Panel Discussion - The ILX Comic Strip Poll Results

Kin-Der-Kids rules. I'm about 90% certain I voted for it.

=80: THE BROONS by Dudley Watkins (36 points, 1 vote)
Scotland’s Greatest Cartoonist

Also created by R.D. Low and Dudley Watkins in 1936, but about the laughs and struggles of a large working-class family living in a single flat. “There were very, very, few cartoonists in the world producing work of the quality of Watkins's work. The Broons pages contained less panels than the more action-orientated Oor Wullie, so there was more of a canvas for Watkins to experiment on. His command of perspective and shifting points of view was almost peerless and I think, with the exception of a handful of European and American greats, like Winsor McCay, it would be difficult to think of a more talented and influential cartoonist. He truly was one of the all-time greats.” - McKie

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iB_EdMEPk6Y/Ss6AGScAmkI/AAAAAAAAEFY/Np0gHe2ZW6g/s1600-h/broons1.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iB_EdMEPk6Y/Ss6AFzIzP_I/AAAAAAAAEFQ/PWAGTC-BJCI/s1600-h/broons2.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Klfz36T6_so/Tba_6tH2wpI/AAAAAAAAGJk/tDq4PUeJH0I/s1600/scan0156.jpg

I voted for both of these and the article sic linked to is kind of right - effortlessly beautiful, I guess his closest peer is maybe Frank King?

=80: A Lesson Is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible by Dale and David (36 points, 1 vote)
(already posted)

=80: CURTIS by Ray Billingsley (36 points, 3 votes)
Awards and Distinctions: The President's Award from the American Lung Association

Curtis details the day-to-day life of a close-knit contemporary African-American family living in the inner city.  It is a comic work that does not fit easily in any category.  Though it mainly features children, it is not necessarily “child-themed.”  It can be humorous, thought-provoking, topical in subject and have bursts of pure zany fantasy.
Sometimes falling victim to censoring, Curtis is best welcomed by those modern free-thinkers who appreciate it for the work of art it is.  It is often called "The Thinking-Man’s Strip,” for its witty approach, satire and use of storylines with an unexpected twist.

http://chrispearce.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/curtis3.jpg

http://aalbc.com/authors/images/cut80606.gif

https://comicskingdom.com/system/blog/2012/12/15.jpg

not a bad strip but his drawing style has never appealed to me

Why have some things already been posted?

there was an initial listing of everything that got one vote

no, I don't know why

xpost
iirc we began w/ forks' unsorted first take and we are now on sic's sorted second edition, so a few of the low entries have already been printed first time round?

i'm about 90% certain i voted for the broons

http://joshreads.com/images/08/07/i080703curtis.jpg

I've never liked how his hat hangs off his head like that.

And WGW still making this thread worth clicking.

=80: A Lesson Is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible by Dale and David (36 points, 1 vote)
(already posted)

shout out to wins there

=77: THE BASH STREET KIDS by Leo Baxendale (37 points, 1 vote)
Leo Baxendale, The Master Of Bash Street

On the 13th of February 1954, a half-page story by the name of 'When the Bell Rings' debuted. Apparently inspired by the view from the Beano Office window, which overlooked Dundee High School's playground, the strip depicted the joyous explosion of children from the confines of the classroom when the home-time bell rang. The pen of Leo Baxendale, already busy on 'Little Plum' and 'Minnie the Minx', was responsible for this breakthrough in comic form, varying between traditional comic strip panels and full page scenes crammed with figures involved in all sorts of mischief.
Originally these strips and scenes would involve dozens of unruly pupils and hapless teachers, but before too long the focus became the kids of Class IIB, with Danny, Plug, Smiffy, Toots and Sid, Wilfrid, Erbert, Spotty and Fatty gaining in prominence. In November of 1956, the title was changed to the more familiar 'The Bash Street Kids', though by this time the kids had already burst out of the school gates and out of the pages of The Beano, having appeared in prose stories and cover strips in the adventure paper, 'The Wizard' in 1955.
Leo Baxendale continued to draw the chaotic class until 1962, by which time the strip had grown in size into a double page spread. – beano.com

http://www.paulmorris.co.uk/beano/strips/bellrings.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iwLzhffLiJU/T-G5Rbg8tXI/AAAAAAAACvc/RBDt6WQEkAI/s640/Bash_Street_Kids_1959_09_19_896.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hk0sfKml_BU/UdETeyg8dbI/AAAAAAAAMbA/r0OPgNu7KYU/s1069/leo+bash+st.png

http://www.quotev.com/quiz/342583/Which-bash-street-kid-are-you/

ilx has two threads titled 'Which Bash Street Kid Are You?'

=77: TOOTHPASTE FOR DINNER by Drew (37 points, 1 vote)
Toothpaste For Dinner

Toothpaste For Dinner is a daily one-panel cartoon written and drawn by Drew, author of Veins, Married To The Sea, The Worst Things For Sale, et al.

