From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.strips
Subject: Comix review II
Date: 10 Jan 93 01:29:07 GMT
Reply-To: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Organization: University of Arizona

A long time ago, I reviewed the comics in one local paper, and promised
I'd do the other paper "next week".  Well, a few weeks have come and gone,
and I've finally got a copy of the paper here along with a spare minute,
so here it is:

Calvin and Hobbes
  This is my favorite.  Watterson is a genius at combining story,
  characters and drawing into a wonderful strip.

Fox Trot
  Very well written, perhaps better than Calvin and Hobbes.  Despite
  recent discussion, I remain unimpressed with the art-work.

Ernie
  Surely the king of gross-out humor, and very well written (since despite
  very strong negative traits in virtually all characters, I still care
  about them...)

For Better or Worse, Rose is Rose
  These (along with Family Circus, below) are the family-oriented strips.
  Those easily "cutsied" out will probably not like these too much.  I
  like the characters.  I am also consistently impressed with the art
  in "Rose is Rose".

Far Side
  In the early years, "Far Side" was the best strip, bar none.  However,
  more than a decade of strips has kind of played out Larson's somewhat
  narrow genre of humor, and probably been a strain on his creative
  process as well.

Doonsberry
  Good artwork, usually interesting stories (although I don't get the
  paper regularly enough to follow them from start to finish).  I've
  found the Sunday versions tend to be pretty throw-away, though...

Mother Goose & Grimm, Frank and Ernest, Sally Forth
  These tend to be hit 'r miss, but when they hit, they're dead-on.
  I've read that some don't like "Sally Forth".  Personally, I really
  enjoy the verbal play that goes on in the conversations; to me this
  has the most "life-like" conversation of any strip I've read.

Tumbleweeds, Funky, The Born Loser
  More hit 'r miss.  All have interesting characters and sometimes
  are quite funny, but all rely too much on formula situations to go
  any higher.

Dunagin's People
  Political humor.  Usually at least a little humorous, but it pales
  against Doonseberry's sharper wit.

Rubes
  A poor man's "Far Side".  Usually semi-interesting.  If the author
  cared to put a bit more work into it, I think this could be as good
  as "Far Side"...

Heathcliff
  I've never laughed at this strip.  Some of the characters are mildly
  interesting, though.  I can see how children would enjoy this one.

Crock, Cathy
  More strips I've never laughed at.  What's worse, I don't much care
  for any of the characters either.

Rabanitos
  This is the Spanish-language version of Peanuts (I'm told the title
  means "Little Radishes").  I don't read Spanish, so I don't read the
  strip.  I probably would read it if I could, just to see how the humor
  is translated.

The Family Circus
  The one on everyone's "love to hate" list.  I'm not crazy about it,
  but I don't find it nearly as vile as some who have posted about it...

Mary Worth, Judge Parker
  I don't read either of these, and have little interest in starting.
  I do (currently) read the two "soap opera" strips in the other paper,
  but mostly because the comic page is otherwise so dull.  I would have
  no problem replacing either or both with something better (Digbert,
  for example...)

Ziggy, Marmaduke
  These are easily my least favorite of the strips I read.  On a very
  rare occasion, I will get a laugh out of Ziggy, but mostly it's either
  pathetic or preachy or both.  Marmaduke is just one stupid "big dog"
  joke after another.

-- 
You unlock this door with the key of imagination.  Beyond it is another
dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.strips