Growing up I remember Daily News were the greatest if you were looking for a comic strip, while Newsday was basically not worth your time. At least in my opinion, since there were many comics strips that were missing.
These days I haven’t picked up a newspaper other than the free ones in newspaper stands in years but when I’m feeling it, I search around online for these strips.
The running theme for why I think I liked these comic strips and even looked forward to reading them was the drawing. As a kid and artist, I paid more attention to the visuals and would trace every line with my eyes. On Sundays when comics were in color, they popped out at you twice more. But, other than that, I’m not entirely sure why I loved these ones specifically, other than I’ve always loved reality based settings and stories, rather than a fantasy. And that might be the other reason why I loved these, if I’m analyzing it. They were ones that were not only drawn with such skill, but had dialog and stories I felt like you could hear in everyday life. Another aspect was, the artists gave them backstories. I’m not entirely sure much more I would describe it but Lynn Johnston, creator of For Better or For Worse and the comic Zits are my hero in that respect. I think if I were to draw out a story or animation, I’d need it to feel like we’re dropping into a life with the characters living common lives with real emotional attachments to each other. I think this is what most of the comic strips below brought.
I won’t go into what each comic is about nor do I know what else I’d be saying other than the repetitive: the drawing is amazing and the stories are everyday ones so, in no particular order:
Zits
Hilarious, and loved the drawing of this especially, but I always wanted everyone to switch up their clothes some even if it’s common practice for 2d stories to keep the same clothes on.
For Better or For Worse
Though the comic is older than me, what I loved about it apart from how it’s drawn was that it was a continuing story.
I’ve missed a lot of the I guess “episodes”, throughout the series, but I could always expect that they’d be just a little bit older and be involved in something new from when I last saw them.
I hadn’t even known For Better or For Worse had a T.V. show that ran until my friend from Canada relayed the news to me a few years back. So lucky you, Canadian readers who knew about it.
The Family Circus
Curtis
Again on the drawing but especially loved the blue hair (as a child, I think that was the first time I saw that to represent a Black person’s hair. I feel like it’s something Proud Family also did but not too sure.), and the facial features and style to Ray Billingsley’s work. I just loved concentrating on how the clothes and features of the people were drawn. I feel like if I saw his drawings in anything other than Curtis, I would know it anywhere.
One Big Happy
Always enjoyed the drawings, Ruthie’s crazy personality which I thought differed from her brother, and that they each picked up their respective parent’s hair color. Again, I wasn’t following the story too closely, but I always got a kick out of Ruthie looking like she was giving the adults a hard time just for being so audacious.
Honorable Mentions: The Lockhorns for everyone looking bored, having basically the same features and its hilarity, and Get Fuzzy for it’s outstanding drawing and dynamic between the pets among themselves and between them and their sole owner.
There were many that I reluctantly read because…well they were there that did become part of my routine as a child when opening up the comic section like Hagar the Horrible, The Boondocks, Sherman’s Lagoon, Rose is Rose and Blondie.
If you have any that were your favorites that you read or still read, lemme know in the comment section and why.
Thanks for taking the time.
Happy Tuesday.
