Inspired by this thread, I thought I would help people nominate what they feel are outdated or just plain unfunny or ceased to be funny/meaningful/interesting cartoons or comics.
I realize we all have different taste in humor as well as political climates, but some cartoons are massively funny and subtle. **The Far Side **, to me is one of the best cartoons ever. Larson was a master. Also one of the most successful strips in the history of cartooning.
But, the first time I discovered Lil Abner on a visit down at my Uncles place in Florida when I was 13, I thought, " What is this crap doing here. It’s so lame." Then followed by the Disney strip, which was equally lame, but at least readible with full words instead of Lil Abner speak. GAH!
Nancy, too, gets nominated for not only being successfully unfunny for most of her career, but for also having the most freaky souless black eyes next to Dondi.
Slightly worse than being completely unfunny are strips that have exactly one joke. WHich they feel compelled to use over and over and over.
Samples:
Nancy
Nancy has one joke: women are fat (and refuse to eat right or excercise right), messy and confused (but don’t work on it), and have no control over their neuroses. This was funny on day one. It was lame on day two.
I think smiling bandit does mean Cathy, which has had some reallly funny ones, followed by a whole lot of “women are incomplete unless they have a man in their lives/their mothers are all concerned about their marital status” ones.
I don’t count the soap-opera ones, because they’re (of course) not supposed to be funny. I also categorically discount the bland ones, because they can be funny on an absurdist level (e.g., Hi and Lois, Beetle Bailey, Ziggy, Family Circus, and so on).
“Li’l Abner” is a real hoot and is deservedly recognized as a classic. “For Better or Worse” has a gentle, understated humor and is often story oriented rather than punchline oriented. “Sally Forth” takes much the same understated approach, going more for a kind of wry irony rather than kneeslappers. I like all three of these strips. Watch thy tongue, knave, or thou shalt answer to the Inquisition.
“Peanuts” should have been allowed to die quietly about 25 years ago. Likewise “Garfield” needs to be taken to the pound and put to sleep. “Blondie,” “Beetle Bailey,” “Nancy,” “Ziggy,” “Hagar the Horrible,” “B.C.,” “The Wizard of Id,” have all long outlived their usefulness (and “Hagar” and “Ziggy” never had any usefulness in the first place).
I’d throw “Boondocks” on the pile, as well as “Mallard Fillmore” and the last 10 years of “Doonesbury”. It’s okay to have a political message on the comics page, but at least try to make it entertaining.
Cathy. I loathe that strip. When the Macon Telegraph did a big comics poll, Cathy came out worst. The editor was actually surprised to see that younger women despised Cathy as much as everyone else did.
I also hate the Lockhornes but don’t seem to see it around too often. Does it still exist?
There are loads of other strips I dislike, but they don’t annoy me on the Cathy level: BC, Beetle Bailey, Snuffy Smith. They are all pretty dire. When I read those strips, I kind of understand why Bill Waterson chose to give up early. Still, I don’t think he could have ever plunged to those depths of banal mediocrity.
That and can’t somebody kill off ‘Prince Valiant’? That bastard ages like Dick Clark (unless its a natural progression of the story line that he IS in fact, Dick Clark…)
[hi jack!]
I saw (in a Gary Larsen book) where the caption from The Far Side had been switched with the caption from The family Circus. It made The Far Side a bit more bizarre then normal but the Family Circus was HYSTERICAL! Billy was telling his mom that he could see in future, her disembodied head on a stick put out as a warning to others. This should happen more often.
[/by jack!]
As for me I think The best cartoons came and went, Far Side, Calvin and Hobbs, Bloom County, we never got to see Life In Hell in a main stream newspaper, which is weird because the Simpson’s is so popular and they are (were?) done by Matt Gorning (sp?). Almost all the rest are drivel any more, especally:
**
Cathy
For Better or For Worse
Garfield
Heathcliff
Momma
Tank McNamara
Ziggy **
Andy Capp and Doonesbury can stay though, mostly because I’m a drunk who likes to politicize so I can really relate to these two, the rest above I will read if there is not to many words but I have no expectations when I do.
I’m a young woman and I hate Cathy. It doesn’t let the most basic stereotypes about women die, just like how men hate those lazy moron husbands on sitcoms because not all men are lazy moron husbands. Cathy is a woman who complains she’s fat 24/7, shops all the time, and worries about finding a man like her life depended on it. Not EVERY woman is like that. It’s like the strip is stuck in the 1970s.
There are only 3 cartoons I ever liked; Garfield, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes. I’m not sure if they are still making garfield and I know they aren’t making the other two, if they are making Garfield, my answer will be everything but Garfield. I’m not joking about this answer, there are no funny cartoons in the newspaper today.
Topically enough, the Detroit Free Press just dropped Marmaduke yesterday (along with Peanuts which I thought was a classic in its day.)
Marmaduke, how I loathed thee, you stupid dog, and your owners, all drawn in a style that made them look as if they drooled constantly. Gary Larson drew a Far Side cartoon that took a potshot at Marmaduke, inscribing a tiny version of it with the barely readable caption “There goes that damn dog again…” He had it exactly right! That summed up every joke that ever appeared in Marmaduke. Not that there were many. My theory is that perhaps there are about 10 or 15 Marmaduke cartoons total, and Brad Anderson has been redrawing and resubmitting them every couple of weeks for 50 years. And then there was the “Doggone Unfunny” thing. “Mrs. H. Erbrain of Butthole, Ark. has a Pekinese named “Pwecious” who likes to bark at strangers when they come to the door!” BWAAAH haw haw.
So long, Marmaduke. For decades your panel hogged valuable comics page real estate with your vapid humourlessness. No more will I actively anticipate NOT saying “Hey, did you read Marmaduke today?” No longer will I have cause to roll my eyes and turn the page. The paper will likely get many letters; maybe tens of them, even, demanding your return, but the truth is we shall not look upon your like again. (Unless we glance over at the Garfield strip.)
Shirley U
Thanks for starting this thread. In the cite you mentioned I caught flack from Blowero for straying off topic and simply mentioning I thought some comic strips were lame.
I’ll state it again - Nonfunny strips: Zippy the Pinhead
Family Circus
And I think the husband on Sally Forth is actually a woman. No man I ever met makes the comments he makes.
Since this is the pit - Would it be inappropriate to state that a comic drawing of Blowero kissing my butt would actually be a downright funny comic strip?
Bubbadog
That’s OK Blowero, I’ll be nice and keep my tail down when you do:p
Sauron, I think there was a Far Side switched with Dennis the Menace (including the quote above), but also a Family Circus switched with Dennis the Menace. I could be wrong, though.
