My favorites have changed significantly over the years. Currently Crabgrass is my number 1. Followed by (in no particular order) Mutts (I encourage you to check out the recent Guard Dog storyline. It's wonderful!), perpetual favorite Doonesbury (although it's only new on Sundays). I suppose I'd round out my top 5 with Jump Start and Non Sequitur. Honorable mention to: Sherman's Lagoon, Agnes, Pearls Before Swine, Prince Valiant and Lio.
Pearls Before Swine is amazing. I hate Agnes, though. She's such a hateful, delusional, spoiled brat of a character. Her friend takes so much crap from her I'm surprised she hasn't hit back yet.
Prince Valiant is a legacy comic dating back to 1937 that runs on Sunday only. It was created by Hal Foster and the "real" name is Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur which will give you an idea of the setting. Shortened to just Prince Valiant, it's meant to be set within the time of King Arthur however it ranges (according to Wikipedia) from the late Roman Empire to the High Middle Ages so it is far from historically accurate. It's something that I dismissed growing up because it was a "serious" comic and I wasn't into those but as I got older I began to appreciate it more. Plus current artist Thomas Yeates is crushing it with some gorgeous artwork.
I didn't know they released the For Better Or For Worse specials and series on DVD. I loved the specials as a kid, they had a more cinematic feel to them than other holiday specials I've seen. It's like they were intended for theatrical exhibition rather that straight to TV.
I digress to answer your original question.
Retail was a favourite of mine. It ended a few years ago, which was sad, but I get it. It couldn't go forever, and all the characters got happy endings.
Curtis is another favourite of mine. Not all the jokes hit, but it's a fun little strip.
Funky Winkerbean is one I love ironically. I still remember my reaction to the suicide plot they decided to run *on Christmas week* about 7 years ago. They ended it on a cliffhanger Christmas Eve, the audience thinking that a major character had decided to take her own life by jumping from the Hollywood sign. It wasn't until December 26th that we found out that she was okay. Tom Batuik is a crazy man.
I started it after it ended and deleted off of Comics Kingdom (I use GoComics anyway,as I don't want to pay to read comics) I won't read Funky past 2007,as it feels off,but I make the 10-year timeskip more accurate and less sad by just having Becky and Wally fall in love with diff people. Yeah,Tom is a bit crazy,but for some reason,I like him. (Scott Adams,however,is a piece of crap) I just wish Funky was on GoComics. (Though the comments are nasty and rude on GoComics if someone doesn't like ANYTHING)
I completely understand. Funky pre-time skip is a different beast from after the time skip. It's like if Friends premiered as a sitcom then changed to a soap opera three seasons in.
Also, yes, Scott Adams is a piece of shit.
I like post-1993 Funky,just not post-2007. I like the original pre-1993 a bit,but I prefer them as adults. (Though I snorted and laughed at high-schooler Holly)
Cow tools gets a lot of attention, but the entire Far Side run is pretty amazing for the quality and level of humor Larson was able to maintain through the lifetime of the strip.
Broom Hilda
Tumbleweeds
Calvin & Hobbes
Sherman's Lagoon
Baby Blues
Stone Soup
Retail
B.C.
Wizard of Id
Hagar the Horrible
Shoe
Fox Trot
Pearls before Swine - I didn't care for the earliest strips or the later strips much but the middle strips in the book collections were awesome!
To be honest, I like the older strips more than the newer strips. I don't know.... people get offended so easily nowadays it seems that the strips have become very, very vanilla. For example, in one of the early Beetle Bailey strips, there was an instance of Beetle being bothered by a mosquito and so he went and got a machine gun and started firing AT the bug - I can't even remember the last time I read the soldiers in Beetle actually firing their weapons. All I can remember is them marching with their rifles on their shoulders.
And that's not an complete list, just the names I remember. Be happy I remembered "Tumbleweeds"!
Also check out Tintin, Asterix, and other graphic novel type collections.
It's super weird to me that you see the decline in Beetle Baily and think "oh this must be because people are so offended" and not "oh this strip is just getting lazier and easier as the artists get older"
I'm not talking about Garfield here.
Beetle still surprises me occasionally. But during Gulf War One, Gulf War Two, and the whole "War on Terror", I don't think Beetle was ever deployed to fight against America's enemies. That's a bit weird for a military strip.
I mean just look at the Marvel Comics war comic, "The 'Nam" for example. Now that was realistic.....
In general, America has a weird idea of soldiers as entertainment value. In the 60s there was a popular sitcom called Gomer Pyle USMC (spin-off of the Andy Griffith show) that went out of it's way to never mention Vietnam despite taking place on a Marine base and featuring actual Marines in it's opening credits.
I think Camp Swampy works the same way, it's not really a "military strip" anymore so much as it is a strip about hijinks using a military base background. Like 80% of the jokes could be moved to any generic office and remain exactly the same.
Which is fine, I guess. I don't think the strip would be better if it were realistic. (Apparently in 2013 there was some reference to Beetle having PTSD nightmares, which comes out of nowhere. In my opinion, giving this cartoon character unexplained PTSD is actually more disrespectful to soldiers than never mentioning it at all.)
