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Read about it in the funny papers
Real life is not like the comics pages.
Or is it?
Often called the "funnies". the comics section is a standard fixture in almost every newspaper, and all over the web as well. But it's misleading to dismiss comics as simple humorous sketches. Comics, after all, got their early start as political satire. You could provide social commentary and political criticism much easier in a 'drawing' than you could as an editorial piece. Sometimes the difference between the two was a jail sentence. Or worse.
These days, the comic pages contain everything from insipid humor to biting social commentary. You can often tell a newspaper's editorial slant by the roster of comics it carries. A right-wing rag is more likely to carry "Mark Trail" rather than "Doonesbury". "Zippy the Pinhead" is more likely found in more liberal, intellectual-leaning outlets (and is still going to be greeted with collective 'WTFs' on many occasions).
Among the the majority of comedy in the comics there are bits of tragedy. You'll tend to find it mostly in serial strips, where a set of established characters go about their lives much as we do every day. Serialized strips such as soap opera-like "Apartment 3-G" and "Rex Morgan, M.D." tend to be ponderous, dragged out and impersonal. But some strips involve a close-up view of the lives their character's lives. And two of these strips recently dealt with issues that hit close to home for me.
The first one, "For Better or For Worse", is one of my all-time favorite strips. Revolving around a family named Patterson, the strip's story lines and character aging follows a slightly accelerated realtime line. Readers have been treated to watching the kids grow up, newborns brought into the family and many story arcs that deal with current issues, growing pains, major and minor triumphs and tragedies, and social commentary. Peripheral characters brought in discussions of gay rights, developmental disabilities and even sexual assault. Some of the characters in the strip are based on real-life friends of the artist/author. There is even a less-than-six-degrees relationship of some of those inspirations to people here on LJ (I cannot remember specifics except it involves Canadians. lol).
The most recent storyline involves the 'grandfather' in the strip having a relapse of a stroke that occurred earlier in the year. Never one to shy away from including anything that does not happen in the real world, author Lynn Johnston has the strip as of this writing with Grandpa Jim back in the hospital and everyone unsure of his future.
The second, and more unlikely place I'd find tragedy is in the strip "Funky Winkerbean". What first started off in 1972 as a strip that followed the antics of a bunch of kids in school, the comic has moved it's characters up in age in sudden, decade-plus increments. I had not been too close a reader of the strip until recently, when I discovered one of the characters named Lisa was having a battle with breast cancer. The first story arc had Lisa discovering her cancer and going through treatments and eventual remission. Lately, though, it was found that the hospital had accidently switched her records with another patient, and what was thought to be remission had instead found to have the cancer spreading. Lisa decides to stop treatments and let the disease take it's course. Lisa is shown in subsequent strips declining, a gaunt face and weakening body. She succumbs to her disease today. The artist/writer, Tom Batiuk, tells readers that once this story arc is finished, he will once again lurch the timeframe of the strip forward by about ten years. Lisa's story has been made into a book, the sales of the book benefitting "Lisa’s Legacy Fund for Cancer Research and Education". At the end of Lisa's second story segment, another book will be published with the proceeds going to the fund.
Now, some people are not used to or like seeing such realistic, painful realities in their 'funny pages'. While so much of the Funky Winkerbean strips of late hit me very hard since losing Mom to cancer last year, I applaud writers like Johnston and Batiuk for imbuing their works with realities. They remind people of the good times and bad times, ups and downs, tragedies and truimphs that are a part of daily life. And with their deft handling of situations, they give us hope in bad times, help us cope with things that bring us down, and celebrate life in all it's greatness. Yeah, it sounds cliche, but for those who see others going through life in three panels a day, it gives perspective of our lives in living color realtime.
Question of the day to my dear readers: Should the 'comics' deal with such real-life topics such as this? Or should they remain 'funnies'?
Or is it?
Often called the "funnies". the comics section is a standard fixture in almost every newspaper, and all over the web as well. But it's misleading to dismiss comics as simple humorous sketches. Comics, after all, got their early start as political satire. You could provide social commentary and political criticism much easier in a 'drawing' than you could as an editorial piece. Sometimes the difference between the two was a jail sentence. Or worse.
These days, the comic pages contain everything from insipid humor to biting social commentary. You can often tell a newspaper's editorial slant by the roster of comics it carries. A right-wing rag is more likely to carry "Mark Trail" rather than "Doonesbury". "Zippy the Pinhead" is more likely found in more liberal, intellectual-leaning outlets (and is still going to be greeted with collective 'WTFs' on many occasions).