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/012511/cant-tell-what-theyre-saying.gif

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/102912/its-your-birthday-kitty-cat.gif

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/102012/grindin.gif

I voted for several questionable webcomics but not that one

=77: LES FRUSTRES by Claire Bretecher (37 points, 1 vote)
cliquez ici

In France, long hospitable to women artists and writers, Claire Bretécher specializes in cruel, Feifferish (non)communication. Active since the early 1960s, she has appeared in the elite political magazine Le Nouvel Observateur since 1973. – Britannica

Claire Bretécher is currently the most popular (and very probably the best) cartoonist working in France. The two books she has edited and published herself, Les Frustrés and Les Frustrés 2, consisting of material culled from the regular strip she does for the weekly French news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, are among the wittiest, sharpest, and most insightful collections of contemporary satire appearing in any medium. – TCJ, 1978

http://www.bdnet.com/img/couvpage/04/9782901076049_pg.jpg

http://www.bedetheque.com/media/Planches/frustres.jpg

http://www.bdnet.com/img/couvpage/39/9782901076391_pg.jpg

=77: SAM'S STRIP by Jerry Dumas & Mort Walker (37 points, 2 votes)
Collected, Complete

Sam’s Strip was ahead of its time when it debuted in 1961. Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas’ offbeat creation took the inside joke of breaking the “fourth wall” to a new level, playing with the basic elements of the cartoon form, experimenting with different art styles and featuring famous characters from other strips. Sam and his cartoonist assistant owned and operated the comic strip they inhabited. The Yellow Kid, Jiggs, Krazy Kat, Dagwood, and Charlie Brown were among the many familiar faces who made walk-on appearances. Sam and his assistant discussed the inner workings and hidden secrets of life within the panel borders. - fanta

http://westfieldcomics.com/wow/art/feature/large/v5feat_228-samstrip3.jpg

http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/books/samstr/samstr-intros03.1.jpg

http://www.weirdspace.dk/JerryDumas/Graphics/SamAndSilo02.gif

http://www.tcj.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/humptystrp.jpg

http://www.du9.org/wp-content/uploads/img/jpg/SamsStrip2.jpg

Now I wished I'd voted. Sam's Strip woulda been in my top 5 easy. Easily the best/funniest/most creative thing Mort Walker's been a part of.

Always loved "and take your shading with you!"

from the strips I saw while putting the posts together, it looks really fun. and yeah, much cleverer than you'd expect from Walker

=73: Mutts by Patrick McDonald (38 points, 1 vote)
already posted

really I was the only vote for this

this poll is weird

=73: AMERICAN ELF by James Kochalka (38 points, 3 votes)
Complete archive for free. The first five years, in print. Buy digital, year-by-year.

Beginning as a local-only strip, then gaining worldwide distribution in comic and book collections from Top Shelf, and eventually influencing a generation of autobiographical cartoonists on the web. At the time it started, by a long walk the best thing the prolific Kochalka had ever done, and quickly made him get better. An every-day, usually four-panel strip about something from his life that day, it focused his drawing, his observation and the concision of his cartooning, and was frequently hilarious and profound. Concluded a year or two ago, and for the best. Relive the early years before he was a father.

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/previews/amelf2000/amelf2000_09.gif

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/previews/amer_elf/amer_elf_01.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/elfart_zps956e215a.jpg

I like its look and like McDonnell's book about Krazy Kat, but gave it a protest non-vote for never being funny. (xp)

time jump

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/American%20Elf%20mar%205%202007.gif

http://www.comicsreporter.com/images/uploads/colors_thumb.gif

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/previews/americanelf4/americanelf4_10.jpg

Mutts probably has more value as part of a comics page than in collections; its care for drawing and dedication to a deliberate aesthetic made it stand out amidst a sea of whatever turds it was pared with in your area. Said aesthetic just becomes overwhelming en masse, without anything to react against.

That said, there was a tribute exhibition as part of the BD Festival in Lisbon last year, where they'd recreated a "house" and room from the strip to display art in, and it felt really charming and cosy. I can see that mindset informing people who enjoy settling into an armchair and immersing themselves in a paperback.

mutts is gorgeous and generally quite clever; certainly one of the last best of the remaining strips

=73: TARZAN by Burne Hogarth (38 points, 3 votes)
Collected by Titan

One day, a friend at United Features told Hogarth that Hal Foster — the guy who’d studied at the same Chicago schools as young Burne — was leaving the popular Tarzan comic strip that ran in hundreds of papers every Sunday.
Was Hogarth interested? Does Tarzan poop in the woods?
Smart enough to know that continuity would be key, Hogarth submitted a Foster-like panel. The bosses couldn’t tell the difference and Burne got the job, starting in the middle of 1937. Burne was 25 years old and Tarzan — his sinews and muscles, the tendons that form the shape below the skin — was his. Along with Jane and lions and apes and all the rest of the teeming jungle — an entire page’s worth every Sunday.
Hogarth moved slowly from a spot-on mimicking of Foster’s style to his own. Over the next dozen years — from 1937 to 1950 — he synthesized aspects of popular cinema with his fine art training to bring respect to an art form that had known few true masters. Hogarth thoroughly understood the elements of action and tension; translating the fragile tether between the two into a rigorous approach to foreshortening and shadows. Thus: a template that has defined the comic book hero from the 1950’s boom to the near-literary present. – burnehogarth.com

