Panel Discussion - The ILX Comic Strip Poll Results

It was? I thought we argued it out of contention. Damn, I don't remember anything about this at all.

Oh well.

Hey - I just found the email I sent - I even voted for it! Giant hypocrite here.

didn't realize this was going on. when did it start? did i nominate calculus cat? i have some vague memory of that, like ages ago. PS i love calculus cat.

maybe i just wanted to nominate calculus cat for something

It started 11 months ago. I sorta forgot about the whole thing, and obviously misremembered arguments and my own damn ballot. I'm losing it.

this poll is tearing us apart

I'll remain outraged just in case.

Even though I just checked and the vote for Calculus Cat was mine.

http://m4.i.pbase.com/o6/25/257025/1/83856724.PU8p1BfH.emotcolbert.gif

lol at all of this btw

best rollout ever.

Carol Day by David Wright – 1 vote
On The Web

David Wright was a British illustrator who drew a series of "lovelies" that epitomized female glamour during World War II. He also created the "Carol Day" cartoon strip for the Daily Mail in 1956, creating a soap opera style of comic strip that paralleled similar work in the USA.

Cheech Wizard by Vaughn Bode – 1 vote
On The Web

Cheech Wizard is a comic book character created by artist Vaughn Bodé and appearing in various works, including the National Lampoon, from 1967 until Bodé's death in 1975. A mysterious character of unknown origins, The Wizard is constantly in search of a good party, cold beer, and attractive women. The Cheech Wizard is often drawn in graffiti murals and street art and has been repeatedly referenced in pop music. Though the character was, according to Bodé, created in 1957, Cheech didn't see print until 1967, when he appeared in various publications being produced by the counterculture developing around the Syracuse University campus (where Bodé was attending school). Cheech Wizard stories ran in the "Funny Pages" of National Lampoon magazine in almost every issue from 1971 to 1975.

Never come across Carol Day before, but I really like the look of it. A real Heart of Juliet Jones/Mary Perkins On Stage feel to it.

Conchy by James Childress – 1 vote
On The Web
Childress Interview from 1975

Conchy was a critically acclaimed but only modestly successful American comic strip that ran from 1970 to 1977. Set on a desert island with a group of beachcombers as the main characters, the strip addressed serious issues of its time. James Childress (who committed suicide in 1977, effectively ending the strip) created Conchy in the early 1960s as homage to his love of beachcombing. By 1974, Conchy was appearing in 26 papers, finally attracting a syndicate's interest, from Field Enterprises, who signed Childress up that year. His client list increased to over 150 papers.

Death to the Extremist by Michael Zole – 1 vote

Death to the Extremist is a minimalist webcomic series created by Michael Zole. Initially published in Hampshire College's magazine The Omen, it has been published regularly online since 2001. The final episode appeared on January 1, 2007. The strip follows the strange, often music-oriented adventures of two amorphous entities, named One and Two, each of whom is represented only by quarter circles. The comic is ultra-minimalist and features no artwork, only dialogue and graphics. Each comic consists of nine cells, often with one or more blank cells in which neither of the characters say anything. Each comic has its own background, and starting with season 4 there is an extra short sentence hidden in light text at the bottom of each image and in the RSS feed.

this is the thread that we deserve

eh, one vote

Thanks for doing this, Forks - that last Carol Day (one of my votes) is especially gorgeous.

The Bristow examples are maybe not so fine.

i'm unfamiliar with Bristow; don't think it has any american penetration for obvious reasons
i would welcome some better strip examples there? And in general for all these strips if anyone has a favorite or three they'd like to post.

Honestly, Bristow looks pretty dire to me... some kind of walter mitty meets dilbert mashup. i'd love to see something to disabuse me of that notion.

Well it is a very English kind of whimsy that may well not travel well, and a lot of its 'charm' or humour depends on spinning out endless variations on a relatively small number of themes and situations, so in some ways it is closest to a British sitcoms rather than other comic strips. Ronnie Barker would've made the perfect Bristow.

see i have no idea who that is!

