That's The Way (uh-huh, uh-huh)...

...I LIKE it! The Sunday funnies are actually pretty good today, and not just in funny ways. I know it's too much to ask for the comics to be, you know, actually giggle-inducing, but with too many of them, you're lucky to deliver more than a semi-interested "huh."

"For Better Or For Worse" has made a habit of making its Sunday editions self-contained and mostly "silent", which usually results in a flow of laughter, which is a good thing, because the weekly serialized version is creeping ever closer to disturbing (not even gonna talk about it...)

The anniversary theme in "Blondie" has been going on for what seems like weeks now, leading me to believe that its creators (and the syndicate, sounds like the mafia, doesn't it? La Cosa Toonstra...) are planning a huge party, which means lots of merchandising tie-ins and maybe a prime-time special. In any case - today's strip is a multi-generational commentary on music that tickled my fancy and my eyeballs with its colorful looks at a jazz trio with senioritis, a stage-diving neo-punk band and a quartet of German folksters clad in lederhosen. Too bad Blondie and Dagwood weren't able to secure the talents of the lovely Pam (not far removed from Jessica Rabbit, slurp!) and her band, The Escorts (my! how racy the funnies can be!) - there's one anniversary party that I would've been eager to crash.

Somewhere in the archives, I've likened the style of Patrick McDonnell's "Mutts" to the lines of legendary "Popeye" creator Segar. Since the beginning, McDonnell's characters have possessed a sketchiness and certain squint-eyed affinity for the look made famous by the sailor, so it was both a surprise and no surprise whatsoever to find a loving homage to "Popeye" and the gang in today's strip. That the characters are drawn with such skill is no surprise either; I'm thinking that Segar, and later, animator Max Fleischer who brought "Popeye" to life as a cartoon, were probably huge influences. Crabby's final panel joke is a real gem.

What some comics do with the eyes of their characters is interesting to note. Some go with highly expressive and realistic peepers and others don't color the whites of the eyes in. Ease of drawing and economy of replication must come into play in some strips, where only dots are used for the eyes, such as in "Sally Forth", which has made a career out of using those dots, along with sarcastic lines, to get many of the wisecracks over. So it's a tad unsettling to see that Kitty, who seems to be recovering nicely from surgery, has more detailed eyes than her human counterparts. You could read a lot into that, but I'm just not gonna.

Lately, Garry Trudeau has come under fire for his potrayal of the Bush administration in "Doonesbury", so much so that at least twelve papers across the country either pulled or edited his Karl Rove strip that found Dubya calling Rove by the name "Turd Blossom." First off, many of the uneducated readers out there who singled Trudeau out for "name calling" are seemingly unaware that the moniker is actually Bush's pet name for the man who orchestrated his election and re-election campaigns. But what's incredible to me is the fact that the word "Turd Blossom" could be found so offensive. Let them get a goggle at "Dilbert" today and the phrase "I'm going to hell" and see if that causes any heartache.

Apparently, Berke Breathed's terms for bringing "Opus" back to the Sunday edition included giving him a full third of a page, no more, no less. Certainly, the tepid reaction of some folks has dulled the edge of said demands, as it looks like "Opus" is shrinking. Or is that just my eyesight taking a leave of absence?

"Non-Sequitur" is back doing what it does best! I was initially blown away and charmed by the tale of "Ordinary Basil", but it soon began to resemble a "Dick Tracy" strip, full of expository to catch up readers and slow plot developments. In the end, the story fell just short of the whimsy it was originally shooting for, but did manage to seed the proceedings with some jabs at modern government, something that Wiley is very good at. His inimitable drawing style and skewed humor are back on track today though; where else will you find baleful mommy-cats, bears, dinosaurs and polytheism wrapped in a technicolor five panel package?

Biggest Laugh Of The Morning: Bucky's attempt to sport a do-rag ("on you, I think it's called a 'don't' rag!") in "Get Fuzzy."

So, "Shortcuts" has names for the five "multicultural" characters (they are K, Roland, Junior, James and Juanita, the latter of which is the only one that seems to stand out as culturally different) but there's no name for the little hermit crab who's borrowed both his look and attitude from Disney's Sebastian. In any case, each strip is "sponsored" by a celebrity that takes on the look of whatever subject the half-page panel is presenting. These sponsorships, and the crab's usually disdainful commentary, are funny as well as they are sometimes groan-inducing. Today's subject, hair, gets a "I'm giving this cartoon the brush-off" (groan) while the sponsor is "Shaft" (the Samuel L. Jackson model) featuring Sam's tough goateed, sunglassed mug on a 'shaft' of hair exclaiming "right on." If that wasn't giggly enough, "This edition of Shortcuts is sponsored by Shaft. (They say that Shaft is a bad hair day.)" had me simultaneously laughing and saying "oh my GOD!" - do the kids get that sort of thing?

