# Worst comic strips, past or present **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920 "2018-05-10T14:35:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/101 "2018-06-28T19:27:40Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > “Love is…” (. . .) unending and disturbing glurge as expressed by a naked boy and girl. . . . . . without genitals. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/102 "2018-06-28T19:48:01Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > What about “Love is…” as the worst comic? That’s the one I came in to mention, full of unending and disturbing glurge as expressed by a naked boy and girl. Is it still published? [Indeed.](https://loveiscomix.com/) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/103 "2018-06-28T21:09:34Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > That Family Circus panel is the funniest since one of the kids said mom was putting on her “oil of old lady.” The 6/13/18 one about the dog… Doesn’t anyone remember the _[Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://dfc.furr.org/)_? It existed in various forms, but the classic was Spinnwebe’s version that ran for 500 cartoons, had a board of editors and a system for sorting user-submitted captions into groups (including ones that others could improve upon.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/104 "2018-06-28T21:17:57Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Doesn’t anyone remember the _[Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://dfc.furr.org/)_? It existed in various forms, but the classic was Spinnwebe’s version that ran for 500 cartoons, had a board of editors and a system for sorting user-submitted captions into groups (including ones that others could improve upon.) It was damn funny. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/105 "2018-06-28T21:40:16Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It was damn funny. That too. Spinn was Chicago based, and there was a get-together in Evanston. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/106 "2018-06-28T23:30:55Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Jack Chick and the Chick tracts yet. Or are they considered comic books? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/107 "2018-06-29T01:38:56Z")
dorvann, I realize this is going to make me very unpopular on this board, but I can think of two good things to say about Jack Chick’s work: 1.) He draws smokin’ hot women. 2.) Sometimes his pamphlets are a hoot. As a dungeon master, I get a big laugh out of “Dark Dungeons.” He wrote one about a Christian rock band and the degeneration of its members – I can’t remember the title and am too lazy to go to his web site – that had the line “… and Bobby’s become a vampire.” ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/108 "2018-06-29T16:03:44Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > dorvann, I realize this is going to make me very unpopular on this board, but I can think of two good things to say about Jack Chick’s work: > 1.) He draws smokin’ hot women. > 2.) Sometimes his pamphlets are a hoot. As a dungeon master, I get a big laugh out of “Dark Dungeons.” He wrote one about a Christian rock band and the degeneration of its members – I can’t remember the title and am too lazy to go to his web site – that had the line “… and Bobby’s become a vampire.” Yeah I can understand that a lot of people would find his comics entertaining in a “so bad its humorous” way that would disqualify them from being the worst comic ever. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/109 "2018-06-30T03:05:46Z")
Jeez, three pages and no mention of For Better or Worse. Shittiest strip ever. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/110 "2018-06-30T03:14:06Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > Jeez, three pages and no mention of For Better or for Worse? > Shittiest strip ever. sorry ---
**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:** [June 30, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/111 "2018-06-30T13:07:09Z")
The rebooted FBoFW, certainly. It wasn’t always that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/112 "2018-06-30T15:44:51Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Doesn’t anyone remember the _[Dysfunctional Family Circus](http://dfc.furr.org/)_? It existed in various forms, but the classic was Spinnwebe’s version that ran for 500 cartoons, had a board of editors and a system for sorting user-submitted captions into groups (including ones that others could improve upon.) Let us also remember the [Nietzsche Family Circus](http://www.nietzschefamilycircus.com/), which paired random Family Circus cartoons with random Nietzsche quotes. Who can forget Billy lecturing Jeffy, saying to him “One is most dishonest to one’s god: he is not allowed to sin.” ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/113 "2018-06-30T15:47:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Back in the '70s, I had a hardcover collection of _ **PV** _ strips going back to its origin. I read that book from cover to cover practically nonstop. > > No way I would ever call _ **PV** _ a “bad” comic strip. It’s brilliant.\* > > \*Despite its historical inaccuracies, which I’m more than happy to overlook. If they put out a Kindle version of the collected Prince Valiant at a decent price, I would seriously consider buying it and reading it. It’s one of those strips I’ve never really read for the same reason I don’t do comic books. That is, because I feel like I need to do 50+ years of reading to have any idea what is going on. It is always very pretty to look at. