WORST COMIC STRIPS!
Pramit James
I know this should be a place to appreciate and honour great comic strips,
but I need to know if there are others out there who dislike some
comic strips. The worst one for me is MARMADUKE. Does any thought
go into that comic anymore? I'd like to here from you.
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Pramit James
Carleton University
Email address: pja...@chat.carleton.ca
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William O'Neill
--
Peter Mullaney
In a previous article, won...@news.kn.PacBell.COM (William O'Neill) says:
>Mary Worth
>
Get it right - it's Mary Worthless! ;-)
--
: Pete Mullaney : Always do right. This will gratify :
: : some and astonish the rest. :
: : Samuel Langhorne Clemens :
: : aka Mark Twain :
xyzzy
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>From: won...@news.kn.PacBell.COM (William O'Neill)
>Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.strips
>Subject: Re: WORST COMIC STRIPS!
>Date: 5 Apr 1995 00:03:55 GMT
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>Mary Worth
>--
I agree. Mary's favorite saying is:
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:o
If the ASCII art isn't obvious, that's an open-mouthed Mary in a stiff
expression of surprise at the Professor's latest gaff.
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|Sales Support Manager |
|Spectragraphics Corporation http://www.spectra.com |
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Ray Dawson
list would include the following:
Crock
Beetle Bailey
Amazing Spiderman
Marvin
Sibling Revelry
scri...@rahul.net
Worst strips:
Smart Alex (with apologies to the creator,
who is trying hard)
Mary Worth (no apologies-- should be killed)
Terry and the Pirates (not clueless; but close)
POGO (the old pogo was my faorite strip--
but Walt's kids don't have a CLUE.
The Quigmans (always prescious; never funny)
Tight Corner (A Quigmans ripoff)
Honorable mentions to:
Garfield (Not even as a greed-vehicle any more)
Marvin (too many jokes about baby poop)
The Duplex (a one-joke strip: Clean vs. dirty)
Overboard (I don't get it. I really dont.)
Rex Morgan
Mark Trail
SpiderMan
ANY Disney strip (not even in the 'Weekly Reader'...)
Beetle Bailey (not my army.....)
Hi and Lois (not my family.....)
Hagar the Horrible (A shame. A real shame.)
--
Milton Brewster <pen...@rahul.net>
Hilly
I propose we start the rec.arts.comics.strips "Hall of Flame" for
all-time bad comic strips and document it in the FAQ.
I second the nomination for MARMADUKE and also recommend ARLO AND
JANIS, BORN LOSER, and FAMILY CIRCUS.
Jeff Hilderley jeff.hi...@sheridanc.on.ca
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Living in a satellite fantasy/Wondering who's your friend" -PSB
BradW8
However, the worst strip, bar none, I have ever seen was an Austalian
effort called "Boofhead," which runs in the Sydney Mirror.
No perspective, childish drawings, a lead character who makes Jim Carrey
seem sophisticated. One sample strip I saw had Boofhead ask the local rich
guy for a charitable contribution and he was so proud he cut the signature
off the check to paste in his autograph album.
A similar strip is the American "Jim" ("I Went To College and It was OK"),
but "Jim" is minimalist where "Boofhead" is primitive.
Albert giesbrecht
: I know this should be a place to appreciate and honour great comic strips,
: Email address: pja...@chat.carleton.ca
: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
I hate Foxtrot I think that whatshis name with the glasses should build
an A-Bomb and shove it where the sun don't shine. (thank you I feel a lot
better now!)
Cathy is a bit old now. I think she should quit trying to find the
perfect bathing suit and become a nudist. She could first check out
rec.nude.
One Big Happy (not)
Jonathan Young (MCOM)
I propose we start the rec.arts.comics.strips "Hall of Flame" for
all-time bad comic strips and document it in the FAQ.
I second the nomination for MARMADUKE and also recommend ARLO AND
JANIS, BORN LOSER, and FAMILY CIRCUS.
I'll second "The Family Circus," but "Arlo & Janis" and "Born Loser"
aren't *that* bad.
