My Eyes Edition (Apr. 16)

Worst:
This is unspeakably awful.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Mother Goose and Grimm, Mutts, Prickly City, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:
As someone who works with kids for a living, I enjoyed this interplay between Frazz and the students.

Runners-up: Daddy's Home, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Piranha Club, Pooch Cafe

Vive le Difference Edition (Mar. 30)

Worst:
One of the things I have never liked about Foxtrot are the constant pop culture references. Bill Amend is mailing it in, which is his right, but I don't have to enjoy it.

Runners-up: Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Daddy's Home, Dennis the Menace, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:
Here we have the rare joke that is both literate and well-crafted.

Runners-up: Agnes, Cul de Sac, Dilbert, Family Circus, Get Fuzzy, Mutts, Non Sequiter, Pearls Before Swine, Prickly City, Single and Looking,

Childhood is Forever Edition (Apr. 11)

Worst:
I find this a lot closer to creepy than to funny. Do we really need to see Hello Kitty going wild?

Runners-up: Blondie, Brevity, Curtis, Family Circus, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover

Best:
I fully approve of being childish, although without losing sight of responsibility.

Runners-up: Agnes, Get Fuzzy, Sally Forth, Single and Looking, Watch Your Head

Subverting Authority Edition (Apr. 9)

Worst:
More inanity from Mother Goose and Grimm.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Brevity,

Best:
I've spent the last few years slowly becoming an adult. It's one of those things where you need to pick your battles.

Runners-up: Agnes, Family Circus, Pearls Before Swine, Piranha Club, Rhymes with Orange, Watch Your Head

Cheap Knock-Off Edition (Apr. 3)

Worst:
Bill Watterson made this joke a lot better with his Dinosaurs in Rocket Ships series.

Runners-up: Close to Home, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, Frank and Ernest, Get Fuzzy, Hagar the Horrible, Speed Bump, Zits
Best:

Runners-up: Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Curtis, Dilbert, Piranha Club

More or Less Awkward Edition (Mar. 7)

Best:
I don't read to the comics to think about sex, that's what the rest of the internet is for. Any joke based around a character having sex, even a dog, has little margin for error.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Curtis, Family Circus, Mother Goose and Grimm, Tank McNamara

Best:
Frazz goes back to back. The image of a train driving into Lake Michigan entertained me. It's a nice touch that this would happen if the train went any direction from Chicago that approximated East.

Runners-up: Agnes, Big Nate, Candorville, Dilbert, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe

Sexist Edition (Mar. 6)

Worst:

This bothered me on a number of levels, not least because I spent many hours reading Baby-Sitter's Club books growing up. I just find the idea kind of sexist that a guy can't read and enjoy books about a group of girls, especially when they are well written, at least on the scale of elementary school lit. Also, Billy would need to be a pretty precocious seven year old to reading Baby Sitter's Club books, and the general demonstrated intelligence of the family, it seems unlikely that any of them would be called precocious.

Runners-up: Close to Home, Curtis, Dennis the Menace, Garfield, Watch Your Head

Best:

One of the better jokes I've read in a while. The set-up is not awkward, and the punchline is clever. It's a pleasant change of pace from most joke strips.

Runners-up: Agnes, Baldo, Beetle Bailey, Big Nate, Blondie, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Candorville, Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Mutts, Non Sequiter, Pooch Cafe, Sherman's Lagoon

Metanote: So you might have noticed that I've fallen a little behind. Part of my philosophy of life is that there are many excuses but very few good excuses. I will say that I have been working a lot of overtime at work, but ultimately, I could have kept up if I had been more dedicated, so ultimately all I can do is apologize to any readers I might have and say that I'll try to do better. I should be able to catch up over the next day.

Comics of the Day

Worst: Wins a close race over Rhymes with Orange (terrible pun) and Family Circus (just plain annoying). I did not like the static nature of this strip, with three panels of almost the same art in a row. The joke doesn't seem to make sense either. While a castle certainly has a higher reward, it is also a lot more difficult to sack. I would imagine the Vikings would at least pay some attention to an easy target, in case there were some hot peasant women or cheap peasant beer around.

Runners-up: Baldo, Family Circus, Garfield, Prickly City, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange, Tank McNamara, Zits

Best:

About the only thing that can save a pun is if it is really clever and contains cultural references. Jef Mallet's two part pun in Frazz qualifies.

Runners-up: Agnes, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Candorville, Cul de Sac, Doonesbury, Foxtrot, Get Fuzzy, Opus, Pearls Before Swine, Pickles, Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst: I'm still not sure I get this joke. I assume it has something to do with people finding cockroaches repulsive. I also think the dialogue is kind of sexist.

Runners-up: Baldo, Blondie, Brevity (once again, substituting random for clever), Family Circus, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Rhymes with Orange

Best:
Runners-up: Agnes, Pickles

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.