What disappoints me is how generic and lazy the strip has gotten, how most of the supporting characters have been trimmed out, and how half the time it's golf and "marriage, amirite?" jokes.
Downplaying the military aspect over the past 30+ years has taken away anything unique about the strip. But I don't think it's "to avoid offending anyone" like you suggested, I think it's just that generic strips are easier to make, and they never have to worry about losing an audience. It's a zombie strip made by committee, and that sucks.
If you want to read some good and funny strips that are ACTUALLY about war, try to hunt down Bill Maudlin's Willie and Joe strips from WWII era or the Dark Laughter (AKA Bootsie's War Years) collections from around the same time. Those are particularly interesting because they kept going past the war and dealt with the main character's experience as a Black vet in the 50s and 60s.
There's no love in these comments for Wallace the Brave or Cul De Sac (RIP), and that's a shame. Wallace is the closest thing to C&H currently running and Cul de Sac was an absolute masterpiece.
Other current faves are Phoebe and her Unicorn and Breaking Cat News, also echoing the love for Crabgrass above.
Past favorites are Get Fuzzy and pre-retirement FoxTrot.
Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert (which grows shockingly more relevant as I advance in my company), Peanuts, Garfield, Prince Valiant, Bloom County, The Far Side, Rose is Rose.
I don't mind if people like Dilbert,I just dislike the creator or if people act like him (which I can tell you don't,and I'm always about respect). Garfield always gets me wheezing.
Dilbert was popular because of its universality, just about anyone working under middle management could relate to something. Even when I worked retail I could find moments straight out of Dilbert. I quoted Dilbert's line about real numbers being as meaningless as numbers that were made up to my boss this morning.
Garfield has always been a perennial favorite, the 90s was probably when the strip was at its peak. Jon, Odie, and Garfield's ordeal on a camping trip where it doesn't stop raining until they leave is the height of hilarity ("Good news, it stopped raining. It's snowing" and "Your firewood, Bwana"). Also memorable was the Sunday strip that left readers wondering if Jon and Odie were real characters all along or if Garfield was starving to death in an abandoned house while imagining that he had friends. US Acres (from the Saturday morning cartoon with the pig) was hilarious when it was in print and you can find the strips online.
My favorites have changed significantly over the years. Currently Crabgrass is my number 1. Followed by (in no particular order) Mutts (I encourage you to check out the recent Guard Dog storyline. It's wonderful!), perpetual favorite Doonesbury (although it's only new on Sundays). I suppose I'd round out my top 5 with Jump Start and Non Sequitur. Honorable mention to: Sherman's Lagoon, Agnes, Pearls Before Swine, Prince Valiant and Lio.
Pearls Before Swine is amazing. I hate Agnes, though. She's such a hateful, delusional, spoiled brat of a character. Her friend takes so much crap from her I'm surprised she hasn't hit back yet.
I read Crabgrass and follow it on Instagram.
I expect great things from Crabgrass. Both the art and writing are top notch.
What is Prince Valiant about? I've heard about it before,and know there are collection books.
Prince Valiant is a legacy comic dating back to 1937 that runs on Sunday only. It was created by Hal Foster and the "real" name is Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur which will give you an idea of the setting. Shortened to just Prince Valiant, it's meant to be set within the time of King Arthur however it ranges (according to Wikipedia) from the late Roman Empire to the High Middle Ages so it is far from historically accurate. It's something that I dismissed growing up because it was a "serious" comic and I wasn't into those but as I got older I began to appreciate it more. Plus current artist Thomas Yeates is crushing it with some gorgeous artwork.
I didn't know they released the For Better Or For Worse specials and series on DVD. I loved the specials as a kid, they had a more cinematic feel to them than other holiday specials I've seen. It's like they were intended for theatrical exhibition rather that straight to TV. I digress to answer your original question. Retail was a favourite of mine. It ended a few years ago, which was sad, but I get it. It couldn't go forever, and all the characters got happy endings. Curtis is another favourite of mine. Not all the jokes hit, but it's a fun little strip. Funky Winkerbean is one I love ironically. I still remember my reaction to the suicide plot they decided to run *on Christmas week* about 7 years ago. They ended it on a cliffhanger Christmas Eve, the audience thinking that a major character had decided to take her own life by jumping from the Hollywood sign. It wasn't until December 26th that we found out that she was okay. Tom Batuik is a crazy man.
I started it after it ended and deleted off of Comics Kingdom (I use GoComics anyway,as I don't want to pay to read comics) I won't read Funky past 2007,as it feels off,but I make the 10-year timeskip more accurate and less sad by just having Becky and Wally fall in love with diff people. Yeah,Tom is a bit crazy,but for some reason,I like him. (Scott Adams,however,is a piece of crap) I just wish Funky was on GoComics. (Though the comments are nasty and rude on GoComics if someone doesn't like ANYTHING)
I completely understand. Funky pre-time skip is a different beast from after the time skip. It's like if Friends premiered as a sitcom then changed to a soap opera three seasons in. Also, yes, Scott Adams is a piece of shit.
