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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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seriously if anyone has any Groo that would be a great counterbalance to the Legend of Bill.
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Aug 18, 2022 14:28
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Murdstone posted:The Phantom So has Mozz's story lapped itself here, or what? At this point, I honestly can't parse if this is where Phantom gets shot and Savarna takes him to her vet friend where he gives up Kit's location, or if Mozz is like "LOL, no. When I tell you that prophecy, you don't heed my warnings and you decide to go rescue Savarna anyway, and here's what ACTUALLY happens when you do."
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Aug 18, 2022 14:35
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We're still in the same Mozz story. The rescue happened, that vet trip has happened. He is now post all that, post collapse of his marriage, post kids with Savarna, and off trying to find his boy who is a revolutionary leader in (not-(?))Tibet to try and pass on the mantle. He just got shot by his daughter in law following his son's orders.
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Aug 18, 2022 14:41
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Thank you. I thought I'd been keeping up, but apparently I have not.
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Aug 18, 2022 14:46
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Hattie Masters posted:I asked this a couple years ago now, but I am interested to see how things have changed: It's Holbrook by a mile. He's writing and drawing three strips and once, and all three suck in their own unique ways. I don't even read them 99% of the time, I just scoot right past them as I scroll. But then every now and then I'll catch a stray, or the thread will get so up in arms about a particular installment (for instance, basically every other strip in this current Safe Havens run) that I have to read it and I always find myself at a loss. Why is this man like this? I get the distinct feeling that he doesn't realize his own writing is "crafting elaborate nightmare hell worlds" but instead just fancies himself as having a "whimsical" or "snarky" sense of humor. Honestly, I think the only other strip I outright hate is Dustin, and at this point it's less about the content of the strip - which typically sucks! - it's that I can't see it without remembering the "subtle" Pro-Trump message in their election day 2020 comic. That was a real mask off moment, "Oh, THAT is why this is such a mean-spirited strip." Reddick is bad and I was going to say "But Intelligent Life is no longer carried by newspapers and was cut down to 3 days a week, so it's not like this thread is alone in recognizing his terribleness" but in searching to find out when that happened I found out he works for Paws, Inc. and also apparently does 3 Blondie strips a week. He's the silent killer of the funny page.
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Aug 18, 2022 14:46
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Breaking Cat News Phoebe and Her Unicorn  Wallace the Brave  Heart of the City  Curtis  hahaha yes, if you solved world hunger with magic, the publicity would be the hard part. No news organization would want to cover it, you definitely couldn't loving tweet about it, the best plan here is to do a loving flash mob, get 25-ish college freshman and improv class-takers to dance like poo poo to "Barbara Streisand", in the middle of an intersection, emulating a fad that hasn't been popular since the loving Bush administration, jesus loving christ, retire billingsley
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Aug 18, 2022 14:47
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Hattie Masters posted:I asked this a couple years ago now, but I am interested to see how things have changed: It's a dead heat between Holbrook and the sheer smug one-two punch of Funky/Crankshaft. Holbrook's might be a hair better because my neurons actually have to fire when I read them, if only so that I can get mad at their total inconsistencies. At least there's some pleasure/intellectual activity to be gained from knowing that I spent more time thinking about this than he did. But with Batiuk, oh my god, just a consistent wheel of self-pity, self-satisfaction, and self-congratulation. It's simultaneously the most whiny and the most masturbatory of comics. It's beaten such a dead Lisa by now that I don't even think Batiuk is even really interested in it anymore, look how quickly he drops plots and characters when he's not getting enough praise. Holbrook i think at least likes his own poo poo, Batiuk has just turned into a cynical clout chaser who wants the attention and respect of mass media but doesn't want to put in the effort to learn anything about anything.
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Aug 18, 2022 14:54
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I don't enjoy Holbrook's work but at least if he wanted to do like a super hero parody storyline he'd undeniably show you that he is interested in the source material, at least enough to read up on and get it right in his own style. Batiuk is a contemptible hack who writes a story about recognizing a woman's role in comic history, sidelines her for <it has been X months and 3+ storylines since Ruby had any dialogue> to show off the world's least interesting pair of creative "heavy weights" (but what about the old white men?!) and then delivers unironic non-parodies that would be C-tier at best if they were released in the proper time period(ah, shittier Hulk/Thing without any charm!) and then fucks up the most basic creative elements like misreading classic cover shots and reversing the hero/villain roles and coloring. On a happier note: Jucika "406 - Jucika And The Autumn Foliage"  "407 - Jucika At A High-Class Fancy Place" NSFW Nudity  "Ruhatár kötelező = Cloakroom Mandatory" Or coat check/coat room mandatory.
