Comics of the Day

Worst One of the problems with Mother Goose and Grimm is that it will take a bad idea for a joke, and run with it for a week or two. Another problem is that the jokes are never funny. A third problem is that the art is bad. A fourth problem is that the characters are not at all interesting. Lots of problems, no redeeming qualities.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey (is Mort Walker unaware of feminism or ignoring it?), For Better or For Worse, Hagar the Horrible, Rhymes with Orange

Best:

Not as good as yesterday's, but I am all about some cheesnicity

Runners-up: Baby Blues, Big Nate, Lio, Pearls Before Swine (you could see the punchline coming a mile away, but it's still funny), Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics of the Day

Worst:

Runners-up: Family Circus, For Better or For Worse (it's not fair to whine about lifestyle choices that you make)

Best:

I like to think that the expression on Pig's face in the second panel is one of abject terror.

Runners-up: Agnes, Candorville, Lio, Pooch Cafe, Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst: This strip typifies what I hate about Brevity. The joke is all about an odd non-sequiter moment. They've taken an object that does not fit in a situation, and put it in that situation. Randomness is not a substitute for cleverness.

Runners-up: Frank and Ernest, Mother Goose and Grimm, Mutts

Best:

As funny as anything else in the paper, and it has the best art.

Runners-up: Lio, Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst: I didn't get this joke the first time around. I figured it out as I was choosing it as worst strip. A joke that takes two tries to figure out, and isn't funny once you do is a good bet to win worst.

Runners-up: Baldo (for the visual in the last panel), Close to Home, Dennis the Menace, For Better or For Worse, Garfield, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange

Note what isn't present in the runners-up.

Best:

Cute.

Runners-up: Frank and Ernest, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Tank McNamara, Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics Note: Self-indulgent crap like this is exactly why I dislike For Better or For Worse. Ellie and Connie chose to have kids and they act like they deserve a medal. Yes it's hard work raising kids, but it's hard work being a major league baseball player, or a UN delegate, or a trash collector, or any job really. So why do we privilege motherhood and family so highly? Perpetuation of the status quo, problems included, is not a heroic act.

Comics of the Day

Worst: Unappealing visual and bizarre joke that makes little sense. Classic Brevity.

Runners-up: Mother Goose and Grimm, Blondie, Curtis, Baldo (Baldo says it's a cheese pizza, but it clearly has pepperoni on it, sloppiness like that all but guarantees a worst runner-up), Beetle Bailey

Best: What sold me on this strip is Chazz's assumption of Poncho's scheming in the last panel.

Runners-up: Pearls Before Swine, Watch Your Head, Baby Blues, Zits, Lio, Red and Rover

Comics of the Day

Worst:
Making fun of people's names is so first grade.

Runners-up: For Better or For Worse, Family Circus

Best:Stephan Pastis cracked me up today. I'm concerned that the run-away winner of best was an ironic, cynical take on a strip aimed at children.

Runner-up: Get Fuzzy, Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Cul de Sac, Frazz, Lio, Mutts, Opus, Prickly City

Bonus Visual Runners-up:
I had a hard time choosing today's worst strip. Garfield had an absolutely atrocious joke. For Better or For Worse had verbal child abuse. Family Circus had disgusting treacle beyond even its usual level of disgusting treacle. All three were terrible, terrible strips, so I wanted to highlight them so they could receive their share of ignominy.

Comics of the Day

Worst: I looked at this for several minutes, and I just don't get it. Is there some proverb or something about the hair of the dog who bit you? Absolutely don't get it.

Runners-up: Candorville, Close to Home, Curtis, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Non Sequiter, Red and Rover, Speed Bump

Best: I'm rooting for Get Fuzzy or Lio to move into the top spot, because I think they are the most artistic and best comics out there. Pooch Cafe keeps winning though.

Runners-up: Blondie, Frazz, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Prickly City, Sally Forth, Single and Looking, Watch Your Head