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

Poorly Political Edition (Apr. 29)

Several weeks ago, Scott Stantis published some bold strips condemning torture. Here, Mike Peters' demonstrates the wrong way to approach torture. Comparing a bath to waterboarding trivializes the impact of torture. If you're going to send the wrong message, at least make it funny.

Runners-up: Baldo, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Pickles, Red and Rover

Best:

Runners-up: Baby Blues, Big Nate, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Frank and Ernest, Frazz, Pooch Cafe, Speed Bump, Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics Note:
The bargain that Dolly has made isn't that different than that made by a housewife. In return for the validation of having a boyfriend, she is doing his work for him. A housewife, in return for the validation and support of a husband, does his work for him. Hopefully Thel will sit Dolly down tonight and read the Feminine Mystique to her, but I wouldn't count on it.

Metanote: For the first time in a month I am caught up. If you're lazy and intermittently committed, I would recommend not starting a blog that needs to be updated every day. Hopefully I will do a better job of keeping up, although I have a vacation in June that will set me back about a week and a half.

And You Thought Pearls Before Swine had Dark Humor Edition (Apr. 19)

Worst:
So we have a nagging mother-in-law who attacks through he daughter, a wife who takes her mother's criticism and uses it as a reason to nag her husband, an alcoholic husband who would rather drink than be with his family, and a relationship with no healthy, viable communication. What fun.

Runners-up: Baldo, Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Close to Home, Daddy's Home, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Mother Goose and Grimm, Prickly City, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:
Agnes' bizarreness was enough to win on a fairly weak day.

Runners-up: Lio, Mutts, Pooch Cafe, Single and Looking

Clever? Edition (Apr. 2)

Worst:
We've seen this joke a million times before.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Brevity, Daddy's Home, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Rhymes with Orange, Zits

Best:

Runners-up: Big Nate, Dilbert, Frazz, Lio

I Don't Get it Edition (Apr. 10)

Worst:
I absolutely do not get this. Is there some ad campaign for V8 that involves people getting bonked on the head? Even if there is, the set-up is very awkward. I don't think I've ever heard someone say that someone else bonked them on the head.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Curtis, Garfield, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:
I want to be a professional imaginer. I like how Agnes' Grandmother just rolls with the punches.

Runners-up: Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Piranha Club (I'm really enjoying this escape attempt series in spite of myself), Sally Forth, Watch Your Head (Cory Thomas does a nice job of shading in some back story)

Misplaced Homage Edition (Apr. 7)

Worst:
The rise of Snoopy is, in my opinion, one of the faults of the later Peanuts. The early strips generate their power from pathos. As the strip becomes more unrealistic, it loses a lot of this power. Therefore, I am firmly not a member of the cult of Snoopy. I still think Peanuts is one of the greatest strips of all time though.

Runners-up: Dennis the Menace, For Better or For Worse, Garfield, Mother Goose and Grimm, Speed Bump

Best:
Tony Cochran has a great ear for comedic dialogue.

Runners-up: Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Piranha Club, Sherman's Lagoon

Technology is not Inherently Funny Edition (Apr. 1)

Worst:
Another lame technology joke.

Runners-up: Baldo, Curtis, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Pickles, Red and Rover, Rymes with Orange, Zits

Best:

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

I Hate St. Patrick's Day Edition (Mar. 17)

Worst:
This is your typical bad pun with an awkward set-up.

Runners-up: Brevity, Curtis, Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange

Best:
Agnes coloring a pop tart is a funny image.

Runners-up: Big Nate, Dilbert, Garfield, Get Fuzzy, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe, Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics of the Day

Worst:I disliked this strip because of the set-up. This is not a conversation I could ever imagine myself having. First, who plays in dart tournaments? Second, why would all the other teams name themselves after musicians?

Runners-up: Family Circus, Frank and Ernest, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Prickly City

Best:
Runners-up: Brevity, Candorville, Curtis, Dilbert, Frazz, Lio, Mutts, Sally Forth, Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst: Runners-up: Family Circus, Foxtrot, Garfield, Mutts, Non Sequiter, Prickly City, Zits (I woke up on time in high school, made my own breakfast, packed my own lunches, managed my own homework, Connie bothers me because she spoils Jeremy and he gets blamed for it)

Best:

I love the overly dramatic writing in the last panel. I love that Agnes' grandmother is religious. I love the sense of chaos and distance from reality Agnes displays.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! (love the attention to detail, some cartoonists might have let this slide with only the final joke), Candorville (nothing new about the joke, but well presented), Cul de Sac (I used to love mitten juice), Doonesbury (on the strength of Romney's "I change all the time" line), Get Fuzzy, Sally Forth (Sally's sister is cute), Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst: Lots of bad jokes on Saturday, but I think this was the worst. The joke is that Grimmy needs a shot in the butt. That's it, nothing clever about it.

Runners-up: Blondie (old people should not be allowed to make jokes about young people, because all they amount to is crotchetyness), Dennis the Menace, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, On the Fastrack, Rhymes with Orange

Best:

I loved this the first time I read this, mostly for the line about finally finishing the math homework as a lower priority than making peace with every single body part. Agnes might be the most interesting character in comic strips today.

