To me, one mark of poor craft is arbitrariness.  My main complaint about
the post-comic-book incarnation of Zippy is that the humor seems mostly
arbitrary.  What I’ve wanted to do for some time is to doctor up some
Zippy cartoons to show to "Zippy" fans, with Zippy’s non sequiturs mixed
up from one day’s strip to the next.  My guess is that it would not make
much of a difference at all to the humor content, such as it is.  I’ve
felt for a long time that Zippy’s malaprops exist only to allow Griffith,
through Griffy, to spout his pained aspirant-to-cynicism schlemiel world
view.  Now, as world views go, Bill Griffith’s is more tolerable than
most, but it’s rarely funny and not enough to carry the cartoon — and
hitting the reader over the head with a big sign saying that "Life is
Absurd" (the ostensible "message" of Zippy’s character) doesn’t help.
—
<><><>   "As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have
Greg<>    its fascination.  When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will
<>/\<>    cease to be popular."
<>\/<>                                           — Oscar Wilde

> In article <4j4399$…@news.onramp.net>, stev…@onramp.net (Steve
> Silberberg) wrote:

>> Big deal.  Try explaining Zippy to your kid.  Hell, explain it to me
>> some time.

> Ditto.  I wish someone could clue me in as to what the
> hell is supposed to be funny, or even just interesting,
> about this comic. It’s stooopid. No, no, it’s moronic.

  A major essence of humor is the unexpected or the incongruous.  Jerks,
jolts, sudden jumps (the sound of "K" is supposed to be funny.)  
Zippy (and Griffy to some extent) see the world in a way that is way
out of the ordinary, with observations made and views expressed that
are odd, quirky, disjointed.  Some people see the discrepancies, some
don’t, some live it.  Griffy uses this structure of wackiness to
slip in his criticisms of the mindless, tasteless culture of sheeple
who buy into whatever the commerical ad fantasy makers sell.  I
couldn’t enjoy a majority of strips using Zippy’s style, but I’d
sorely miss the rare "spice" of surrealism the strip provides.  
  Tastes vary – if everyone liked it it would stink, IMHO.  

Silberberg) wrote:
> Big deal.  Try explaining Zippy to your kid.  Hell, explain it to me
> some time.

Ditto.  I wish someone could clue me in as to what the
hell is supposed to be funny, or even just interesting,
about this comic. It’s stooopid. No, no, it’s moronic.

–john

hell is supposed to be funny, or even just interesting,
about this comic [Zippy]. It’s stooopid. No, no, it’s moronic<<

ALBERT: Foo you own self– It don’t mean nothin and I don’t unnerstand it.

OWL: Yo’ doesn’t understand Russian, so Russian means nothin’?

WORM: NYET!

CHURCHY: Spoken like a white Pravda.

> In article <4irn72$…@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, arts…@aol.com (ARtSbOx) wrote:

>> Does anyone actually read the comics to their kids anymore? That’s MY
>> beef! I have a six year old and when I try to read him the comics I spend
>> 15 seconds reading the strip and 15 MINUTES trying to explain the subtle
>> adult satire and references that make it funny. [...]

> A child too young to read the comics on his/her own neither wants nor
> needs an explanation of the adult satire.  It’s enough to sit for a few
> minutes in dad’s lap and have him share something that is supposed to be
> funny or fun. If you’ll just keep doing that and forget the explanations,
> some day you’ll be very pleasantly surprised.  Guaranteed.

I’ve read comics to my progeny off and on for years, sometimes with and
sometimes without explanations.  When one son was in kindergarten, the
teacher told us that when she made a funny remark, it would usually zip
right over the class’s heads, but she would notice Reed off to one side
with a wry grin.

In my own youth, too, I remember many times reading a comic strip that I
knew was intended to be funny, but missing the point.  Then, maybe years
later, I read something in the news and Bingo!  I got the joke.  (This
happened regularly with _Pogo_.)  In that way, I found the comics to be
a small education in themselves.

–   Gwillim Law

>The question interested me, so I researched the comics page of the
>Rocky Mountain News, Denver, at ten year intervals.  I noted everything
>on the comics page and as many other comics as I could find elsewhere
>in the paper.
>Abbie ‘n Slats                                1966   1956   1946        =3
>Alley Oop                1996   1986   1976   1966   1956   1946   1936 =7

etc.

Since I don’t think anyone else has said it, I just wanted to thank David
Olson for a real contribution.  Arguing without data is fun, but arguing
with data is even more fun, and more productive.
—
<><><>   "As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have
Greg<>    its fascination.  When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will
<>/\<>    cease to be popular."
<>\/<>                                           — Oscar Wilde

Big deal.  Try explaining Zippy to your kid.  Hell, explain it to me some time.

—————-
Steve Silberberg
stev…@onramp.net
http://rampages.onramp.net/~stevebo/

knew was intended to be funny, but missing the point.  Then, maybe years
later, I read something in the news and Bingo!  I got the joke.  (This
happened regularly with _Pogo_.)  In that way, I found the comics to be
a small education in themselves.<<

Many people have had similar experiences with "kiddie" shows such as
"Beany & Cecil" and "Rocky & Bullwinkle." I remember being very surprised
when my mother turned of the "Aesop & Son" version of Androcles & the LIon
because she just KNEW the Lion would eat Androcles and she couldn’t
stomach it. I protested, she turned it back on, the Lion DID eat Andy
(offscreen) and I thought my Mom was psychic.

> Needless to say, I don’t take the time to do that very often…

> Can’t someone write a comic that a REAL kid can enjoy and laugh at?

A child too young to read the comics on his/her own neither wants nor
needs an explanation of the adult satire.  It’s enough to sit for a few
minutes in dad’s lap and have him share something that is supposed to be
funny or fun. If you’ll just keep doing that and forget the explanations,
some day you’ll be very pleasantly surprised.  Guaranteed.
. . . jim strain in san diego.

josh

http://www.teleport.com/~jcarroll/c+cradio.gif