Comic strips that have worn out their welcome....

[West of the Rockies]

Don't know that this thread'll have any legs, but having read a few comments about The Family Circus being pretty stale, it got me thinking about other comic strips we might think of as having been on the decline for two or forty years. 

This is damn near blasphemous, I know, but I'm rather surprised that some newspapers print Peanuts strips still.  Schultz died in the year 2000. 

That Hagar the Horrible still has readers astonishes me.  Ditto for Blondie, Marvin, Garfield...  I think Dilbert reached its apogee about a dozen years ago.  Beetle Bailey seems pretty dull to me as well.

The comic strip artists who bow out gracefully are few and far between:  Berkeley Breathed and Bill Watterson come to mind....

[tertiaryimam]

Don't know that this thread'll have any legs, but having read a few comments about The Family Circus being pretty stale, it got me thinking about other comic strips we might think of as having been on the decline for two or forty years. 

This is damn near blasphemous, I know, but I'm rather surprised that some newspapers print Peanuts strips still.  Schultz died in the year 2000. 

That Hagar the Horrible still has readers astonishes me.  Ditto for Blondie, Marvin, Garfield...  I think Dilbert reached its apogee about a dozen years ago.  Beetle Bailey seems pretty dull to me as well.

The comic strip artists who bow out gracefully are few and far between:  Berkeley Breathed and Bill Watterson come to mind....

I miss Calvin & Hobbes. Holy shit I loved those comics. And Bloom County, as well as its resurrected form, Outland. And the Farside. My god.

Garfield was great in the beginning but took a shit real fast. Jim Henson really sold out with that one.

Actually this thread is great but it's also managed to depress me profoundly.

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[zeebo]

...The comic strip artists who bow out gracefully are few and far between:  Berkeley Breathed and Bill Watterson come to mind....

I remember Gary Larson's The Far Side being pretty great for the duration as well.  Or maybe I just have a soft spot for that kind of humor.  I still get a chuckle out of Dilbert, but I work in computers so that stuff never gets old for me.  I used to kinda like B.C. but I think it slipped years ago.

[ZHero]

Cathy and The Wizard of Id suck pretty bad. To be honest I never got them.
I miss Calvin and Hobbes so bad it hurts me too. 
I got the complete Calvin and Hobbes not long ago so that helps a little.

[Little Hater]

I'd agree about the old, old strips like Beetle Bailey and Blondie. I didn't know Garfield was still around.

The only strips I look forward to reading anymore are Get Fuzzy, Frazz, Pearls Before Swine and (guilty pleasure) Overboard. I also like a couple of single panel comics: Speed Bump and Non Sequitur.

[Treading Water]

Pearls Before Swine and Non Sequitur, my favorites.  Used to check them every morning before starting work.  At least, before we started "cutting costs," like the newspaper, water cooler, HEAT(55 to 60 -- not too comfy when you sit at a computer all day)  Brrrrrrrrr....

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I still like Maakies which is consistently good.
In the normal papers I still like Foxtrot and Dilbert.

Many of the longer running serials like Peanuts etc. I would read in those cheap paperbacks from the 60s. I used to buy them from used book stores and the like. Those were actually pretty good-Peanuts, Wizard of ID, B.C., and even things like Beetle Bailey were ok. Reading their recent panels they are producing nowadays I think they aren't that great and have taken a quality hit.
Never really liked Calvin and Hobbes. The Farside was ok here and there.

[Juan]

In honor of last night's Coast

[area51drone]

I think every damned one of them has pretty much worn out their welcome.  Who gets the paper anymore?  I get my news from Bellgab.

[PB the Deplorable]

It has to be tough to come up with a new cartoon every single day, so there have to be duds and a general downward trajectory at some point, similar to a TV show series.

As with TV shows. people enjoy and grow comfortable with characters and even start to think of them as friends.  It even happens with radio show hosts. They just want them to be there, even if they've run out of material to a certain extent.


My all time favorite by far is Calvin and Hobbes, with honorable mention for Dilbert and the Far Side.  I'll admit to still reading some of the older comics just because they are right there in the paper and I like the characters, but I skip others I used to read just because they've gotten too stale.  Of the ones in our local paper I only read a handful, but there are others I would read if they were still in it but I don't seek them out.

There are some good ones on-line but it's a chore to look them up each day, especially when they aren't always good.  Political cartoons are so perfect sometimes.

[area51drone]

In honor of the real Dennis the Menace.



Gone, yet forgotten.

[ItsOver]

Paper*Boy's "Jorch and Tommy" comics have not worn out.  They're excellent.  Keep them coming. 

[area51drone]

Paper*Boy's "Jorch and Tommy" comics have not worn out.  They're excellent.  Keep them coming.

True. See, we really do get our news (and funnies) from bellgab.

[Uncle Duke]

Many of those classic strips still retain the names of their creators, but are drawn and scripted by others after their death/retirement. They may look the same, but the feel is different.  Dennis the Menace, Shoe, Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois etc.

I got to meet Gary Larson at an event back in the late 80s.  Seemed nice enough, but he was an odd duck.  Still don't know if he was stoned or just naturally spacy?  Got the feeling he was socially ill at ease, or at least very shy.  He was also very soft spoken, hard to hear what he was saying.

[tertiaryimam]

Many of those classic strips still retain the names of their creators, but are drawn and scripted by others after their death/retirement. They may look the same, but the feel is different.  Dennis the Menace, Shoe, Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois etc.

I got to meet Gary Larson at an event back in the late 80s.  Seemed nice enough, but he was an odd duck.  Still don't know if he was stoned or just naturally spacy?  Got the feeling he was socially ill at ease, or at least very shy.  He was also very soft spoken, hard to hear what he was saying.

Did you ever get to meet Bill Waterson?

I always pictured Bill as a short, blond man with a strange hair-do of some sort, who spoke with seeming conviction even if he was telling ferocious lies.

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[Uncle Duke]

Did you ever get to meet Bill Waterson?

I always pictured Bill as a short, blond man with a strange hair-do of some sort, who spoke with seeming conviction even if he was telling ferocious lies.

[attachimg=1]

No, only got to meet Larson through a former GF who did community relations for a local newspaper.  He was on a book tour and the local paper that ran his cartoon hosted him.

Did meet Bridget the Midget once, but guess I'll have to wait for a "Tiny Strippers Who Have Worn Out Their Welcome" thread.

[area51drone]

OMG, Newsflash: Peter's gone blonde.



http://www.pixyland.org/peterpan/