That makes me Lol!

Long break again. This time I had an excuse - I mean, Stanley Cup playoffs started! How can I post anything when that is on every night? That, and I also had an exam to study for - not that I studied, but I would have felt guilty if I didn’t pass and was spending my time writing on a blog instead. I’ve been reading a bit more as well, now that the exam has passed; also, since it is summer, I have been getting outdoors a bit more.

I’m not sure who I want to win the Cup. I wanted Montreal, but c’est la vie. Instead, I am left between Chicago and Philly. I like and dislike aspects of both teams - Philly was the team that beat Montreal, which is a bad thing; Chicago has Toews and Sharp, which is a good thing; Chicago hasn’t won the Cup since '61, Philly since '75 ( a good year, if I recall). I think Chicago is the better team, both have lousy goalies; Chicago beat Vancouver (which is bad, because I like Luongo), Philly beat Boston (which is good, because I hate Boston). I’ve decided to support Philly, because they have more players from Saskatchewan on their team. Me supporting a team is pretty much a guarantee they will lose - so maybe that is not a good thing.

One of the other things that I was doing which was preventing me from writing on the blog was a project I was working on. I got it finished, mostly, a week ago or so, and it gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I’ll put more up on that later, I’ve been formatting an idea on that one, but I’ll go with something else today.

Funnies were Frequently Funnier Formerly: The comics, sad to say, have gotten stale. For those people who still read newspapers, the funnies were the best part of the newspaper. They aren’t any more, though. They have gotten old and not funny. They repeat the same jokes over and over, they try to be too serious, and the art has gotten amateurish.

They are being compared to the platinum age of comics - the 80’s and early 90’s, so it’s not entirely the fault of the current crop of comics. The comics that were around then were amazing - the artists used the medium to their best ability, expanding the reach of comics. When you look at comics like the Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, it is impossible to not be impressed. When comparing today’s comics to the ones of that time, it is easy to see why today’s comics will never measure up.

Today’s comic’s are a metaphor for the newspaper business itself - past it’s prime and dying a slow death.

Comics are Cunningly Clever Currently: Newspaper comics are just as funny as they always were. The aforementioned comics were all quite good, but so are the current crop like Pearls Before Swine, Get Fuzzy, and Foxtrot. And let’s not forget that the 80’s and 90’s also had it’s share of lousy comics, like Garfield, Marmaduke, and some slow 60’s kickbacks were still functioning - like the Family Circus.

The art in todays comics is far better than it was - artists out more detail, more activity into every panel. They also are far more current than the Platinum age of comics ever was; on Sept 13, 2001, for example, virtually all comics had a reference to the attacks of a few days before. Previously, comics were published 3-4 weeks behind. And comics now can keep a story line going over the weekend. The ones from the 80’s never had a Sunday comic in sequence - even the great ones mentioned couldn’t do that.

Today’s comics are a metaphor the news paper business - evolving a way that no one expected.

What I think: The comics today are just as funny as the old ones were - just in a different way. Comics have changed, to be sure - they have built on the successes of the previous best crop and changed their ideas, their format, and are still growing. Sometimes they don’t succeed - there are some poor ones out there - Zits springs to mind. I do think the humour has changed, not better or worse, just different. I don’t think that there will be a collective memorial tribute for any new comics, the way there was for Charles Schultz when he passed away.

How I relate: I just finished reading Bloom County Babylon, and I truly think that Bloom County was amazing. I caught myself thinking, “Man, comics were so funny back then.” They were, but they now as well. Peanuts was amazing, and even some, like Garfield, had it’s moments. I think that Life in Hell, pre Simpsons success, was really good as well. I think that we will also look back on comics like Foxtrot and Dilbert as shining examples of the best of the 90-00’s, but the medium, is, of course, changing. The format of the comics may become less relevant as more and more is available online, and even now, there are some very well done online comics. I don’t the comics will disappear -but we won’t get another Peanuts.

I always seem to be working on these posts while I am doing laundry.