 | |
Type of site | Blog |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Josh Fruhlinger |
| Created by | Josh Fruhlinger |
| URL | www.joshreads.com |
| Registration | none |
| Launched | July 11, 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
The Comics Curmudgeon is an American blog devoted to humorous and critical analysis of newspaper comics. Its author, Josh Fruhlinger, is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles. [1]
For each blog post, author Josh Fruhlinger selects two to eight comic strips for comment, usually focused on topics such as poor artwork, inappropriate coloring, nonsensical plots, and sexual subtext or innuendo. Long-running soap opera-style comic strips such as Apartment 3-G , Mark Trail , and Mary Worth bear the brunt of Fruhlinger's humor, an emphasis that he attributes to their being "[the] perfect targets for the sort of metatextual detached irony that is our generation's terrible contribution to Western civilization." [2]
Fruhlinger's blog also features commentary on long-running legacy cartoons like Family Circus and B.C. Weekly "metaposts" update readers on notable events in Fruhlinger's life, such as his July 22, 2008, appearance [3] on the game show Jeopardy! , [4] offer critical commentary on the comic strip industry, and include a "Comment Of The Week" that highlights the best comments posted by the blog's readers. [5] The blog's original name was "Josh Reads the Comics so You Don't Have To", which is reflected in the site URL, joshreads.com.
The Comics Curmudgeon was among the blogs criticizing what they deemed was the declining quality of the Canadian family strip For Better or For Worse , and who were noted for "harsh attacks" [6] on creator Lynn Johnston. Humorist John Hodgman, in a review of comic-strip reprint collections, said the website "regularly ridicules the creaky war horses like Hagar the Horrible [sic] and Mary Worth , the opaque woolgathering of Ziggy , the dull crypto-evangelism of B.C. " [7] A blog contributor's July 21, 2008, post [8] broke the news that a recent Blondie strip had been recycled almost verbatim from one published in 1952. [9] This was followed in March 2009 with a similar report of strip recycling in Family Circus . [10]
Hägar the Horrible's cartoonist Chris Browne, [11] Liō artist/writer Mark Tatulli, [12] and Sally Forth scripter Francesco Marciuliano [13] have commented on the blog. Bob Weber Jr., artist for Slylock Fox , created merchandise for the Curmudgeon CafePress store with original art of the character Cassandra Cat (from the Fox strip). [14]
On December 18, 2008, the comic strip Archie began occasionally referencing the blog's recurring "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000" joke, in which the strip is allegedly written by a sentient computer program which continually tries (but fails) to understand genuine human interaction. [15] On August 12, 2009, writer and illustrator Stephan Pastis mentioned The Comics Curmudgeon by name in his comic strip Pearls Before Swine, in the context of satirizing internet criticism. [16] On May 6, 2012, the comic strip Crock introduced a character named "Freerloiter" (an apparent parody of Fruhlinger's name) who lost all of his artistic talent after a lobotomy. However, Commander Crock "pulled the plug" on Freerloiter after he announced his intention to move to Baltimore and start a comics blog. Fruhlinger responded on his blog: "Of course, if you aren't me or part of the fairly small slice of the comics-reading public who also reads my blog, this strip would make exactly zero sense to you. Just another Sunday Crock, in other words." [17] Crock concluded publishing new strips two weeks later.
The Comics Curmudgeon was ranked 13th on PC Magazine's 100 Favorite Blogs list for 2007, [18] and Elite Choice named it one of 2007's Top 125 Elite Blogs [19] (judged on traffic generation, Alexa ranking and other measures of visibility). Josh Fruhlinger was named 2007's Blogger of the Year by The Week based on his analysis of editorial cartoons. [20] The Comics Curmudgeon has also won the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Humor Blog. [21]
A comic strip is a sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday papers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics.