Yeah, I'd say Bristow is very, very British with no real American analogue.

Which reminds me that I think I said I would do a UK IPC/DC Thompson poll in the other thread so maybe I should.

James Childress (who committed suicide in 1977, effectively ending the strip)

among other things

very effectively

not to snark, but why unweight the ballots?

No real way to that I saw. Half the ballots weren't ordered that way or were piecemeal or short lists.
This is nobody's definitive list; as with coint and plick I would rather have it as a reference source and for browsing

uh so even if we did weight our ballots they're not being counted like that?

Going based on number of votes only, with a few strips combined

Can't you weight the weighted ballots and make all the others one vote only?

Or maybe count all the unweighted ones as 10 pts each or something? Just trying to help; I'd like my weighted ballot to count as I intended, but I'm okay if it doesn't.

Carol Day looks goooorgeous, that justifies some of these horrible one-votees

Bristow ran in Australia too, as a kid I found it painful and tedious and a horrifying vision of daily life and read it every day

i'm afraid this is gonna have to run unweighted; I ran into the burning building once to get this thing going but I ain't up for twice.
if it's any consolation (to paraphrase lincoln), the world will little note nor long remember how we poll here.

Diesel Sweeties by Richard Stevens – 1 vote
On The Web

Diesel Sweeties is a webcomic and former newspaper comic strip that began in 2000, originally hosted at robotstories.com. From January 2007 until August 2008 it was syndicated to over 20 United States newspapers, including major daily newspapers like The Detroit News and Houston Chronicle. Stevens is a co-founder of the Dumbrella alliance of webcomic artists. Since 2002, Stevens has supported himself through online sales of merchandise related to his comics.

I didn't vote, but these excerpts of obscure comics are really fascinating

but not that one

Donald Duck by Al Talliaferro and Bob Karp – 1 vote
On The Web

Charles Alfred Taliaferro, known simply as Al Taliaferro, was a Disney comics artist who used to produce Disney comic strips for King Features Syndicate. Many of his strips were written by Bob Karp.
He is best known for his work on the Donald Duck comic strip, but he started his career lettering the Mickey Mouse strips (March 1931 – July 1932), and drew the Bucky Bug comics in 1932 as well as Silly Symphonies pages from 1932 to 1939. Taliaferro co-created a number of characters, including Huey, Dewey and Louie, Bolivar, Grandma Duck, and arguably Daisy Duck. He drew Donald Duck comic strips from 1938 until his death in 1969 in Glendale, California.

Dry Bones by Yaakov Kirschen – 1 vote
On The Web

Dry Bones is an Israeli political cartoon strip published in the English-language newspaper The Jerusalem Post since 1973. The name of the comic strip refers to the vision of the "Valley of Bones" in the Book of Ezekiel (37:1-14). Dry Bones has been reprinted and quoted by the New York Times, Time Magazine, LA Times, CBS, AP and Forbes. It offers a pictorial commentary on current events in Israel and the Jewish world. Kirschen says his cartoons are designed to make people laugh, which makes them drop their guard and see things the way he does. In an interview, he defined his objective as a cartoonist as an attempt to "seduce rather than to offend.”

Carol Day looks goooorgeous, that justifies some of these horrible one-votees

god yes. had never heard of carol day or david wright, but that's an incredible strip. nice archive of original art and sketches at the carol-day.com site linked above.

