What Are Your Favorite Syndicated Comic Strips?

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fpd
February 4, 2002 8:17 PM

This topic is not about the strips at this site. It is about regular, syndicated strips that appear (or once appeared) in newspapers or on other websites. Which are your favorites, both past and present? Which are your least favorite?

Among present strips, my favorites are:

Bizarro
Dilbert
Doonesbury
Monty
Rubes

Many of my favorite strips are no more. Although this is sad, it is better than the alternative of zombie revivification under new writers and artists. Some of the most talented cartoonists have retired their strips before this could happen. My past favorites include:

Bloom County
Calvin & Hobbes
Citizen Dog
Far Side
Krazy Kat
Outland
Pogo
Robotman (became Monty)

Some strips I generally regard as good but not great include these:

Garfield
Wizard of Id

My least favorites include these:

Cathy
Family Circus
Hi and Lois

Post #42119

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wirthling February 4, 2002 8:32 PM	Among the most pointless I've ever seen: Henry Nancy
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Drexle
February 4, 2002 8:47 PM

I've always been a *huge* fan of Gary Larson's "Far Side." I'm not sure whether that shows in my own strips or not, though. I do seem to recall once that he wrote about a friend of his (Bernie?) whose sense of humor was so sick that if he called up Larson with high praise for that day's strip, he should probably brace himself for a load of hate mail. I think I'm one of the world's "Bernie's"

Occasionally, I tend to enjoy Wiley's "Non-Sequitur," but for some reason I tended to enjoy it more before he introduced running characters and plotlines.

As a child, and for a long time in my adolescence, I was a big fan of Garfield, though I've quit reading that strip lately.

Nowdays, I tend to enjoy Dilbert.

Post #42124

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Spankling February 4, 2002 8:48 PM	I read fpd's list plus: the Salon line-up Dilbert Get Fuzzy 9 Chickweed Soup to Nutz Duplex In The Bleachers Mr. Boffo And I used to LOVE getting s-t-o-n-e-d and looking at old Henry comix.
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crabby February 4, 2002 8:56 PM	I'm a big fan of Monty but I liked it alot better when it was called Robot Man.
Post #42128	link

pita February 4, 2002 9:25 PM	Nothing compares to The Far Side
Post #42131	link

Spankling February 4, 2002 9:50 PM	quote: Nothing compares to The Far Side True. I will never forget the Far Side called, "Cow Tools." When Larson was asked to explain it he was as stumped as anyone. Did you see his halloween special. GOD I wish I had that on tape.
Post #42132	link

Drexle February 4, 2002 10:02 PM	quote: Did you see his halloween special. GOD I wish I had that on tape. I unfortunately managed to miss that one... I'm sad. Where could I get it nowdays?
Post #42135	link

Jael February 4, 2002 10:05 PM	The Far Side (The Ultimate) Bloom County Calvin & Hobbes Dilbert (but only the ones with Catbert the Evil HR Director) The Quiqman's Close To Home
Post #42136	link

dcomposed February 4, 2002 10:06 PM	snake tails, calvin and hobbes, far side.
Post #42137	link

Kevin_Keegans_Perm February 4, 2002 10:42 PM	The Far Side Garfield Dilbert Broom Hilda Hagar The Horrible Calvin and Hobbes
Post #42146	link

lara7 February 4, 2002 11:05 PM	The Boondocks (have to read online, my paper doesn't get it) Foxtrot Bizarro Tom Tommorow's This Modern World K CHronicles (Salon has, I think) Life in Hell (duh)
Post #42149	link

Tom_O_Bedlam February 5, 2002 5:14 AM	'If...' and Doonesbury I like.
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andydougan February 5, 2002 9:34 AM	Calvin and Hobbes is the best strip in the multiverse. Dilbert and The Quigmans are also good. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the likes of Grandad and the Lad, Scorer and Animal Crackers.
Post #42172	link

KajunFirefly February 5, 2002 10:28 AM	In no particular order: Dilbert Calvin and Hobbes The Far Side Shaw Island Cartoon Man Bubblegun.com had some really funny shit going on about a year ago, but they're busy making Knife and Wife into a televised cartoon these days and have let the website slip.
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fpd February 5, 2002 10:29 AM	A couple favorites I forgot are "This Modern World" and "Life in Hell." I'm not sure if "Life in Hell" is still around. It used to appear in the local independent free newspaper, but it eventually stopped appearing there. I thought maybe Matt Groening was focusing more time on the Simpsons.
Post #42184	link

JrnymnNate February 5, 2002 12:35 PM	In no order Far Side Zits Herb and Jammal Crabby Road Calvin and Hobbes Help Desk Dilbert When I Grow Up
Post #42207	link

andydougan February 5, 2002 12:46 PM	quote: True. I will never forget the Far Side called, "Cow Tools." When Larson was asked to explain it he was as stumped as anyone. Any excuse to post my old strips... 29187 Not as good as the original "Cow Tools", of course.
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JrnymnNate February 5, 2002 1:28 PM	quote: In no order Far Side Zits Herb and Jammal Crabby Road Calvin and Hobbes Help Desk Dilbert When I Grow Up er, and of course Diesel Sweeties.
Post #42223	link

Spankling February 5, 2002 1:38 PM	http://home.earthlink.net/~hkranch/humorlinks.html I wish Liberty Meadow was still a daily strip.
Post #42226	link

lemur68 February 5, 2002 5:36 PM	Some of my faves....C+H, Dilbert, Red Meat, Tom the Dancing Bug, This Modern World. You know, I've looked at some Far Side recently, and I have to say....they don't hold up. Could just be me, though, but I don't find them much funny anymore.
Post #42261	link

andydougan
February 5, 2002 6:16 PM

quote:
You know, I've looked at some Far Side recently, and I have to say....they don't hold up. Could just be me, though, but I don't find them much funny anymore.