Hägar the Horrible is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared on February 4, 1973 and the next day in daily newspapers, and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirement in 1988, his son Chris Browne continued the strip until his death, with artwork by Gary Hallgren. As of 2010, Hägar is distributed to 1,900 newspapers in 56 countries and translated into 12 languages. The strip is a caricature commenting on modern-day life in the United States through a loose interpretation of Viking Age Scandinavian life.
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponymous blonde and her sandwich-loving husband, led to the long-running Blondie film series (1938–1950) and the popular Blondie radio program (1939–1950).
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name and signature. According to King Features Syndicate, Young had a daily readership of 52 million. Stan Drake, who drew Blondie in the 1980s and 1990s, stated that Young "has to go down in history as one of the geniuses of the industry."
A Dagwood sandwich is a tall, multilayered sandwich made with a variety of meats, cheeses, and condiments. It is named after Dagwood Bumstead, a central character in the comic strip Blondie, who is frequently illustrated making enormous sandwiches. According to Blondie scripter Dean Young, his father, Chic Young, began drawing the huge sandwiches in the comic strip during 1936.
Funky Winkerbean was an American comic strip by Tom Batiuk. Distributed by North America Syndicate, a division of King Features Syndicate, it appeared in more than 400 newspapers worldwide.
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises, like The Cuphead Show!, which it produced with Netflix, and licenses its classic characters and properties.
Wonkette is an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox. The editor since 2012 is Rebecca Schoenkopf, formerly of OC Weekly. Wonkette covers U.S. politics in a satirical manner.
Richard Arthur Allan Browne was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing Hägar the Horrible and Hi and Lois.
The comic strip switcheroo was a massive practical joke in which several comic strip writers and artists (cartoonists), without the foreknowledge of their editors, traded strips for a day on April Fools' Day 1997. The Switcheroo was masterminded by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, creators of the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip.
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. They typically are smaller, 3-4 grids compared to the full page Sunday strip and are black and white.
David M Willis is an American web cartoonist currently living in Columbus, Ohio. He is best known for his interconnected series of webcomics Roomies!, It's Walky!, Shortpacked!, and Dumbing of Age. Willis is also known online for his chatrooms and forums including "ItsWalky". KUTV in Salt Lake City calls him a satirist who is "a little bit edgy."
John Marshall is an American cartoonist, best known as the artist of the Blondie comic strip since 2005. He works closely with scripter Dean Young, son of the strip's creator, Chic Young.
Christopher Kelly Browne was an American comic strip artist and cartoonist. He was the son of cartoonist Dik Browne and brother of cartoonist Chance Browne. From 1989 to 2023, Browne wrote and drew the comic strip Hägar the Horrible, which is distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Slylock Fox is a daily comic strip created by Bob Weber Jr. and published by King Features Syndicate. Bob Weber Jr. is the son of Bob Weber Sr., creator of the comic strip Moose & Molly. The target audience is young children. According to the official website, Slylock Fox appears in nearly 400 newspapers with a combined readership of over 30 million.
Pluggers is a comic panel created by Jeff MacNelly in 1993 that relies on reader submissions for the premise of each day's panel. In the context of this strip, "pluggers" are defined as rural, blue-collar workers who live a typical working-class American lifestyle, accompanied by a mentality characteristic of the G.I. and Baby Boomer generations. In the comic, pluggers are portrayed in the form of anthropomorphic animals, most often a plump bear, dog, chicken, or rhinoceros, sometimes a kangaroo or a cat.
Barkeater Lake is a webcomic by cartoonist Corey Pandolph, originally published by United Media as part of its Comics.com website from early 2004 through January 5, 2007. Pandolph began publishing the online strip independently on January 22, 2007.
Richard "Rick" Marschall is an American writer, editor, and comic strip historian, described by Bostonia magazine as "America's foremost authority on pop culture." Marschall has served as an editor for both Marvel and Disney comics, plus several syndicates.
In the comic-strip field, a zombie strip is one whose creator has died or retired, but which continues to exist with new editions in publication. The strips are taken over by others, often relatives of the originator. Zombie comic strips are often criticized as lacking the "spark" that originally made the strip successful.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)