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Why do you read this thread anyway? This poll is closed. |
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| I enjoy reading contemporary newspaper comics. |
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64 | 26.02% |
| I hate reading contemporary newspaper comics. |
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42 | 17.07% |
| I enjoy reading historical newspaper comics. |
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88 | 35.77% |
| I enjoy reading newspaper comics from foreign countries. |
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52 | 21.14% |
| Total: | 246 votes | ||
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De Grassi Rhymes with Orange  Get Fuzzy 5/24/02  Brenda Starr 10/21-23/48    Smokey Stover 2/8/48  Everyday Movies 3/9/35  "He's grand, Mae. And gee -- that look he gives me when I put a few extra pieces into his fruit salad every day."
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May 25, 2022 13:46
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Bernice is the "mature" one. Somehow
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May 25, 2022 14:06
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May 25, 2022 14:18
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May 25, 2022 14:21
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A+J
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May 25, 2022 15:22
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Docks  Retail   Popcom (Terry und Terry edition)  
Darthemed fucked around with this message at 15:54 on May 25, 2022 |
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May 25, 2022 15:46
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Huxley posted:A+J janis is dead
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May 25, 2022 15:51
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Medenmath posted:I'm not entirely sure I agree with Val's strategy of insulting the kid until he cries it out so he'll accept the suggestion of a career change. It's not great, but it's par for the course for Val's character. How many boys Arf's age has he fought and killed on the battlefield by now?
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May 25, 2022 17:07
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Steeple – Brian's Insides John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Steeple website John Allison posted:Drawing Magus Tom as a floating egg entity was the moment I knew I was back in the game. MockingQuantum posted:I don't know if it's just because it was the first one I read, but none of John Allison's comics have ever grabbed me or entertained me quite as much as Bad Machinery. They're all just fine or pretty good, and they all have occasionally brilliant humor, but Bad Machinery is the one that sticks with me. Fighting Trousers posted:Yeah, it's why I can't really get into the later Lottie stories as much. I find myself missing Shauna and the boys. I feel like Bad Machinery benefits from being a free webcomic, thus you can easily go back and catch up with various stories and see how the characters developed (compared with Steeple which started as print comic, so the first few stories aren't easily accessible). Bad Machinery also benefits from Allison having 10 years of experience under his belt in terms of art and writing, as well as being more focused, both overall with the concept (kids solve mysteries!) and within the stories themselves, each focused on specific case. As for the later Lottie stories, I think Allison just doesn't know what he wants to do with her. Logically, after Bad Machinery, a comic about Lottie in university would make sense, but that was ground Allison already covered in Giant Days, and he said he wanted to do something different with Lottie. Wicked Things had a solid concept (Lottie gets framed for murder, has to prove her innocence) and theme (suddenly getting thrust into the adult world, as opposed to going to university and easing into the transition), but the execution didn't work, mainly because Lottie was in police custody the whole time and couldn't investigate on her own (it might have worked if Allison had gone The Fugitive route and has Lottie on the run while trying to prove her innocence). With the later Lottie stories (Circus Windows and Solver), part of the problem is that she is still in a transitional state, not having fully entered adulthood. I think Allison is hesitant to have her fully enter adulthood, having written stories with her when she was 8-years-old.
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May 25, 2022 17:12
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Breaking Cat News Phoebe and Her Unicorn  Wallace the Brave  Heart of the City  Curtis  let's just pretend I put the Nedroid show don't tell strip here.
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May 25, 2022 17:29
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The_Other posted:I feel like Bad Machinery benefits from being a free webcomic, thus you can easily go back and catch up with various stories and see how the characters developed (compared with Steeple which started as print comic, so the first few stories aren't easily accessible). Bad Machinery also benefits from Allison having 10 years of experience under his belt in terms of art and writing, as well as being more focused, both overall with the concept (kids solve mysteries!) and within the stories themselves, each focused on specific case. I'd agree that Lottie being in this weird limbo in terms of character development is an issue. I'm as big a Lottie fan as anyone, but I do think part of the problem is she worked best as a single (main) character in a larger cast. Allison is generally good at writing sassy, eccentric young women, but they function best when they have other strong personalities to help drive the story forward. I liked Wicked Things well enough, and was pretty lukewarm on Circus Windows and Solver, despite really liking Lottie as a character. I think she (and all of the Bad Machinery kids) really shine as a whole, rather than as individual characters. I can see why he focused on Lottie, given that she's one of the more interesting and memorable (and I assume popular) characters in the Bobbinsverse, but I think pulling her out of the larger cast also kind of made the potential storylines stale. As much as I like Little Claire as a character, she also feels like she worked better in a larger ensemble.