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/114 "2018-06-30T16:04:00Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > If they put out a Kindle version of the collected Prince Valiant at a decent price, I would seriously consider buying it and reading it. It’s one of those strips I’ve never really read for the same reason I don’t do comic books. That is, because I feel like I need to do 50+ years of reading to have any idea what is going on. It is always very pretty to look at. There are story arcs that would last over a couple of weeks, but you don’t need to read every one of them to appreciate the strip. It’s sufficient to know that Val is a Prince of Thule and a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table. (Of course, it’s always helpful to spend some time reading the earliest strips, just to orient yourself.) The period spans roughly 500 years, so there’s a lot of variety (and anachronisms).\* \*I remember Val’s obituary in _ **MAD Magazine** _: “Prince Valiant, a crusading knight, died today of natural causes. He was 946.” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/115 "2018-06-30T16:32:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The rebooted FBoFW, certainly. It wasn’t always that bad. What ‘rebooted’ strip? It’s all reruns now. For a brief time, Lynn Johnston would re-draw a strip or two to make it more relevant, and she may have produced a new Sunday strip (??) for a while. But she hasn’t done that in years, she’s into other projects now like designing textiles, and she is elderly and has health problems. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/116 "2018-06-30T16:59:51Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > What ‘rebooted’ strip? It’s all reruns now. It wasn’t exactly rebooted. It was restarted. Lynn Johnston had planned to retire in 2007, then changed her mind. She made some changes at this point: the characters stopped aging and she started reusing old artwork. The “final” strip ran on August 31, 2008, after which she restarted the strip from the beginning, returning the characters to the ages they were when the strip began. Johnston called the format “new-runs.” About half the strips were really new, and the other half were actual re-runs. After a couple of years of this, she switched to nearly 100% re-runs, with occasional small changes to modernize the strip. I think For Better or For Worse tilted toward worse when it became more of a soap opera strip than a humor strip. This happened gradually over the years. I don’t think it ever descended to the level of most of the other strips mentioned in this thread. Mallard Fillmore is an insult to the intelligence, Marvin is disgusting, and Close to Home is close to incompetent. For Better or For Worse was never as awful as these. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/117 "2018-06-30T18:26:59Z")
If I met a Rex Morgan in real life I would commit the act of _mur-der_. (said like those hand-rubbing, early 70’s exploitation flick announcers. Or Orson Welles.) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/118 "2018-06-30T23:15:28Z")
This is kind of off topic but it _does_ relate to my earlier post about Chick tracts. I was getting out of the store today and walking my groceries back to my car. I noticed a booklet on the ground and bent over to pickup it up. I then noticed it said Chick Publications on it and opened it up and read it. This actually was the first time I saw one of The Chick Tracts in printed form. (I’ve been only been familiar with them from what I read online previously.) I live in a kind of rural area so it strikes me as a weird coincidence after two days about writing about them I end coming across one. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/119 "2018-07-01T00:23:32Z")
Cathy. Cathy. Cathy. Cathy. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920/120 "2018-07-01T00:46:38Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > Cathy. > > Cathy. > > Cathy. > > Cathy. +1 +1 +1 +1 Also, since this is past or present, there was a gawd-awful strip, I think that ran originally in the 50s & 60s about a baby in utero, and yes, it was a fully developed baby, with, IIRC, no umbilical cord or placenta present, and a very oddly drawn uterus. It was called Eggbert. It was full of jokes about the baby having a hangover after the mother had overindulged, and jokes where a girl twin was sometimes present, and they were shown doing what I can only describe as courting. I first read it when I was only 8 or so, and I knew it was squicky. I also knew without any knowledge of FAS, which I’m not even sure was identified until I was about 24, that baby hangover jokes were inappropriate. Anyway, Eggbert will forever be my worst comic, and also a tribute to one of the things that was depressingly wrong with that time in history, and a strong reminder of why I’m glad that even though I was born in the sixties, it was at the tail-end, and my memories don’t really start until the 70s. (In fact, I have only two specific memories of the sixties-- my great-grandfather’s funeral, and episode 1 of _Sesame Street_.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-comic-strips-past-or-present/813920.md?page=7)