posted 03-14-2001 04:33 PM               

That said, I know I could certainly make a greater effort to read comics like the Boondocks and Calvin and Hobbes. And on the occasions that I've read Fox Trot over Dave's shoulder, its never failed to make me smile. I have, however, always had bit of a fondness for good political cartoons. I think that a well done political cartoon can say more in less than ten words than Chris Matthews has said since . . . since . . . what year is it again?

Regarding the web strips, I think it's a terrific idea. It's certainly a concept I'd be more likely to follow on an ongoing basis because a) I believe the less a piece of reading material clutters up my house, the better; b) most newspapers, including my local daily, publish their entire contents on the web so there's really no impetus for me to buy a paper every weekday (if I read one more article about newspaper publishers trying to crack the mystery of declining circulation, I'll scream); c) I'm one of those people Dave alluded to who likes to read roughly three years worth of published material in one sitting.

posted 03-14-2001 04:37 PM               

I agree with Dave's comments about McGruder here. The Boondocks is an excellent strip - in my opinion, the best marriage of great art and wit to come along since the demise of Calvin and Hobbes. It's a beautiful piece of art from a creator that understands that comic strips can be more than talking heads against a blank background, and it presents great ideas not usually seen on the comics page, where remarkably inept strips like Beetle Bailey perpetuate notions of humor that haven't been in vogue since 1958.

McGruder's ideas on interracial marriages are kind of annoying, and his views on biracial people leave much to be desired. I understand that his characters represent different points on the racial-relations spectrum, and usually there's a great balance of ideas presented throughout, with no one character emerging the victor in everyday conflict enough times to constitute an overriding viewpoint within the strip. But too frequently the notion that Jazmine, a character with a black father and a white mother, is told that she should just call herself black, and she doesn't seem to have enough strong lines to combat the idea that that isn't the thrust of the strip.

But if that's the least of my worries, I'm happy. I mentioned Beetle Bailey before, and I think that's a great example of old-school comics setting a bad example for the industry - creator Mort Walker is still struggling with the concept that African-American people don't have a love of watermelon hardwired into their DNA (I'm not kidding; this has actually been the topic of more than one strip). Despite Doonesbury (which will always be one of the world's greatest strips), the comics page is still one of the last bastions of substandard work and outdated attitudes toward just about everything.

(At this point I start to ramble, so you may just want to start reading the next post.)

Blondie seems like a good example for the old-school strips like Beetle, Hagar the Horrible and Hi and Lois to follow. Blondie and her next-door neighbor Trixie are the owners of a successful catering business; these days, she and Dagwood are both breadwinners. I remember reading the daily strips when this happened - Dagwood wasn't too happy about it, but he learned to deal, and now, Blondie's business is just another part of his life, like naps and being fired by Mr. Dithers. It was - or could've been - a nice parallel to the state of comic page art.

posted 03-17-2001 11:17 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Kevin Ott:

it presents great ideas not usually seen on the comics page, where remarkably inept strips like Beetle Bailey perpetuate notions of humor that haven't been in vogue since 1958.

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Although it is worth noting that Beetle Bailey is one of the few of the classic strips to acknowledge the errors of its past -- for example, the General apologized for his sexist behavior some years ago and that type of joke has been removed from the strip.

quote:

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I understand that his characters represent different points on the racial-relations spectrum, and usually there's a great balance of ideas presented throughout, with no one character emerging the victor in everyday conflict enough times to constitute an overriding viewpoint within the strip.

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See, this I disagree with. I don't think McGruder is very balanced at all -- and he's not trying to be. In the FAQ on his website, he describes the premise of the strip as "a handful of minority kids are struggling with the larger, all White world to which they have recently been transplanted." He also says, "For the most part, characters outside of [Caesar, Huey, Riley, Hiro] and Jazmine are going to be antagonists, villains, annoyances, and just plain wack people who make life for our heroes difficult." The grandfather gets off a good line about as often as he is made to appear out of touch, but Jazmine's father is portrayed as a shallow sell-out for daring to be middle-class. It's certainly McGruder's right to push his political agenda in his strip, and I applaud him for it -- but it is, in my opinion, a hopelessly misguided and ultimately hurtful, perhaps even hateful, agenda.

quote:

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But too frequently the notion that Jazmine, a character with a black father and a white mother, is told that she should just call herself black, and she doesn't seem to have enough strong lines to combat the idea that that isn't the thrust of the strip.

But if that's the least of my worries, I'm happy.

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It may be my own perspective . . . but that's a pretty substantial worry. McGruder's views on racial relationships are barely more constructive than the depictions you ascribe to Walker (which I must admit, I haven't noticed in quite some time, and shame on me for letting stuff like that fly over my head if it's still regularly appearing. I do remember being less than thrilled with the Asian character he introduced ten or fifteen years ago.)

quote:

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I mentioned Beetle Bailey before, and I think that's a great example of old-school comics setting a bad example for the industry - creator Mort Walker is still struggling with the concept that African-American people don't have a love of watermelon hardwired into their DNA (I'm not kidding; this has actually been the topic of more than one strip). Despite Doonesbury (which will always be one of the world's greatest strips), the comics page is still one of the last bastions of substandard work and outdated attitudes toward just about everything.

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Maybe it's just the comics page of the Inquirer, but I think the quality of strips is actually decreasing. I'll take Walker's craftsmanship over some of the barely-scribbled work I see every Sunday. that said, I should give credit to Jump Start and Baldo, two strips that center on non-white characters and families, have solid art and worksmanship, and are often pretty funny. Wiley's Non Sequitur might be too cynical even for me, but he draws some of the best puzzled double takes I've ever seen. (He has one in the 3/18 Non Sequitur, by his monkey analogue to George W. Bush, that's just priceless.)

quote:

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Blondie seems like a good example for the old-school strips like Beetle, Hagar the Horrible and Hi and Lois to follow. Blondie and her next-door neighbor Trixie are the owners of a successful catering business; these days, she and Dagwood are both breadwinners. I remember reading the daily strips when this happened - Dagwood wasn't too happy about it, but he learned to deal, and now, Blondie's business is just another part of his life, like naps and being fired by Mr. Dithers.

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posted 03-24-2001 01:37 PM               

Dave, I can understand your distaste on McGruder's portrayal of interracial marriage and midle class mobility, but have you considered that Huey doesn't necessarily represent McGruder's final word on the subject? On the website, McGruder characterizes Huey as "young and naive". Also, I recall that in one strip, Jasmine rebukes Huey for being stubborn, and Huey replies that he is capable of changing his views if presented with compelling evidence. It could be that Huey will soften his views on the above mentioned subjects, as time goes on, and as his relationship with Jasmine changes.

[This message has been edited by babydoc (edited 03-24-2001).]

posted 03-24-2001 05:31 PM               

I'm looking over some old strips on the web, though, and I gotta admit, the strips about Riley liking Lauryn Hill were quite good, and I liked the glimpse of a more positive Huey in those strips. I also read the extended storyline where Huey help Tom and Sarah get back together after their post-election spat; it makes me feel a little better, even though I still feel like McGruder is mocking them.

posted 04-10-2001 02:04 AM               

(Edited because after all these months, I can still screw up UBB code.)