Online Comics

I know people who start their day with meditation or prayer. I know people who write in their journals or read inspirational books first thing in the morning. I too have my morning ritual. I read online comics. Now I admit that might not sound as life-enhancing or meaningful as what other people do, but considering the state of the world, I think it is important for me to see a lighter side of life before I am confronted by reality.

Before the rise of the internet and the subsequent fall of the newspaper, I was an avid news comic reading fan. There were times in my life that the only reason I subscribed to a newspaper was for the comics. I am probably not alone in this. Who needs to know about the events of the day when we can keep up to date with Beetle Bailey. (Okay, that was just to make you squirm - I was not a fan of Beetle Bailey as an adult. Not that I wouldn't check it out in the paper, but 365 days in a row of 'not funny' strips tend to put me off of a comic.)

My comic reading began as it does for most of us as a child looking at the Sunday funnies. My sister and I would divide the funny papers up because there was no way we would consider reading them together. That kind of close togetherness was something we avoided and when forced upon us often resulted in a fight. She and I had 'differences of opinion' - or more accurately she felt I had less refined tastes ("You're a moron for liking that!") while I felt she had less intelligent tastes (No, you're a moron because you don't get it!). Expressing this type of disagreement might result in our parents removing the sacred Sunday funnies from our grasp, so we came upon a solution we could live with. We would each take a section and then trade when we were done. Not that dividing up the funnies didn't also have its drama but we could usually resolve that without shouting.  

I had some favorites when I was a child such as Charlie Brown but I read every one of them except for the soap opera ones that my mother liked. One of the best for me was the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart. This was later dramatically enforced when I came across a paperback of his comic strips on the rotating book stand in the local TG&Y store. This was in 1969. I had not known that the comic strips I loved appeared in anything except the Sunday comics, but here it was, a whole bunch of them together in one book. I purchased that book and every other one I found after that. Strangely enough, this collection allowed me to observe the maturation of my brain. In each of the books, there would be one or two comics that I could not understand. This was due to the sometimes 'adult' nature of these comics, which for that day and age meant slightly sexual overtones masked with extreme subtlety. I developed a habit of reading and re-reading these paperbacks because, first of all, I loved them, and second, we only went to TG&Y infrequently and my allowance would only stretch so far. Thus as I amassed my collection and re-read each book, eventually the subtle nuances of some of the comics became clear to me. I can remember the distinct joy of finally 'getting' a strip that had eluded me for years. (I was careful to never share these revelations with my sister given how I was always telling her she 'didn't get it').

Thus I began a collection of comic strip paperbacks that included mostly B.C and Wizard of Id. Occasionally I would get other comics, but I became obsessed with collecting all of what Johnny Hart had made. This became easier when my family began visiting used book stores. The first B.C. book had been printed in 1959 which meant I had seven of these earlier editions to find. Cheap paperback books over ten years old are not the easiest thing to find. But with determination, eventually, I had his entire collection and added to it each year as he created more. Now, before you think I have amassed some valuable collection I must confess that many of the earlier editions I found were in much less than prime condition, and a couple without the front cover ( I detested the bookseller who decided that the way for him to distinguish a certain quality of books that he would not buy back was to rip off the front cover). I did my best to take care of my collection, but when you are starting with many poorly used versions you can only do so much. To this day my collection sits in plastic sleeves stored in a plastic bin - a bin which I packed with me both times we evacuated from two hurricanes (You can take my house nature - but you are not getting my B.C. collection!)

I guess it was that collection that led me on a quest that continues to this day. When I find a comic strip I like, I get their paperback collections. I don't just get one or two, I usually persist until I have them all. Sometimes my tastes change or perhaps it is that the comic strip creator's creation changes and I stop reading them and stop collecting the books, but there are a few that I have a decade or more of their collections.

Now, as I first mentioned, the rise of the internet and the decline of the newspaper has changed the way I view comics. I now have access to every comic strip created via various websites. What is more, I have found some comics whose sole existence is online. I have all of these bookmarked and I pull them up in a particular order of preference. The following are some of my morning comic feeds.