Among the the majority of comedy in the comics there are bits of tragedy. You'll tend to find it mostly in serial strips, where a set of established characters go about their lives much as we do every day. Serialized strips such as soap opera-like "Apartment 3-G" and "Rex Morgan, M.D." tend to be ponderous, dragged out and impersonal. But some strips involve a close-up view of the lives their character's lives. And two of these strips recently dealt with issues that hit close to home for me.
The first one, "For Better or For Worse", is one of my all-time favorite strips. Revolving around a family named Patterson, the strip's story lines and character aging follows a slightly accelerated realtime line. Readers have been treated to watching the kids grow up, newborns brought into the family and many story arcs that deal with current issues, growing pains, major and minor triumphs and tragedies, and social commentary. Peripheral characters brought in discussions of gay rights, developmental disabilities and even sexual assault. Some of the characters in the strip are based on real-life friends of the artist/author. There is even a less-than-six-degrees relationship of some of those inspirations to people here on LJ (I cannot remember specifics except it involves Canadians. lol).
The most recent storyline involves the 'grandfather' in the strip having a relapse of a stroke that occurred earlier in the year. Never one to shy away from including anything that does not happen in the real world, author Lynn Johnston has the strip as of this writing with Grandpa Jim back in the hospital and everyone unsure of his future.
The second, and more unlikely place I'd find tragedy is in the strip "Funky Winkerbean". What first started off in 1972 as a strip that followed the antics of a bunch of kids in school, the comic has moved it's characters up in age in sudden, decade-plus increments. I had not been too close a reader of the strip until recently, when I discovered one of the characters named Lisa was having a battle with breast cancer. The first story arc had Lisa discovering her cancer and going through treatments and eventual remission. Lately, though, it was found that the hospital had accidently switched her records with another patient, and what was thought to be remission had instead found to have the cancer spreading. Lisa decides to stop treatments and let the disease take it's course. Lisa is shown in subsequent strips declining, a gaunt face and weakening body. She succumbs to her disease today. The artist/writer, Tom Batiuk, tells readers that once this story arc is finished, he will once again lurch the timeframe of the strip forward by about ten years. Lisa's story has been made into a book, the sales of the book benefitting "Lisa’s Legacy Fund for Cancer Research and Education". At the end of Lisa's second story segment, another book will be published with the proceeds going to the fund.
Now, some people are not used to or like seeing such realistic, painful realities in their 'funny pages'. While so much of the Funky Winkerbean strips of late hit me very hard since losing Mom to cancer last year, I applaud writers like Johnston and Batiuk for imbuing their works with realities. They remind people of the good times and bad times, ups and downs, tragedies and truimphs that are a part of daily life. And with their deft handling of situations, they give us hope in bad times, help us cope with things that bring us down, and celebrate life in all it's greatness. Yeah, it sounds cliche, but for those who see others going through life in three panels a day, it gives perspective of our lives in living color realtime.
Question of the day to my dear readers: Should the 'comics' deal with such real-life topics such as this? Or should they remain 'funnies'?
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...now if I could only pick up a copy of the Ring Cycle L&L collection, as I've got all the others.
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I don't recall a foreword by Lynn Johnston (the author of "For Better or Worse"), and there's none mentioned on the L&L site, though there is an announcement that "Ring Cycle" will soon be reprinted.
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HUGS to you Phil....
Bill
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For the record, I also love For Better or Worse too, along with Calviin and Hobbes, Bloom County/Outland/Opus, with Bloom County being the best of the 3.
I had read somewhere that the family in the strip FBOW is actually based on Lynn's own family, more or less and the age of the characters in the strip are just a few years younger than her own children etc. Even the old Sheepdog was actually their family pet, Barley I think was his name.
Anyway, much of the funnies that purport to be funny not always are.
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"Les is reading to Lisa in bed while she is Sleeping and he Goes "You Know, Leese...One of the things I've Always Loved was Sitting together with you reading the Sunday Paper....Especially the comics pages.....because they always made you laugh."
"I guess that's why they're called the funnies."
As much as I'd love the comics to be this way, I always like the realism with them as well. I guess I wish "Funky Winkerbean" wasn't as real though because it really didn't start out that way like "For Better or Worse".
"For Better Or Worse" I loved to read because Lynn Johnson never strayed away from controversial topics....Including when she made Lawrence Gay and have a partner, etc... She even got threats because of it.
But then again "Peanuts" used Bible Scriptures in their strips and TV specials ("A Charlie Brown Christmas") and that was my all time favorite.
As long as Garfield stays the same and he keeps giving Jon a hard time, I'll be fine :)