Edge City by Terry and Patty LaBan – 1 vote
On The Web

Meet the Ardins! They’re the stars of Edge City, a groundbreaking comic strip that follows a hip Jewish-American family juggling relationships, careers and tradition at the fast pace of modern life. Len owns a delivery service, and Abby is a psychologist. Fueled by caffeine and gasoline, they and their kids, Colin and Carly, power their way through self-employment, after-school activities, pursuing their dreams and lining up for carpool. Len and Abby take stress for granted—but not each other. Modern marriage isn’t easy, but the Ardins make it work, facing what life throws at them with intelligence, humor and an occasional hissy fit. It also helps to have friends and family, the latest self-help book, weekend rock-and-roll sessions and decent carryout. So, pack the kids off to school, grab a latte and try to beat rush hour on I-25—it’s life on the edge every day in Edge City!
(via comics kingdom, one of the syndicates of the strip on the web)

kudos to these troll ballots

definitely a lot of interesting variety here -- lots of these i've never heard of. i've read lots of the taliaferro donald duck strips, gladstone used to run them as filler in between barks and rosa stories. they're inoffensive and well drawn but i'd be interested to hear why someone thought they deserved to be ranked among the all-time best comic strips.

TBF the taliaferro strips are somewhat better than say, diesel sweeties by a factor of roughly infinity

Dude drew 31 years of duck strips!

why does everyone always have to hate on diesel sweeties

because it is terrible. between that & death to the extremist, someone's got some splaining to do.

i'm afraid this is gonna have to run unweighted; I ran into the burning building once to get this thing going but I ain't up for twice.

send me the ballots, I'll re-run the numbers

tell you what sic, let me get all the nominees up and then I'll mail you all the ballots and you can collate and post a final definitive tally in any fashion that works for you. Fair enough?

ilxmail me your email again plz?

I've read a bunch of Achewood now and yeah this is not for me you ppl are crazy

POLL DO OVER

the C&H plane/train/earthquake strip above it so expertly done

I lose it every time at "his eye twitches involuntarily"

yes. iirc the caption on that strip in the 10th anniversary book: "One of Calvin's better buildups."

My favorite bit in the Prehistory book:

http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/styles/insert_main_wide_image/public/02-far-side-dennis-the-menace.png

xp still i think my favorite cruel-god-calvin strip is this earlier, cruder one. the timing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/Inuxx/664f9ab0ded9013171bc005056a9545d_zps48z20fwu.jpg

boredom comes so swiftly.

hahaha i'll never get over the petrified skull mixup

That deer one sure hits a bit closer to home than it used to.

some kid in my cub scout "pack" made half of us enact that one as a skit. he worried you a little.

later he threatened to kill me over his sister (we were 9)

Wow, I just went through the whole thread after only doing sections at a time.

Top Of My To Do List:
~Gasoline Alley
~The Spirit

I used to collect Fox Trot when I was younger. And like lots of things, I got turned off and remain that way. I remember when Jason didn't like school in the first couple books.
Life In Hell is overrated.
Achewood is overrated.

ok, maybe I'm being a little hard on Groening

i had a lot of foxtrot books too. this was in the dark years after c&h ended. my best friend and i sat in a panda express and talked about it as a potential second coming. of course it wasn't.

In my memory, FoxTrot was already past its peak and well into routine by the time C&H ended. It only debuted a couple years after C&H, so I guess that's not so surprising. Or maybe I was just growing out of it. I like the 80s-ness of the early strips, with Peter obsessing over Bruce Springsteen and stuff.

oh yeah i was reading it in collections exclusively; i don't think it was in my paper.

a personal second coming i guess.

so apparently there's a new achewood and it's a good one! (there are 2 new ones actually, the other is a fuck you friday)

a brief rumination on recent Achewood:
http://fleen.com/archives/2016/08/26/in-which-i-go-on-about-achewood-for-a-while/

on the discussion about the degree to which Achewood was native to the web, and to not being stand alone random gags: Tyrell using hypertext there, far more than explicit wording, to reference and allude to the way the accretion of detail is linked through time, both for the reader and the characters' lives within the strip (cf the recent one with Beef divining Showbiz' approach by treating the local papers minor police reports as runes)

although, of course, his doubt over whether this death of Todd's will take any more firmly than any previous can give weight to those who want to dismiss any seriousness of character or tone

recent achewood has been scorchin, reminded me why i loved it in the first place

RIP New Zealand's David Sim.