Comics! (when they were great - my opinion, anyway). Which was (is) your favorite?

[NRaleighLiberal]

21 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Bloom County/Outland/Opus
	5 (24%)
	Calvin and Hobbes
	7 (33%)
	The Far Side
	1 (5%)
	Doonesbury
	2 (10%)
	For Better or For Worse
	1 (5%)
	Funky Winkerbean
	0 (0%)
	Peanuts
	3 (14%)
	Other (list it!)
	2 (10%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear NRaleighLiberal!

Oh, how much I miss Calvin and Hobbes!

That strip was really inspired...Why did he have to stop? Why? Why?

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I loved it because behind the laughs was real intellect - and a message to ponder.

Bloom County et al had their moments for me - Most on the list I posted moved me at various times....and I miss those that are no longer so much. My wife and I don't really spend more than a few minutes on the Sunday comics these days. (the whole Sunday paper experience has really diminished, to tell the truth).

[Archae]

2. The newspaper comics are drek, for the most part.

I read a lot of on-line comic though.

Great place for links, here:

http://new.belfrycomics.net/

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. cool - thanks!

[WinkyDink]

5. Not going back NEARLY far enough! "Li'll Abner" was the best!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Well, if you want to go back THAT far, I nominate "Pogo."

Love love love that strip. Walt Kelly was a genius!

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. And I never read either Lil Abner or Pogo!

I do remember Nancy and Sluggo!

[WinkyDink]

8. I hated "Pogo"! Didn't even like the artwork. Now, the "Shmoo," OTOH,...! :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Well, there's no accounting for taste! To each his or her own, I always say...

[Downwinder]

11. Always wondered if Shmoos were a statement on american voters.

[pipi_k]

27. When I was a kid

I liked to read "Gasoline Alley" and "Maggie and Jiggs"

[Demoiselle]

37. I loved Pogo.

There was something so smart and sweet-natured about it. Even though Walt Kelly sure didn't cut Joe McCarthy any slack.
What was his name? Simple J Malarkey? I'll try to find a picture to post. You may well see a certain current Wisconsin Senator in his face, too...

[trof]

40. POGO FOR PRESIDENT! I Go Pogo!

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Bloom County was the greatest

Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side were good, but when it came to political satire, nothing could top Bloom County. The escapades of Opus, Steve Dallas and Bill the Cat helped me survive the Reagan years. I just loved the way that Berke Breathed made fun of the right-wingers and schmaltzy culture of the '80s.

[NewJeffCT]

30. That was my vote as well

just some brilliant political satire. I mean, this strip always stuck out to me - it's really almost predicts Fox News and "gotcha" reporters like O'Reilly and Hannity.

[DinahMoeHum]

33. Remember "U Stink But I (heart) U" ??

Billy and the Boingers bootleg / Mucky Pup:

"U Stink But I U"

[NewJeffCT]

34. yes!

I got that as in insert in that book. Wow, thanks for the memories.

[Art_from_Ark]

43. And the other Death Tongue, er, Boingers song, "I'm a Boinger"

[Tribalceltic]

12. B. C.

[Scuba]

13. Bizarro!

http://comicskingdom.com/bizarro/2014-11-14

[CBGLuthier]

14. Gasoline Alley

Now this was 40 plus years ago when it had already been around forever and a day. But I was fascinated by the long form storytelling. Damn near epic it was.

[bigwillq]

15. Peanuts

Was never really into the comics, but I love Snoopy.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. Pearls Before Swine makes me laugh out loud often.

I also enjoy Doonesbury for the political commentary.

And while it's always been corny as hell and has gotten stale over the years, I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Garfield, which I loved growing up, and now my kids have seemed to start to enjoy as well.

I'm a 30 something year old guy, but I still enjoy reading the comics. Even the ones that don't make me laugh....there's something comforting about them in general.

[blackcrowflies]

22. Liz is an excellent addition to Garfield

[Shrek]

17. Very tough to answer

Any of the first three in your poll could be my favorite on a given day, depending on my mood.

[PennyK]

18. Brenda Starr

When I was a kid this was in my local paper. It was a strange strip politically, but shallow me loved the fact that a woman was the "starr" of the strip and that there was a lot of fashion in it. I would later learn to sew my own clothes, a great lifelong hobby I've had since age eleven.
Otherwise, Doonesbury and Pogo and Peanuts.

[femmocrat]

23. That was my favorite too!

Happy someone else remembers it. Did you read Katy Keene comic books? Those were my faves!

[PennyK]

25. I did, for a while

I think those had their heyday a little before mine (I'm 63).
Even when I was around six years old, I loved paper dolls. Back then you could get a new one quite often. Whitman Publishing printed them, 29 cents, and I remember staring at all of them in my 5 & 10! My grandmother would sit and patiently cut out the clothes so perfectly for me. I guess they were a "Barbie" before there were Barbies, in that I would make up little stories for them. It sounds so freaking sexist now...but basically I just loved the clothes.
Sorry to get off the comics theme.

[pipi_k]

28. They were one of the joys

of my childhood too (I'm 62).

Remember when they came out with the magnetized ones? Yay! No more tabs to fit around the doll's body or rip off with use!