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May 25, 2022 17:32
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2018 Spiderman 1979 comics     This arc is just getting started and I hate it.   Locher Tracy  Footrot Flats  The Lockhorns  Mandrake  Johnny Hazard  Computoon: Origins 
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May 25, 2022 17:46
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Cheer Up Boss Dharma
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May 25, 2022 17:46
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Bizarro The Family Circus 
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May 25, 2022 17:46
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I think Allison has also written like 3-5 stories recently that are entertaining but amount to nothing particularly noteworthy happening, including the Bat-man story which also ended an entire act early. The plots are going far too light in service of placing characters we like before us and hoping that is enough. The Mystery Kids and Charlotte being wacky are usually the excellent spice to "somebody is setting fires in town and a troll man lives under the bridge" instead of "Charlotte's mom is weirdly classist to her and Little Claire changes her future a bit." I guess it turns out that Allisonverse characters being themselves is just 90% of a good time. Steeples is an exception to this trend of recent stories as the murder mystery/clashing churches/ensemble cast/things from beyond are a lot of somethings going on with the likeable cast to interact with and I think it's excellent overall. --- Jucika "236 - Jucika In Rush Hour Traffic"  It's either lewd or be lewded. The world is a harsh place. "237 - Jucika Is Hiking" 
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May 25, 2022 17:50
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May 25, 2022 17:52
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It's startling how much less coherent modern Computoons are compared to the classic ones. The classic ones have jokes, even if they aren't always great. But they make sense! Reading modern Computoons makes me feel like I walked into the room to hear the tail end of a very weird conversation. It's like I'm missing the necessary context to make sense of what's even going on in most of them.
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May 25, 2022 17:56
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Is Daddy wearing sock garters? I think Family Circus takes place in the same time warp reality as Batman: TAS
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May 25, 2022 18:04
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MockingQuantum posted:I'd agree that Lottie being in this weird limbo in terms of character development is an issue. I'm as big a Lottie fan as anyone, but I do think part of the problem is she worked best as a single (main) character in a larger cast. Allison is generally good at writing sassy, eccentric young women, but they function best when they have other strong personalities to help drive the story forward. I liked Wicked Things well enough, and was pretty lukewarm on Circus Windows and Solver, despite really liking Lottie as a character. I think she (and all of the Bad Machinery kids) really shine as a whole, rather than as individual characters. I can see why he focused on Lottie, given that she's one of the more interesting and memorable (and I assume popular) characters in the Bobbinsverse, but I think pulling her out of the larger cast also kind of made the potential storylines stale. As much as I like Little Claire as a character, she also feels like she worked better in a larger ensemble. F Minus  Mark Trail  Oh goddammit. Mary Worth  "Now, let's just hold each other here in the romantic glow of baboon butts." The Phantom  Pooch Cafe  You know, those cats probably love those drawers. Rex Morgan MD  Andertoons  Apartment 3-G 
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May 25, 2022 18:07
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Vater und Sohn: Beaver's revenge (37/1937)
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May 25, 2022 18:15
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Murdstone posted:
fuuuuuck this
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May 25, 2022 18:16
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The Bloop posted:Is Daddy wearing sock garters? A lot of Family Circus strips are re-works of old strips. You can tell every now and then when it's clear that they edited out a corded phone or changed console TV into a flat screen sitting on the floor for some reason.
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May 25, 2022 18:18
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MockingQuantum posted:It's startling how much less coherent modern Computoons are compared to the classic ones. The classic ones have jokes, even if they aren't always great. But they make sense! Reading modern Computoons makes me feel like I walked into the room to hear the tail end of a very weird conversation. It's like I'm missing the necessary context to make sense of what's even going on in most of them. 
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May 25, 2022 18:24
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MockingQuantum posted:I'd agree that Lottie being in this weird limbo in terms of character development is an issue. I'm as big a Lottie fan as anyone, but I do think part of the problem is she worked best as a single (main) character in a larger cast. Allison is generally good at writing sassy, eccentric young women, but they function best when they have other strong personalities to help drive the story forward. I liked Wicked Things well enough, and was pretty lukewarm on Circus Windows and Solver, despite really liking Lottie as a character. I think she (and all of the Bad Machinery kids) really shine as a whole, rather than as individual characters. I can see why he focused on Lottie, given that she's one of the more interesting and memorable (and I assume popular) characters in the Bobbinsverse, but I think pulling her out of the larger cast also kind of made the potential storylines stale. As much as I like Little Claire as a character, she also feels like she worked better in a larger ensemble. One of the reason I like the old Bobbins and Scary-Go-Round cast better overall is that Allison is way too precious and protective about his Mystery Kids. They're good characters and he's gotten some good stories out of them, but it's clear that he's never going to put them in any real peril or non-positive life changes. The other crews will get divorced, have bitter breakups, die and go to hell, or become time cops but Lottie will always be handled with kid gloves.
