Panel Discussion - The ILX Comic Strip Poll Results

18: MAAKIES by Tony Millionaire (125 points, 6 votes)
Maakies.com

The actual bar-room scrawlings of a sentimental drunkard obsessed with old houses and Patrick O'Brien are transmuted into one of the most profane and prettily drawn strips of the second (and final) alternative paper era. More sex, suicidal ideation and detailed drawings of 18th century sailing ships than any other newspaper strip ever. At first, the annual collections being named after beloved children's books seemed a deliberate perversity, but Millionaire eventually spun off his style and versions of his character into actual comics and picture books for children. Maakies itself continues to plow a bloody, vomit-strewn path across those alt-weeklies that still have some semblance of a budget, as well as having been in print from Fantagraphics for fifteen years and online almost as long.

It's worth noting, in this historically-focused poll, that Maakies may be the first strip in sixty years to launch with a topper – the accompanying strip runs underneath the main feature, and varies in nature from week to week, rather than being a recurring subject. (Also by far the most recent entry in the poll to have a TV adaptation? subs plz check)

https://comicsagogo.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/maakies-booger.jpg

http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/e4a3/maakies.jpg

http://buzzdixon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Maakies-Drunk-Home.jpg

http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/f543/maakies.gif

http://pullquote.typepad.com/pullquote/a_meeting.gif

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/1821/poohmaakies.jpg

here's that last strip again:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/poohmaakies_zps04mjxeqi.jpg

Never seen that one before, like a number of the alt-weekly strips here. Seems pretty groovy, and obviously meant for being printed large.

yah Maakies is great, I kinda remember Cul De Sac from the dailies but it didn't make an impression on me at the time, another thing for the wish list

http://www.citypaper.com/blogs/the-news-hole/bcpnews-why-were-not-running-maakies-anymore-20150417-story.html

ick, thanks I guess

17: ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY by Chris Ware (126 points, 5 votes)
No longer under the Acme title, but here's his latest newspaper strip

Broadly acknowledged as one of the most metciulous, creative, insightful, intelligent and depsressed cartoonists of the last quarter-century, Ware rarely gets recognised as an artist who took the opportunity of the alternative newspaper page to develop many of his styles and stories. Starting in Chicago's New City, then moving to the Chicago Reader (and an array of magazines and alternative papers), Acme Novelty Library could serialise a 500-page graphic novel one week, switch to a bigfoot sci-fi parody the next, and recur to tiny, intricate panels of miserable everymice a fortnight later. As his mainstream career has exploded in the wake of the collected major Jimmy Corrigan storyline, he has continued to serialise different works in Chicago and outlets such as the Grauniad and New York Times.

http://www.entrecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/acme-novelty-library-1-11.jpg

http://quimby.gnus.org/warehouse/anl3/anl3-1.gif

http://www.jlroberson.org/scansdaily/ware_tales_tomorrow2.jpg

http://40.media.tumblr.com/ba3a530813389ab9ce5337b23302f78a/tumblr_mjt9gpOuAs1rhjbado1_500.jpg

http://paul-server.hum.aau.dk/pics/comics/acme-novelty1.jpg

http://www.jlroberson.org/scansdaily/ware_rocket2.jpg

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/015.jpg

Always 'admired' Ware more than 'loved' him, but Rocket Sam and Big Tex both brought a lot of sad LOLs in college.

i love this thread. and i want me some cul de sac.

Here's the not-loading-properly strip from that bunch:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/acme-novelty-god_zps6ccplbia.jpg

http://static.rookiemag.com/2012/11/1354015601ACME-17-540x842.jpg

https://consequentialart.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ware11.jpg

http://www.jlroberson.org/scansdaily/WARE1.jpg

http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/text_messages/alice_meets_the_rich_girlsWB.jpg

http://www.jlroberson.org/scansdaily/ware_rusty1.jpg

http://blog.comicsgrid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/His-Face.jpg

http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/Ware/25_building_stories_springWB.jpg

I have such respect for his work, but I find it so profoundly depressing and bleak.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/09/12/books/cowles-big.jpg

http://www.comicdom.gr/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/quimbylarge01.jpg

http://www.fumettologica.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chris-Ware-ACME-20-adolesc%C3%AAncia.jpg

no idea what stevie's talking about obv

obviously an incredible stylist and always a joy to look at, but yeah he's kind of a chore to keep up with (both financially and emotionally)

you're out of your mind if you don't find the vast majority of ware's work depressing.

I find the humor (often cruel and perhaps unintentional) outweighs the depressing for me - but I think that's a case of just not being emotionally invested in his characters, who are often victims of their own stupidity, vanity, delusions, etc. and not really all that sympathetic.

like I don't really feel sorry for Jimmy Corrigan or Rusty Brown

16: DILBERT by Scott Adams (131 points, 7 votes)
The principals of America's Greatest Comics Publisher debate Dilbert.

A guy with, let's assume, some degree of social alienation observes office life, draws about it terribly but somewhat accurately and insightfully for 26 years, decides that he is an actual wizard with the ability to rule the country.

http://my.ilstu.edu/~shagberg/dilbert/001-dilbert960502-3323.gif

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/steverumsby/2007/01/20/dilbert20070112217720.gif

http://mworthington.co.uk/jalbum/Mark/Comedy/Dilbert/slides/Dilbert,%20Workload.jpg

Are you sure Scott Adams didn't have sock puppet accounts voting?