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Aug 18, 2022 16:28
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There aren't a lot of strips posted in here right now that I can work up the energy to genuinely hate. There are certain bits of the Holbrook continuum, or low effort stuff that looks like the panel was pasted together from a folder marked "art assets", but it only draws a dissatisfied grunt rather than a visceral reaction. Having said that...let's look at today's Funky Winkerbean.  First things first, the retconning of Les out of his own story is the most amusing thing here on the meta level, because as it's been pointed out elsewhere, these were more or less Les's lines, except Harry's padding his part.  And of course, that makes the revised-for-2022 version a slap in the face for anyone who gave enough of a drat to pay attention the first time. With Les doing this, you could make the argument that it's the love of a dying woman's life trying to hold on to as much of her as he can. That develops into some very worrying territory later on, but we wouldn't have known that then. You swap out Les for Harry? It's advice from one of your husband's friends, a guy who still has an intact family. Where's the emotional resonance? You just gutted your own story, dude. But beyond that (or really, adjacent to that), we're going back to a recurring theme of making a reference but not thinking through the implications of the reference. For those of us who never got around to Foundation, a couple of the Stuck Funky commentariat were happy to point out that Hari Seldon's mathematical certainty tends to go to seed when a genuine wild card gets thrown into the mix, eventually rendering what Seldon viewed as rational advice for course corrections for the care and feeding of the best possible timeline into something everyone would've been better off ignoring. And then I look at all of the above and realize I've burned all that thinking on a dumb, saccharine plot device to keep Lisa as a usable character in some form after killing her off, even if it freezes her in VHS-to-DVD amber forever. So yeah, Funky bugs me more than the others, but figuring out why it bugs me is still useful, so here we are again. That's a hell of a lead-in to Mutts, but sometimes the big offenders need to jump the queue.  Anyway, we got so hung up on this "Saint Lisa redux" bullshit, it almost got away from me that things have taken a turn in Sally Forth.  Skippy (October 30, 1934)  Peanuts (August 21, 1975)  Moving to the other half of the Funkyverse, Crankshaft is also a little off today, but for less tangible reasons.  Mutt and Jeff  Rip Haywire  Thimble Theater (March 20, 1939)  Out Our Way (August 14-16, 1939)   
EasyEW fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Aug 18, 2022 |
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Aug 18, 2022 17:12
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Docks  Retail   Popcom  
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Aug 18, 2022 17:20
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Glad you're back on your feet, riderchop! Bizarro  The Family Circus 
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Aug 18, 2022 17:24
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EasyEW posted:There aren't a lot of strips posted in here right now that I can work up the energy to genuinely hate. There are certain bits of the Holbrook continuum, or low effort stuff that looks like the panel was pasted together from a folder marked "art assets", but it only draws a dissatisfied grunt rather than a visceral reaction. I mean, I didn't even mention Funky in my rundown because its awfulness is self-evident, but man oh man this is especially terrible. Like you said, there's no discernible purpose to Batiuk retconning his own story, yet keeping the whole thing built around the exact same stupid reference, other than being able to pound his "CANCER = BAD; THIS = MEANINGFUL" drum some more. Powered Descent posted:The Family Circus Lil' Biffy or whatever looks so satisfied with is American flag. "Daddy don't know poo poo but everybody recognizes this one; people see it right around the time GI Joe and his war toys turn up and start shooting indiscriminately;"
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Aug 18, 2022 17:43
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Bad Machinery  Ad that's the end of The Case of The Fire Inside. I still think it's the best work John Allison's ever done.