Double your funny

One of the things that I like about certain splendid comics is that they don't just deliver a punchline; they often keep hitting you with comedy throughout the strip. "Dennis The Menace" is a good example, usually working with a rhythm that shoots a joke at you within the first couple of frames, then another, and then finally wraps it all up with one last jab. It's the strip that keeps on giving.

"Dilbert" is similar, though less obvious. It's usually funnier in its first frame than most comics are in general.

Shades of Swingers

There's a scene in the movie "Swingers" where Jon Favreau's character (I was too lazy to look it up in the IMDB) comes home to an abusive answering machine, a scenario that popped into my head while looking at today's strip from "Candorville."



In our 21st century age where everything you do online is logged, spidered, searched and seized, one of the ultimate tests of relevancy is to Google yourself (I prefer to Yahoo, myself) to see how you fare in the eyes of the internet. C'mon. Admit it. You've done it, Narcissus!

Discovery!

Well how cool is this? I stumbled across one of the most delightful strips I've seen in quite some time. It's colorful, it's cute, it's funny, it eerily resembles the comings and goings at my house. It's The Mows and, yes, it's all about cats.

One brisk run through the archives and I was hooked. This is great stuff!

The Cat's Meow! (and other vocalizations...)

As a cat-owner, I look forward to the "Hallmarks Of Felinity" tidbits offered by "9 Chickweed Lane." There's a whole book of 'em, d'ya hear that Santa?

Comics From Afar/Catching Up

My wife has been on what I call a "rock-star tour" for her job, traveling to major cities like New York, Seattle, etc. to train others. Knowing how much I like variety in my funnies, she brings back the comic pages from these locales, causing me to wonder what's wrong with Orlando that we only get ONE page while Denver gets TWO. Are we doing something wrong?

Well, not really, since most of the comics in the Denver Post are, in my opinion, sketchily drawn and too reliant on vague and snarky humor. Strips like "Agnes", "Overboard", "Nest Heads", "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!" and "Adam" just failed to ignite any reasonable form of passion. However, it was nice to see some other strips that I forgot even existed, let alone persisted. Remember "Tiger"? (or maybe you never forgot.) Wow, what a classic! "The Amazing Spider-Man" serial, "The Wizard of Id" and a wickedly funny "B.C." - how I miss these strips! The Post also had a bunch of one-panel beauties that I'll have to look up like "Loose Parts", "Close To Home" and "Natural Selection" ("Marlene!! For the 800th time, it's not the clothes that make you look fat!! It's actually being fat that makes you look fat!") There's also the excellent "Sherman's Lagoon", a daily "Pearls Before Swine" (is it me or is it funnier on Sundays?), an interesting three-panel called "Preteena" that could be a precursor to "Zits" and a sharply drawn wit-fest called "The Meaning of Lila" that'll have me surfing for certain. But what got the biggest laugh out of me was "Boondocks" for July 18th, ("Steve Stoute says McDonald's is a lifestyle brand", "Sounds like somebody might be smoking a little McCrack.")

Sunday Sentinel - how brilliant a parody of "Gulliver's Travels" in "Zits" - how hilarious to see Snoopy expelled from a wading pool by Lucy, passing by Linus with a big cheesy grin on his face (Linus: "on a warm sunny day like today, in a neighborhood such as ours, it is not often that you'll see a beagle floating downstream..") Could Sunday have been the end of the "Ordinary Basil" serial in "Non-Sequitur"? (it was starting to lose something in the telling, I've forgotten what the quick wit of Danae and Lucy was like...) and the first huge guffaw for "Shortcuts", focusing on the topic of hermit crabs, with our host's declaration that "this cartoon is all about ME!" Nice.

And today's big puzzler - if "Beetle Bailey" could always distract Sarge from beating him up by lobbing a candy bar, why doesn't he just stock up on the damn things? It would probably save him (and us) from the brutality!

Tsk, tsk

I'm very disappointed in "Luann." She's let money go to her head in the case of Elwood. First she calls him a greasy midget, then she sees how much cash he's got and gives him her phone number. *sigh* - this can't end well.

HAWWWW!

Man, I love a good laugh out loud. Off-siting often does that for me.



- "Monty"

Off-Site and Onto Something

Every once in a while, I zip through our daily comics section over a bowl of Total (with Splenda, a gallon of it) and find absolutely nothing that stirs me. I wouldn't go so far as to say "familiarity breeds contempt", but it's like living with family, you know their ways and means, their sense of humor, so sometimes they just don't shock you into living. So you have to go out and hang with some people you don't know as well, just to shake and awake yourself.