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May 25, 2022 18:28
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Murdstone posted:
What are you going to do, Street Sweeper? Shut them up in the secret prison in your lair? Eat them?
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May 25, 2022 18:29
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Mutts Sally Forth  Skippy (August 20, 1934)  Peanuts (May 28, 1975)  Funky Winkerbean  Crankshaft  Butt and Jeff...MUTT. Yeah, That's What I Meant To Say.  Rip Haywire  Thimble Theater (December 24, 1938)  Well, I did ask for them to stop punching. Shame on me for not being more specific. Out Our Way (December 1-3, 1938)    OOW reminds you to do your homework before making a high-risk investment. EasyEW fucked around with this message at 18:42 on May 25, 2022 |
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May 25, 2022 18:39
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Into Ilves  Nancy  Dustin  Mandrake 
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May 25, 2022 18:49
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MockingQuantum posted:I'd agree that Lottie being in this weird limbo in terms of character development is an issue. I'm as big a Lottie fan as anyone, but I do think part of the problem is she worked best as a single (main) character in a larger cast. Allison is generally good at writing sassy, eccentric young women, but they function best when they have other strong personalities to help drive the story forward. I liked Wicked Things well enough, and was pretty lukewarm on Circus Windows and Solver, despite really liking Lottie as a character. I think she (and all of the Bad Machinery kids) really shine as a whole, rather than as individual characters. I can see why he focused on Lottie, given that she's one of the more interesting and memorable (and I assume popular) characters in the Bobbinsverse, but I think pulling her out of the larger cast also kind of made the potential storylines stale. As much as I like Little Claire as a character, she also feels like she worked better in a larger ensemble. It's like when you have a breakout character in an ensemble tv show who gets their own spinoff. There's always something missing.
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May 25, 2022 18:54
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Asking Thimble Theatre to move on from minutae is like asking 9CL not to be perverted. Remember, this is the strip that spent like a month on a guy who was annoyed that a dog was making pooey faces at him. Part of the appeal is that pathological dimension of it.
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May 25, 2022 19:11
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lol mark trail, this cast is so insular it's inbreedingWeembles posted:One of the reason I like the old Bobbins and Scary-Go-Round cast better overall is that Allison is way too precious and protective about his Mystery Kids. They're good characters and he's gotten some good stories out of them, but it's clear that he's never going to put them in any real peril or non-positive life changes. Good point that I didn't notice until it was pointed out. No Stakes writing can be a death knell. Maybe Lottie needs a consistent nemesis or something. There was the mention of danger of being imprisoned but that's passed pretty fast.. the most crushing consequence in all of Bad Machinery was Lottie/Shauna losing their friendship due to fey bargaining.
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May 25, 2022 19:15
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Yeah Bad Machinery had an interesting cast that was pretty consistently messy. They were friends, but they were going through changes and stressors of growing up, and it was interestingly messy somehow. A lot of the post Machinery Lottie stuff is clever, but not messy. I think that's the worst I could say about Allison in general, honestly-- his best stuff is complex and funny and clever, even his worst stuff (that I've seen, which excludes the really early stuff) is clever, just kind of toothless and directionless.
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May 25, 2022 19:28
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maltesh posted:What are you going to do, Street Sweeper? Shut them up in the secret prison in your lair? Eat them? Given his resources and theming, Dissolve them in a bathtub with various chemicals.
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May 25, 2022 20:10
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Bad Machinery
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May 25, 2022 20:27
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Eh I think Alison just hasn't figured out where he wants the characters to go yet, I think that's fine. I've always favored the character moments over the mystery stuff anyway so Lottie just selling folks on coffee would be a good read for me.
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May 25, 2022 20:51
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I'm just kind of disappointed he's latched so strongly onto Lottie out of all the mystery kids. Shauna in particular had a lot of great story potential baked into her character, with family issues and class issues and complex relationships with all the people in her life. Lottie just sort of feels like Shelly Winters Mk II, solidly middle-class cute wacky girl who gets in adventures and makes quips, pretty much full stop. Haraiso Days   Haifisch posted:Was the secret twist in this comic that it's actually a cooking comic?  
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May 25, 2022 21:43
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Do Hellworld Teacher Unions Have Protection From Being Murdered And Eaten?       
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May 25, 2022 23:44
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I mean, Shelley is in the "nothing really bad will ever happen to her (permanently)" box and it's worked out okay so far, although I agree that Allison would do well to dip a bit further into the complex/serious plot well.
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May 25, 2022 23:58
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The r/relationships thread is full of stories like this. Get bent, Gran.
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May 26, 2022 00:41
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Pickles Zits 
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May 26, 2022 00:49
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| # ? May 29, 2024 17:48 |
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Ballard Street       
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May 26, 2022 01:02
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