At the risk of comics rockism: Dilbert was best very early on, with the dinosaurs and the dog's world-domination plots, trips to Elbonia and Dilbert's bad dates (ripped from the pages of Garfield). The office stuff was always there IIRC but it was more like 60-70% of the strips early on. Even as it found its niche and the office observational gags took over, they were still quite funny for a while there I think.

i liked dilbert a lot in 6th grade bc i liked drawing dogbert.

BTW I wrote that blurb months ago before Adams' latest blogtroversy, but in case anyone missed the one I'm referring to: http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126916006856/wizard-wars

scott adams is what dave sim would be like if he were 18% less crazy, 500% more rich and american

oh and if he couldn't draw of course

Oh cool were back to the good comics.

Feel like drabble's gotta be a lock for the top 10 now.

15: FOXTROT by Bill Amend (137 points, 7 votes)
Classics on Universal.

The Fox family lives in a suburban setting. Several storylines in the strip have focused on summer vacation trips to various places. Early on, the Fox family spent summer vacation at "Uncle Ralph's Cabin". Later vacations by the Fox family have included trips to Hawaii, Washington D.C., the desert, various amusement parks (see Bury My Heart at Fun-Fun Mountain for an example), and campgrounds. In a series of strips though, references are made implying that they live in or near Chicago. However, Amend has denied this and claims that he has never given a particular location or name for where they live.

Early in the strip's run, FoxTrot often dealt with societal issues such as drug abuse.

http://vancouver-webpages.com/security/foxtrot.png

http://www.platypuscomix.net/otherpeople/foxtrot1.jpg

http://www.wutsamada.com/aol/lshauser/foxtrot.jpg

http://www.wutsamada.com/comix/binary.jpg

http://www.math.wustl.edu/~victor/classes/puzzles/ft1.gif

kill me now, but i found those dilberts funny

It's okay. You can find some Dilbert strips funny and still think Scott Adams is a creepy dick.

re: FoxTrot - HA, anyone think I'm joking about Drabble?

I supplied an idea for a Dilbert once. The punchline in the eventual strip was "I don't have the time to read my torso"

I have a sort of mild fondness for FoxTrot even if I would never want to sit down and read any quantity of it again. Was big into it circa age 10-12-ish; naturally, me and my nerd buddy related mainly to Jason. It is, as family sitcom strips go, harmless and cleanly-drawn, though Amend generally coasted on a few very limited expressions/eyebrow positions for his cast, much like Trudeau and Jim Davis. Par for the format, I guess, but with Calvin and Hobbes shooting off visual fireworks a few strips over, par for the format started looking a bit lazy.

Still, you know, I had the first five collections and read them repeatedly; was just thinking of one storyline the other day when my friend found a lost wallet. ("You know what this means, right?" "Eugene Blankenship is out eighty bucks?" "No - we have an ethical dilemma on our hands.") Not the worst thing, but I doubt its placement this high means any individual voter actually thinks it's better than most of the stuff below.

http://www.eden-study.org/personal/images/dilbert.gif

Shitty lettering.

Bagge/Ryan's "Dildobert" is the last word on scott adams imo

The best thing Dilbert ever spawned was this video which I have probably watched 100 times in my life.

I keep getting an error message when posting the next entry, looks like Fox Trot may have to stand as our most-beloved for all time

fitting end to thread imo

wwhy shrek is piss. why shrek is piss #italiano

Still, you know, I had the first five collections and read them repeatedly; was just thinking of one storyline the other day when my friend found a lost wallet. ("You know what this means, right?" "Eugene Blankenship is out eighty bucks?" "No - we have an ethical dilemma on our hands.")

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, December 1, 2015 2:51 PM (4 hours ago)

lol, this has totally happened to me before. i guess there's just something about the name "eugene blankenship" that sticks in the mind.

kept trying in two browsers, ILX doesn't want the truth to be out there

will any BBCode seize up at the moment?

okay, let's try line by line

14: SICK SICK SICK by Jules Feiffer (145 points, 6 votes)

looks like Amazon links are the problem?

Ten years into his cartooning career at 27, Feiffer started the first incarnation of his 40-year run in the Village Voice in 1956 and quietly became one of the most influential strip creators of the half-century. Not just for inspiring cartoonists to observe the actors in their world of young people, not just for setting a standard for alternative weekly strips to be syndicated and distinct, personal voices to earn a living, but influential on culture: exposing a culture revolution in New York to an older and wider audience; holding a mirror of mockery to the participants in that revolution; being clear-eyed and cynical about politics without having to strive for a joke or joke-like form; acknowledging neurosis and anxiety as major aspects of the modern condition, while not excluding their sufferers from pisstaking. Kurtzman's editorship of MAD ended just as Sick Sick Sick began, a few shelves higher on the newstands - one could see it as a timely passing of the baton of America's satirical conscience, approaching adult concerns directly instead of mediating through pop culture parody.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C6K4wQCgXDc/SOF9VR9mTCI/AAAAAAAADAs/GKQyKYB3A4o/s1600-h/sick01.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KcAspyo3W-Q/TaIg7s1J5OI/AAAAAAAAA0g/dij1J29aI7w/s1600/sss2-02.jpg
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/24/feif01.jpg

Expected the delay to be you changing your display name to Feifferk Feifferk Feifferk tbh.

if this one didn't load for some people:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/sick01_zpsovxcmx15.jpg