wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (06/26/84)
It would be nice to see more discussion/coverage of underground comix and
newspaper comic strips in this forum; I am (or was) a collector of
undergrounds, though I have bought few in recent years. Also, I read
newspapers only sporadically, but I've noticed a couple rather
disturbing trends in the newspaper comic pages: a) terribly poor drawing,
and b) more and more non-funny "comics".
In those copies of the St. Louis papers I have seen in the past few months,
there have been some amazingly crude strips and single-panel cartoons.
Yet these are syndicated, according to the copyright lines, so they
are not just the editor's brother-in-law or other such aberration, but
something enough people thought highly enough of to appear in papers
across the country. I can only point to one example, as I haven't saved
any others, but I happen to have (on the back of a crossword) a single-panel
cartoon (is there a better or correct word to use here? "cartoon" doesn't
imply the continuity of a daily strip) called "The Quigmans", copyright
by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The artist's name is only in the drawing
and appears to be "hickerson" (in lower-case).
This panel is so crudely done that I would expect to see it in a child's
home-made "newspaper", or perhaps in a student publication or strictly
amateur fanzine. That it is nationally syndicated and printed in a
major-market paper is astounding. There are legions of starving young
cartoonists out there whose technical skill far outstrips the technique
displayed here, yet this one is considered worthy of national distribution.
Of course, not seeing it regularily, it may be that the caption-writing
or joke lines are very funny and carry the bad drawing along. (Yet, in that
case, there is no reason why the syndicate couldn't insist on a collaboration
of the current writer and another, more talented artist.)
This is just one example; there were several others in the paper. Have
others noticed this sad trend? What could be the cause? There must be
enough good artists out there that poor ones should get selected-out by
the struggle. So how are crude drawings making their way to national markets?
The other facet of newspaper comics I've noticed is that fewer and fewer
strips are funny. That is, not just failed attempts at humor, but that
there are more and more "soap opera" or "adventure story" strips, and
they seem to be pushing out the funny comics. (The latter seem to me to be
the reason for newspaper comics in the first place!)
Pick up a paper and look at the comics page(s). There are many strips
which are meaningless unless you have been following a story line every
day for weeks. The individual strip might consist of a piece of action
which is meaningless in itself. I recall seeing a "Mike Roper" or something
similar where the entire daily strip was one panel of somebody getting
punched in the jaw. No dialogue, nothing of any meaning to the one-time
reader. I just cannot believe that this sort of thing belongs in a
newspaper, though I guess that's just an opinion not borne out by the
history. Adventure and soap-opera strips have been there all along
("Steve Canyon", "Mary Worth", whatever) -- it just seems like they
are pushing out the real "comic" strips; the ones which are funny
to read all by themselves, stand-alone, even if they might fit
within some overall story line (like "Doonesbury" or "Peanuts").
Maybe it's just a symptom of the universal degradation of everything,
the common malaise of this (and every other) time...
I'd like to see discussion of this sort of thing here. Anybody else
care enough to contribute the very best?
Willmoriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (07/02/84)
A few replies....
1) Yes, I HAVE noticed these rotten strips popping up all over the
place... in Seattle, we have BEARS IN LOVE and about four other "funny"
strips that are dismally bad. Nepotism seems to me to be the only
explanation, too. The Portland Oregonian has had a resident political
cartoonist for the last decade or two whose work lacks both political
standpoints and humor, not to mention artistic skill. As to the surplus of
adventure strips, I notice rather a decline... or maybe it is a decline in
WESTERN adventure strips. Latigo and The Lone Ranger have both disappeared
from the pages of The Seattle Times, and I miss 'em both, especially Latigo.
I also liked the Star Wars strip once it got going. For my nominations for
best strips:
BLOOM COUNTY (the best by far)
STEVE CANYON (I still prefer Terry & the Pirates, reprinted)
ANNIE (Now that's adventure)
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE (A great insight into people)
GASOLINE ALLEY (ditto)
SYLVIA ("That woman is on drugs....")
DOONESBURY (in anticipation)
THE FAR SIDE (Almost always gets me)
THE FAST TRACK (Saw this in Iowa... based in a computer company, and
funny!)
There are probably others I have forgotten....
2) Steve Roper has been like that for years. It's a wonder that the
chump isn't dead yet.
3) As to undergrounds, I am looking forward to the new "Harold Hedd
in Hitler's Lost Cocaine".... sounds like the usual silly fun (I notice
Elmo's on the cover.... good!). Underground comics, though, have gotten
mixed in with "ground-level" comics quite a bit... where does "HonkeyTonk
Sue" and the original "Flaming Carrot" fit in? How about the always-amusing
Mr. A? Ah, definitions.... I still have a soft spot for Wonder Warthog and
Super Jesus (only one issue).
"Avast, ye scurvey corporate dogs! Prepare to be boarded!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
{princeton,ulysses}!allegra -\
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{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver -- fluke!moriarty
{hplabs,megatest,nbires}!lbl-csam -/
{microsoft,ssc-vax,telmatic,teltone,uw-vlsi} -/bllklly@uwmacc.UUCP (07/09/84)
Interesting...In a recent Sunday paper magazine (Parade?),
Charles Schulz made similar observations on bad
artwork, too many serials, and unfunny comics. You're in good
company. I haven't noticed the bad artwork--can anyone point
out other examples?
I'd also like to see more discussion of newspaper comics and
undergrounds. (One mail order company used to distinguish the
undergrounds/mainstream comics as comix/comics!) I like the
Rip-off Press comics -- Wonder Warthog, Freak Bros., Fat
Freddy's Cat, but the only reaction I ever get from people is
"Oh, do they still print that?" If you're interesting in checking
this stuff out, Rip Off has Fat Freddy's Comics #1 out, which has
the unglamorous Freddy imagining himself as the hero in Star Wars,
Conan, etc, etc, and is drawn by the whole staff at Rip Off instead
of by Gilbert Shelton. It also refers to the 50's comic that
spawned Mad, etc -- the name escapes me. And best of all, to me,
it has a hilarious story about Fat Freddy's Cat in heaven. FFScat
is an order of magnitude funnier than popular cartoon cats like
Garfield!
Does anyone else out there like "funny animal" comics? Walt
Disney still reprints the Carl Barks stories in Uncle Scrooge
and WD's Comics and Stories. But their new art (and writing) is
incredibly bad!
Bill Kelly
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1210 W. Dayton St, U Wisc-Madison, 53706