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Aug 18, 2022 17:56
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Generally enjoy, almost always read: -Sally Forth. It can get wordy at times but I enjoy the art and scenarios and I do like the words -Tinkersons. I cannot for the life of me tell you when this fully "clicked" for me because by all counts I should hate it but I kind of vibe with the art and I get chuckles out of the deadpan deliveries and so on. -So It Seems. I stopped scrolling through the big WW2 posts one time on this one and after a few more I got hooked. I think the art for it is really nice and full of character and gets consistent chuckles -Nancy. I get why people have problems with it but I dunno, it's never really bugged me as much. Sometimes I do skip a few days, but generally I still like reading it. I think it's at its best when it does visual gags, though. -Lockhorns. I & others have commented on this one before, but the art style is nice, the gags are good and its gotta be doing something right to make "couple who hates each other" actually work. -Zits. Kind of dependent on the theme that week but I'm mostly drawn to it since I like the back & forth on the family dynamic. They definitely rib on each other but it works since it's not really hateful and they pass the buck around so its not all on the kid or the parents. I liked the first year that was posted too, if only as a comparison to how many things stayed the same and how many things drifted. I think the dad's dentist job still gets brought up, but not the mom's job anymore. Or the total erasure of the brother -The japanese bar comics. I like one far more than the other but I really appreciate all these comics getting translated. -Likewise, the companion comics that come with them. The Q-Raises, the cthulupin, etc. Just nice to have some variety and I generally like the 4koma style -Retail. I'm glad this is getting reposted from the start, I was kind off & on with it when it first came around but I liked it by the time it ended. -Wallace. Probably my favorite style in the thread -Bad Machinery and other Allison works: Granted, I read those before this thread -Crabgrass. I was so happy to see it back for real, with new strips and everything. I'm glad he's getting published in newspapers! -F-Minus, Rhymes With Orange, Andertoons: i like a good gag a day and these hit the right groove. You'd think Andertoons' graph jokes would get old but no -Pooch Cafe -Arlo & Janis. I'm glad we're getting both modern day & classic A&J. It shows how long he's kept a pace of pretty good comics and it's fun to see how many characters have drifted out of the comic. Also makes me sad, sometimes. Enjoy, but have to be in the mood for: -Prince Valiant. Some neat stories, fantastic art, and I really like this latest one. But sometimes you're just not in the mood for big comics -Brave of the Heart. Can physically not understand why people hate this this much. I'm not always in the mood for it but its...fine? Like the art doesn't bug me, the jokes don't bug me, the stories even if they just kinda end dont bug me. Generally pleasant, I stop and smell the roses every so often. Its fine??? Less "Enjoy" and more "Fascinated by": -Holbrooks various works. I would never call them "good", but There's just something about them. Three absurdly long running comics and all of them are buckwild and written by a man who puts absolutely no thoughts into anything. How has he made 3 separate hellworlds. I can't look away nor can I say I hate them. I can't stop thinking about that set of comics someone dug into where it was revealed that Deathany's boss is effectively blackmailing her/threatening her to keep working for her????? -Funky/Crankshaft. Again, fascinated by the abject misery of an extremely long form comic. Especially with how the buffer is like a whole drat YEAR?? I was following Chris Sims' Funky Watch for a while. I don't keep up with this as much these days, but I glance at them and gather by osmosis from the reactions. -Phantom. I go back & forth on if I hate this forever Mozz storyline. But I sure am still reading...? -Curtis. What bizarre non-joke is Billingsly going to do next?! And you never know when he's just going to do something weird like Gunk or that Michelle dream sequence. I don't like it but, it sure is something. I unironically love all the barber strips, however, and the church lady sundays are fun too. The sundays where he just draws whatever Curtis is watching are also nice. -Mary Worth: Just trodding through horrific relationship drama/boring and then sidewinds you by throwing Wilbur off a boat or a wild dream sequence or "a cat torments Mary". Despise: -Daddy Daze. The only good part was the reveal that the parents are amicably divorced -Dustin. Fairly self explanatory. Worst family -Foob. It's no one thing in particular just....really, don't like it. And not enough to be fascinated by it. And I really hate all the comics with the toddler. There's nothing wrong, per say, with how she's treated (she's a baby she does baby things) there's just. Something. -Bizarro. I hate it! I hate all his stupid symbols I hate almost all the jokes all of it. Worst gag a day. -Intelligent Life and...I guess whatever the new one is? I thought it was all the same I had skipped them for so long. But I can always spot them as I scroll. Awful. A lot of other comics I just skip so I don't have any real feelings on other than "eh".
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Aug 18, 2022 18:20
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A+J I assume this is a joke about having to account for cargo "walking away" as it's being unloaded.
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Aug 18, 2022 18:38
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I can’t name all the strips I hate in here. I read maybe half of them, and don’t hate all the ones I don’t read. But if somebody posts nothing but awful strips, I’ll boot them to the ignore list. Which I hate, because I like all of you even if some of you do have wretched taste. I’m a mess. I’ve given up posting myself. I should get rid of the ignore list, y’all quote each other too much and I’m missing out on conversation. I’ll spot you guys a strip that isn’t posted here, that was the first strip I remember hating, and that’s Ribbons and Haywire, a terrible 80s strip that tried to be Paws Inc but with dogs, and was somehow infinitely worse. I’ll bet it’s tame compared to a lot of stuff already cited.
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Aug 18, 2022 18:48
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Arnold (July 4-10, 1983)       The Sunday strip is the first mention of Bertha the cafeteria lady. She doesn't speak here, but she will eventually become a (off-screen) recurring character who often talks smack at Arnold. The cafeteria ladies and Arnold all have a grudge against each other and it would be a running staple in the strip for the remainder of the run.
