these results are officially bullshit btw
xxp
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:30 (eight years ago) link
xxp In that familiarity with the characters will raise people's comfort with strips (or, anything) past where their critical faculties might kick in - "I know it's terrible but I've been watching it for 30 years!"
Annoyingly being cut back to one strip a week hasn't made Doonesbury any funnier - if there was ever a cartoonist to do a Lehrer over Donald Trump as the Republican Front-Runner...
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:31 (eight years ago) link
I mean, I'll mention the Simpsons if I have to..
yeah I am also generally skeptical of the "you just have to digest x amount of y before it starts to taste good" argument
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link
I thought the bad alley to go down was possibly sic's 'Lavish brush illustration would never have worked on glowing CRTs when you click over for five minutes at 11am while waiting for someone to reply to an email', but I found I couldn't really dispute the idea that we read and experience things very differently these days - there's no longer the time, inclination or cultural competency to savour something as linguistically rich as Krazy Kat.
― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link
there's no longer the time, inclination or cultural competency to savour something as linguistically rich as Penny Arcade.
― poorzingis (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link
Really good Mac & Cheese : Cheeseburger Pizza.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 16:58 (eight years ago) link
Ha, fair point about Trudeau and dot-coms. In general the period since I was really really into the strip (late 90s/early 2000s, when I bought all the old collections) has felt weird in that he's *really* clung to certain ideas that seemed at the time like just some more short-term engagements consistent with the history of the strip - Berzerkistan, Jeff (?) as the Red Rover or whatever. I'm honestly surprised to learn Kim and Mike are still dot-commers of any sort. IMO Mike-as-advertising-guy seemed much more useful to Trudeau but of course it'd be silly to undo all the character/soap opera work that got him out of that biz.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 17:12 (eight years ago) link
As someone who gives zero fucks about Aqua Teen whatever, Achewood is excellent. Really one of the most wonderful strips ever. I have no idea where I would have ranked it because I didn't submit a ballot, but it's fucking great and instead of talking shit why don't yall just read the first 100 or so and get back to the thread
― nerd shit (Will M.), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 17:42 (eight years ago) link
I know USA culture is forced down everyone's throat, but sincerely, how do you non-Americans get anything out of Doonesbury, or even Pogo? They're nicely drawn, sure, and there's some good storylines.
But as I've said before, even I didn't know who the hell Jerry terHorst was when I came across that series in the books.
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 17:46 (eight years ago) link
yall just read the first 100 or so and get back to the thread
so I took your recommendation and ... (drumroll)... yeah I don't get it. the artwork is like physically painful to look at. otherwise it seems like kinda generic "lookit this cute thing doing something offensive/disgusting" joeks, a style I tired of in the 90s.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 17:58 (eight years ago) link
Interesting, on topic article here about gambling, race and comic stripshttp://www.tcj.com/on-ching-chow-lucky-numbers-and-gambling/
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:02 (eight years ago) link
4: THE FAR SIDE by Gary Larson (305 points, 16 votes) A note from Gary Larson.
Here's how long The Far Side has been gone: the Complete hardcover box set came out 12 years ago. But during its (only!) 15-year run, it never became rooted in time, partly due to the consistent oddity of Larson's point of view, partly due to aggressive recycling that has carried on for the decades since. A joke about dinosaurs becoming extinct due to smoking was no more relevant in a newspaper in 1985 than on a t-shirt in 1989 or a greeting card in 1997, or on a page-a-day desk calendar in 2001, or rerun in a newspaper in 2015.
http://blog.londolozi.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fars-side-2.jpg
http://s1.hubimg.com/u/209782_f520.jpg
http://www.hdforums.com/forum/attachments/the-general-b-s-forum/203615d1314302166-do-you-moo-at-cows-when-you-ride-past-them-gary_larson_cows.jpg
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:33 (eight years ago) link
Still laugh every time at this one:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/187/442760104_8d57e8fc37.jpg
― Ballistic: ILX vs. Sever (Eric H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:35 (eight years ago) link
so many of these gags are embedded in my consciousness. Like the cows yelling "yak yak yak" as they drive by a field of people.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:39 (eight years ago) link
he was a master of minimalist, perfectly formed gags
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:40 (eight years ago) link
Far Side's genuine oddity and humor sort of blunted by years of overexposure and all the endless knockoffs, but it really was great. My favorite remains this one:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/pdmike/death.jpg
I read and reread the Prehistory of the Far Side volume as a kid. Would make a great pair with the Calvin & Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, and it has a lot more "bonus" content and funny anecdotes, though certainly fewer impassioned arguments for the medium and so on.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:41 (eight years ago) link
Vegetarians returning home from the hunt
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:42 (eight years ago) link
The "Pull" sign on the "School for the Gifted"'s front door
First socks, THEN shoes
Thought Far Side would be top three for sure. Hmmm.
