A review of the Sunday comics…
- Dilbert: An employee needs to ask his VP a question, but is told he can’t talk directly to them. Rank: something slightly short of a smile.
- Opus: Too long to read.
- Get Fuzzy: one animal repeatedly throws rice and blasts the other in the face with an airhorn. Rank: slight grin.
- Ask Shagg: Facts about squid. With a joke about them playing ping-pong. Rank: less than a smile.
- Zits: Jeremy has fantasies about his guidance counselor. Because she’s female. Rank: shrug.
- Monty: Monty shares demotivational sayings with his parrot which has a motivational calendar. Rank: smile.
- For Better or Worse: The kids set their clocks back. One is shocked that his toy, broken within the hour, is still broken. Rank: eyeroll.
- Bizarre news story called “What is Innovations?” Not read because it’s not a comic, and because the grammar is abysmal.
- Curtis: A kid doesn’t do his homework and is honest. He gets sent to the principal’s office. Rank: sigh because it’s boring, and because no one goes to the principal’s office for not doing their homework.
- Mother Goose & Grimm: Two characters in prison, one remarks to the other, “I’m doing forty years to life. I swiped a $50,000 stapler from the Pentagon.” Rank: smile.
- Foxtrot: Too lame and complex to summarize. Rank: bleh.
- The Family Circus: the kid is counting nuts. “I’m making sure less than half of these nuts are peanuts,” he says. Rank: smile, because it’s something I’d do.
- Non Sequitur: It’s seven paragraphs of text. Skipping. Rank: F, for “Failed to even understand the assignment.”
- Rose is Rose: Some crazy lady confuses her with someone else. Rank: bleh. Might have been better if it was earlier in the comics.
- Adam at Home: Two people get each other’s business cards. Rank: Can I have my time back?
- Rhymes with Orange: Innovations in child care. Rank: Shrug. I’ve seen worse.
- F Minus: A kid turns 14. His friends gossip that he’s 13 but his parents are superstitious. Rank: It’s not an F minus, but it’s no A, either.
- Princess of Ai-land: Huh? Way too much to read. Rank: Didn’t even read it.
- Stone Soup: Someone says she hopes her daughter doesn’t end up in therapy. Lots of people in the bar say they’re in therapy. Rank: I thought comics were supposed to be funny?
- Arlo & Janis: The second comic about Daylight Savings Time. These ones joke, “I’d rather sleep late than go to bed early.” Rank: shrug. Which is becoming one of the highest compliments for a comic.
- Doonesbury: Someone asks someone else for $5K for a motorcycle. The other guy rambles about how unsafe motorcycles are. Rank: F, for “Failed to even try to be funny.”
- Zippy: I don’t even get this one. Rank: F-.
Conclusion: I’ve laughed more watching the Patriots in the first five minutes of the game. And nothing funny has happened. I thought comics were supposed to be funny.
The Dilbert one is one of those that people will look at and say “nah, that could never happen” and so they might laugh. On the other hand some people (I might be one of those) who read it and think “yeah, been there done that.” and not laugh at all. The thing I love about Dilbet and Doonsbury (and to some extent the Daily show and Colbert Report) is that they are jesters. Like the court jesters of old they can say things that are true and harsh but get away with it because of course “it’s all a joke from a fool.” Telling truth to power is risky business but telling jokes is less so. Though of course not completely risk free.
it had been quite interesting to read I want to price your posting at my blog. It may possibly? Therefore you et a free account on Facebook?
You will give me a free Facebook account in return for using my 4-year-old blog post grumbling about the Sunday comics on your blog? (Which is actually a forum post of complete gibberish, not a blog.) Thanks, but no thanks.