It's a shame you all can't see the continuing atrocity that is "Tribune
Toon," Duck Edwing's daily contribution to the Tampa Tribune. It's
interesting how the Trib has two cartoonists who not only can't draw
especially well, but aren't funny either.
-jon
--
jyo...@luna.cas.usf.edu ner...@pobox.com
: :: ::: :::: ::::: :::: ::: :: : :: ::: :::: ::::: :::: ::: :: : :: ::: ::::
making your life look better by comparison since 1973
Russ Lay
favorites!
Jonathan Young (MCOM)
I hate Foxtrot I think that whatshis name with the glasses should build
an A-Bomb and shove it where the sun don't shine. (thank you I feel a lot
better now!)
Heretic! Let's flame him, gang!
Nathan Olsen
MARK TRAIL
SYLVIA
ZIGGY
GEECH
CHAOS
HERB AND JAMAAL
MOMMA
ANDY CAPP
COMMITTED
etc....
_______________________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------
The above was written by: Nathan Olsen/nol...@csulb.edu
Great current (mini)comi(cs/x):Brooklyn Dreams,Cerebus,
Hutch Owen's Working Hard,Hellblazer,The Invisibles,THB
A PROUD MEMBER OF THE PEERLESS PIANO POUNCING SOCIETY!!
_______________________________________________________
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David Jeffrey Coyle
I for one think Quigmans is a riot! It is definitely not for the "Family
Circus" or "Peanuts" crowd.
In defense of this comic "panel" (it's not a strip, per se), I think it is more
of an "alternative" comic and that's the kind of paper it usually shows up in
-- not your average daily paper. It has a different audience, one that can
understand or laugh at the jokes. People who live on stuff like "Marvin" or
"Ziggy" won't enjoy it as much...
As for "Beetle Bailey" I sort of have a certain fondness for it even though it
goes through the same tricks it's had since the 60's -- Sarge beating up
Beetle, or just eating, people making fun of Otto the dog in his uniform,
people complaining about Cookie's food, or General Halftrack either ogling his
secretary or ticking off his wife, etc. etc.
I have to admit I like Beetle Bailey strips from the 70s better. I have several
of the books from that era and never stop laughing at some of the situations...
--
|| DAVID J. COYLE / E-Mail: dc33...@oak.cats.ohiou.edu ||
|| 22 University Terrace #306 / Phone: (614) 597-7891 ||
|| Athens, OH 45701-2915 / *A POTHOLE ON THE INFO SUPERHIGHWAY* ||
Joseph Francis Nebus
>I nominate 'The Fusco Brothers', 'The Buckets', and 'Mixed Media' as my least
>favorites!
"Mixed Media" doesn't seem that bad to me; a little dumb, perhaps,
but overall OK. But if it does one more "Generation X Is Apathetic" joke,
I will wholeheartedly agree with minor unnecessary violence directed against
the cartoonist.
Joseph Nebus
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Joseph Francis Nebus
>It's a shame you all can't see the continuing atrocity that is "Tribune
>Toon," Duck Edwing's daily contribution to the Tampa Tribune. It's
>interesting how the Trib has two cartoonists who not only can't draw
>especially well, but aren't funny either.
Is that Duck Edwing, as in (I think) formerly from MAD (new motto:
"Just Replace Part of a Movie or TV Show's Title with "BLEEECH" and Watch
the Hilarity! What, me laugh?") and then Cracked magazine?
Joseph Nebus
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Ian Boothby
to mutate year after year. Soon they will be eggs with eyes. I think they
must be living under power lines.
Jim Ellwanger
(Joseph Francis Nebus) wrote:
[Duck Edwing's "Tribune Toon"]
> Is that Duck Edwing, as in (I think) formerly from MAD (new motto:
> "Just Replace Part of a Movie or TV Show's Title with "BLEEECH" and Watch
> the Hilarity! What, me laugh?") and then Cracked magazine?
No, it's Duck Edwing as in _still_ from MAD ("Repetition is the highest
form of comedy").