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:43 (eight years ago) link
discovered far side collections in my late teens and no comic has ever given me as many massive lols as then.
― new noise, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:43 (eight years ago) link
Actually think Perry Bible Fellowship takes its cues from Far Side more than anything else - a lot of the humor is in pregnant awareness of what will happen next, a doomed or murderously sick situation that only one character yet realizes, etc., as in the classic "Here, Fifi! Come on... faster, Fifi!"
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:43 (eight years ago) link
there have been a LOT of knockoffs, hugely influential obviously
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
Both Perry Bible Fellowship and The Far Side owe a considerable debt to Kliban (and I think it was a source of some vexation for him, iirc)
― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
Like this one, Ballard Street:https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fc0389161.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com%2Fdyn%2Fstr_strip%2F336867.full.gif&f=1
which always appealed to me but had some kind of deeper, more melancholy underpinning to it
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:52 (eight years ago) link
3: KRAZY KAT by Geo. Herriman (312 points, 14 votes) scans galore
Zig-zag mountains. Changing backgrounds. Behaviour patterns and expectations. Identity politics. Futility, hope, and never-requited love.
http://www.ignatzmouse.net/pics/archives/kk/dailies/12-May-1915.gif
http://www.ignatzmouse.net/pics/archives/kk/dailies/25-dec-1919.gif
http://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/201108101214-2.jpg
http://comicsalliance.com/files/2015/08/herriman-04.jpg
http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Krazy-Kat-1.28.1922.jpg
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 18:56 (eight years ago) link
Somewhere on ILX there is a very excellent Mark S post on KK that would've made the basis for an even more excellent article
― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link
for all the (justified) talk about how gorgeous and weird and intellectual krazy kat is, after you've read it for a while and sort of let it soak in, one thing that eventually dawns on you (or did on me, at least) is how wonderfully silly it is, full of terrible puns and broad slapstick and un-subtle visual jokes. (the early daily strips are basically just vaudeville sketches, with krazy and ignatz doing "routines" like abbott and costello.) as strange and sort of profound as it is, herriman meant it to be read and enjoyed. even herriman's long boxes of narration, with their elaborate syntax and big words, seem meant to be read in a 1940s-style "radio announcer" voice like the ones you hear in old warner brothers cartoons. somehow that makes the strip's frequent moments of eerie silence and its large, forlorn landscapes seem all the more effective.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:10 (eight years ago) link
Gary Larson on 20/20, 1986:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57wcedtGpc8
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:11 (eight years ago) link
was anyone else sort of surprised to learn about Krazy/Ignatz' genders? it was years before I was clued in.
strip is immortal, obviously
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:17 (eight years ago) link
http://www.creators.com/a-note-from-gary-larson.htmldude has been really really quiet; those of you too young to remember when this was popular may forget but this was bigger than as Calvin and Hobbes in its prime, tons of auxiliary marketing and books
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:20 (eight years ago) link
Wow at this, from Wiki: Gary Larson produced 23 The Far Side books, which were all on The New York Times Best Seller list.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link
2: PEANUTS by Charles Schulz (386 points, 17 votes) In legit reprints online, but colourised. Fifty years of strips are in print from Fanta.
Kids say the most motherfuckinest shit.
http://www.thevinylfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/peanuts2.jpg
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1950002.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1972309.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1963258.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1974055.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1990255.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1987183.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1994261.gif
http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb387/jennlbennl23/Peanuts1993311.gif
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:36 (eight years ago) link
should be #1
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:37 (eight years ago) link
so C&H then
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link
1: CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson (404 points, 18 votes) complete in a box
Picture a young boy running through woods, afire with his own imagination and the wonder of a world that can never be understood or constrained, forever.
