Comic Strips

When I compare the New York Times against the Washington Post, the NYT is overwhelmingly better and not as nakedly partisan; but the Post has comic strips! Now THAT'S the way to go!

That pleases the philistine soul within me. Lordy, lordy . . . . give me the funnies!

Alas, some of the old standbys like Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side are no more; but Dilbert and Zits soldier on. And there's the occasional impactful humor of Beetle Bailey despite its setting in an army familiar to no one.

No, the funnies give a moment's lightness, after the nonstop dreariness that mostly serves as news. No, don't lay that at Trump's doorstep; when has there been good news? Next, you might as well expect unicorns to crap rainbows! (The sports page also serves in this fashion, and sports fandom.)
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I found it surprising that several articles have appeared on-line or in blogs about that need to stop being produced.  (This was written in 2008; and strips such as Cathy, Marmaduke, The Born Loser, Snuffy Smith, The Family Circus, B.C., and others are mentioned.  Bullshit!

This is nothing more than intolerance of other points of view. In fact, this is something of the same notions that transformed late-night television into didactics in support of certain political opinions. [Sorry, guys: but Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee just don't ring my bell. And Jay Leno got grumpy in his last years of television.] Different strokes for different folks. Some do groove on For Better or Worse.

In my opinion, the comic strip offerings in newspapers should have the potential to appeal to a broad range of readers; people of different ages and sensibilities, liberals and conservatives both, football fans or not . . . . While Doonesbury is not to my taste, it apparently resonates with others; so Garry Trudeau, write on! 

Humor is too precious a national resource to leave it to the common scolds, preachers, or schoolteachers. Give us reasons to laugh, and to see life as being funny!

Here's Mutts, one I like: