Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Bad Word Edition (May 9)

Worst:
I don't know that the coppertone ad is deep enough in our cultural consciousness to be a sound basis for a joke. I feel like most people my age wouldn't get it, I guess older people would. Since Grimmy is a sentient being, wouldn't the presumed pantsing qualify as sexual assault?

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Garfield, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange

Best:
Agnes dethrones Get Fuzzy. I'm assuming Agnes is trying to swing some sort of excuse, but she's so spacey, I don't think we can rule out the possibility that she wasn't aware that she was in the hallway. I think it's funnier that way.

Runners-up: Dilbert, Family Circus, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine

Worst Insult Ever Edition (May 8)

Worst:
Pathetic Meow Sack? Not a very compelling insult.

Runners-up: Baldo, Blondie, Curtis, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Non Sequiter, Pooch Cafe, Speed Bump

Best:
Lots of good stuff in this one. Uncool Canadians, Marco Polo, coolishness. Darby Conley just blows away the competition on his good days. Kudos for the threepeat too.

Runners-up: Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Rhymes with Orange, Watch Your Head

Disturbed Edition (May 7)

Worst:
A kind of disturbing drawing backing a rather weird joke. I don't wicking clothing works quite like that anyway.

Runners-up: Blondie, Brevity, Family Circus, Frank and Ernest, Mutts, Pearls Before Swine, Speed Bump

Best:
Is Bucky a psychopath?

Runners-up: Agnes, Dilbert, Frazz, Lio

Tweedle Dumbfounding Edition (May 6)

Worst:
Even Billy seems bored by this lame joke.

Runners-up: Argyle Sweater, Candorville, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Rhymes with Orange, Sally Forth, Speed Bump

Best:
Get Fuzzy is great on so many levels. Great dialog, great art, great characters.

Runners-up: Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Lio, Pearls Before Swine

Devil in the Details Edition (May 4)

Worst:
Toilet water could more accurately be described as swirled rather than shaken or stirred. What really bothered me was Ralph's water bowl. The water appears to be a dome in the middle of the bowl. Is there any physical way that could happen, at least to that extent? Sometimes we all get caught up in the details I guess.

Runners-up: Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible

Best:
The snake's expressions sealed this one.

Runners-up: Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe, Watch Your Head, Zits

Bastardization Edition (May 4)

Worst:
One of the problems with Hagar the Horrible, and there are many, is the willingness of Chris Browne to jettison the historical context to make bad jokes. I Got Mine is a 21st century catchphrase which seems jarringly out of place here. What's the point of a Viking strip if the joke would have worked just as poorly in Blondie or Rhymes with Orange or Barney Google and Snuffy Smith?

Runners-up: Argyle Sweater, Baldo, Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Garfield, Opus

Best:
The pidgin English bit for the crocs can get a bit tiresome sometimes, but I think it worked well for their bastardization of things Charlie Brown might say. Me Kick Football is a great line in this context.

Runners-up: Agnes, Candorville, Cul de Sac, Get Fuzzy, Watch Your Head

Craftsmanship Edition (May 3)

Worst:
An absolutely atrocious pun, that is made to work with bizarre art. I'm not sure which offends my comedic taste more.

Runners-up: Close to Home, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, On the Fastrack, Rhymes with Orange

Best:
Not as great as many Get Fuzzy strips, but still the best for the day. Darby Conley is not content to come up with a joke and dedicate a whole strip to it. There is a punchline at the end, but the set-up is more entertaining than most strip's punch lines.

Runners-up: Agnes, Baby Blues, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Candorville, Frazz, Sally Forth, Single and Looking

Mr. Bojangles Edition (May 2)

Worst:
Inserting technology into an anachronistic situation is not inherently funny, as this joke proves.

Runners-up: Blondie, Curtis, Family Circus, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Non Sequiter, On the Fastrack, Speed Bump

Best:
As always, great details in the art. Hiding a rhino under a lamp shade is brilliant.

Runners-up: Agnes, Pearls Before Swine, Watch Your Head