning the words to that strip??? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/16 "2000-08-17T19:29:58Z")
Yeah, but the new **Nancy** guy draws Aunt Fritzie a lot hotter. **BC** is annoying and stale, but there’s a morbid fascination to the more overtly Christian strips. Especially around Good Friday, when the fetid stench of Our Savior’s blood seems to actually rise from the funny papers. I forgot to mention one strip that’s been going on for nearly thirty years, and has NEVER been funny, and NEVER anything less than fingernails-on-the-blackboard excruciating. I refer, of course, to the benighted **Crock.** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/17 "2000-08-17T19:55:41Z")
I’d vote for anything that appears in the clarion ledger. 🙂 Our local newspaper blows. I’m embarrased by both Doonesbury and Mallard Fillmore. I think Crankshaft is boring. I think Helen, sweetheart of the internet, is a bitch. I think Dilbert is a fucking dipwad loser. I’ve forgotten the name of this one, but it’s with the black kids and all. It had one interesting one the other day. One. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/18 "2000-08-17T20:27:43Z")
First of all, the fact that **Family Circus** is devoid of talent goes without saying. Putting it down too vigorously here feels too much like picking on the gimpy kid with the bow tie. But I’ll second **Cathy**. Cathy: "I have too much unanswered mail, my romantic life is stalled, my mother is strange, my dog is cute, calories, cel phone, closet, clothes, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah … " at this point my eyes cross and the panels merge in to a gigantic ink blob. And speaking of ink-blobs. **Sylvia** by Nicole Hollander. I don’t even know if this is national. It’s in the SF Examiner. I’ve never been able to get past more than two or three words. And the artwork looks like a Rorschach Test. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/19 "2000-08-17T20:28:06Z")
Saint Zero: > [@](#): > > I think Dilbert is a fucking dipwad loser. Dilbert is _supposed_ to be a loser. Oh, you mean the strip in general. Yeah, it’s seriously lost its edge. It was funniest in its earlier days, when Dogbert could get nominated for the Supreme Court and dinosaurs could be found living behind the couch and seek advice on how to have an egg. The business jokes were good for a while, but it’s gotten way too repetetive lately. > [@](#): > > I’ve forgotten the name of this one, but it’s with the black kids and all. It had one interesting one the other day. One. Sheesh. You’ve got to be referring to “The Boondocks.” I’ve found it to be a mixed bag…some days it royally sucks, and some days it’s pretty darned decent. I must say, though, that there’s never been a “Boondocks” strip that I’ve thought of as “great.” Chaim Mattis Keller ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757/20 "2000-08-17T20:36:32Z")
Zippy is great. It used to be funnier, but it’s stil lgreat. One of my favorite strips was where Zippy was scared and frightened. When Griffy asked him what was wrong. Zippy went “It’s Marmaduke, I just don’t get it”. Hilarious stuff. Also Boondocks is usually pretty funny. And at least it has the balls to do stuff other strips wouldn’t dream of. There was one where the boy was talking to his father, BET was doing their own version of “Who wants to be a millionare” the show was called “Who wants 20 bucks and a bus ticket home” Anyway. The worst strip has to be Luann. I don’t know if it’s mostly local or not, but it is seriously unfunny. It’s about a 15 year old girl growing up. Here is todays comic. Don’t you just want to shoot yourself? [http://www.comics.com/comics/luann/ab.html](http://www.comics.com/comics/luann/ab.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-worst-comic-strips/29757.md?page=2)