Of the old adventure strips I admired anything by Milton Caniff (collected volumes of Dickie Dare and Terry & The Pirates), Miss Fury by Tarpe Mills, Captain Easy by Roy Crane, and Alley Oop by V.T. Hamilton, but maybe the most fun adventure strip has to be those early Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson. Love the old pie-eyed Mickey and Minnie!
The L.A. Times recently dropped 9 Chickweed Lane, which I thought was the most visually interesting thing they had on the comics page. It featured so many great concepts and bold designs that pushed against the narrow confines of the comic strip format. For awhile there was a contingent of letter writers who complained about the mature themes--I think one even called it pornography! What finally killed it was a line that featured in a WWII - fantasy storyline, where the character (in the vernacular of that time) referred to an attack on a "Jap Zero." (which was an airplane) The Times printed the strip, then someone complained, then they suspended the strip for a couple of weeks (filling the space with an apology to the readers) and finally replaced it. The fact that the editors didn't bother to explain the context, and just caved in really bothers me. Yes, 9 Chickweed Lane was provocative, and it was also great art. It's a sad day when newspapers listen to the mob and won't defend free speech.
This is a good thread. My favorite all time comic strip is "Calvin and Hobbes". I'm glad it ended when it did before it had a chance to become something lesser in terms of quality. I spend about thirty minutes or so every day reading several strips online. Some of the much older ones, such as "Hi and Lois" and "The Family Circus", to name two, can be hit or miss in terms of how good they are from day to day. At best, quite good. At worst, really bad. Others, such as "The Lockhorns", are always worth my time. That one is still pretty old school but has been updated just enough to work in our current times. Another very old one that is surprisingly good these days is "Popeye". Of the newer strips, I always enjoy "Fred Bassett", which is very gentle in spirit. Some strips can go weeks at a time without presenting anything the least bit in poor taste then hit you with something really bad. But this one never has let me down that way. One that I really miss and would love to see revived or at least put back into syndication with the original material is "They'll Do It Every Time".
First my favorite retired comic strips Retail Calvin and Hobbes Cow and Boy Ernie/Piranha Club Bloom County and it’s spin-offs Far Side Current strips that I read everyday either online or in a paper One Big Happy Red and Rover Pearls Before Swine Pickles Baby Blues Dog Eat Doug although it’s been repeats for months now. Zits Real Life Adventures Sally Forth Dilbert Comics I read regularly until the local paper turned to s*#t but occasionally read online or in an out of town paper and wouldn’t miss if they went into retirement. Beetle Bailey Wizard of Id Luanne Blondie Hagar the Horrible Comics I enjoy but don’t check everyday Lio Dustin Dennis the Menace Close to Home The Tinkersons (not sure if that’s correct name) Mother Goose and Grimm Shoe Grand Avenue Soup to Nutz Curtis
More here: Fap! I'll confess I was unaware of any connotation for the word beyond Major Hoople's frequent invocation of it....
I subscribe to 17 newspapers to keep up my "stripper" Top Cat , Flintstones , Yogi Bear , Batman , Superman would be 5 revival "stripper dreams"
Would you believe there was a "Top Cat" comic strip? Among "Strippers" it is considered a "Holy Grail". It was tested in a couple of small markets , for only a couple of weeks
I loved most of the strips mentioned here, at least the older ones. I’d guess that Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes are my favorite dailies. Also: as a kid I had an anthology of the 40s/50s strip Barnaby by Crockett Johnson. I think I read it 1000 times. Additionally, I was a big Archies fan, especially the early to mid 70s volumes when they tried updating Archie and the gang with a more mod look.
"Foxtrot" is in semi-retirement, unfortunately. Only new strips on Sundays - been that way since 2006, apparently. I didn't realize it'd been Sundays-only for so long!
After Calvin, Uncle Duke from Doonesbury is my favorite comic character. One great comic that has disappeared from the public eye is Herman. I have two compilation books.
I remember during the 80's, when "The Far Side" (which I liked) was really big, my brother and I always looked forward to reading Jerry Van Amerongen's more absurdist and decidedly less mainstream single-panel strip "The Neighborhood": There was just something about those dumpy, middle-aged people (which I basically am now!) exhibiting not-so-slightly off behavior that appealed to me. Later, this morphed into "Ballard Street" but had essentially the same type of humor: Of the other comic strips I enjoyed: Peanuts (still and may forever be the gold standard) Garfield (hasn't aged particularly well, but I liked it enough at the time to acquire several of those books) Hagar the Horrible (ditto the above, but I think I'd still find the early ones funny enough) While not a comic strip per se, I think Mad Magazine certainly deserves a mention as those illustrations looked a lot like what you'd find in "real" newspapers but were probably too "hot" for regular syndication. I even had a subscription to this once, and now own the Totally Mad CD-ROM set. Here is a link to an ongoing thread for current and future reference: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...ature-issue-writer-artist-or-whatever.870501/ Really fun seeing all these great pics, and please do keep 'em coming!
The Archie Comic Strip is still running (all repeats , though) --The comic strip was very , very good, perhaps brilliant at times
No discussion about comic strips is complete without inclusion of something representing The Perishers and Andy Capp. Unfortunately all my old books are up in the loft and not easily accessible. However, I did find an old Giles compilation from '72/'73. The times they are a-changin'.......
I didn't grow up with Barnaby and Mr O' Malley but last year a friend read a number to a group of us in a streaming session, showing illustrations. Barnaby is something else!
Old school... Peanuts, Family Circle, Marmaduke, Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible... My favorite is of course!!