Oh, and what about Colorforms...

I had quite a few sets of those...Popeye...Peanuts...101 Dalmatians...


and some others I can't remember right now.

[PennyK]

29. Colorforms!!!!!!

I loved them.
Ever see the original set? They were just geometric shapes in assorted colors. A true toolbox for the imagination.
http://www.amazon.com/Colorforms-Original-60th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/B000BNEODU

[sharp_stick]

19. Funky Winkerbean OMG

Oh man that comic sucked from the get go...then it just got worse.

It was kind of like Family Circle, you didn't want to read it in fact you tried to not read it. Your eyes however were drawn to that strip (circle) like light to an event horizon and you read it...then for about the next minute you chastised yourself for getting sucked in again.

Then that evil bastard Tom Batiuk had the bright idea to bring them all up to date, change the point of view to Les...Les fer christ's sake!..and kill off his wife slowly using breast cancer as his muse so he could turn the whole strip into one long Lisa's Legacy run.

Doing that was brilliant on Batiuk's part he successfully merged two black holes making it even harder to look away. If I was a religious man I'm sure I'd be beating the shit out of myself with a little whip to try to drive this horrible urge out.

I'd like to start a Tom Batiuk must be stopped group but I'm afraid of him now, he's become too powerful.

[LWolf]

20. While I've enjoyed all of those on your list, and more,

Calvin and Hobbes stands alone.

[Sanity Claws]

24. The snowmen is one of the reasons I loved Calvin & Hobbes

I think this comic strip started a trend to build bizarre scenes of snowmen.

[LWolf]

31. Fitting for today,

with snow falling across the nation.

[hifiguy]

59. The snowman strips lived in a universe of their own.

For my money they are, taken together, the funniest thing ever in the daily comics. Viz:

[LWolf]

61. Yes.

Having struggled with excess snow for several days now, I'm really relating to Calvin's world of snow at the moment.

[blackcrowflies]

21. Mary Perkins, On Stage

[Brother Buzz]

26. The late great Phil Frank's Farley (Early on, Travels With Farley)

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Has-it-really-been-three-decades-Phil-Frank-s-2627335.php#photo-2111488

[Arugula Latte]

32. Oh, wow, I hadn't thought of that one in years and years.

[Brother Buzz]

35. The signature line, alone, was worth the price of admission

http://www.sfgate.com/columns/farley/

[Arugula Latte]

36. I remember those. I lived in the Bay Area for a long time and

I recall that Phil Frank was a San Francisco guy.

[Initech]

38. No Fox Trot, Drabble, or Non Sequitur?

[KMOD]

39. Lots of good choices, you made this tough

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[Throd]

41. Tank McNamara, The Wizard of ID, Shoe n/t

[jmondine]

42. Eyebeam

Look it up. Seriously.

[Behind the Aegis]

44. You listed some great ones.

I still love "Calvin and Hobbes" and "the Far Side." But, there will always be a special place in my heart for "For Better or Worse" for introducing a gay character and the story of coming out. To me, that was profound and touched many lives; it may have even saved a few.

[rurallib]

52. For Better or Worse

A comic where the characters grew - It was great.
hard to decide among those listed, but FBW belongs in that list I think.

[eppur_se_muova]

45. Wow ... no "Pogo" ?

Ask any professional cartoonist to list the three best cartoon strips of all time, and you'll usually get a list of Peanuts, Pogo, Calvin & Hobbes, in one order or another.

[NRaleighLiberal]

46. could be - but I got to decide based on what I read, because it was my poll!

I guess I should check Pogo out.

[raptor_rider]

47. I can't choose!!!!

I loved both Bloom County and Calvin & Hobbes!!! Classics!!!

[LiberalElite]

48. "Funky Winterbean"??

[hopemountain]

49. calvin & hobbs & far side

and peanuts...

but, these days, i am a "mutts" fan.

[sakabatou]

50. C+H, The Far Side

A few others I can't remember.

[Auggie]

51. Calvin and Hobbs then. Mutts now.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

54. Mutts is a fun read and a great visual homage to the early comics.

[Codeine]

53. Very difficult to choose between Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes.

Both were formative and a daily ritual for me as a teenager, but I gave the nod to Calvin and Hobbes because my young daughter is currently greatly enjoying the collections. I doubt Bloom County would resonate with her to the same degree.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

55. Calvin, Far Side and Bloom County were the greatest. Liberty Meadows was another good one.

Liberty Meadows probably never had a wide audience. Not only well written but the artist (Frank Cho, probably better known for his Marvel work) loved to mix up visual styles as well as parody other strips.

[a la izquierda]

56. Peanuts

I love Snoopy. I'm 37 years old, and I still cry every damn time I watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

[LongTomH]

57. So hard to choose!

I've loved all of these!

[hifiguy]

58. "Calvin and Hobbes" but barely.

The heyday of "Bloom County" was greatness.

Also, I am a big fan of Elzie Segar's Popeye strips from the 1920s.

[IBEWVET]

60. Get Fuzzy!!!!!!!!

I love the other ones mentioned, but right now Get Fuzzy is my favorite