Sunday Survey of Sundry Subjects
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Heathcliff, J. D. Crowe and Mardi Gras, Vintage Comic Strip Preservation and sharing, Robb Armstrong and Franklin Armstrong, Brad Guigar – 24 years as a cartoonist, WEBTOONS, Reader reviews of the new Gannett comics pages.
Whether you get your Heathcliff comics from the aforementioned account or the comic’s perplexing original website, it’s clear something has gone deeply wrong along the way.
Is this all an elaborate in-joke? Have decades of living in Garfield’s shadow despite crossing the starting line first simply rotted sole cartoonist Peter Gallagher’s brain? Is this just high-concept, Nathan Fielder-esque anti-humor for boomers?
Grant St. Clair at Boing Boing asks “What’s the deal with Heathcliff, anyway?”
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I was a Mardi Gras virgin when I first came to Mobile in the summer of 2000.
By February of 2001, my employers at the Mobile Register (it later became the Press-Register) thought it was high time for me to get Mardi Gras baptized. So, instead of drawing daily editorial cartoons, for the better part of two weeks I walked the streets with my sketchbook and watched every parade that rolled through downtown Mobile.
J. D. Crowe offers a half dozen sketches from 2001 as “a Mardi Gras opinion cartoony thing.”
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It all began in 2002 when we decided to start saving newspaper comics digitally. Over the years we grew and in 2011 it was a life-changing year for sure! As many of you may remember, we reached out in early 2011 for your help in acquiring 8,000 pounds of newspapers, most of the lot were comics and we prevailed.
In 2015 we moved the digital archive online and hosted it with Box.com which served its purpose very well. Over the next 8 years, we grew, added over 40 new regular researchers, saved over 900,000 files, and hosted a few separate archives.
Well, our time at Box.com has come to an end. Box.com is costing us way too much to stay and use the service.
They’ve reached their goal but a little extra never hurt. Think about contributing a few dollars to Steve Cottle and The i love comix Archive. Their efforts to preserve vintage comic strips is worthy.
A sampling of what they are achieving from the old ilovecomix blog.
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For NBC’s Today Show cartoonist Al Roker interviews cartoonist Robb Armstrong about Robb’s long association with Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts and the new Peanuts animated special Welcome Home Franklin.
More about (Snoopy Presents) Welcome Home, Franklin here and here and here and here and here and …
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Twenty-four years ago today, I posted my first comic on the Web. Greystone Inn first appeared on a GeoCities site on February 14, 2000.
On April 16, 2001, it began running in the Philadelphia Daily News. Several other newspapers would pick up the comic, but only the Daily News ran it from its first strip to the last.
Brad Guigar celebrates 24 years of cartooning, from Greystone Inn to the several variations of Evil. Inc. to the adult rated Courting Disaster and Phables as he delineates in “Happy Valentinaversary Day.”
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On the list of classic collectibles, comic books come in first place. Vivid line art, explosive onomatopoeias and conquering protagonists have been staples of graphic novels since Superman’s debut in 1938.
Since the rise of the digital world, paperback comics have disintegrated into a fad of decades past. However, a bridge between the old and new age is radically transforming comic culture for the better: WEBTOON.
Viewership is essential, of course, but WEBTOON would be nothing without its talented creators. In granting free publication and opening doors for revenue, WEBTOON empowers producers to hone their craft and make money in the process through paid content and ad-revenue.
“WEBTOON: Out with the old in with the new” is Van Nuys High School’s Abigail Kim’s review for The Mirror.
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I know that there are so many more current pressing issues than the comics pages. However….. the removal of really clever and timely comics such as Sherman’s Lagoon (one of my favorites), Get Fuzzy, Brewster Rockit, as well as the beautifully drawn Prince Valiant, has made reading the already diminished Accent Section so much less enjoyable…
I was surprised (and disappointed) to see that Sherman’s Lagoon was dropped. I enjoyed its snarky, dry humor. To add insult to injury, the author, Jim Toomey, was just in town to talk about environmental matters! Bring back Sherman’s Lagoon.
As a long-time reader of The Post, I feared for the worst when I read Executive Editor Rick Christie’s recent front-page announcement of a comics “refresh” … My fears were realized. I had suspected my two favorites, Mary Worth and Prince Valiant, would be removed. And they were – from the print lineup … The saving grace is they’re still available on The Post’s website. But Wallace the Brave and Lio, two of the most clever and imaginative contemporary strips, have been eliminated from the print and online editions. Also altogether gone from The Post: Doonesbury, one of the smartest newspaper strips ever…
One will never know if Mary Worth’s neighbor reignited his relationship with his ex-wife. And Red and Rover is long gone. What’s going on at the Post? The staff must be bored. Thanks to them, I no longer read the comic page. Oh I know Mary Worth is lame but it hooked me. And I’m not even trying to find the other strips. Bah Humbug!
… I’m very disappointed that you have dropped Sherman’s Lagoon, the absolute funniest strip of all. The second funniest is Brewster’s Rockit, also hilarious. Come on, give us back the best ones.
… I try to start every day with a smile. It isn’t easy what with all that is going on in the news. However, I can always start my day by reading the Post and the comics section. That smile I look for was made more difficult since you removed Red and Rover. It was comic strip with no agenda other than to make someone smile…
Gannett’s Palm Beach Post has printed the first reactions to their “refreshed” comics pages.
feature image is today’s Bizarro title panel just because I like the bizarre art of Dan Piraro.
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