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025875/bill6.gif
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025878/bill7.gif
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025854/CH940127_JPG.jpg
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025863/bill5.gif
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025884/jon5_GIF.gif
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025896/bill2.gif
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1025902/jon7_GIF.gif
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:39 (eight years ago) link
thx so much for doing this sic. it was a wonderful poll and i've been harboring guilt about abandoning it for a while. but i really think it came through wonderfully and you did a better job than i ever could've imo.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:41 (eight years ago) link
top 5 unimpeachable, PBF maybe doesn't quite seem like it belongs w/ the other 4 tho
― Mordy, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:42 (eight years ago) link
All in all, thanks sic. I'm the hardest on the things I care most about.
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 19:53 (eight years ago) link
Good work sic
― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 20:16 (eight years ago) link
I'm a little disappointed that sic didn't take a break of several months between posting #2 and #1 but yeah good work
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 20:21 (eight years ago) link
you people still have terrible taste tho :)
lol shakey, everyone is welcome
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 20:23 (eight years ago) link
damn, should have snuck in a hilarious Shredded Moose #1.
― JoeStork, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 20:27 (eight years ago) link
Thanks for wrapping this up, sic.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
thanks sic and voters, this was great and has given me probably years worth of stuff to track down and buy, I think I'm gonna start with those Donald Duck Fanta reprints
― sleeve, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 21:07 (eight years ago) link
yeah bravo to everyone! results kinda wacky in places but also super interesting. feel like it could look really different if we did it again in ten years say. i can't believe that achewood or dinosaur funnies would still place that high. but i was surprised to see them place at all! honestly the only one of the old old web comics that i'd still express any fondness for would be sluggy freelance, which i haven't read since maybe 2002, but by gosh it makes me happy that that dude has managed to turn his rambling, injokey light-comedy adventure thing (still stubbornly web 1.0 in its presentation) into a living. was the dream of many a high-school doodler, myself included (though i never actually even attempted a webcomic in strip format).
obviously, penny arcade and pvp have been voided from this category by egregious, career-defining awfulness on the part of the creators. mind you, i would never have voted for sluggy in this poll, but yeah... that's my pick from that era. if you'd asked me in 2001 i would have been repping for sinfest, megatokyo, exploitation now, the josh lesnick oeuvre, and probably some weird not-particularly-strippy stuff out in fancomics web-ring land - god save my freshman soul.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 8 December 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
Thanks for doing the rollout, sic! I'm pretty sure a ballot I made today wouldn't look exactly like the one I made on 8/8/13:
1. Krazy Kat, by George Herriman2. Arlo and Janis, by Jimmy Johnson3. Cul de Sac, by Richard Thompson4. Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau5. Nancy, by Ernie Bushmiller6. Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, by Ben Katchor7. Luann, by Greg Evans8. Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson9. Little Nemo, by Winsor McCay10. Peanuts, by Charles Schulz11. Bad Machinery, by John Allison12. Captain Easy, by Roy Crane13. Diesel Sweeties, by Richard Stevens14. Leviathan, by Peter Blegvad15. Perry Bible Fellowship, by Nicholas Gurewitch16. Scary Gary, by Mark Buford17. Scary-Go-Round, by John Allison18. Achewood, by Chris Onstad19. Angriest Dog in the World, by David Lynch20. Buz Sawyer, by Roy Crane21. Dick Tracy, by Chester Gould22. Dilbert, by Scott Adams23. Ernie Pook’s Comeek, by Lynda Barry24. Garfield Minus Garfield, by Dan Walsh25. Giant Days, by John Allison26. Li’l Abner, by Al Capp27. Life is Hell, by Matt Groening28. Maakies, by Tony Millionaire29. Mother Goose and Grimm, by Mike Peters30. Popeye, by E.C. Segar31. Red Meat, from the secret files of Max Cannon32. Tarzan, by Burne Hogarth33. The Far Side, by Gary Larson34. Washingtoon, by Mark Alan Stamaty35. Wondermark, by David Malki36. Zippy the Pinhead, by Bill Griffith37. Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman38. This Modern World, by Tom Tomorrow39. Bloom County, by Berkeley Breathed40. Frank and Ernest, by Bob Thaves
WORSTThe Lockhorns Mallard FillmoreMary WorthMiss PeachAndy Capp
― Phlegm Snopes (WilliamC), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 21:58 (eight years ago) link
feel like it could look really different if we did it again in ten years say. i can't believe that achewood or dinosaur funnies would still place that high.
I dunno, Achewood has been basically over for half a decade. It's already running this high on clear-eyed nostalgia.
― glandular lansbury (sic), Tuesday, 8 December 2015 22:15 (eight years ago) link