Comic strips that jumped the shark

[Zorak Masaki]

Thought this would be an interesting topic. I'll start,,"baby blues" when they let zoe get a little older.(IMO comic strip characters shouldnt age unless its a dramatic strip,,with some exceptions like gasoline alley and for better and for worse)
Dilbert when it got TOO obsessed with including technical/busines jargon in EVERY strip.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Garfield--When Jim Davis stopped having anything to do with the strip 10 years ago. Does Arlene even show up anymore? Or Nermal?

Cathy--Was a groundbreaking autobio strip once. Now it's a tired strip for humiliated 30 year old women.

Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, etc--extremely dated strips that are only running now because some old people out there can't stop reading them.

[The Weed Of Cri]

The Boondocks: Aaron McGruder once had an intelligent and biting sense of satire. Now that he's a card-carrying member of the "hate Bush and everything he does club", he's just strident and annoying.

Opus: Berke Brethed seems obsessed with making his world qrotesque and ugly. And he seems to have had his sense of humor surgically removed during his long absence.

Luann: once one of the funniest "teen travails" strips, now 90% of the strips are about the romantic problems of Luann or her brother. Way too many dips in the same well; it's gotten repetitious, which is fatal for something that appears seven days a week.

[Somejerk]

For Better ... when they had the new kid

Dilbert... when the stopped doing any scenes outside of work.

Mr. Potatohead ... Day one it is a suck ass soulless strip.

Peanuts ... When Peppermint Pattie admited to everyone she was gay, or was that Ellen?

[Anthonynotes]

For Better ... when they had the new kid

Which one? April? Mike's kid Meredith?

>>
Dilbert... when the stopped doing any scenes outside of work.
<<

>>
Mr. Potatohead ... Day one it is a suck ass soulless strip.
<<

True...is this one still running?

>>
Peanuts ... When Peppermint Pattie admited to everyone she was gay, or was that Ellen?<<

That would be Ellen DeGeneres (in a 1996 episode of her television sitcom), I'd imagine. Contrary to online jokes, Peppermint Patty isn't a lesbian.

-B.

[Simpler Simon]

Garfield--When Jim Davis stopped having anything to do with the strip 10 years ago. Does Arlene even show up anymore? Or Nermal?

Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, etc--extremely dated strips that are only running now because some old people out there can't stop reading them.

Agreed on Garfield - when's the last time it had those cool running story arcs they had in the early books? Or when every strip didn't revolve around Garfield sitting on the countertop?

I was a huge Beetle Bailey fan when I was a kid, but I haven't seen the strip in years. Any new changes/additions?

[Somejerk]

Which one? April? Mike's kid Meredith?

>>
Dilbert... when the stopped doing any scenes outside of work.
<<

>>
Mr. Potatohead ... Day one it is a suck ass soulless strip.
<<

True...is this one still running?

>>
Peanuts ... When Peppermint Pattie admited to everyone she was gay, or was that Ellen?<<

That would be Ellen DeGeneres (in a 1996 episode of her television sitcom), I'd imagine. Contrary to online jokes, Peppermint Patty isn't a lesbian.

-B.

As for For better I really lost track I havent lkept up with it in years, I was refering to the youngest child of the lead couple.

and peperment pattie was just a lame attempt at humor, but she and Ellen did share the same haircut for a while

[TwoPossums]

Peanuts: Jumped around the 80's

Cathy: Groundbreaking?? I say boaring.

Hi and Lois
Beatle Baily
Blondie
Hagar
Wizard of Id : All of these are comics of the past generation. Or even the one before that. There time has long sinced passed and they continue on out of pure habit.

Garfield: For reasons already mentioned.

The good strips are few and far between and frankly I can't understand why some of them are still being drawn. You would think that eventually the creator would want to retire or something. Or maybe even die....oh wait that doesn't stop these strips. I think Blondie is done by the son now. Dennis the Meanece is done by assistant and Peanuts, well there just reruns and that is the saddest of all.

TwoPossums

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Cathy WAS groundbreaking. I mean, a semi-autobiographical strip published in mainstream comics section pages? And, considering the time it first came out, it was perfect for the working woman in the 80s. It does deserve a place in comics lore. It's just that many of those attitudes are dated, and Cathy the character began to get more and more pathetic, instead of charming.

Even if you never liked it (I never really liked it), there was a time when there was no other strip out there that was quite like it.

[Peter Paltridge]

I know most people mention Garfield as Exhibit A in this category, but IMO "For Better Or For Worse" has passed it. Go find some 80's-era books of that strip if you can--it was wildly funny back then. Now there are literally no jokes and it's become, in the words I've written earlier, "a fogey-styled telenovela." I can barely even look at it now. April is the most cliched stereotype ever....compare her strips now to the ones of Elizabeth at the same age. Lizzie was real, April is just....blech.