 Dilbert

- satirical office humor
Creator - Scott Adams

This comic starts off my morning and is the only one I allow to send me its strip via email. Every morning I get to view Dilbert's antics before any other news assaults my brain. Dilbert and I go way back into my days of working in a cubicle for Xerox corporation. I started my career with Xerox in 1985 and Scott Adams published his first strip in 1989. He was a genius in his portrayal of the office environment I was afflicted with. Although my career with Xerox only spanned six years I must have suffered some sort of office-based PTSD because to this day I can empathize with the situations portrayed in his strip. I have all of his comics in book form and even some non-comic strip books he has written. Dilbert's Website

Pros: Great, current, and sometimes hilarious office humor. Scott Adams wit continues to be sharp throughout his lengthy career.

Cons: If you have not worked in an office you may not appreciate or get some of his jokes. Occasionally he goes off on less funny tangents. If you are looking for incredible artwork, keep looking.

Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: Dilbert's funny average is about 7.5 out of 10 strips. Some weeks he is 10 for 10.

Get Fuzzy

- the adventure of Rob Wilco, Bucky Katt and Satchel Pooch
Creator: Darby Conley

I can still remember the first time I saw this comic strip. The character named Rob was sitting on the couch watching TV with the dog named Satchel. He says, "You know you can't turn me off with that." The next frame shows Bucky the cat holding the TV remote and shouting, "Then mute, mute, mute!" I knew upon seeing that I had found comic strip gold. This was back in 1999 and he published his first collection in 2001 which I quickly snatched up. It is interesting watching a comic strip from its inception because it changes slowly but surely through the years. Darby has always had the most incredibly intricate and realistic artwork which is fascinating in itself. The style of his characters has slowly developed through the years and although I love the look, I also loved the original look of the characters. He partners his artwork with some great jokes and visual humor. Sometimes this comic will have a long patch of less than laugh-out-loud strips or venture off into strange alternate characters. I figure this is the ultimate fate of any comic that has a long duration. The creator is bound to have times when he struggles to create with the same freshness of his original strips. He always bounces back though and delivers solidly great humor.
Get Fuzzy at GoComics.com

Pros: Excellent characters and artwork.  Consistently funny themes and stories that may last for weeks.
Cons: Occasional dry spells or awkward storylines.  
Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: Averages funny 7 out of 10 strips but when he is on, he is on and can rate an 11 out of ten with some of his humor.

One Big Happy

 

- humorous observations about a child and her family
Creator:  Rick Detorie

I ran across this comic in the newspaper and found his portrayal of Ruthie the little girl and her family to be a humorous portrayal of family life in an idealistic setting. The portrayal of Ruthie reminds me of the character Ramona from the Beverly Cleary books. I want there to be a family like Ruthie's with her calm and reasonable parents, next door Grandparents, and various other friends and family members. I liked it so well I bought a collection. As is my style I then proceeded to purchase another of Rick Detorie's collections, but I always had trouble finding his work in the stores. I eventually purchased every collection that had been made and noticed there had been some time between the last one and the current date. In a very unlike-me moment I left an email for the author letting him know how much I liked his work and how I was looking forward to his next published collection. Surprisingly Rick answered me back himself and thanked me for my kind words but told me that there would not be any more collections. His publisher did not think there was a market for them. I think his publisher is nuts because this comic strip is well-drawn, humorous, and empathetic to families. At least I can see the daily strips, but I long for a collection.
One Big Happy at Creators.com

Pros: Great portrayal of family life and life through the eyes of a spirited little girl.
Cons: The only one I can think of is that there are not more published collections
Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: Averages funny 6 to 7 out of 10 strips.

XKCD

- science and computer geek based humor
Creator:  Randall Munroe

I ran across this online comic when it was mentioned in the comments section of a news feed I read. I was captivated by its scientific wit. This strip is published on Mon., Wed., and Fri so when I am on a day where there is no new content I click on random and see one of the many strips created before I began visiting the site. I have to admit that sometimes I don't get this comic because I don't have enough math, physics, or scientific background. Sometimes I will have to Google something in the comic to 'get it'. I think it took me about two weeks before I noticed there was an extra punchline when you scrolled over the comic.
XKCD website

Pros: Genuinely thought-provoking and humorous with a scientific/math/physics leaning.
Cons: If you don't like scientific/math/physics topics you will probably not 'get' this comic.
Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: A surprising 8 out of 10 funny strips.  Sometimes the strips are not supposed to be 'funny' but rather thought-provoking.  There have been very few times when I thought this strip was not interesting.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

- a geek comic, with a broad range of topics, such as love, relationships, economics, politics, religion, science, and philosophy.
Creator: Zach Weiner

Another online comic I found in my quest for internet comic enlightenment. This one has some great science and philosophy-based content. It is definitely an adult comic - not that it has any overtly naked or sexually explicit stuff, but it does have sexual themes from time to time. It also will go after practically any topic with ruthless abandon which probably could be offensive if you held strong views on the topic at hand. In a lot of ways this comic reminds me of XKCD only, it has color and doesn't have as much 'math' and its themes tend to pack a little more 'punch'. SMBC website

Pros: Thought-provoking and funny.