To give everyone some idea of just how bad "Tribune Toon" is, here's the
one from March 23rd:
Florida Driving Problems! #216 in a series
"The Arm Dangler"
[Main character Horace thinks, in 4 different balloons, all in the one
panel:] "Why is his arm dangling out the window?" "Is he going to
turn?" "Why is it only male drivers hang their arms out the window?" "Is
he drying his fingernails?"
A TOON tribute to Joseph Oates, Brandon 33511 for this idea!
--
Jim Ellwanger (trai...@nwu.edu)
"It pays to have a back-up system in place when you're protecting something extremely precious...like TV reception."
-- J.C. Duffy, "The Fusco Brothers"
Ray Dawson
Forgot a couple in my original posting on this topic:
Heathcliff (though, I guess that is more a kid's strip)
Sally Forth
There! I'm done now, I think! :)
Alexander Wu
> My picks for worst comic strips are:
[crunch]
> Family Circus
I think this weekend's colour Bizarro explained everything. ;-)
------------+---------------------------+--------------------------------
Alex | w...@cpsc.ucalgary.ca | "Old C programmers never die -
Wu | a...@freenet.calgary.ab.ca | they're just cast into void."
Peter Davis
: I propose we start the rec.arts.comics.strips "Hall of Flame" for
: all-time bad comic strips and document it in the FAQ.
: I second the nomination for MARMADUKE and also recommend ARLO AND
: JANIS, BORN LOSER, and FAMILY CIRCUS.
"Arlo and Janis" is a GREAT comic strip.
--
Peter Davis "Education is not the 617/873-4145
BBN Educational Technologies filling of a pail, but FAX: 617/873-2455
150 Cambridge Park Drive the lighting of a fire." pda...@bbn.com
Cambridge, MA 02140 -- W. B. Yeats
jbco...@life.uams.edu
EFOX sez:
> Wizard of Id....Garfield....Andy Capp most of the
^^^^^^^^
Sadly, I must agree. Anybody remember back before Garfield
was cute?!!??? Back when Lyman owned Odie. Back before the
strip turned into a colossal self-sendup/slapstick kiddie
show.
On the other hand, the Garfield cartoon Sat. morning
is about all me & my 3-y/o can agree on. :)
Brian
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- Brian's first sig file -
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Constantine Kipnis
Constantine Kipnis
Oliver Wendell Jones flavor in some ways.
John Switzer
>Hey guys aren't we forgetting one really bad but famous strip: Cathy
Yeah, but Guisewite is a babe. When the Los Angeles Times did a feature
story on her a few years back, they got so many letters, from guys ranging
from blue collar to executives, asking for introductions that the paper
ran a second story about these guys and their letters. But if Guisewite
is anywhere near neurotic as Cathy, then . . .
--
John Switzer | "Perhaps Mr. Royko would be more at home in
| Cuba, where Fidel is a big promoter and subsidizer
CompuServe: 74076,1250 | of beef. There consumers do not enjoy freedom."
Internet: j...@best.com | --angry vegetarian to meat-eater Mike Royko
Steve Brinich
Mallard Fillmore -- Pathetically forced efforts at political humor;
heaven help the artist if he loses his rubber stamp of the
title character in standard 3/4 profile smirk.
Andy Capp -- Yep, drunkenness and domestic violence are a laugh riot!
--
Steve Brinich | EVERYTING IS UNDER CONTROL | Finger PGP key
ste...@digex.net | (A public service announcement | 89B992BBE67F7B2F
GEnie: S.BRINICH | from the Bavarian Illuminati) | 64FDF2EA14374C3E
Tedrall
I'd also nominate the new TERRY AND THE PIRATES.
Ben Gamble
Quigmans
Fusco Brothers
Bizarro
Usually Bad But Every Once In a While Hit a Right Note:
Cathy
Curtis
Bad:
What a Guy
Geech
Miss Peach
Lockhorns
Marmaduke
Marvin
Garfield
Herb and Jamaal
Momma
Irredeemably Pathetic:
Family Circus
Duffy
Heathcliff
Ziggy
Mallard Fillmore
--
Ben Gamble | om mani padme hung
gam...@starbase.neosoft.com | Your news spool disk is now a prayer wheel
Oh ye who go about saying unto each other: "Hello sailor":
Dost thou know the magnitude of thy sin before the gods?