I've been merely glancing at "Toy Trunk Railroad", and finding it kind of quaint in a highly specialized way. It's obviously full of love for this particular form of transportation, and being fond of trains myself, I get a kick out of it. However, today's strip appears to hint at a serial nature that I was perhaps missing before. Just a wee bit of comical drama that may have me checking in more often.

Oh! Pibgorn!

Faeries, demons, time-travel, Quantum Physics, love, sex and classical music. "Pibgorn" sure ain't your average comic. What papers syndicate this masterful, challenging strip?

The Inevitable: We All Must Go

But before I get to that cryptic subject line, I gotta say it's simply a hoot when other cartoon characters (and other characters period) show up in a comic strip. "Luann" today chalked up a double-dose of fun with the unusual pairing of Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. Mm-hm. Weird.

There's no denying that life goes on, that we grow old and eventually die. For cartoonists, this fact is particularly poignant, since most of their lives are consumed by doing pretty much one thing, and a public grows very accustomed to that one thing being done, due to its regularity. So a movie actor or sports figure winks out like a shooting star, but they're rarely a part of day-to-day life like the men and women who ink the strips that greet us every morning. That's why many cartoonists take on apprentices to learn the craft, passing on the lines and curves and techniques, training family members or colleagues in the basics of their strip's nuances. And some artists are irreplaceable and would never dream of leaving a legacy to anyone else.

That said, you can usually tell if one of the older generation of ink and painters is starting to flag; their lines are not as graceful or the composition begins to look a little rough around the edges. Comics like "Dennis The Menace", "Family Circus", "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois" are prime examples of strips that have been around for awhile, but are starting to show little inconsistencies in their drawings. I'm not exactly sure what the contingency plan for each of these features is, but you'd be surprised how many comics in syndication today are re-runs by artists who have passed on. Is it that there aren't many new examples of daily hilarity to take their places? Or have we just grown to love them so much that we can't let them go?

Not Like Other Blogs

That goes without saying, doesn't it? I sort of realized this while going back through some older posts. Unlike other blogs that link to articles via permalink (i.e., they're still there down the road apiece), here, most of the links go to a comic strip's "comic of the day" page, which changes, well, daily. In order to see a particular strip in most cases, you need to reference the date of the post and then search for that strip in the archives. In some cases, I'll actually post the strip, but I'm trying to avoid getting a lot of graphics on the blog. Also, I don't always link because I'm a lazy bastard (and also because the "link" function on blogger is possessed, spits out extra characters, erases some others and, well you know if you've tried to use it, sketchy, kvetchy bug-of-a-bear), but most of the toons mentioned here are featured in the blogroll down below. Now, having stated that:

DAMN! Tiffany's showing a little flesh in "Luann", is she not? I've noticed over the years (since the late 70's, gasp!) that Luann has slimmed down, wisened up and begun to show a little belly flesh herself; the whole strip has slowly changed with the times. But today's first panel is, er, fetching. I feel like I'm looking at a Playboy magazine.

God, I hate that "insert link" button. It's 100% "no-go" and "crotchety" today.

Synchro-comics in The Orlando Sentinel as "Hi and Lois" and "Hagar The Horrible", one on top of the other, both end their strips today with dangling commentary---dot-dot-dot. "On the other hand..." "however..." I guess three dots is the norm for such practices, huh?

And in the "That's So WRONG" department - "Mother Goose and Grimm" try to hang Gumby. What's even funnier is Pokey is the source horse. Cringing and laughing at the same time...

Dot-dot-dot.

Happy Birthday Disneyland

July 17th, 1955 - Disneyland opens to the public on a day known as "Black Sunday" (due to all of the things that went horribly wrong at the park.)

Since Disney has given us many a-world of toons, I thought it appropriate to drop some props in this space. 50 years old! That's definitely "golden"!

Tech Funnies and Rampaging Felines

Today's Sunday comics really hit home in a couple of ways, specifically in the technology department. My wife has been traveling the country teaching classes for Charles Schwab (she's a legal advisor) which involves her being away for the weekday (which sucks), back on the weekends (which I like) and they give her gifts for all the hard work that she does for them. Last year, they gave her a choice of some items and she chose an iPod mini, which has become one of her favorite possessions. This year, since she already had one, she elected to get another for me. Turns out that the edition they're currently giving away is an iPod Photo, which is sort of an upgrade (ya think?), but there is no iPod jealousy in our household. So, back from her first leg of the summer tour, she brings this crazy thing along with the news that she's lost her cel phone. Since we're on the same plan, when she got a replacement phone, I needed to as well. Now, I was happy with my old Sony dinosaur and had just figured out how to use it. So the past weekend, I've been up to my armpits in operating manuals trying to sludge through all of this new technology (however fun).