Cons: Thought-provoking and sometimes makes me cringe.  
Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: About 7 funny per 10 strips.

Home Office (formerly Stay at Home Dad)

- the antics of a home office father and his family
Creator: Michael Wright


This is a relatively new comic for me that I found when I was looking for all my other comics from the newspapers.  I found an online comic collection site and this one was recommended because of another comic strip I liked.  This strip has a lot going for it.  The artwork is eye-catching and stands out.  The strips though simply drawn convey a lot.  I have been enjoying the humor since I too have a home office, although I am not a consultant like the main character Bob.  This strip marks the second time I have contacted a strip creator.  This happened because I noticed that the strip was not being published with consistent frequency.  The strip also had a huge caution sign above it stating something like "read at your own risk" because the online comic collection providers did not read the strip so they were not sanitizing it for our safety.  So I did something that was once again out of character for me.  I sent an email to the author expressing my enjoyment of his work and hoping there was not some calamity befalling him that was keeping him from providing me with daily doses of humor.  I was surprised to receive a personal email from Michael Wright who said there had been no calamity, just another project he was working on.  That is when I found out he had written a few children's books.  Being who I am I ordered those and let me tell you - superb artwork, cute story lines, and great rhymes.  You can find his 'Jake' series of children's books here: http://michaelwrightland.com/  ( He really needs better marketing because believe me - if you were to try and find his work by yourself without my help - you might give up trying)

Home Office at Creators.com

Pros: Funny situations and great drawing.

Cons: Intermittent new stuff. 

Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: Funny 6 - 7 out of 10 strips.

 Pearls Before Swine

- chronicle of the daily lives of anthropomorphic animals
Creator: Stephan Pastis


I was late to the party in reading this comic.  Interestingly the first few times I tried to read it I found it off-putting and I didn't 'get it'.  This may well have been because the storyline of the strip can sometimes be hard to follow if you don't catch it at the first installment.  The characters are charmingly rude to one another, especially Rat to Pig.  The fact that Stephan used to be a lawyer might have something to do with the brusque behavior of the characters but probably is more due to Mr. Pastis' bend toward the dark side of humor.  I have begun acquiring his comics and discovered something wonderful.  His comic collection treasuries, which are two of the comic collections put together, have author notes which are not found in the single collections.  In his notes, Stephan gives insight into what went into creating the strip and sometimes how he had to self censor the strip for it to be published.  I wish all comic strip creators would do this with their treasuries.  If they did I would probably get them despite already owning the single collections - because that is just how weird and obsessed of a comic fan I am. Pearls Before Swine at GoComics.com

Pros: Funny, dark, humor
Cons: Not going to win awards for artistic skills.

Funny versus Unfunny strip ratio: A solid funny 8 out of 10 strips.

Well, that is probably enough for now.   This is just a partial list of the comics I find most interesting.  It is nice to start my day with them.

Sibling Rivalry

Anyone who is a sibling has probably experienced this to some degree.  Your brother/sister is in competition with you to get all the good things that your parents and life has to offer.  This can lead to stressful encounters and in some cases I have read about in the news, lawsuits and worse yet, homicide.  Luckily for my sister and I it never devolved into anything more than a few physical scuffles, name calling and tears.  The physical scuffles were confined to our very early childhood (meaning that she being almost three years older than me and therefore much bigger did not hesitate to use her physical advantage in conflicts before she reached the 'age of reason' - also known as comprehending that 'parents will punish you if you slug your sister') and we weren't allowed to use course language, so the name calling was typically made up words that sounded bad (she once called me a 'sclurge' which did not infuriate me as much as the fact that she would not tell me what that word meant).  Eventually we learned to ignore one another in spectacularly spiteful ways (sticks and stones are nothing compared to the pain of a sister's cold shoulder).  Finally we grew up and no longer needed the sibling rivalry, but it served it purpose to harden us appropriately to the travails of the common workplace.