Peter Mullaney
In a previous article, ted...@aol.com (Tedrall) says:
>Without a doubt the worst comic strip ever drawn is the FAMILY CIRCUS.
>
You obviously haven't seen "Close To Home". I think there was a single
panel strip (with the same type drawing as CTH) called "Herman" that had
God-awful art.
Mike Frost
the latter.
TLeo
sacks, the "humor" is pathetic or nonexistent, and the art sometimes makes
"Grin and Bear It" look clean.
Todd Leopold
tl...@aol.com
Ray H. Misra
: You hate foxtrot, really? I think it's a riot. Jason (the Kid) has an
: Oliver Wendell Jones flavor in some ways.
I must add my name to those of others who despise _Fox Trot_. Schtick humor is
disgraceful enough. When it's a schtick as tiresome, or as rooted in contempt
for the characters, as FT's the results are nauseating.
Before the arrival of _Mallard Fillmore_, I would go so far as to sat that FT
was the worst strip carried by the Boston Globe, narrowly edging out _Curtis_.
_Curtis_, for all its worthlessness, is at least bad for a different reason
every day. You never know if it will be because of an embarrassingly poorly
executed attempt at realism, or an old joke dreagged out past its welcome yet
again, or Billingsley's condescension to his own characters, or something
completely new, as when Curtis broke the 4th wall to offer the readers some of
his father's inedible barbeque. A surprise every day, at least. IN FT, on the
other hand, you know why it won't be funny: because of terrible art,
predictable gags, and the strip's greatest liability: characters who would have
to strech to be one-dimensionaltch to be one-dimensional.
Believe me, the faat it is worse than FT is the worst insult I can think of to
bestow upon _Mallard Fillmore_. I think Tinsley's fully aware that he isn't
funny, and just hopes to hit the righand isst the right nerve in his angry
audience to keep them from noticing. It's basically _Shoe_, only without the
self-deprecation, charm, populist appeal, evenhandedness (sorta) and, most
importantly, wit.
Oh yeah, and the guy who does _Adam_ ought to be ashamed of himself, too.
Ciao bello,
Ray
P.S. My theory--and this may even already be a confirmed fact; I just haven't
heard it confirmed myself--is that the reason Jason's best friend is black and
Peter's girlfriend is blind in FT has little, if anything, to do with
diversity. I suspect that it's because Amend's drawing skills are so poor that
if Petter's friend were white, Amend would not be able to draw him distinctly
enough to prevent us from mistaking him for Jason, and if Peter's girlfriend
didn't have to wear those shades all the time, the readers would be incapable
of distinguishing her from Paige, see an incestuous subtext in the strip, and
become mightily confused, once again because Amend just couldn't draw her any
differently. Think about it....you've seen the way he draws. If he were
white, and she were sighted, how different do you think they would look from
PeJasoJJason and Paige?
chri...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
ghost crap. the best is blondie, b/c i want to marry her. kmc>
Stubby no2
SALLY FORTH
Besides the stupid word play title, the strip reads like sit-com humor,
and sit-com humor don't play in a comic strip. It's like reading a Sanka
commercial.
Russ Lay
>SALLY FORTH
>Besides the stupid word play title, the strip reads like sit-com humor,
>and sit-com humor don't play in a comic strip. It's like reading a Sanka
>commercial.
The 'old' Sally Forth was much better. It went under some kind of revision
some time ago (new artist?) and the art and story lines both suffered.
Ray Dawson
Russ Lay <ca...@russlay.pdial.interpath.net> wrote:
>
>The 'old' Sally Forth was much better. It went under some kind of revision
>some time ago (new artist?) and the art and story lines both suffered.
Although I never really strongly cared for Sally Forth, a strip
I find to be bland Yuppie humor that barely registers a pulse, I
do concede that it used to be better before the change-over of
artists. Additionally, there is an interesting little history
behind the changing of the artists. When the new artist came in
to do the drawing the style was ... well, if not "radically"
different from Howard's style, it was a least markedly different.
