Why do all the comic strips suck?
- s1m0n
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Why do all the comic strips suck?
Am I just old, or do all newspaper comic strips suck these days? It seems to me that in days of yore, there was usually at least title you could count on. In some eras there was two. But its been years since I sought out the comics page, and likely 5 years since I saw a comic worth remembering. Sigh. Newsprint really is a dying industry.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
I can't remember the last time I ever read a comics section (or a newspaper, for that matter), but I recall becoming increasingly disappointed with the fare. Maybe I've just gotten dour.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Hunt around at http://www.gocomics.com/ , and maybe you'll find something you like. Many strips are now published free on-line, which can make for interesting choices. Setup your own list and view everyday. I like "Off the Mark" (often animal-centric), and reruns of old "Calvin & Hobbes"
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
s1m0n wrote:Am I just old, or do all newspaper comic strips suck these days? It seems to me that in days of yore, there was usually at least title you could count on. In some eras there was two. But its been years since I sought out the comics page, and likely 5 years since I saw a comic worth remembering. Sigh. Newsprint really is a dying industry.
Yes. we are just old.
That's not nothing - the young surpass us in everything.
We have no idea what they are going through.
Sometimes they come back to ask for a policy.
When that happens .. cool.
In the mean time ..we shaped them, for better or worse..
I spend about half the time talking to my teenage son to undo the past mistakes I made.
The comics? they are all movies now. The youngsters have no time to read paper - it's all there on google. If they saw the movie .. maybe you can talk.
If it's any "comfort" most movies now originate in comic-strip development.
It governs the plot and the cinamagraphy - we call them "key-frames".
Just look at the "making-of" specials in any movie.
The young will navigate all that.
Trust them.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Only in context of the times. I would counter that we can in fact know what they're going through, because we've been through that part of life - and nothing really changes in the process of going from youth to age. It is they who have no real point of reference to us, because they haven't gotten there yet. Mostly, we duffers just forget how it was for us when we were younger.Mitch wrote:Yes. we are just old.
That's not nothing - the young surpass us in everything.
We have no idea what they are going through.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Were the "funny pages" ever actually funny?
Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
I doubt if you're that old.s1m0n wrote:Am I just old, or do all newspaper comic strips suck these days?
Unless you're close to 90, you can't remember the really good days of comic strips. I can't either. But there are lots of historical collections in book form. A decent-sized library will probably have a few.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
You answered your own question. Every printed newspaper on earth is dead, they just don't know it yet. Can't attract any cartooning talent with a market that shrinks every day.s1m0n wrote:Am I just old, or do all newspaper comic strips suck these days? ... Newsprint really is a dying industry.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
I like Dilbert. But the comics haven't been the same since the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes quit running.
Charlie
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Nothing's been the same since Mehitabel and Archie et al.chas wrote:I like Dilbert. But the comics haven't been the same since the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes quit running.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Was that ever a comic? I know Don Marquis's Archie & Mehitabel as poetry, occasionately illustrated, but never as a comic even loosely defined.benhall.1 wrote:Nothing's been the same since Mehitabel and Archie et al.chas wrote:I like Dilbert. But the comics haven't been the same since the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes quit running.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
You're likely right. Matt Groening is a perfect example. His Life in Hell, running in the alterna-weeklies, was poised to become the next great comic after The far Side & Calvin & Hobbes, but he abruptly discovered how much more money there was in newer media, and abandoned the strip to create The Simpsons.An Draighean wrote:You answered your own question. Every printed newspaper on earth is dead, they just don't know it yet. Can't attract any cartooning talent with a market that shrinks every day.s1m0n wrote:Am I just old, or do all newspaper comic strips suck these days? ... Newsprint really is a dying industry.
But here's a classic:
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
I guess I not only like the poetry but the illustrations as well.s1m0n wrote:Was that ever a comic? I know Don Marquis's Archie & Mehitabel as poetry, occasionately illustrated, but never as a comic even loosely defined.benhall.1 wrote:Nothing's been the same since Mehitabel and Archie et al.chas wrote:I like Dilbert. But the comics haven't been the same since the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes quit running.
... however, you've prodded me to look this stuff up. I'm thinking of the illustrations by George Merriman, and, though I've only just discovered it, these only came about when the poems were published in book form, after the columns in The Evening Sun. I think of these illustrations as cartoons, and I think that's a good description of them, but yes, you're right, there's no way it was a "comic strip".
Interesting. Thanks for prompting me to look deeper.
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Re: Why do all the comic strips suck?
Oh, there are tonnes of genuinely funny comics out there; I don't know if any of them are in the paper...
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