Comics & Cartoonists

It's true that a lot of mainstream comics suck. For instance, the horribly unfunny 'Family Circus.' But there are a lot of cool, original, and intelligent comics (both underground and mainstream) out there. This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow (pictured left) is probably the wordiest comic I've ever seen. Often very, very funny, leftist political and social satire (and featuring the talking penguin Sparky). There are numerous collections of This This Modern World cartoons, the latest being "When Penguins Attack." Another really cool comic dealing with socio/political satire, is Tom The Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling. He also has a book collection of his cartoons called "Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From My Golf Playing Cats." Mr. Bolling tells me that another book may be due out next fall.

The father of underground comics is Robert Crumb who's been making very surrealistic, acid-induced comics since the 60s. I also highly recommend the brilliant documentary film Crumb

I also enjoy the twisted, dark humour of Max Cannon and his comic strip Red Meat. The classic comic strip Life In Hell by Simpsons creator Matt Groening is another one of my favorites. Some other great comics include Peanuts by Charles Schultz, The Comics of Ted Rall, Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson, and Get Your War On by David Rees.

Links....
Tom The Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling
This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow
Red Meat by Max Cannon
The Comics of Ted Rall
Zippy The Pinhead by Bill Griffith
The K Chronicles by Keith Knight
Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson
Peanuts by Charles Schultz
Life In Hell by Matt Groening
Robert Crumb
Alan Moore
Story Minute by Carol Lay
Dark Hotel By Bob Callahan
Krazy Cat by George Herriman
Pogo by Walt Kelly
Doonesbury by G.B. Trudeau
The Cheapening of The Comics: A Speech by Bill Watterson
Get Your War On by David Rees

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