Strip Cartoons
part 4
They're books eventually ok
Schulz-Peanuts
A sustained marvel if occasionally repetitive. More subversive than it's anodyne rep suggests. In addition so many themes you see elsewhere were there first. "It's fair weather today Charlie Brown" "So where are all my friends"

Darby Conley- Get Fuzzy
There's a strip this good, this well drawn and no english paper will syndicate it? The independent has the dreadful "As If", the Fail continues with Fred fucking Basset, which is to humour what haemorrhoids are to theology. (A mildly obscure allusion to the fact that Luther was a lifelong sufferer from piles. Which may account for the dour humourlessness of much protestantism. It lends itself to a good pun though- "Luther, Luther", his co-religionists would call whilst the old anti-semite was at stool "No, Tighter", his strained reply.) Other lazy strips could also be named but enough digression.

George Herriman -Krazy Kat
A founding father of the genre. Not always funny but the sheer invention and beauty of the artwork is breathtaking. Unpopular with almost all editors but sustained by the surprising and long term support of William Randolph Hearst.

Stephan Pastis- Pearls Before Swine
You are online ergo you already know this poorly drawn but scabrously funny delight.

Bill Waterson- Calvin and Hobbes
Well drawn and funny even if it owes Schulz a bit.

Honourable mentions to Boondocks, Dilbert and brickbats to Garfield.

Not including web-comics but if I were then XKCD, Cat and Girl, Cyanide and Happiness and Quantz would be here, as would Goats if it ever got going after the crash a while back
(unclestinky, Sun 8 Jan 2012, 1:17, 13 replies)

Tony Millionaire's "Maakies" is worth a look

(square go, Sun 8 Jan 2012, 9:55, closed)

If I can get the first collection
without paying a mint I'll give it a spin
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 14:35, closed)

"Bloom County" by Berk Breathed
Was stunning- intelligent and funny.
( Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Sun 8 Jan 2012, 20:18, closed)

Agreed
Slipped my mind.
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 2:28, closed)

Agreed so much
That I just picked up Bloom County Babylon from marketplace for 1p plus p and p. looks like they've been doing a complete run but at £20 and 5 so far it'll have to wait
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 14:34, closed)

Peanuts is arse.
Calvin and Hobbes, on the other hand, is marvellous.

I've yet to find anyone who could explain the appeal of Doonesbury - any offers?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 8 Jan 2012, 21:25, closed)

I suspect unfamiliarity with peanuts behind that claim
They are tainted by the organ in which they feature and also by the t.v stuff which was a little too saccharine in tone. I'm not suggesting the strips don't have some of that but there is a real darkness at the heart.

I would add that you'd be surprised at how many of Bill Waterson's gags are predated by Schulz. I have read all of Calvin and Hobbes and a big chunk of Schulz's total oeuvre and the parallels are obvious

The other problem is that Snoopy was so marketable it unbalanced the Dynamic.

I genuinely urge you to immerse yourself in a long run of Peanuts as you are missing a good thing.

Bleakness-
lakeland.edu/UserFiles/Image/peanuts_futile.jpg
peanutsblog.tumblr.com/post/2831168447
2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yft7ONAQgjE/TlcbJ15DfOI/AAAAAAAAABc/cWd0MbP8zis/s1600/peanuts.gif
www.dograt.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/peanuts.gif
www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=587070&gsub=89181
2.bp.blogspot.com/-uP3lYwgCTy4/Tcexvjjpl_I/AAAAAAAAADI/gN-g8K5Wkz8/s1600/1.jpg
2.bp.blogspot.com/-k7veqIvR0o4/TZt9uUKhvZI/AAAAAAAAAK0/M9lTnc3pkIQ/s1600/3675412366_0b8988becd_o.gif
pressthisstudio.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/peanuts0813611.gif

And a few which remind me of Calvin and Hobbes
4.bp.blogspot.com/_mpb3WiKWZRQ/TQI3Dv0hwLI/AAAAAAAAAoE/PM9QSCrNAhk/s1600/peanuts%2B1.jpg
www.fivecentsplease.org/dpb/snowman.gif

And just funny
4.bp.blogspot.com/-nM44tDCLKFk/TfvJ-EDJNMI/AAAAAAAAAn8/cgQmWyaZ50Y/s1600/linus-and-lucy.jpg
www.readingreview.com/comics/pages_jpg/peanutsparade-08.jpg

As for Doonesbury it's both soapy and current affairs driven. If you read it daily it can be funny but it's a bit too arch and can date poorly. When it goes right though
www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/2005/12/1218doonesbury_lg.gif
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 2:25, closed)

Thanks.
I've read loads of Peanuts (used to get the collections as Christmas presents, along with Garfield), but I don't remember it anything like as fondly as I do C&H.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 19:30, closed)

Peanuts was arse
I thinks Schultz ran out of steam in the first five years and kept plugging away for another twenty, or was it thirty.
Calvin and Hobbes - lovely stories, brilliant drawing.
Doonesbury appeals to smug liberals, he's the patron saint of Unitarians.
(the other guy not the one that gave you coochie warts, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 4:23, closed)

Peanut's ran from
1955 till 2000. Not so surprising if some themes come round again. In fact one of the links illustrates exactly that, the same strip but with different characters 20 years apart.

I would say that Calvin is much more immediately funny a but there's a generational/permissive society thing going on too. And whilst Peanuts was definitely sharper in it's earliest years it was when the full loserdom of Charlie Brown developed that the engine of the longevity was created. And in any case Lucy and the Football or Calvin trying to be good each Christmas or the variations on the unusual snow sculptures are equally thematically repeated so what's the difference?

Essentially you like one and not the other and that's the difference. Ah well De gustibus non est disputandum as they say. And they are right, there is no dispute as I am clearly right
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 14:07, closed)

Get Fuzzy
Not looked at that for ages. Cracking strip.
(fivetide, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 13:53, closed)

Treat yourself
Buy the Treasury collections for the toilet
www.amazon.co.uk/Potpourrific-Great-Big-Grab-Fuzzy/dp/0740773674/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326118146&sr=1-9
www.amazon.co.uk/Groovitude-Fuzzy-Treasury-Darby-Conley/dp/0740728946/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326119191&sr=1-7
www.amazon.co.uk/Loserpalooza-Fuzzy-Treasury-Darby-Conley/dp/0740757091/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326119191&sr=1-13

there is at least one copy of Groovitude in marketplace at 1p plus p and p
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 14:30, closed)

Smacks self on forehead
Leviathan by Peter Blegvad.
Excellent stuff and his solo albums are pretty good too. Slapp Happpy may be a bit much for most, depending on how you feel about Dagmar Krause's singular vocals
(unclestinky, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 14:55, closed)