I don't think Luann jumped the shark, even though it's not really something I enjoy. It was about to, but then it changed--they got rid of the repetitive stuff, made it more dramatic and gave Luann a more modern hairdo. It hasn't repeated itself in a while.

[Conekiller]

I was a huge Beetle Bailey fan when I was a kid, but I haven't seen the strip in years. Any new changes/additions?

Sarge wears yellow now.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I know most people mention Garfield as Exhibit A in this category, but IMO "For Better Or For Worse" has passed it. Go find some 80's-era books of that strip if you can--it was wildly funny back then. Now there are literally no jokes and it's become, in the words I've written earlier, "a fogey-styled telenovela." I can barely even look at it now. April is the most cliched stereotype ever....compare her strips now to the ones of Elizabeth at the same age. Lizzie was real, April is just....blech.

I don't think Luann jumped the shark, even though it's not really something I enjoy. It was about to, but then it changed--they got rid of the repetitive stuff, made it more dramatic and gave Luann a more modern hairdo. It hasn't repeated itself in a while.

"For Better or For Worse" is very reflective of the changing phases of Lynn Johnston, and it's obvious she's pushing retirement age, with the stories reflecting that. In some ways, the strip is like your Grandmother now--occasionally she has something interesting to say that betrays some of the fun she was in her youth, but more and more you start to nod off when she's talking.

1980s FBOFW is a younger woman's strip--energetic, sarcastic and cranky. But ever since she married off Mike (you could argue it started when he met up with his future wife again) the strip does seem to be showing it's age. It's sentimental and a bit doddering now, an old woman's strip.

That's also what happened with Peanuts in the 80s, but the strip became quite funny and weird in the 5 years leading up to Schulz's retirement. It was still an old man's strip...but a KOOKY old man's strip.

[Simpler Simon]

Sarge wears yellow now.

That used to be a colouring goof for the paperback collections...

1980s FBOFW is a younger woman's strip--energetic, sarcastic and cranky. But ever since she married off Mike (you could argue it started when he met up with his future wife again) the strip does seem to be showing it's age. It's sentimental and a bit doddering now, an old woman's strip.

I just read today's strip online - didn't realize Michael and Deanna had 2 kids now....

I think I actually started reading FBOFW around the time Michael met Deanna again (the car accident), so the strip's always been in that kinda phase for me. Can't say I've laughed out loud a lot, but the strip still earns some knowing nods and sincere chuckles, so its doing its job. Mostly I just enjoy how Johnston has kept the characters developing and changing - a rariety for most comics, especially newspaper strips.

NOTE: the tv version doesnt work though. I don't know if they adapted strips or wrote new stories, but it feels too cutesy and simplistic to keep my interest.

[Anthonynotes]

I still like FBOFW. It's also one of the few strips with the characters aging in real time (for all you "they should age the characters in real time until they're old and dead and pass down their legacy to their kids/Robin/etc." fans out there ;-) ).

The cartoonist says she plans to retire from the strip in another few years or so from now (probably when April finishes high school---think she's in 8th or 9th grade now), so enjoy it while you can...

-B.

[TwoPossums]

One thing about FBOW is that it doesn't pretend to be funny anymore. Its simply a drama/soap now. At least I haven't seen anything in it that even looks like a joke. Its all stories. Thats ok by me but it ain't the best thing on the page. Its still one of the better drawn strips out there.

Perhaps Cathy was groundbreaking but that has always been my most hated strip. Worthless IMO.

I guess what guiles me the most about all these strips is that all the ones that we have mentioned are the most "popular" strips right now. Can anybody open there local paper and not read most, if not all of these strips? In some areas where the strip page is pretty bad its all you get. My hometown is one of those.

It makes me sad that some great strips aren't seen because of these dinosaurs. Citizen Dog quit. The Norm is gone (unless you want to pay a subscription.) Liberty Meadows got run off and PVP will never be in a local paper (Its too geeky I guess, but explain Dilbert then) 9 Chickweed Lane isn't that funny but its better than these and really well drawn. Aurgh is all I can say.

TwoPossums

[Peter Paltridge]

NOTE: the tv version doesnt work though. I don't know if they adapted strips or wrote new stories, but it feels too cutesy and simplistic to keep my interest.

TV version?

[TwoPossums]

TV version?

It played mostly in Canada. I saw an episode or 2 here in the States or it might have been some sort of holiday special.

http://www.fborfw.com/behind_the_sce...mated_show.php

TwoPossums

[Simpler Simon]

Are Ziggy and Family Circus still going? Those deserve to be put to pasture too.

[TwoPossums]

Are Ziggy and Family Circus still going? Those deserve to be put to pasture too.

Saddly yes they are.

[Anthonynotes]

The Houston Chronicle's website is a popular comic strip afficionado spot---where you can arrange and bookmark your own choice of daily strips (Sundays are added spotty, last I checked).

Thus, I've arranged it so that I can read all my favorites and never have to look at "Garfield" or "Mallard Fillmore" again, unless I read an actual newspaper...

-B.