See You In The Funny Papers, And/Or In Hell

First of all, I wanted to make sure you were all aware of this:

This, as you might have guessed, is a sequence of "Mary Worth" strips acted out as a series of staged tableaux.  The black and white photography and eerie soundtrack further confirm what I've suspected all along: that "Mary Worth" takes place within a bleak, existential hellscape where joy is alien and reason is scorned.  Also note how the actors take pains to pose in a way that fully exposes the shitty artwork in the original strips.

The rest of the series is even better.  I make bold to say that you will not regret having watched it.

I read the funnies every day, and yet I would hardly ever describe them as "funny."  This isn't because I'm a hateful, fallow husk of a man with no capacity for love or joy -- or, rather, this isn't just because of that.  It's because comic strips just aren't that funny.  Does anybody think they are anymore?  Does anyone find themselves chuckling softly to themselves over something they saw in "Crankshaft" that morning?  Does anybody snort coffee out of their nose after reading "Dinette Set"?  Has anybody felt their life's burden slightly lifted after spending some time with "Fred Basset"?  No, no, and no.

Granted, turning out six black-and-white and one big color strip a week is bound to be harder than it looks.  I certainly couldn't do it.  Also, of course, there are occasional bright spots -- God forbid I say anything bad about "Calvin and Hobbes" or "Bloom County."  (Don't talk to me about "Outland" or "Opus," though, because they are not good.)  And every once in a while, you get a comic strip that lucks into the national zeitgeist, like "Doonesbury" did in the '70s (hard as it is to believe now, "Doonesbury" was once culturally relevant) and "Dilbert," God help us, did in the early '90s.

The soap opera strips, like Ms. Worth and "Judge Parker" and "Rex Morgan" -- well, they're not supposed to be funny.  And I guess the realities of the medium demand a... shall we say, deliberate pace, but damn it takes a long time for anything to happen in those strips.  Just a few months ago, "Judge Parker" wrapped up a sequence of strips that had appeared over the better part of a year; the action within those strips was supposed to have happened within one day.

Anyway, there's nothing I can say about the comics that hasn't been said more trenchantly at The Comics Curmudgeon or any of the other links you'll find in the sidebar under "The Funnies, Criticized."

I will say this, though: The gals in "9 Chickweed Lane" are mighty handsome.  Mm-hmmm.

Comments

[pinky]

god, those little mary worth movies are addictive! and so, so strange.

a hellscape where no one can get a good wig, that's for sure.

[Phil]

"In the Bleachers" (loosely described as Gary Larson just for sports) is my daily funny. Is it still in the N&O in the sports section? I read it online. The cartoonist even once wrote me back after I sent him a compliment.

I read Sally Forth every now and then just to see if local pals Patrick Chu or Geoff Davis get mentioned. Can you believe that strip is drawn by a 40-ish guy in New York City? Whatever it takes, man.

[skeeto]

I loved how the wigs got more messed up through out the tableau... it was like stuff happened off stage that no one was talking about...although I did play it with the sound off.
I quit reading the funnies a long time ago, because they were not funny. My humor tends toward boondocks Life in Hell, and Fritz the Cat anyway...so mainstream papers do not run "funnies" I would think are funny. I actually think they should call them "sads" because Cathy is just sad (not ironically sad either, but sincerely heartbreaking)...not funny. Peace, Sarah.

[Marianne]

I absolutely hate Cathy with a passion. Just how many self-deprecating jokes about changing rooms and chocolate can one person stand?

And Family Circus makes me puke.

I love those Mary Worth movies though. I will have to appropriate some of those poses and use them in my own real life dramas.

[michelle]

God bless those kids, their wigs, and YouTube for sharing the love with the world.

[Jill]

Actually I DO snort coffee out of my nose when I read Dinette Set. She must have bugged most of the homes of the middle class.

[Dawn]

I love "Rhymes with Orange." And I do think Doonesbury is still culturally relevant. If only because the N&O thinks it's too dangerous to print on the comics page.

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I like ANMJ on FB & just subscribed to the email feed! :)

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[Andre Johnson Jersey]

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