I Hate These Comic Strips

I love comic strips. I've done book reports in school about comic strips and its beginnings. I like just about every comic strip and there are a few that I love (none are currently being produced, BTW). There are several comic strips that I hate. Hate is different than not liking. There are strips I don't like (Herb & Jamaal, 9 Chickweed Lane and Cathy) but there are strips I genuinely hate. And here they are:

Drabble 4/18/10

Drabble is like Paul Blart only less cute, adorable and funny. Drabble is the story of a slightly older than middle aged man working as a mall cop while also trying to continue to raise his adult son Patrick. Drabble is a mess of bad puns, stupid jokes and basically aiming for the lowest common denominator.

Curtis 4/18/10

This strip actually demonstrates one reason why I hate Curtis. Curtis' dad smokes only because of stress. Curtis has routinely expressed his disgust with his dad's smoking but Curtis' dad doesn't change. Granted, Curtis doesn't go the normal route by showing his dad how slowly he is killing his own family whenever he's "stressed" out but his dad could at least try.

The Dinette Set 4/18/10

The main hatred I have for The Dinette Set is there is always too much going on. I've often said that the stupid words and stuff strewn around the panels (like the "M.I.T.: Moron In Training" in today's strip) is to distract from the fact that the comic itself isn't funny.

Mutts 4/18/10

I used to like the comic strip Mutts. Then something happened. It got preachy. The strips starting telling me to protect our animal friends and to go to a shelter and adopt a dog or cat. I don't need a mediocre comic strip telling me to go do stuff and I'm sure everyone under the age of 70 agrees with me.

Shoe 4/18/10

Do we even see P. Martin Shoemaker more than once a month anymore? Since Jeff MacNelly passed away in 2000, Shoe has just been languishing on the vine just waiting to die. Amazingly, I noticed a few months ago that Susan MacNelly (possibly Jeff's daughter or granddaughter) has begun helping out on the strip and that the strip is possibly becoming funnier. Hopefully, there will come a time that I can remove this strip from this list.

Wee Pals 4/18/10

I'm sorry but kids making cutesy racist comments is just wrong. Every time I read Wee Pals, I die a little on the inside. But I can't stop looking at it because it's like a train at a railroad crossing for me. And I can't stop looking at those trains.

Zippy 4/18/10

I read somewhere that Zippy has never been funny. There are no jokes in Zippy and that the good artwork and intricate detail is to cover up that fact. The strip looks really good therefore you laugh at it because you don't want to look stupid. Well, Zippy is an abomination of comic strips. To me, it is the worst. A monkey could smear shit on a piece of urine green paper and I will still find that more culturally relevant and funnier than Zippy.

Ginger Meggs 4/18/10

I don't know why I hate Ginger Meggs. Maybe it's because he's got red hair, maybe it's because he's Australian maybe it's because Ginger is everything I hate in a comic strip about a kid. He's just plain annoying. It also makes me cringe to think that this strip has been around since 1921!

Fred Basset 4/18/10

I don't hate Fred Basset because it's British. I hate it because it's just not good and doesn't have a point to it. I looked up Fred Basset on Wikipedia and the article is written in a very British format. Also, there's a section that basically dissects the strip saying that a lot of the strips do not have jokes, an ending or even a purpose!! Yeah, that's my idea of a good comic strip, one without a purpose.

Frazz 4/18/10

I used to like Frazz, then it became too smart for its own good. It began making fun of people and pointing out flaws in the American language. And the kids? Smart-asses. 9 times out of 10 I want to backhand these little turds.

Housebroken 4/18/10

I don't know what's going on in this strip but I'm pretty sure you have to be high to understand it. I read Housebroken every week but it has yet to make me chuckle or even acknowledge it as being worthy of being on a newspaper page. I want to say it's trying to be like Bloom County but that's an insult to Bloom County.

Dennis the Menace 4/18/10

This comic showcases what is currently wrong with Dennis the Menace these days. Where's the menacing? I have a book which features the first two years of DTM's existence and he was a lot more menacing back in the 1950s. For example, in one comic he ties a swan's neck in a knot; in another he ruins a hot dog vendor's business by stealing his cart's umbrella; and he shuts his friend in a refrigerator just to prove that the light goes out when you shut the door. I want this Dennis back and I don't care if it gives children bad ideas. I just want to see Dennis do more menacing stuff like beating a teenage babysitter leaving a permanent scar on her chin.

Like more comic-related garbage? Then you should head over to my site where every Thursday I talk about comics in book book and strip form. Plus there's that whole Born Loser thing I do.