For the Official RACS Gocomics.com Page: June 2013, M - Z

[Joseph Nebus]

Nicely enough there's strips with names starting both M and Z
for this roundup, which should free me of the need to work out opinions
on Gocomics.com pages for a couple months at least. Here goes:



_Mulligan_, Pete McEachen.

Premise: Elder guy reminisces over being a kid.

Pros: Unusual split-time device. Pleasant enough characters.

Cons: Aims for warm smile rather than laugh. Can *everything*
the guy does remind him of something his older sister told him
once?

My Verdict: Read. Usually hits the warm smile.

Your Verdict: ?





_Ozy and Millie_, Dana Simpson.

Premise: Wiseacre-kids strip done in funny-animal costumes.

Pros: Good era for the strip's run being used. Characters
well-defined, art pretty solid.

Cons: Reruns. Might not be the art style of _Ozy and Millie_
that works for you. Political gags from a decade ago may not
have aged well.

My Verdict: Read.

Your Verdict: ?





_Plastic Baby Heads From Outer Space_, Geoff Grogan.

Premise: Earth faced with aggressively quirky aliens.

Pros: Neat blend of story strip and absurd, silly premise.

Cons: Rerun. Quirky jokes may become tooth-pulling if they
don't *quite* work.

My Verdict: Read.

Your Verdict: ?





_Reply All Lite_, Donna A Lewis.

Premise: Panel strip version of _Reply All_.

Pros: Surely _Reply All_ is made better by having less of it.

Cons: Still shows _Reply All_ sense of humor, art.

My Verdict: Who even *ordered* this?

Your Verdict: ?





_Sunny Street_, Max Garcia.

Premise: Free-form panel strip.

Pros: Pretty good when it's working.

Cons: Surprisingly variable in art quality.

My Verdict: Read.

Your Verdict: ?





_Wordless_, Len Borozinski.

Premise: Pantomime panel strip.

Pros: I've got a weakness for pantomime strips. Art works for
me.

Cons: Won't work for everyone.

My Verdict: Read.

Your Verdict: ?





_Zachary Nixon Johnson_, John Zakour, John Dallaire, Kate Eagle.

Premise: Graphic novel-style version of long-running
science fiction detective series.

Pros: Good artwork, fresh-for-the-comics setting. Well-paced as
story strip.

Cons: Not-fresh-for-science-fiction setting. Joking can become
self-consciously wacky.

My Verdict: Read.

Your Verdict: ?


--
http://nebusresearch.wordpress.com/ Joseph Nebus
Latest: Solving The Price Is Right ``Any Number'' Game http://wp.me/p1RYhY-sR
--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------

[Heather Kendrick]

In article <kprf0p$ets$1...@reader1.panix.com>,

nebusj-@-rpi-.edu (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

> _Ozy and Millie_, Dana Simpson.
>
> Premise: Wiseacre-kids strip done in funny-animal costumes.
>
> Pros: Good era for the strip's run being used. Characters
> well-defined, art pretty solid.
>
> Cons: Reruns. Might not be the art style of _Ozy and Millie_
> that works for you. Political gags from a decade ago may not
> have aged well.
>
> My Verdict: Read.
>
> Your Verdict: ?

I say read too, and agree with most of your analysis, although I think
"wisacre-kids strip in funny-animal costumes" undersells it. The
bizarreness of Llewellyn due to his being an ancient dragon is a
significant part of the strip (particularly in the sequences that are
being rerun) and I think that's more than just a funny-animal costume.
It's integrated quite a lot into the strip and flavors his oddball
relationship with his adopted son Ozy. There are also a lot of other
fantasy elements such as Locke the pirate having sprung from the world
behind the couch.

Heather

[Joseph Nebus]

In <bunnyhugger-479E...@news.individual.net> Heather Kendrick <bunny...@ameritech.net> writes:

> eeQ{`/7;FNduM/qN2i{f9K@fE+(p\A|rK+0<B
>Xref: panix rec.arts.comics.strips:295463

>In article <kprf0p$ets$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
> nebusj-@-rpi-.edu (Joseph Nebus) wrote:

>> _Ozy and Millie_, Dana Simpson.
>>
>> Premise: Wiseacre-kids strip done in funny-animal costumes.

>I say read too, and agree with most of your analysis, although I think
>"wisacre-kids strip in funny-animal costumes" undersells it. The
>bizarreness of Llewellyn due to his being an ancient dragon is a
>significant part of the strip (particularly in the sequences that are
>being rerun) and I think that's more than just a funny-animal costume.
>It's integrated quite a lot into the strip and flavors his oddball
>relationship with his adopted son Ozy. There are also a lot of other
>fantasy elements such as Locke the pirate having sprung from the world
>behind the couch.

You're right. The fantasy elements are a big part of the strip
and got to be more important without quite overwhelming it; I shouldn't
omit it from describing the strip.