Which brings me to "Zits", where Jeremy is intensely following the status of his iPod as it is shipped from the manufacturers to his home. Anyone who has ever tracked a package via the internet can relate; it's the 21st century equivalent of "are we there yet?"

"Pearls Before Swine" hit upon something that I've considered lately: how technology has put up more borders between us as it also connects us in global fashion. Hell, with some folks you can't even send an e-mail without an auto-response that asks you to go through a registration in order to cut down on spam, a shameful necessity in this day and age. The opaque sphere that rat's talking about can't be far off!

And I've been meaning to give a shout-out for Jeff Harris' back panel kids comic called "Shortcuts". Besides being entertaining, it's also illuminating, which is a lot more than most strips can say. Its little quirks, such as the "sponsorship" by celebrities and the puns emitted by its Sebastian-like hermit crab, are groan-inspiring, but addictive as all get-out.

And with visions of cats, dogs and pecking birds fresh in my head from "For Better Or For Worse", it's time for me to go and give the cat a bath. If you don't see a posting tomorrow, pray for a speedy recovery. (For me, not the cat.)

A.W.O.L.

Actually, Blogger was terminal for a while and it's been an out-and-about kind of day.

"Dilbert" this week has been hysterical. It's rare to see the pointy-haired one out of the office. It surprises me not, the man's a total pervert.

Cross-Cultural Jokes

As proof that comics aren't just for kids anymore, look to "The Middletons", which features an age-old vaudevillian joke that I'm sure has many Gen X and D types goin' "huh?" Mareseatoatsanddoeseatoatsandlittlelambseativy......you know the rest, right?

The "Super Mutts" series of strips has the nifty effect of creating grand comedy and upholding basic, decent virtues at the same time. One of the nicest things about "Mutts", to me at least, is the warm-fuzzy you get afterwards and the worst violence is in the form of squirrels dropping acorns on the heads of others.

Okay, I know this is going to sound anal, but doesn't Jeremy have the sunburn from hell? What's his dad doing with his hand on his shoulder in today's "Zits"? Just wonderin'.

Comedy is a delicate thing. Take "Family Circus" today. Two little girls looking at a computer screen with one proclaiming "you just click on it and they put it in your shopping cart"; in and of itself, not really funny. Now, add a somewhat worried looking parent in the background. Screams volumes, doesn't it?

Pain

This is the third day that Jeremy ("Zits") has been running around with the most Satanic of sunburns, which serves as a gentle-yet-funny reminder that you should be wearing sunscreen this summer if you don't want to end up looking like walking burnt toast. The puffs of smoke wafting off of his back are a nice comic touch.

A thought just struck me - since Jeremy is the center of this strip's universe, does that mean that he, like Luann and other comic teens, are doomed to spend the rest of their lives in high school? Oy. Must be comic karma - whatever you do in a past strip can come back and haunt you.

Funnily enough, in the strip directly above "Zits" (at least in the Sentinel), Miss Buxley ("Beetle Bailey") has just laid out after putting on some sunblock. Perhaps she learned from Jeremy's mistake two days ago?

Pain

This is the third day that Jeremy ("Zits") has been running around with the most Satanic of sunburns, which serves as a gentle-yet-funny reminder that you should be wearing sunscreen this summer if you don't want to end up looking like walking burnt toast. The puffs of smoke wafting off of his back are a nice comic touch.

A thought just struck me - since Jeremy is the center of this strip's universe, does that mean that he, like Luann and other comic teens, are doomed to spend the rest of their lives in high school? Oy. Must be comic karma - whatever you do in a past strip can come back and haunt you.

Back To The Home Paper

I've been wandering so much, when our local rag is actually full of some good strips this week.

Something that's been bugging me about the "Paddy and Penrod" storyline are the costumes that Berniece and Luann are now wearing. There's just not room enough for the top of Luann's head in that Paddy costume. Where is the rest of her head? Her hair? It's very discomforting. That and Berniece looks like she's got a huge load in her pants; not flattering in the slightest.

The sight of Grimm on a Segway: worth the price of the paper (and I didn't even have to buy it.)

The turn of events in "For Better Or For Worse" is kinda close to home for me, for different reasons, but still close enough to warrant an "ouch." Though what Becky is going through in terms of her working with the band is an allegory for any relationships that we "grow out of", the musical aspect of her need for autonomy is something that happens to just about every group along the way.