http://fantasticocenario.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/tarzan-hogarth-pl1.jpg

http://www.gwthomas.org/BurneHogarth12.jpg

http://cdn.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_28/subcat_139920/HogarthTarzan2-5-50.jpg

the hogarth tarzan feels like the apotheosis of the full page adventure strip but it's so hard for me to engage those storylines
i have like fifteen chapter books of the oversized prince valiant fanta run and i dunno if i even ever cracked them

goddamn can that guy ILLUSTRATE though

=73: MICKEY MOUSE by Floyd Gottfredson (38 points, 4 votes)
Lavishly collected by Fantagraphics

Hired as a temporary fill-in in the early months of the Mickey Mouse strip (taking over from Disney and Ub Iwerks!), Gottfredson went on to co-write and draw it for, oh four and a half decades. Generally regarded as the best Mickey material ever, and certainly the version of the character that retained a personality for at least a couple of decades. Rip-roaring adventure and zings that still more or less land.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1298908338.jpg

http://www.comicbookresources.com/assets/images/articles/1298908340.jpg

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/comicsalliance.com/files/2012/07/mickeya.jpg

Loving this thread, thanks for all your hard work sic, and every one else.

You're welcome.

get back to gta, you. it's been ages since you told us all a story.

Oh, the tragedy that occurred this weekend… I now know what YLOD means.

Little man can't play his Mickey Mouse game anymore, we've covered up all the mirrors.

NOOOOOOOOO [just had to google YLOD]

69: Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson (39 points, 1 vote)
already posted

Any other strip and I would've let it go:

http://i.imgur.com/bUUfo5r.jpg

thought one of you Arlovers or Janisatics would have delighted in its placing.

I was the only A&J voter -- my #2 -- and I am delighted in its placing.

Is it always as badly drawn as that example above?

I would say no -- that one's an older strip, and a busy mess. I was going to say Johnson's pared the strip down to the visual essentials, but today's puts the lie to that:

http://assets.amuniversal.com/c914e0a02afb0132a1f4005056a9545d

Rather than a "bigfoot" style of cartooning, I guess what he goes for is more "bigface."

what even

It looks better with colour, and i like the fact that the first two panels are silent and involve real comics storytelling, but I don't think this is one for me.

=68: TOONERVILLE FOLKS by Fontaine Fox (40 points, 2 votes)
Toonopedia

The single-panel gag cartoon was a daily look at Toonerville, situated in what are now called the suburbs. Central to the strip was the rickety little trolley called the "Toonerville Trolley that met all the trains," driven in a frenzy by the grizzly old Skipper to meet each commuter train as it arrived in town. A few of the many richly formed characters included the Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, the Physically Powerful Katrinka, Little Woo-Woo Wortle, Aunt Eppie Hogg (The Fattest Lady in 3 Counties) and Mickey McGuire, the town bully.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j0LJ7wZtiMU/Tg09r5a7ghI/AAAAAAAAIAs/NovwSOWWI_k/s1600/ToonervilleSunday.jpg

http://www.artbaxter.com/images/blog/2008-postings/03.03-fox/toonerville-sunday.gif

http://cdn.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_3563/subcat_30295/FontaineFoxToonervilleFolksSunday32352.jpg

=68: THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS by Gilbert Shelton (40 points, 3 votes)
Fansite / Pretty much everything in one book.

The use of assorted psychoactive drugs is a predominant theme that runs throughout all volumes of this title. Marijuana is the most frequently mentioned, but numerous other stimulants and hallucinogens are mentioned as well. Most of the Freak Brothers stories include the use of drugs, or attempts to purchase them, for humorous effect..

Food is a commonly recurring subject. These stories most often involve Fat Freddy and his marijuana-induced "munchies" (increased appetite). The squalor engendered by the Brothers' indolence is often highlighted. Several stories satirise governments, particularly the U.S. government. These stories invariably show politicians and their agents as corrupt, incompetent, or both.

It is common for the storylines to begin with an air of realism, but rapidly descend into comic pantomime. - wikipedia

http://www.tcj.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/FreakBros0001.jpg

http://3rdeyedrops.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/freakbros1-jpg.jpeg

https://maddogmedia.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/freaks.jpg

one of my mom's hippy friends gave me a whole basket of comics like these and Zap when I was around ten years old, mind was blown

just saw today's A&J in a real physical American newspaper. In b&w, the sleeve disappears into the spotting on the window.

Still, seeing an entire US comics page (a double page!) makes me forgive p much anything people voted for itt, it's a fucking turd-strewn wasteland in there against which even Nemi would be semi-tolerable

don't feel too bad, we also don't subscribe to newspapers anymore