May 25, 2005
Bleach Blondie
Hey hepcats! Want to scope something totally bodacious and groovy? Dig this comic!
Well, there's a third panel as well, but it's pretty unnecessary. Instead, let's just reflect upon the repeated use of the phrase "rap singer" in that strip from yesterday's newspapers. Rap singer? You mean, like, rapper? What teenager uses the phrase "rap singer"? And for that matter, what teenager wonders if his dad has a favorite "rap singer"?
Oh, I know: A teenager created by someone who writes comic strips for a living, and yet has no idea what teenagers are actually up to these days.
And the saddest part is, the comic writers know there's a problem! Consider this snippet from a Wall Street Journal article last month (which, because the WSJ's site is registration-only, I'm linking instead to a blog that cited it):
For cartoonists now at the helm of old comic strips -- many of whom are new, hired hands -- such contemporizing is more crucial than ever. Given changing tastes and declining space on newspaper comics pages, cartoonists are struggling to give characters 2005 sensibilities without offending nostalgic older fans. It's a tough task.
A tough task? Sure, if your writers aren't in touch with 2005 sensibilities. Because really now, will Beetle Bailey feel more modern because it introduced a techie character named Chip Gizmo? Will Blondie benifit if its characters are talking about rap without using realistic language?
I know I've prattled on about this before, but really now: The only way to modernize the comics pages is to simply dump all the old comics and get fresh ones. Like that one rap singer might say, Blondie and Beetle Bailey are bitches, and bitches ain't shit.
Posted by Jason Feifer at May 25, 2005 08:08 AM
Comments
I still remember when Chip Gizmo was introduced. That was hilarious. In Mort Walker's universe, the only people advanced enough to operate such fancy, 21st century doodads as cell phones and MP3 players have to be walking cyborgs whose entire personalities are structured around their operation of said gizmos. Hell, let's just name him Gizmo and get it over with.
I entirely agree with your argument here, of course. Would the world really cry out in protest if Blondie, Garfield, Wizard of Id, B.C., Hi and Lois, Beetle Bailey, Rex Morgan, Mary Worth, Haggar the Horrible and Cathy (okay, I admit that Cathy isn't so out of touch with the times, it is just sort of a personal pet peeve of mine) were suddenly removed from the funny pages? I'm sure you'd hear some initial complaints from old people who never actually read the comics but felt safer that relics from their childhood still roamed the earth, but those would drop off with time. I find it hard to believe that anyone is going to stop buying the local newspaper because they can't read the one about Beetle Bailey getting the shit kicked out of him by Sarge anymore.
Several years ago, Mary Worth had an amazing storyline that went something like this: a young, 20-something adult male moved into the neighborhood. He was a computer programmer or something along those lines, and he helped fix Mary Worth's computer or something. She hated him and immediately didn't trust him, for no other apparent reason than that he was young and technologically saavy. Her mistrust builds and builds, and I thought, hey this might actually be a good story: an old lady doesn't trust someone she sees as representative of modern day, but in the end she learns he is not so different than the youth of her generation.
The actual conclusion? It turned out he was a completely amoral, violent youth who would beat the shit out of people for no reason, and maybe he killed someone, I can't remember. In the end he gets arrested and snears at everyone as he is dragged away by police officers. Oh, I think it also turned out he was a hacker and made computer viruses or something.
This is the way people who write these comic strips view our generation. They're stupid, they're old, and they're completely irrelevant. It's time to reclaim the funny pages!
Posted by Steve at May 25, 2005 04:07 PM
I must say I agree. In Britain we have the same problem. Not only are our 'funny pages' totally outdated (Fred Bassett circa 1975?!) but also not funny.
Ok, so some traditions are important to the brits, brewing tea correctly, saying sorry when someone knocks into us, a (mostly warranted) xenophobia towards the french, etc.
Humour however, and in particular contemporary comedy, is very much part of our culture, and something I'm proud of!
So why do our newspapers insist on printing these rubbish old comic strips?
The only thing that readily springs to mind is that, although a vast majority of 'media types' are young and hip (Ha, Ha) the people who own our newspapers (and employ/control the editors) are 'fat old Austrailians' {sic} with as much regard and insight into contemporary british society as the bloody Queen! In fact maybe it's just her fault.. after all she did once say Ronald Reagan was a very amusing anecdotalist. I rest my case.
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