Some of you may know the Addams Family from movies or television. This is a macabre, ghoulish family with some very strange relatives. It was probably the inspiration for the Munsters and the Creeplies (from the Flintstones). But before it was a TV show, it was a one-panel comic strip by a cartoonist named Charles Addams. This comic strip featured macabre characters with peculiar values. In the example I'm including in this post, Wednesday and Puggsly are stoking the fireplace on Christmas eve.

OPC 20: The Other Side of Life

Isn't life wonderful? There you go again, always thinking the grass is greener on the other side.

by fpd, 12-26-05

The strip I won the last OPC with was in the same vein as the work of Charles Addams, and that gave me the idea for this contest. Here are the rules.

1) Your strip should feature a macabre subject or a macabre twist on a usual subject.

2) New strips only.

3) Edited entries allowed.

4) Non-donating members may black out two panels and use only one.

That's it. I'll give the contest a week or two and then judge it.

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

I screwed up the title of this thread. I meant to combine the title of the Addams Family with my least favorite one-panel comic strip, Family Circus. Since I try to ignore Family Circus and don't read women's magazines, I got the two names confused. Anyway, let me just mention how much I hate Family Circus and bemoan the fact that the Sunday comics section is much worse for having the work of Bill Keane in it instead of the late Chas Addams.

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

Not for the contest, but I thought you'd get a kick out of this:

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Dinosaurs had eggs bro, the chicken came way later.

OPC 21: Addams Family Circle

What the fuck is macabre? I Don't know, but i'm panicing.

by Matt_wolfe, 1-16-06

The Devil's Advocates

Hello, you aren't another Jevohah's Witness, are you? I've had enough of those people. No, I'm a Devil's Advocate. I was wondering if I might share with you the benefits of selling your soul to Satan. Maybe I could leave a copy of our magazine, the Witchpower.

by fpd, 1-17-06

I just wanted to mention some rules I forgot, which should generally be standing rules for any OPC. These are "No series" and "Multiple entries encouraged." If you use multiple strips to tell a story or continue a dialogue, then you would be ignoring the point of a one-panel contest, which is to design a one-panel strip that can stand on its own. But aside from that, you may enter as much as you want.

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

I'm not entering my own competition, but as long as all the other competitions are at a standstill right now, I decided to focus on the topic of this one. If you haven't had the benefit of reading Chas Addams's cartoons, you can consider these as examples of what I have in mind with this competition. I suppose the "End of the Date" one is sort of lame, but it was easy enough to click Save once it was finished.

Who understands women?

It just isn't fair. Everytime I ask a girl out on a date, she runs away like she's scared to death of me. I hear you, friend. I just tried to offer my hand in marriage to the woman I love, and she just freaked.

by fpd, 1-17-06

The Devil's Advocates II

Pardon me, sir, but you look like a man who hasn't sold his soul to the devil. May I interest you in coming to one of our black sabbath services?

by fpd, 1-17-06

End of the Date

Would you like to come in for a drink? I thought you would never ask!

by fpd, 1-17-06

The Dearly Departed

You want me to engage in a threesome with you and your wife? I thought you said you were a widower. I am. What do you think we're doing here?

by fpd, 1-17-06

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

Mmm ... Bear Claws

You thought your kids wouldn't eat them if you said they were "bear claws" ... so what did you call them? "Ted Kennedy's Hemorrhoids"

by Namgubed, 1-19-06

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"There's no point in beating a dead horse ... except, of course, for the pure joy of it." - A. Whitney Brown

Here's a crossover from the dearly departed Dysfunctional Family Circus :

Sniff the Glove

As well as providing entertainment on Bil's hunting trips, Dolly was also his best pointer.

by Namgubed, 1-20-06

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"There's no point in beating a dead horse ... except, of course, for the pure joy of it." - A. Whitney Brown

Satanist Pest Removal

I would have been in earlier, but I was crucifying a Jehovah's witness in the back yard. Geez. I killed 3 last week. More and more of those things keep popping up as the weather gets warm...

by NooniePuuBunny, 1-21-06

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I will rate you hard, and unendingly.

Death, On a Very Deep Level

I'm not getting overtime for my extra shift. It's okay. Patrick from the Legal Division is getting paid in Gummi Bears.

by LuckyGuess, 1-21-06

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

Yet another Far Side rip-off:

Reflection for Pause

Holy crap, I'm reflecting m'I ,qarc yloH pnitcelfer

by Namgubed, 1-25-06

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"There's no point in beating a dead horse ... except, of course, for the pure joy of it." - A. Whitney Brown

OPC 21: Addams Family Style (ugh)

Well we have about a 50/50 chance that Gomez will pull through, we won't stop trying though. I would hope so, we have his wake scheduled for midnight.

by flipynif1, 1-26-06

Their corny type of comedy, not really my style, worth a shot though.

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I dumb :D

flippy, this is how it's done.

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Our liability coverage is zero. Our balls however are enormous.

Okay, the funniest was this one:

Reflection for Pause

Holy crap, I'm reflecting m'I ,qarc yloH pnitcelfer

by Namgubed, 1-25-06

If this was not lifted right from the Far Side, then Namgubed is the winner. Otherwise, NooniePooBunny is the winner for this one:

Satanist Pest Removal

I would have been in earlier, but I was crucifying a Jehovah's witness in the back yard. Geez. I killed 3 last week. More and more of those things keep popping up as the weather gets warm...

by NooniePuuBunny, 1-21-06

I will leave the judgement call up to Namgumed.

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FPD is the foremost plague on discussion boards. Do your part to stomp out FPD.

Yeah, this is a blatant Far Side rip-off as I said, and since Gary Larson isn't here to accept the win, I say the carrot goes to Bunny.

Congratulations!

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"There's no point in beating a dead horse ... except, of course, for the pure joy of it." - A. Whitney Brown

Huzzah. New contest in a few mins.

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I will rate you hard, and unendingly.