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Aug 18, 2022 18:51
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TegneHanne L-Innsikt  Zelda 
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Aug 18, 2022 18:57
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Most of Holbrook's awfulness comes from him refusing to think about things beyond a surface level. Meanwhile, TomBat thought a man receiving the Oscar (Emmy? whatever) for Best Actress was a good idea. He also doesn't give enough of a poo poo to remember his own writing, whereas Holbrook seems to remember old characters and plot points. And hey, even if he doesn't think through what he writes, Holbrook's political opinions seem pretty good and it doesn't seem like he's too full of himself. Batuik on the other hand thinks he's God's gift to the comics page. Batuik is by far worse and it's not even close. I gotta say this strip alone justifies Arnold's treatment of Tommy, what the gently caress is wrong with A Streetcar Named Desire? I mean, okay, it's absolutely not the most appropriate play for an elementary school drama club to be performing, but he seems to be implying anyone who wants to perform it is crazy.
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Aug 18, 2022 19:08
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EasyEW posted:There aren't a lot of strips posted in here right now that I can work up the energy to genuinely hate. There are certain bits of the Holbrook continuum, or low effort stuff that looks like the panel was pasted together from a folder marked "art assets", but it only draws a dissatisfied grunt rather than a visceral reaction. If Batiuk actually cared about his terrible schmaltzy oscar-bait of a comic, I'd respect that to some degree. But he just couldn't give two shits to keep things in continuity. Of course, I wouldn't even know all this if I didn't follow the thread, so who's the rear end in a top hat, really? It's Batiuk EasyEW posted:Anyway, we got so hung up on this "Saint Lisa redux" bullshit, it almost got away from me that things have taken a turn in Sally Forth. She stopped being your friend when she started being your boss from hell. Don't do it, Sally! Green Intern fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Aug 18, 2022 |
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Aug 18, 2022 19:50
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F Minus Mark Trail  I know I wouldn't want to tangle with a bunch of Canada geese. Mary Worth  The Phantom  Pooch Cafe  Rex Morgan MD  Andertoons  My research on the literature indicates this is accurate. Apartment 3-G 
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Aug 18, 2022 20:08
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holbrook actually rules because he's completely loving insane the worst comic is luann
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Aug 18, 2022 20:24
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Murdstone posted:Mark Trail quote:
I-Is this good advice? From Mary Worth!?
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Aug 18, 2022 20:32
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Pickles Hagar the Horrible  Zits 
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Aug 18, 2022 21:33
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Least favorite is easily Funky/Crankshaft (usually the former more.) Like it was briefly interesting how relentlessly morbid it was, but in retrospect that's just because Tom Batiuk's self-congratulation is centered on the Lisa story, the One Thing he did that was really successful, and he's trying to either recreate or remind people of it. And that's all the strip is, Batiuk jacking himself off over the fact that he got a story about a woman dying of cancer on the funnypages. Anything else is ultimately trivial floofery. And yeah the comic book stuff is the worst, because how can you be a big fan of classic comics, work in a very closely related industry, and still not have the slightest loving idea how any of it works? The abject refusal to do any research whatsoever is so obvious whenever he writes about... anything. It's so clearly not just dramatic license or simplifying to make a better story, he just doesn't know how anything works! Infuriating. Dustin is a close second because yeah the writer's contempt for anyone not like him can't help but seep in even in the newer strips. Luann is just increasingly finding new levels of boredom, the creators have checked out. And Holbrook- there is still some weird fascination in how willingly he ties himself in knots. It's awful but the complete lack of self-awareness of how horrid everything he's implying is unique.
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Aug 18, 2022 21:39
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Might do a longer opinion post later but just want to chime in that Funky is among my most hated, and the thing I hate most about I don't think has even been mentioned yet: Harry loving Dinkle.
