To replace the recently dumped "Dilbert", the "Washington Post" now runs "Heart of the City". Apparently this one's been around since 1999 though it now has a different writer/artist now. It also seems like a different tone. I looked at some of the early strips and it gave off a post-"Calvin and Hobbes" vibe of sorts, whereas now it feels more like a mix of very gentle humor and teen soap opera. Anyone read this one regularly? Today on Heart of the City - Comics by Steenz - GoComics
The first writer was Mark Tatulli, who also writes Lio. I read it while getting the paper but dropped it once I stopped getting the daily and switched to GoComics / Comics Kingdom as my main source. There's about 30 strips I read daily, so I had to drop that along with some other ones - I don't have that much time in the AM (still keep up with Lio, though). Wiki says Tatulli passed the reins in Arpil 2020.
I do not have either of those titles in my collection…and I definitely need to pick up some of those volumes. They are two of the most beautiful comic strips even drawn. I’m more partial to “Mary Perkins” because it functions as both an adventure strip and soap opera, while “Juliet Jones” is more a pure soap. I only wish they had been produced in an earlier era where their beauty could be displayed at full page…or even half page. In the 1980s,Leonard and Drake teamed on “Kelly Green” - a well regarded series of graphic novels.
Here are some titles that I own: -“The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics” -“The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art” by Jerry Robinson -“The Comics: The Complete Collection” by Brian Walker
In that vein, I used to read "Apartment 3-G" (or "The Girls in Apartment 3-G") about a trio of young women who shared an apartment in New York. It was by Alex Kotsky, and had a fresh, dry line. This was over 50 years ago... In the same paper (LA Times) then they also ran "Rex Morgan, M.D." which seemed anachronistic in it's style by the '70's. It was illustrated by Bradley and Edgington. I think part of why it seemed a little "off" was that Bradley would draw the people and Edgington did the backgrounds. By comparison to "3-G" it was visually stuck in the '50's.
Oh, I didn't connect Tatulli to "Lio" - a strip I don't much like. Feels one-joke about a weird kid, and the lack of dialogue makes it tedious, IMO. I read the 1st 2 weeks of Tatulli's "Heart" and thought it was good. I read the strips in the WaPo app. Creature of habit!
You should check out the Lio strips which make fun of other comic strips For a larger image: http://www.benzilla.com/uploads/2007/06/i070325lio.jpg
Thanks, but I saw them at the time. I don't have to actually like comic strips to read them! If they're in WaPo, I read them... mostly. I always skipped the "serious" strips - though I gave "Mark Trail" a shot when they altered the style and tone. Better but not worth pursuing. As for the funny strips, I only skip the abysmal "Reply All". Even that atrocity I read for years, but I decided it's not even worth the 5 seconds attention it requires. I skipped "Dilbert" for a long period too but that was due to my thoughts about Scott Adams, not the strip itself. Granted, I wasn't missing anything - whatever wit and cleverness that strip once boasted evaporated years ago - but that was my private pointless boycott. Anyway, I don't hate "Lio" but I find it to be generally predictable and not very entertaining. It's not a terrible strip but I'd put it in the bottom 1/3 of what WaPo runs. The "poking fun of other strips" run was good, though. It's always fun when one strip lampoons another. Stephan Pastis has done that a lot via "Pearls Before Swine".
Broom Hilda was a fun strip, glad to hear its still around (and apparently has the same artist). What does everyone think of Heathcliff? Particularly the more bizzare direction its taken?
Anyone else here a fan of the comic strip, " Red Meat?" I'm not sure it's still in operation. Used to appear in independent weekly papers and that kind of thing.
I still have them. One was titled simply 'The Comics' by Jerry Robinson. Another was 'History Of The Comic Strip' by Couperie & Horn. Drake and Starr featured in both. Others had less on newspaper strips and more on comic books, like Comix by Les Daniels. There was also Maurice Horn's 'World Encyclopedia Of Comics' with images and info on lots of strips as well as comic books from all over. Also 'Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics' which had a companion volume on Comic Books.
Thanks for the reply! I already have those books (and they are well-worn), but I am always trying to add to my library ... so I do ask for suggestions on forums like this one, in case there are books out there that I've missed.
Being a cartoonist myself, I've been into the strips from a very early age, some of my favorites... WEE PALS SAD SACK BLONDIE JUMPSTART BEETLE BAILEY PRINCE VALIANT DONDI DICK TRACY TARZAN LITTLE LU LU
I stopped reading the strip when the artwork and the tone changed. I used to love reading it, but it’s since lost me and perhaps a big slice of its original audience.
I can't say for a fact I never heard of "Heart of the City" until WaPo used it to replace "Dilbert" - the strip's been around for 24 years, so maybe I read it at some point. But obviously if I enjoyed any familiarity with it, I forgot! As mentioned, I'll keep reading it, as I read most of what's in WaPo. I have to really dislike a strip to actively avoid it! But so far... yawn. Not funny and not interesting in terms of story line. The handful of "original author/tone" strips I read seemed pretty good, though.
I know that they do have the Heart of the City Classics strip available when it used to be readable and enjoyable. Heart of the City by Steenz for July 01, 1999 | GoComics.com
I can't figure out what filled the gap in our local... we still get Zits, Baby Blues, Mutts, Pooch Cafe and Pearls Before Swine which I usually will read, but my favorites are usually Tundra, and from a local area cartoonist The Other Coast. Mutts has gotten more twee than ever but I just like the art style so much I can forgive that.