I had forgotten about sibling rivalry for the most part until recently in having to watch it develop in my own little fur children.  I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone to learn that my dogs are jealous of one another.  It is not just a same species thing either.  My dogs and my cats are jealous of one another and seek to one up each other all the time.  One of my cats, the smallest of the bunch, will saunter into the house when we open the front door and proceed to nonchalantly wander over to the closest dog and rub up against them, all the while looking up at me and purring.  The dogs are quite taken aback, but also powerless to do what they really want to do which is nip that cat and make her run.  She knows they will be chastised if they are even slightly rough with her.  She also knows that if I was not present she would not be able to get away with this kind of behavior, so she really pours it on thick - headbutting and purring and pushing into them until they give ground to her.  She is willing to chase them all over the house like this, but I recognize it for what it is and keep her from bullying them too much.

The biggest sibling interaction problem I have is with the dogs.  It seemed to begin from the moment we brought little Trudy our Border Collie home.  Lewey, the Westie was convinced that we had actually brought in some sort of vermin and he was going to do us a favor and dispatch it post-haste.  It took several days of him biting the puppy barrier and being told NO! before he realized he was not going to be allowed to kill and eat the puppy.

Our cat Dorie, Trudy at 7 weeks and Lewey, who still thinks puppy should be on the menu.

He eventually realized how great it was to have a puppy to play with and for a little while things were quite nice in Lewey land.

He didn't mind so much when she grabbed him by the face because after all, she was very small.

He even let her sometimes pin him down and it was all great fun because after all, if he really wanted to...

He could show her who was boss.

King Lewey as a happy Alpha-male, top dog of the world

Then the sky fell, or more accurately, growth hormone began to surge through little Trudy and she did not remain the little thing she was.  She became She-Ra - Princess of Power practically overnight.  At first, King Lewey was merely annoyed.  He couldn't actually figure out what the problem was and how he had gone from being bigger than Trudy to being smaller than her.  The only way to resolve this was to challenge her.

You can almost hear the western gunfight background music...

The only problem was that Trudy was sneaky.

She refused to fight fair and become small again.  She even went as far as to flaunt her size...

and bite his neck...

... and even put her paws on him and stood over the top of him.


This all made Trudy very happy.

Princess Trudy contemplating how to annoy Lewey further

It also made Lewey something other than happy...

Well, at least he is in the shade...

We keep telling Lewey that eventually Trudy will grow up and stop being such a bully.  Believe me we do our best to keep the peace between the two of them, but sometimes Lewey decides to take matters into his own paws.

This is all very humorous until one of us humans gets caught in the crossfire.  I have been nipped by Lewey as he was trying to repay Trudy for bowling him over in the back yard and knocking him into the fig tree.  I had witnessed the encounter and had Lewey beneath my feet to defend him as Trudy was making whirling passes around the yard completely oblivious to my commands.  As she came near I reached out to push her away at exactly the same time Lewey leaped forward to exact his revenge.  He caught me with his little middle teeth so hard it left a quarter size bruise on my forearm - mind you he did this through my long sleeve shirt (he was very, very sorry afterward and looked completely embarrassed).

Just last night I was doing my best to dry the dynamic duo off after they had been out in a very welcome and unusual rain storm.  I had them blocked into the washroom and had dried them both fairly well but I wanted to check and make sure their feet were clean.  My intention was to finish with Lewey first and then let him go into the house while I worked on Trudy.  She decided as I bent down to finish little Lewey's legs that she was through waiting.  She proceeded to leap over both of us, but failed to calculate that I was in motion toward the floor.  Her shoulder caught me in the side of the jaw and I saw stars.  Luckily my jaw was merely bruised instead of broken (she was not sorry in the slightest for bumping into me and in fact wondered why I was yelling).

So yes we all have our work cut out for us.  Lewey has to somehow re-establish his kingship.  Trudy must learn to be a calm and considerate princess.  I must learn to stop getting in the way of dogs in motion.

Product Reviews

I was asked to write a review on some vitamins that I purchased and instead of ignoring the request I actually went online and wrote my reviews.  It turned out to be much more fun than I initially anticipated when I realized that 1. I have opinions, 2. Someone at some point was going to read the review and they might appreciate something slightly out of the ordinary, and 3. Humor is not forbidden in the review -in fact, I could put practically anything I wanted in the review as long as I kept it 'clean'.