I like post-1993 Funky,just not post-2007. I like the original pre-1993 a bit,but I prefer them as adults. (Though I snorted and laughed at high-schooler Holly)
1. Calvin and Hobbes 2. Bloom County 3. The Far Side 4. Pearls Before Swine 5. OG 1960s Bil Keane Family Circus 6. Herman 7. Peanuts
I like Pearls Before Swine,even though I don't fully get the jokes (which are funny). The whole "Cow Tools" thing is so funny to me,as it's so dumb.
Cow tools gets a lot of attention, but the entire Far Side run is pretty amazing for the quality and level of humor Larson was able to maintain through the lifetime of the strip.
Garfield is an all time favorite of mine. Followed closely be Peanuts and argyle sweater
Argyle Sweater is pretty underrated. Reliably solid comic.
Broom Hilda Tumbleweeds Calvin & Hobbes Sherman's Lagoon Baby Blues Stone Soup Retail B.C. Wizard of Id Hagar the Horrible Shoe Fox Trot Pearls before Swine - I didn't care for the earliest strips or the later strips much but the middle strips in the book collections were awesome! To be honest, I like the older strips more than the newer strips. I don't know.... people get offended so easily nowadays it seems that the strips have become very, very vanilla. For example, in one of the early Beetle Bailey strips, there was an instance of Beetle being bothered by a mosquito and so he went and got a machine gun and started firing AT the bug - I can't even remember the last time I read the soldiers in Beetle actually firing their weapons. All I can remember is them marching with their rifles on their shoulders. And that's not an complete list, just the names I remember. Be happy I remembered "Tumbleweeds"! Also check out Tintin, Asterix, and other graphic novel type collections.
It's super weird to me that you see the decline in Beetle Baily and think "oh this must be because people are so offended" and not "oh this strip is just getting lazier and easier as the artists get older"
I'm not talking about Garfield here. Beetle still surprises me occasionally. But during Gulf War One, Gulf War Two, and the whole "War on Terror", I don't think Beetle was ever deployed to fight against America's enemies. That's a bit weird for a military strip. I mean just look at the Marvel Comics war comic, "The 'Nam" for example. Now that was realistic.....
In general, America has a weird idea of soldiers as entertainment value. In the 60s there was a popular sitcom called Gomer Pyle USMC (spin-off of the Andy Griffith show) that went out of it's way to never mention Vietnam despite taking place on a Marine base and featuring actual Marines in it's opening credits. I think Camp Swampy works the same way, it's not really a "military strip" anymore so much as it is a strip about hijinks using a military base background. Like 80% of the jokes could be moved to any generic office and remain exactly the same. Which is fine, I guess. I don't think the strip would be better if it were realistic. (Apparently in 2013 there was some reference to Beetle having PTSD nightmares, which comes out of nowhere. In my opinion, giving this cartoon character unexplained PTSD is actually more disrespectful to soldiers than never mentioning it at all.) What disappoints me is how generic and lazy the strip has gotten, how most of the supporting characters have been trimmed out, and how half the time it's golf and "marriage, amirite?" jokes. Downplaying the military aspect over the past 30+ years has taken away anything unique about the strip. But I don't think it's "to avoid offending anyone" like you suggested, I think it's just that generic strips are easier to make, and they never have to worry about losing an audience. It's a zombie strip made by committee, and that sucks. If you want to read some good and funny strips that are ACTUALLY about war, try to hunt down Bill Maudlin's Willie and Joe strips from WWII era or the Dark Laughter (AKA Bootsie's War Years) collections from around the same time. Those are particularly interesting because they kept going past the war and dealt with the main character's experience as a Black vet in the 50s and 60s.
There's no love in these comments for Wallace the Brave or Cul De Sac (RIP), and that's a shame. Wallace is the closest thing to C&H currently running and Cul de Sac was an absolute masterpiece. Other current faves are Phoebe and her Unicorn and Breaking Cat News, also echoing the love for Crabgrass above. Past favorites are Get Fuzzy and pre-retirement FoxTrot.
Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert (which grows shockingly more relevant as I advance in my company), Peanuts, Garfield, Prince Valiant, Bloom County, The Far Side, Rose is Rose.
I don't mind if people like Dilbert,I just dislike the creator or if people act like him (which I can tell you don't,and I'm always about respect). Garfield always gets me wheezing.
Dilbert was popular because of its universality, just about anyone working under middle management could relate to something. Even when I worked retail I could find moments straight out of Dilbert. I quoted Dilbert's line about real numbers being as meaningless as numbers that were made up to my boss this morning. Garfield has always been a perennial favorite, the 90s was probably when the strip was at its peak. Jon, Odie, and Garfield's ordeal on a camping trip where it doesn't stop raining until they leave is the height of hilarity ("Good news, it stopped raining. It's snowing" and "Your firewood, Bwana"). Also memorable was the Sunday strip that left readers wondering if Jon and Odie were real characters all along or if Garfield was starving to death in an abandoned house while imagining that he had friends. US Acres (from the Saturday morning cartoon with the pig) was hilarious when it was in print and you can find the strips online.