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Aug 18, 2022 21:55
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Vargo posted:
So this strip is set in Canada? I'll tell you all my "why I hate Canada Post" story: last year I ordered some stamps online to save myself a trip to the post office. We needed international stamps so I couldn't just grab some at a corner store. Instead of getting the stamps in our mailbox, they left a slip to pick it up at...the post office. Just to rub it in more, it was sent there at the sender's request so I wound up having to do the thing I was trying to avoid in the first place. Fuckers. Scary Gary  
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Aug 18, 2022 21:56
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So interesting to see the divided opinions on Marlys/Ernie Pook! (Btw I call it Marlys! instead of the proper title because I’m posting from the book “The! Greatest! Of! Marlys!”) I admit my comics are on the wordy side, but I love them so poo poo to you if you hate my posts! (jk I love everyone in this thread) I’ll also remind y’all that I started posting Sylvia out of spite when someone started posting Minimum Security. IIRC Sylvia was also spite posted and universally hated years and years ago, I think in response to Oh Baby? But I grew up with it and unironically like it, and it seems some other posters do too. Success! I don’t really hate anything in this thread because I just skip, but here are my major dislikes: Holbrook (confusing and stupid, although I enjoy reading the enraged discourse around his strips), TomBat (posted near comics I do read, so sometimes I read it by accident), Reddick (absolutely no redeeming qualities), Little Orphan Annie, Rip Haywire, Daddy Daze (ok this one I truly do hate). The only strips I hate read are Mary Worth and Rex Morgan, but they’re bad in a way that really pays off sometimes. I like Little Lefty except for when they’re doing subscription/donation drives, but that’s most of the time so I usually skip it now, sadly. Overboard is meh, but the artwork makes me laugh. And I gotta admit I’m not sold on Cthupin, but I’m gonna keep reading it until I’m either hooked or exasperated ( and I REALLY appreciate all the work that goes into translating comics, so I’m trying my darndest to give it a chance). (And welcome back riderchop, glad you’re feeling better!) Bibliotechno Music fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Aug 18, 2022 |
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Aug 18, 2022 22:14
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I don't truly hate anything in the thread, because I love reading what I think are the worst comics. Luann is probably my favorite bad comic. Just the definition of insipid. I still laugh every time I remember that she, as a college student, had to be rescued by a man from a party where there was alcohol and maybe smoking. I don't think anyone was even harassing her or anything. And every character is just truly the worst person. It's like a contest to see who would be the most insufferable person to be around, and they're all winning. Batiuk, Reddick, and Brooke's comics are all runner ups. Dustin is also bad, but not in an as enjoyable way. Then there are comics that could possibly be bad, but I can't find them interesting enough to read. Like Rex Morgan and Mark Trail
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Aug 18, 2022 22:41
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Cheer Up Boss Dharma
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Aug 18, 2022 22:43
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Into Ilves  Nancy  Dustin  Mandrake 
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Aug 18, 2022 22:58
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Uramachi Sakaba Doing the opposite of whatever the owner says when giving romantic advice seems like a solid plan TBH. Cthulhu and Girl 
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Aug 18, 2022 23:06
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There are some comics here I skip because I don’t find them interesting, but it could be so much worse. Outbursts of Everett True July 19, 1919  And He Did! August 4, 1919  Cat Tales July 3, 1925  Oaky Doaks December 26, 1936  Mopsy March 9, 1938  Sweatin’ It Out July 24, 1945  Bootsie’s Big ‘50s  Those Were the Days February 1, 1962 
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Aug 18, 2022 23:08
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Murdstone posted:Mark Trail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1exJGPZyhs Slammy posted:There are some comics here I skip because I don’t find them interesting, but it could be so much worse. This is an act of violence.
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Aug 18, 2022 23:11
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lmao Slammy. Masterstroke. The Rabbit, He Is Sarcastic.  Yup, Still A Recession.        
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Aug 18, 2022 23:14
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Giant Ethicist posted:Uramachi Sakaba Based on how these stories go, I’ve been expecting that the handsome doctor is just an extension used by the actual larger more grotesque or mechanical body.
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Aug 18, 2022 23:15
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riderchop posted:Overboard I'd say the list of cartoons I skim, skip, or only read on occasion is longer than the list of cartoons I actively dislike, but I'll give almost anything a try that isn't irredeemably bad and dull from the roots up like nerds n jocks or its lovely fantasy counterpart. That said, a fair number of them only don't qualify as 'dull' because I'm hate-reading them like Professor Wayne does - there's something comforting about looking at middle-schooler uni students in Luann, LISA LISA LISA, or Holbrook's eight-thousandth inadvertant crime against humanity and being able to say 'hey, I'm not creating this!' Slammy posted:There are some comics here I skip because I don’t find them interesting, but it could be so much worse. Drakyn fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Aug 18, 2022 |
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Aug 18, 2022 23:19
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Slammy posted:Vile comics What did we do that you would want to crap on us thus?
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Aug 19, 2022 00:15
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Slammy posted:Outbursts of Everett True July 19, 1919 They really toned down the violence in the Everett True reboot strips...
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Aug 19, 2022 00:22
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Slammy posted:Mopsy March 9, 1938 noooooooooooooooooooooooo that pervert poo poo is back
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Aug 19, 2022 00:32
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