So, after getting my feet wet with the vitamin reviews I have decided to review other things.  Not mind you that anyone has asked me to review these things, but hey, this information needs to be shared.  How else will you find out about:

The Atlanta Georgia Airport

I would have to give this airport three and a half out of five stars.  Now mind you I truly appreciate the fact that the airplane did not crash, but let's face it.  That was primarily due to the talent of the pilot, although I do concede the whole runway necessary for landing issue.  Actually it is possible my pilot could have landed us in a field for all I know.  He sounded quite competent as he addressed us with his southern drawl periodically throughout the flight.  The flight being totally uneventful in the way of emergency landings means we will never know his capacity in this regard and quite frankly I am happy to keep it that way.

The reason the Atlanta Georgia Airport does not get five stars is because they failed to tell us that we needed to get on the shuttle in order to avoid walking the approximate 1.4 miles to get to baggage claim.  Others might point out the availability of the shuttle as we first exited the plane and the eagerness of our fellow passengers to embark on the shuttle journey, but there was no actual sign saying "Hey, if you don't get on the shuttle you are going to be walking a long, long, long way".  Nope nothing like that.  There were many opportunities for such a sign to exist as well as we hiked from terminal E to D (bypassing another shuttle entry point) on to C, B and A, each with their own shuttle access.  No we didn't get on the shuttle until it seemed we could not walk any further and then we got on the shuttle and it ran for about 10 seconds before depositing us at the end of the line for Baggage Claim approximately 20 feet from where we entered it.  So that dropped this review by a whole point.

The other half point dropped away when we actually entered the long sought Baggage Claim and there were more than a dozen carousels, each with a vast display of flights associated with them, but all of them positioned in a way that you had trouble reading them from a distance.  I am sure the big sign board with all the flights listed should have helped us figure which carousel was ours, but this airport did not list our flight the way our tickets had listed it.  This meant we had to walk down to a helpful person who patiently showed us how the airport worked.  He gets five stars because I am sure helping exhausted people who cannot read a huge sign board might become old after the ninetieth time you have done it, but he seemed genuinely supportive of our quest to retrieve our luggage.

So overall, a good score but slightly less than perfect.  I am sure based on this review they will get right on these issues.


Computer Tablets

Okay, this might be a preemptive review since I have not actually purchased one yet, but I think a review is valid on the actual quest I am going through.  So far I would have to give it a three out of five stars since I have been searching all day and still have more questions than answers.  I will post this review format in the way I have been reading formats all day:

Pros
- I am not oblivious to the fact that this is potentially a product that I want and need and I am grateful they have created such a product.
- They look shiny and new and have all sorts of features.
- Some of them don't cost too terribly much.
- They weigh less than a desktop computer and even less than my old laptop.
- I saw someone on the airplane playing solitaire on one and that is something I would totally do if I were on an airplane.
- I saw someone on the airplane reading a book on one and that is something I would totally do if I were on an airplane.

Cons
- There are way, way, way too many different types, configurations, operating systems, dodads and things to make this an easy comparison shopping experience.
- They have many features, but they are not as functional as a laptop.
- The ones that have all the best stuff cost more than I want to spend.
- They may not weigh very much but I bet they will break if I drop them.
- The major application I would use them for would be getting on the internet which would cost an additional fee.
- I would probably only be using this thing when on trips, and based on the cost of the initial tablet and internet fees I would be paying quite a bit to have a portable solitaire playing, ebook reading and email checking device. 

Of the cons, the one that is the hardest to get around is the enormous amount of variation of devices.  I am definitely not an early adopter and this means that I often avoid getting the initial lemons, but I am left with a task of  figuring out the good from the bad in a very large pool of available products.  What this means for me is that I have to research and take notes and research and take more notes and then make a decision before all my research and note taking becomes obsolete.

Another con is that although I want this device so I can be less weighed down on my various airport hikes and I can check my emails and look at websites whenever I want, neither of these are actually necessities.  I did just fine this last trip without my laptop.  The hotel had a media center where for a small fee I could get online.  I had an actual paper book I could read on the plane.  Mind you I was not able to play solitaire the entire time I was gone, but that was mostly because I didn't think to bring a pack of cards with me.

So, one star lost for being such a pain to figure out and one star lost because I can't actually say I need this thing more than I want this thing.

To be continued...