Recent Comments

1. 4 days ago on Annie

   From the Writers Almanac:

   “… The New York Daily News debuted the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” on this day in 1924. It was canceled in 2010 after a run of nearly 86 years. The street-smart redhead inspired a radio show, a Broadway musical, three film adaptations, mass-marketed books, and merchandise that included everything from lunchboxes to curly wigs. Although only a fraction of this happened before the strip’s creator, Harold Gray, died in 1968, it was enough to make him a millionaire.

   “Gray’s wealth drew criticism during the Great Depression, when he used the strip to voice his populist political beliefs: namely, that the poor ought to pull themselves up by the bootstraps without government intervention or assistance. This is how his character Daddy Warbucks, the tuxedoed war profiteer, had succeeded, transforming his modest machine shop into a World War I munitions factory. Gray expressed his distaste for FDR and his New Deal in the strip’s storylines, prompting one left-leaning writer to label it “Hooverism in the funnies.” The public didn’t seem to care — in 1937, “Little Orphan Annie” was the most popular comic in the country.”

2. 5 days ago on Cul de Sac

   Definitely one of Thompson’s best.

3. 12 days ago on Crankshaft

   You’ve made a good point about how reading a newspaper online is a different experience from reading the hard copy. I’d disagree, however, that online is superior in every way, but that’s just my opinion.

   Until a year ago, I got the Washington Post and the NY Times delivered to me every morning. I enjoyed reading the paper versions each morning, especially during my long commuter train rides, when I was still going to the office each day.

   But last summer, the newspapers decided to quit offering home delivery via their joint carrier, replacing it with either mail delivery or a much cheaper online subscription. I went with mail for the Post and online for the Times.

   Reading the two papers now are two very different experiences.

   I like that the online Times provides up-to-the-minute news. But some stories are updated so often, as is their priority on the “front page,” that I feel like I’m never really getting a “final” version of many stories. Maybe that’s a better reflection of the real world, but I find the feeling of a story never being finished a bit less satisfying. It’s also sometimes hard to later find the updated version of a story because the placement of the story online changes so often.

   The hard copy of the Post does, of course, preserve the “curated” aspect of the presentation, in that you get one version of the story, placed in a certain position in the paper based on its importance and subject matter. I like that. On the other hand, I sometimes notice outdated aspects of the stories, and I definitely don’t like having to wait for our mail delivery in the afternoon to read what’s supposed to be a morning paper.

   So neither way of delivering the paper is ideal. I really wish that I could go back to having the hard copies being delivered and waiting for me first thing in the morning. But I guess that ship has sailed…

   Anyway, I could relate to this comic strip more than any other in a long time.

4. 13 days ago on Warped

   Thompson was a genius indeed. Thanks for remembering a true artist who left us much too soon!

5. 17 days ago on Nancy

   IMHO, this is the best substitute artwork so far. Reminds me a little of R. Crumb.

6. 17 days ago on Warped

   A great tribute to a great writer!

7. 23 days ago on Li'l Abner

   I really wish they’d rerun some additional stories from the several decades of Li’l Abner. The strip above is the transition from one of my favorite stories to one of my least favorites. But either way, we’ve been rereading the same small group of stories for too long!

8. 24 days ago on One Big Happy

   Wasn’t there a particular day in 2000 when several strips all featured tributes to Charles Schulz? I wonder if this was part of that collective tribute…

9. 27 days ago on Little Nemo

   Beautiful artwork for the grand and glorious Fourth, even if it’s 9 days late…

10. about 1 month ago on Bozo

    I always enjoy looking for Fuzzy and get a kick out of it when he’s part of the main gag!