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Daniel Gillotte
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Joined: 11 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2670
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| Posted: 12 November 2024 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | 1
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I was a huge Hagar the Horrible fan as a kid partly because it was funny, partly because Vikings and swords, and partly because he was fun to draw!
Then I thought Garfield was a revelation. SO FUNNY, I even had a Garfield lunchbox!
In High school Calvin & HObbes and Far Side and Bloom County and Doonesbury becamse faves. I felt kinda smart for liking these.
Doonesbury and Bloom County have not aged well but Calvin and Far Side have.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 16 November 2024 at 12:19am | IP Logged | 2
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Daniel Gillotte wrote:
| Doonesbury and Bloom County have not aged well… |
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Curious. While I get DOONESBURY feeling very much rooted in the politics of the 1970, 80s and 90s (although his current once weekly strip is gold), I personally don’t think BLOOM COUNTY has aged that much, if at all. What about it doesn’t work for you some 35 odd years later?
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ron bailey
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Joined: 16 October 2016
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| Posted: 16 November 2024 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | 3
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Not sure about the categorical restrictions of format here, but having lived overseas as a kid I loved Asterix et Obelix. The historical puns were a hoot and the draftsmanship of the ancient Roman Empire locales were amazing.
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Jason Czeskleba
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Joined: 30 April 2004
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 4:09am | IP Logged | 4
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Yeah, I disagree with the notion that Doonesbury hasn't aged well. It's true that it contains a lot of topical references that a modern reader (who's not aware of the history) might not get. But it's not like its style of humor has become passe', or its perspective has become socially unacceptable or something. It's very much of its time, but that doesn't mean it has aged poorly. Really, only about half the strips were topical/political anyway. The other half were character driven and just as funny/thoughtful now out of their historical context.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 4:39am | IP Logged | 5
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I get the knock though, Jason. Topical references don’t age well. Just look at another genre: television. I still think ALL IN THE FAMILY is brilliant, but it’s dated to my nieces and nephew. Not only because of the way it was filmed, but specifically because of the issues they tackle. I was weened on it so I don’t see it, but taking a broader view I get why it’s considered a relic in a way, say, I LOVE LUCY isn’t even though the latter was nearly two decades older. DOONESBURY is of a time and place. Sure, it shifted between three different decades. But it still focused on very specific personalities, politicians and people that are mainly lost on people younger than 40. That it also contained some stories that were character driven doesn’t preclude the fact that it was (still is) political at its beating heart.
BLOOM COUNTY, however, was never that specific. While it had a Vietnam Vet at its core in the early going, politics wasn’t ever its central core. At least not overtly. Was it rooted in the weird between-space of the 70s/80s? Sure. But not more than the PEANUTS was rooted in the 50s and those characters have never gone out of date.
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Jason Czeskleba
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 6:05am | IP Logged | 6
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Yeah, I just see a difference between "of its time" and "hasn't aged well." I'd reserve the latter for something like Andy Capp, because jokes about domestic abuse, alcoholism, and chronic infidelity don't seem so funny to a modern audience. Or all the Beetle Bailey strips about the General leering at Miss Buxley. Those haven't aged well.
Bloom County wasn't political (except in a very generalized manner) but it was pretty steeped in references to the popular culture of its day. There's lots of strips that would be difficult for a modern reader to understand without footnotes. So in that sense, I can see why Daniel likened it to Doonesbury.
Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 17 November 2024 at 6:07am
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Matt Reed
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 6:43am | IP Logged | 7
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Get your meaning in the difference, although I kinda think that’s a mention without a clear distinction. Your “aged well” or not is different from others. Fine line.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 9:00am | IP Logged | 8
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Jason Czeskleba wrote:
| Bloom County wasn't political (except in a very generalized manner) but it was pretty steeped in references to the popular culture of its day. There's lots of strips that would be difficult for a modern reader to understand without footnotes. |
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Understanding that the format was in a daily paper that presumably ran a strip seven days a week in its heyday, most couldn’t avoid commenting on the current events of the day. Unless you were a fantasy, detective or sci-fi strip, the real world was going to intrude. It just did. If you’re a topical strip, then sure, it was “steeped in references to the popular culture of the day”. That said? I struggle to remember a strip that I cared about in the 80s that didn’t tackle those things, either head on or obliquely. The ones I ignored were akin to THE FAMILY CIRUS which has its own special place in daily hell for me.
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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 11:46am | IP Logged | 9
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Ha, THE FAMILY CIRCUS has probably my earliest memory of comic "must read first" strip. When I reached double digit ages I seemed to have avoided it like the plague.
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Wilson Mui
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Joined: 27 June 2004
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | 10
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I used to read Dilbert all the time. (This was
twenty-five years ago before I learned Scott
Adams was a racist, right-wing nut!) Years
ago, I remember chatting with a retired
executive who used to run a large corporation
and dealt with corporate boards about how much
we enjoyed the strip. He said it was
depressing how accurate it was. LOL
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Jason Czeskleba
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| Posted: 17 November 2024 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | 11
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Matt Reed wrote:
| If you’re a topical strip, then sure, it was “steeped in references to the popular culture of the day”. That said? I struggle to remember a strip that I cared about in the 80s that didn’t tackle those things, either head on or obliquely. |
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Calvin and Hobbes would be the most obvious example of a great 80s strip that did not make much of any reference to the popular culture of the day.
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Steven Myers
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| Posted: 18 November 2024 at 1:55am | IP Logged | 12
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Not to turn the thread negative, but I never liked Doonesbury or Family Circus. Too topical and too saccharine perhaps, but they seem the opposite extremes.
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