Old Comic Strips Don't Fade Away, They Just Go On And On And On...

Chip Zdarsky's page of 75th anniversary comics from a few years back. Oddly enough, I think that is a current Garfield.

Previously on Popped Culture...
Death Of A Comic Strip
ABC — Always. Be. Cartooning.
Characters’ Favorite Musical Artists

Death Of A Comic Strip

Newspapers are filled with comic strips that have long past their prime and should be immediately put of their misery. Several artists had the same thought at WWA gallery's show, Off the Strip.

Garfield as a hat? Seems like something Mr. Burns would appreciate, especially with some Odie boots and a Nermal boutonniere. (Blue Monday by Casey Weldon)

Dennis has never really been much of a menace, but once he beheaded his frenemy Margaret the strip took on a whole new meaning. (Dennis the Menace to Society by Damian King)

Woodstock was always kind of annoying, but he wouldn't make much of a meal. To paraphrase, eating Woodstock would only arouse my appetite without bedding it down. (Unfriended by Scott Stulen)

And here I figured Hagar would die of cirrhosis of the liver or be stabbed in the back by "Lucky" Eddie. (Hagar's Horrible End by Keith Noordzy)

Previously on Popped Culture...
ABC — Always. Be. Cartooning.
A Blockhead Died In New York...
A-Z of Awesomeness

Garfield Meets Calvin and Hobbes

"These two cartoons were samples I had planned to submit to MAD magazine, around the mid 1990s I think...the joke was, "What if older features tried to copy the success of Calvin & Hobbes?" It was more relevant at the time, of course."

Cartoonist Doug Gray revives a great feature from Calvin & Hobbes for use in some comics that are a little long in the tooth. See his take on Peanuts too. (Link via @weinmanj)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Dynamic Duo: Calvin and Hobbes
ABC — Always. Be. Cartooning.
A Blockhead Died In New York...

ABC — Always. Be. Cartooning.

Harvey Awards Animation from Monkey and Tiger on Vimeo.

First prize is a Harvey Award. Anybody want to see Second prize? A can of spinach. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture? ... You've got a readership. The syndicates paid good money. Get them to buy the newspaper!

It's harsh, but comic strip characters need to hear it. Reading the comics these days can be such a trudge through mediocrity. I've devised a complex reading pattern, going from worst to okay, hoping to end with at least one snicker.

I used to look forward to reading the Saturday comics and I still head right for them when I'm at the in-laws. Somehow, Beetle Bailey is still being published, and Hägar the Horrible and even Peanuts and Schulz has been dead for almost 10 years!

Sure, there are some bright spots: Get Fuzzy, Zits, Fisher and Pearls Before Swine (to name a few), but they are exceptions not the rule. Maybe newspapers and newspaper comics really are dying. Maybe the guy up top is right: Sandwiches are for closers.

(Thanks to Rene for the tip)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Archie vs. Common People
It Came From The Far Side Photoshop
Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink'

A Blockhead Died In New York...

One of the attendant joys of the release of the Watchemen movie has been all the pop culture parodies that have come with it. I thought I'd seen the best with the Futurama trailer and the Saturday morning cartoon, but I have come across a brilliant reworking of the graphic novel, using newspaper comic characters.

Web comic Player vs. Player has recreated the characters, portraying Popeye as Rorschach, Jon Arbuckle/Garfield as Nite Owl II, Charlie Brown as The Comedian, Dagwood as Dr. Manhattan,Dilbert as Ozymandias and Cathy as Silk Spectre II.

Be sure to read the full, five-panel series.

(Link via Super Punch)

Worth A Read...

The New York Times digs up a little info about the blogger behind garfield minus garfield, which I wrote about last February. Seems Dan Walsh is a 33-year-old technology manager from Dublin and Garfield creator Jim Davis is an occasional reader of the site. He says he is flattered rather than peeved by the imitation.

I guess that's because he's not as amusingly abrasive as Joe Mathlete's Marmaduke Explained.

New York Times: Is the Main Character Missing? Maybe Not.

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If a television show turned cultural phenomenon spawns diehard fans who recite dialogue by heart, wear costumes inspired by the show and buy all the tie-in products, are these devotees nerds? If the show in question is Star Trek, The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the answer is certainly yes. But what if we're talking about Sex and the City?

National Post: Female Trekkies

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This is the first in what I hope will be a semi-regular posting of stuff I've been reading. We'll see.

Garfield Out to Lunch

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?"

garfield minus garfield is my new favourite site. I have no idea who created it but the results are erie and a little bit sad. I read the strip for years when it first came out but eventually moved on (and passed my collections on to my youngest sister). I'd never realized how disturbing Jon Arbuckle was until now, but I suppose I should have seen it. After all, he does think his cat can talk.