Child Abuse is not Funny Edition (Mar. 16)

Worst:
Another example of poor family dynamics. I, for one, do not find spousal or child abuse funny. The throw away panels did not run in the Post, so I chose this on the basis of the child abuse.

Runners-up: Blondie, Family Circus, Garfield (very easily could have been Worst. Jon is on hold the entire strip. It's just incredibly lazy and boring.), Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover

Best:
I want some sentient sunglasses.

Runners-up: Agnes, Baby Blues, Baldo, Candorville, Cul de Sac, Doonesbury, Frazz, Pearls Before Swine, Single and Looking

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:
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, Sunday

Worst:


Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't find very poor parenting to be funny.

Runners-up: Blondie, Single and Looking, Family Circus

Best:

The expression on Satchel's face in the last panel is priceless.

Runners-up: Zits (I liked the blort! sound effect), Doonesbury (Zonker's line "many of them profitable" is great),Candorville, Garfield, Lio, Opus, Pearls Before Swine, Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! (this is really a one joke strip (Brewster is stupid), but it's a joke that still amuses me for some reason)

Comics of the Day, Friday

Worst: I worry about remaining objective about For Better or For Worse. Sometimes I think I have picked up an anti-Foob mindset from the gang at Comics Curmudgeon, and read the strip looking for things to dislike about it. But Anthony's logic strikes me as kind of manipulative. His argument boils down to if you decide to like Elizabeth, we can go see Santa, and Santa wants you to like Elizabeth. First he should have validated her feelings. A little kid with a single father could very understandably be jealous of the father's girlfriend. Then after listening and validating, he should have explained that he loves Francoise and his relationship with Liz will do nothing to change that. Problem solved without giving Francoise any neuroses about competing for daddy's attention and feeling guilty about it.

Runners-up: Non Sequiter, the Piranha Club, Brevity, Red and Rover

Best:

Pearls Before Swine wins in a photo finish ahead of Get Fuzzy. Things to like about this cartoon: great visuals, gadzooks is a funny word, the names of the superheros, Pig's mild acceptance of his totally lame character. I loved this strip.

Runners-up: Speed Bump, Lio, Get Fuzzy (As is common in Get Fuzzy, the punchline is not that great, but the dialogue in the set-up is awesome. Satchel's line in panel one (I don't feel butterflies...that would be creepy) made me laugh out loud. Darby Conley must put a lot of effort into his strip. He has consistently great, detailed art, and witty dialogue in almost every panel)

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:
The visual in the last panel explains quite well why this is today's worst comic. I think I'm going to have nightmares about this.

Runners-up: Dennis the Menace (Grumpies!?, what the heck?), Family Circus, Garfield (the fourth and fifth panels are identical except for Jon's eyes, lazy, lazy, lazy), Prickly City, Rhymes with Orange, Blondie, Hagar the Horrible, Tank McNamara (bad attempt at being topical, and A-Rod could have gotten more money if he didn't sign so quickly with the Yankers, so it's wrong in addition to being not funny)

Best:

Pastis is on a roll. We've all had our share of mayday moments while dealing with girls. I love how Pig has absolutely no idea how to deal with this situation.

Runners-up: Cul de Sac (a consistently great strip, the timing on this particular one made me laugh), Opus , Sherman's Lagoon, Pickles (does anyone not repeat stories?)

Worst:

The joke is lame; Garfield is a cat, of course he takes Jon's stuff. But what really sets this apart is the artwork, or lack thereof. Jim Davis (or his lackeys) have done is move Garfield's arms. There is no background, no change of expression, no effort at all to create any sort of interesting visual.

Runners up: Non-Sequiter, Piranha Club, On the Fast Track, Curtis, Hagar the Horrible

Best:


A surprise win today. It's nice to see one of the Foobs showing some sort of spirit. And April makes a good point about the composition of the crowd, and the self-important bubble the Mike and the other Pattersons live in.

Runners-up: Pooch Cafe (the relationship between Chazz and Carmen is really sweet), Agnes (I like the thought of Communists on the mean streets)