Runners-up: Big Nate, Curtis (it's about time Chutney stuck up for herself), Pearls Before Swine, Piranha Club, Sally Forth (discouraging a child from an activity while at the same time encouraging their development is a difficult skill), Zits

Comics of the Day

Worst: Rhymes with Orange is in serious competition for the worst strip in the Post. Along with Mother Goose and Grimm, this strip almost never has a day where it rises to the level of mediocre. It should be replace by any other strip, and the section would be improved.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Close to Home, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Mutts, Non Sequiter, Red and Rover, Sherman's Lagoon

Best: Viva la cheese.

Runners-up: Get Fuzzy, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe

Comics of the Day

Worst: Mother Goose and Grimm has resurrected a bad joke from several weeks ago. It hasn't gotten better with age. My understanding of Leona Helmsley was that she was a rich New York socialite, perhaps the Paris Hilton of her day. I could be wrong, and I had to look it up on Wikipedia when this joke first appeared in MG&G. It doesn't help your joke when it's based on twenty year old cultural references. This strip is also based on a cliche that's almost as old as Leona Helmsley and has been better executed many other places. I'm starting to get amazed that a comics editor would run a strip this irrelevant and unclever.

Runners-up: Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Mutts, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:

Cheese is a wonderful gift from God, it's in Job somewhere I think. In addition to being a paean to cheese and to Agnes' wonderful lack of a clue, Tony Cochran makes an interesting point in this series. I have absolutely no idea what the steps are between milking the cow and eating the cheese.

Runners-up: Frank and Ernest, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Pickles, Pooch Cafe, Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics of the Day

Worst:Bad pun that was difficult to figure out.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey (when did this strip become oddly surreal? Sometimes it works, today I think it doesn't.), Brevity, Dilbert (unoriginal material), Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Non Sequiter, Speed Bump

Best:

I love the fact that Trout is sprinting to share this crucial information.

Runners-up: Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe, Zits

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

Worst: This dialogue is incredibly stilted. It's impossible to imagine someone speaking like this. For example, why does Grimm need to tell Phil that the tree is outside. Why does the conversation veer from psychological problems to forestry? I'm starting to get pissed off, so I need to move on with the post.

Runners-up: Red and Rover, Family Circus (again the dialogue is awkward, a real five year old would not throw in the line about beating dad, he would just ask mom to play), Tank McNamara

Best:

And here we have an example of good dialogue. Tony Cochran sets up the joke well. The punchline is subtly implied in the last panel. And the dialogue, while certainly unusual, is believable.

Runners-up: Doonesbury, Watch Your Head, Baby Blues, Lio, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!

Metanote: I had a debate with myself while I was preparing this post. I thought Family Circus was the funniest comic in the paper today. But it was funny in a schadenfreude kind of way, because Billy is going to be scared because his dad won't play with him. In the end, I decided this does not count. The strip is funny only because it is bad, and that does not reflect well on Bil Keane.

Comics of the Day, Thursday

Worst: The set-up for this joke is terrible. I can't imagine anyone ever speaking the dialogue Hagar speaks in the first panel. And no one would ever tell their wife that they were flirting with a cute girl, except in some sort of anxious confession. I guess it fits because Hagar is supposed to be rude, but really, this joke fails on a lot of levels.

Runners-up: Close to Home, Red and Rover, Prickly City (Republicans are pure and virtuous, and Democrats are evil, I get it already), Mother Goose and Grimm (another bad joke with an awkward set-up)

Best: First, I enjoy the thought of a bewildered flamingo conservancy, so the baseline of humor in this strip is high. I like that Agnes fraternizes with some random drunk guy. I like Agnes' complete lack of a clue. I like Trout's complete lack of surprise at Agnes' lack of a clue.

Runner-up: Baby Blues

Comics of the Day

Worst: Just plain creepy.

Runners-up: Prickly City, Non Sequitur, Mother Goose & Grimm, Red and Rover, Beetle Bailey

Best:

I enjoy the idea of bewildered flamingos.

Runners-up: Zits, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!

Comics of the Day

Worst:

Brevity is one of the worst strips in the paper. It seems like Guy & Rodd choose some random topic (My other car is... bumper stickers!) and do whatever it takes to come up with a joke, no matter how little sense it makes.

Runners-up: Family Circus, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Mother Goose & Grimm, For Better or For Worse, Red and Rover

Best:


Another win for Agnes. The line about squirting out eggs clinched it for me. While you don't read Agnes for the art, I like how Tony Cochran expresses Trout's sarcasm with some well placed eye-rolling.

Runners-up: Sally Forth (the joke about paying someone not to play music is rather trite, but the song lyrics made me smile), Big Nate (Jenny's got quite a shove)

Comics of the Day

Worst:

It took me awhile to figure out that the joke is Capt. Gizmo wants every gadget, no matter how ridiculous. So what you've got here is a bad joke, poorly presented.

Runners-up: Rhymes with Orange (would have been at least relevant three years ago), Family Circus (incredibly awful wording)

Best:

I like Agnes complete either ignorance or acceptance of Trout's sarcasm in the last panel. And the idea that maybe Agnes does not know that they are not on Madagascar

Runners-up: Lio (the squirrel reading the comic book almost won this one for Lio), Garfield