I remember that the characters heads became more elongated, as
if their noggins got trapped in a taffy pull machine. Evidently
the change is style put off so many people that they had to again
redefine it to something closer to Howard's original work, though
it still differs. From what I understand, Howard writes the strip
and his partner (Craig MacIntosh, I believe) does the drawing.
Robin Netherton
> The 'old' Sally Forth was much better. It went under some kind of revision
> some time ago (new artist?) and the art and story lines both suffered.
Same writer, new artist; the writer never thought he was a very good
artist, and felt limited by his inability to draw certain things. The new
artist did have a different "feel" to his work (it's improved over time);
now, you'll notice a lot of new angles, backgrounds, scenes, etc.
FYI: Sally Forth is one of those strips that's suddenly a lot funnier
after you're married and have kids. Ditto Marvin, which I never saw a
point to till I had a big blond baby boy.
Robin
Jim Strain
Dawson) wrote:
> Although I never really strongly cared for Sally Forth, a strip
> I find to be bland Yuppie humor that barely registers a pulse,
I don't know that Yuppies deserve such a bad rap. <g>
Actually, I read it and it occasionally causes me to crack a smile.
There are also those days when my wife waves it under my nose with a,
"Look at this! This is you!" as Ted does some incredibly insensitive
(i.e., male) thing. I think it could be a much better strip if Howard
could somehow lighten Sally up a *little* bit. To be candid, she's just
not very likeable. She's so...so...*responsible* that sometimes I think
she must be the model for Sylvia's "Woman Who Does Everything More
Beautifully than You." I wouldn't care for another "Cathy" clone, but IMHO
a little vulnerability and a little sense of fun would really help make
Sally a more engaging character.
. . . jim strain in san diego.
Ricardo Lafaurie
A I
M R
I C
L U
Y S
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--
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Matt Pritchard
: In article <ckipnis-1004...@134.10.10.127> cki...@reed.edu (Constantine Kipnis) writes:
: >Hey guys aren't we forgetting one really bad but famous strip: Cathy
: Yeah, but Guisewite is a babe. When the Los Angeles Times did a feature
: story on her a few years back, they got so many letters, from guys ranging
: from blue collar to executives, asking for introductions that the paper
: ran a second story about these guys and their letters. But if Guisewite
: is anywhere near neurotic as Cathy, then . . .
I suspect Guisewite is quite similar in character to Cathy.. It seems to
fit her generation and soci-economic class pretty well.. but hey I could
be wrong... Now looking at her picture on some older collections, she
looks so much like my college sweetheart from long ago, it's *scary*
--
-Matt P
_______________________________________________________________________________
Matt Pritchard | Antique Computer & Game System Collector
matt...@netcom.com | Assembly Language Programming Guru
via Dallas, Tx dialup | Article Writer/Repressed Game Programmer
Matt Pritchard
: Oh yeah, and the guy who does _Adam_ ought to be ashamed of himself, too.
On this point, I must disagree....
: Ciao bello,
Ray Dawson
Jim Strain <jpst...@netcom.com> wrote:
>(i.e., male) thing. I think it could be a much better strip if Howard
>could somehow lighten Sally up a *little* bit. To be candid, she's just
>not very likeable. She's so...so...*responsible* that sometimes I think
>she must be the model for Sylvia's "Woman Who Does Everything More
>Beautifully than You." I wouldn't care for another "Cathy" clone, but IMHO
>a little vulnerability and a little sense of fun would really help make
>Sally a more engaging character.
Yeah, I can agree with what you are saying here, though I
am not *real* sure the strip would improve measurably by
any such change. In the same vein, though, ever read a
strip called Adam? The title character is a househusband
who stands as one of the most pathetic comic strip characters
going presently, and the character of his wife definitely
falls into the "Sally Forth" mode you describe above. I
find myself wishing Adam would develop a spine and that his
wife would become a bit more human. Maybe their kids will
tie 'em both up and set them adrift on an iceberg. :)
--- Ray .....