The phrase "Hello? Anyone home? Death to you!" needs to be on a t-shirt. Thanks "Doonesbury."

Elegant. Sexy. Comic Strip.

It just doesn't get much better than "9 Chickweed Lane".

Editorial Cartoons: The London Bombings

Yesterday's bombings in London, as reflected by the pens of editorial cartoonists, are depictions of a people determined to remain unswayed by terror. Some are dark and brooding while others dare to skirt the edges of humor in an effort to deal with the pain. Terror In London is a collection of editorial cartoons that takes a variety of approaches to this tragic event.

Our prayers and thoughts are with the victims, their families, the British and everyone who stands to lose in the face of such barbarism.

Hey - This Is Fun!

More off-site comic browsing - it's a big, wild world out there, and The Orlando Sentinel is just ONE PAGE (at least weekly). So this week, I've been cruising my blogroll heavily, in search of some different flavors and vibes.

Lawyer cartoons - they don't sound terribly funny until you get there (and having a lawyerly wife with lots of lawyerly friends, perhaps it's funnier in this universe), but they are at least funny. Quite a few comics out there are simply, well, kinda lame. Perhaps you just don't realize how good something is until you compare it with the other end of the spectrum, the syndicates do a pretty good job of maintaining quality levels to the nation's newspapers. Like a good editor in a film, you don't notice the editing if it's good. Which is why what passes for writing in some of these strips (I won't name names, but you can probably pick them out of a line-up) is not even as good as a textbook illustration. Sa la vie, you know boy, you never can tell.

Oxygen, please!

First "Mutts" employs "Bing" as a sound effect this week and now "The Middletons" does the same thing. Now, I'm looking for messages between the lines of the funnies (what else is new?)

Laughing out loud til' I'm red-faced, sure doesn't happen often, but I decided to go "off-site" and check out some Linda Barry. It was a ritual of my California high-school days to catch a bus into Westwood, meet up with a friend or two, grab a copy of the L.A. Weekly with some grub and pore over the funny stuff while waiting for our movie to start. "Ernie Pook's Comeek" was guaranteed to make us laugh-til-we-farted, and Barry's lost none of her touch over the past couple of decades. (Feeling old-ish, right about now-ish.) Just reading the words, "Camp Lulu is tailored for the small, moody, vocal, insistent dog!" and "All cabins face each other for maximum window excited-barking!" laid me out this morning in a full-out roar of laughter. Of course, the familiar sketchy line illustrations just take it to the next level. Genius. And so #1! Hey!

On Bloggers and Blondie

And yes, I did see the Sunday "Doonesbury" that poked fun at bloggers. Meh. I didn't feel insulted - it was probably appropriate at some level, right?

Did you see Blondie doing her impersonation of Sally Forth today? I don't think I've ever seen her usually-wide-open-eyes at snarky half-mast before. It's so, well, un-Blondie-like, that she actually looks a little stoned. What do you think?



The "Blondie" official site features the backstory of Dagwood and Blondie; a story that not only caught me unawares, but makes perfect sense and explains quite a lot. (No wonder he's always dressed like a big playboy. The strip just got ten times funnier to me.)

Where Are The Fireworks?

You know, normally, holidays in the funny pages are a lot like television sitcoms. When a particular date on the calendar draws near, all the shows begin to show signs of appropriate decorum.

Which is why it's a little odd that The Orlando Sentinel has very little in the way of fireworks on this July 4th. Dagwood's wearing a patriotic shirt and cooking out in "Blondie", Dennis The Menace is in the corner with an American flag ("come on you guys, it's July 4th! I was just tryin' to show some INDEPENDENCE!") and Jeffy's got his fingers in his ears anticipating loud noises in "Family Circus".

Other than that - not even the armed services-friendly "Beetle Bailey" has anything to say on the subject. Ironically enough, the only visual fireworks in evidence can be found in "Doonesbury", as Duke and Honey witness the bombing of Al Amok in a stunning one-panel vista that perhaps sums up why there's less than the usual amount of flag-waving going on today.

It's not often that my name pops up in a strip either, as it does in "Mutts". Look! I'm the sound of a falling nut! (Surprise, surprise.....)

Happy Independence Day y'all ---

Dilbert, Simply, Dilbert

I guess I've been so overstimulated that I'm finding humor where I don't normally expect to find it. Like today's "Dilbert" for example. Nothing deep, nothing too "techy" or "geeky." Just the universal feeling of wanting somebody to shut the #$%&@$ up. Of course, Dilbert would never be so mean as to actually say that. But a well-placed tumbler always does the trick, doesn't it?

I'm having "Pibgorn" withdrawals - where's the latest strip??