Yeah, I never really liked it. It too often relies on sheer weirdness rather than humour.

I forgot to mention online strips. I read funny comics like Goats, Red Meat, 8-bit Theater, and sometimes Hound's Home. I hate unfunny ones like Diesel Sweeties and Penny Arcade.

Post #42274

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kramer_vs_kramer
February 6, 2002 1:45 AM

quote:
In no particular order:
Cartoon Man

Bubblegun.com had some really funny shit going on about a year ago, but they're busy making Knife and Wife into a televised cartoon these days and have let the website slip.

Yeah, it was a shame about that. Mr Biffo is a bit of a comedy genius, but the Knife & Wife cartoon wasn't that good.

I have to say I aspire to making strips like Cartoon Man. He's great!

Oh, also everyone should go to Superkaylo. I also like Space Moose and Robot Stories which give me flashbacks to my days as a shop assistant.

Post #42317

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KajunFirefly February 6, 2002 2:09 AM	quote: Yeah, it was a shame about that. Mr Biffo is a bit of a comedy genius, but the Knife & Wife cartoon wasn't that good. I have to say I aspire to making strips like Cartoon Man. He's great I always wanted to do Cartoon Man-esque comics, but feared someone would point me out as a rip-off merchant, perhaps I'll do a "tribute" series, that should cover my ass legally.
Post #42318	link

NeoVid February 6, 2002 3:09 PM	Old time favorites are... Frumpy the Clown (greatest comic ever) The Far Side Calvin & Hobbes Bloom County Current favorites... Mutts Zits Rhymes With Orange Bizarro Mr Boffo Boondocks Ones I don't like... eh, only Garfield. It's got SNL syndrome. And I read few online comics. Really only Sabrina and Hsu & Chan.
Post #42382	link

JrnymnNate February 6, 2002 6:35 PM	Speaking of ones you don't like... Does anyone else here hate Gil Thorpe? or (this may cost me) Peanuts and Family Circle?
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fuzzyman
February 6, 2002 7:18 PM

Peanuts was never a huge favorite of mine, but I recently got this book and I appreciate Charles Schulz a lot more than I used to. The most fascinating thing to me is how his drawing style changed over the years. The early strips are remarkably different.

In online strips, I follow:

Sluggy Freelance
User Friendly
Bruno The Bandit
Bruno Baldwin
Bobbins
General Protection Fault
Goats
Nukees
Kevin & Kell
Ozzy & Millie
The Japanese Beetle
Wigu
The Mr. Chuck Show
Avalon
Bob the Angry Flower
Alice
Superosity

Post #42415

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fpd
February 6, 2002 7:55 PM

quote:
Speaking of ones you don't like...

Does anyone else here hate Gil Thorpe? or (this may cost me) Peanuts and Family Circle?

I have no acquaintance with Gil Thorpe, but I did a search on Google just to find out what it was. It seems to be an adventure strip about sports. I couldn't evaluate an adventure strip on one strip, which is all I looked at, but that one strip did bore me, and I generally hate sports. As far as adventure strips go, I generally like Brenda Starr and Spider-man, but I regularly ignore Prince Valiant and Rex Morgan, M.D. I have also liked Dick Tracy and the Phantom, which the paper I read as a kid carries, but the local paper here doesn't carry them. My all-time favorite adventure strip is probably Buck Rogers.

When Charles Schulz died, I was hoping that Peanuts would finally be cancelled and replaced by something better. I was not a big Peanuts fan. But compared to Family Circus, which is the comic strip I most detest, Peanuts is like Calvin and Hobbes. I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of Classic Peanuts. I also love the Peanuts music of Vince Guaraldi, and I generally think that the Peanuts TV specials were very good. And even though I thought Schulz's talent was fading, I was saddened by his death, because I respected him as a living legend. He may have never been as great as Walt Kelly, but Peanuts was with me from childhood through graduate school, whereas I knew Kelly only as a great talent of the past.

Post #42417

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Brad February 6, 2002 9:20 PM	quote: Bob the Angry Flower Finally someone mentioned Bob. Hooray! Gratitude is one of my most recent favorites.
Post #42421	link

fuzzyman February 7, 2002 4:44 AM	I'm partial to Time For Some New Friends. Oh, and in online strips I forgot Look What I Brought Home.
Post #42436	link

Jabizo February 7, 2002 6:12 AM	I'm a big fan of the Gabe Billings enhanced Brenda Starr comics.
Post #42442	link

lemur68 February 7, 2002 8:58 PM	quote: Speaking of ones you don't like... Does anyone else here hate Gil Thorpe? or (this may cost me) Peanuts and Family Circle? But I thought all Christians loved Family Circus. (Dr. Pedantic sez: Family Circle is a homemaking magazine.)
Post #42512	link

fuzzyman February 8, 2002 2:51 AM	Or the Dysfunctional Family Circus.
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