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

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

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

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.

Racist Edition (Apr. 24)

Worst:
Grimmy is apparently racist, but I'm more concerned with the horribleness of this pun.

Runners-up: Argyle Sweater, Baldo, Curtis, Family Circus, Hagar the Horrible, Non Sequiter, Piranha Club, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange


Candorville is one of the better strips in the paper, and is well worth reading on a daily basis. Darrin Bell uses his character's personalities to set-up his jokes, and he does it well.

Runners-up: Dilbert, Frank and Ernest, Zits

Historical Innacuracy Edition (Apr. 9)

Worst:
What really bothered me about this joke is that Native Americans were usually either hunter/gatherers or farmers, so they didn't have a pay day. Even if they did, it's a really bad pun.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Close to Home, Daddy's Home, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Frank and Ernest, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange, Zits

Best:
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Darby Conley's rendering of old comic scripts. Conley uses language as well as any artist in the paper.

Runners-up: Agnes, Dennis the Menace, Pearls Before Swine, Piranha Club, Pooch Cafe

Depressingly Bad Edition (Mar. 28)

Worst:
The awfulness of this strip speaks for itself.

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Brevity, Dennis the Menace, Frank and Ernest, Hagar the Horrible, On the Fastrack, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange

Best:

Runners-up: Agnes, Get Fuzzy, Mutts, Watch Your Head

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

Out of Place Edition (Apr. 8)

Worst:
I felt the phrasing on this one was really awkward. I'm not enjoying this whole Hello Kitty storyline. Mother Goose and Grimm doesn't do any better when it's not being topical though.

Runners-up: Blondie, Close to Home, Hagar the Horrible, Speed Bump

Best:
Get Fuzzy wins on a slow day.

Runners-up: Agnes, Beetle Bailey, Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, Daddy's Home, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Frazz, Lio, Piranha Club, Rhymes with Orange, Sally Forth, Single and Looking, Watch Your Head, Zits

Not Sure What to Make of this One Edition (Apr. 4)

Worst:
As is all too common with Brevity, this makes no sense. Guy and Rodd take a random situation and assume it's funny.

Runners-up: Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Speed Bump

Best:
Poncho is a great character, and that is what drives this strip.

Runners-up: Frazz, Lio, Mother Goose and Grimm, Piranha Club, Sally Forth (cynical and charming, I enjoyed it)

Comics Note:
I enjoyed Mother Goose and Grimm today, despite the outdated boom-box reference. Pop culture references by adults usually fall flat, but the image of Castro dancing with his boxers hanging out was so absurd I enjoyed it.

Metanote: I have a lot of catching up to do, so I decided to just keep going with the current strips rather than getting bogged down in the backlog. I will do catch up posts for all the days I missed, but it's not going to get done until my weekend (Sunday-Tuesday).

Headache Edition (Mar. 25)

Worst:
If Attila is holding the book, how does Grimm throw it at him? This doesn't make sense on a lot of levels.

Runners-up: Daddy's Home (the men can't cook joke has been done a million times, if that's what you're putting out it's time to hang it up), Hagar the Horrible, Non Sequiter

Best:
I love the interplay of the relationships in Pooch Cafe.

Runners-up: Agnes, Dilbert, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Lio, Pearls Before Swine, Red and Rover, Watch Your Head

Nuclear Edition (Mar. 20)

Worst:
In addition to the bad joke, we have a silent penultimate panel. Matt Gill used to document these at the Silent Penultimate Panel Watch, and he points out the flaws better than I ever will. If you're really interested in comic strips, you should read through his archives. The SPP here adds nothing to the strip and ruins the what timing the joke had.

Runners-up: Blondie, Close to Home, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Hagar the Horrible, On the Fastrack, Red and Rover

Best:

Runners-up: Candorville, Dennis the Menace, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Non Sequiter, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe, Sally Forth

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

I Hear Voices Edition (Mar. 5)

Worst: Another really bizarre strip, with an awkward set-up. Who thinks this stuff is funny?

Runners-up: Baldo, Family Circus, Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, Rhymes with Orange, Speed Bump

Best:

I just enjoy Pooch Cafe.

Runners-up: Candorville, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine

What the Hell Edition (Mar. 4)

Worst: What the hell?

Runners-up: Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Curtis, Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange

Best:

Weirdest. Pathos. Ever.

Runners-up: Big Nate, Watch Your Head

To the Bold go the Spoils (Feb. 29)

Worst: The wording is awkward, and topical jokes generally aren't very good. Compare this to a strip like the early Peanuts. In 40 years, no one is going to get this joke or care about this strip. Peanuts remains relevant because it is character driven, and builds it's strips on the universal theme of suffering.

Runners-up: Baby Blues, Baldo, Family Circus, Speed Bump

Best:

Prickly City is hit or miss, more often miss. Yesterday and today, Scott Stantis has taken a bold stand for the comics page. First, Stantis, who usually takes a conservative slant in his strip, takes a stand that contradicts most of his fellow travelers. Second, Stantis takes a risk with a strip that will probably offend many readers (think of the children!) who are used to such hard hitting strips as Family Circus. Kudos to Mr. Stantis for taking a risk to make a worthy point.

Runners-up: Big Nate, Brevity, Frazz, Lio (I think this would have been even better if we did not see Lio at all in the last panel, leaving it up to the reader to connect the dots), Non Sequiter, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe, Watch Your Head

Comics of the Day

Worst:Irony, real or misunderstood, is the most overplayed type of humor right now.

Runners-up: Blondie, Hagar the Horrible, Red and Rover, Rhymes with Orange, Zits

Best:
Darby Conley plays with language better than any artist working today. His art compares favorable with anyone also.

Runners-up: Lio, Non Sequiter, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Cafe

Comics of the Day

Worst: A dumb joke with an awkward set-up.

Runners-up: Family Circus, Garfield, Prickly City, Red and Rover

Best:

Quality artwork.

Runners-up: Baldo, Big Nate, Candorville, Get Fuzzy, Non Sequiter, Pearls Before Swine, Sherman's Lagoon, Watch Your Head, Zits

Comics of the Day

Worst:Terrible on so many levels. Why don't they cancel this strip already?

Runners-up: Brevity, Pooch Cafe (I find Droolia kind of gross to look at), Prickly City, Red and Rover

Best:

The strip contains a silent penultimate panel, which is bad. The joke, while not very original, is well presented. I could not help but smile at Andy's simple response to the Olive's philosophy of relationshipness.

Runners-up: Big Nate (Mr. Rosa is a good teacher if he is willing to invest in a student on his lunch break), Curtis, Frazz, Garfield

Metanote: Sorry about the sporadic posting. It's a combination of laziness, getting involved in another project, and occasional problems connecting to the internet. It's going to continue for a few days, since I'm going out of town this weekend. After I finish today's comics, I probably will not post again until Monday.