1980 August NFHC,
The Not-so-funny Papers by Albert A.
Comic
we
grab readership."
No one
for granted.
as
we
start the day
on their readers'
attitudes,but the daily lowkey expo-
or
new
probably has
a lon-
grange impact. While there was
some
sure to
relax before dinner.
come
But the "funny papers" have
has seriously studied the
effect of the strips
they are in the paper to
chuckle
a
them
take
We assume give us
Ph.D.
have been with us so
strips
long that
Bell, Jr.,
ideas
negative reaction when a black child
a long way since 1890s, when they were introduced as a circulationbooster by William Randolph Hearst.
"contained nothing but grotesque or burlesque humour . . that depended
first appeared in "Peanuts," it soon became natural to see him as one of Charlie Brown's playmates. "Doonesbury's" Joanie Caucus — who left her family, went to law school and is now living with reporter Rick
mainly on delight in others' misfortunes."
pers" a radically new image of
For the
50 years of their exis-
first
tence, one scholar has noted, the strips
.
t
But
Redfem — has given the "funny pa-
women.
"Pogo" and "Peanuts," which
Virtually all areas of modern
appeared in the late 1940s and early '50s, introduceda new type of comic strip which, as the character in
covered by the comics. There strip
"Pogo"
once said, "ain't necessarily funny." Today there are hundreds of humorous strips running in various papers across the country, and , v our attention the need
-
z?
"de0^^!
thTLTrTuZrTore?TOtfrom light in others' misfonunes" but the reader'srecognition that the ate
from
glimpse of what
it
can
bu^y
be.by
for
constantly try
to be
^
ou sZ
When
n>t
Go away and
play!
I
have
on
a m.ll,
"T'
to
I ago
I
decided
whmhisZfans Zl
at the gracious
the
them
?
right
orimZ
h™
IS,
u
?
V
'
Howard
Post said his strin
w„h an
reflects
, “
^ Z
*c
6
,
m80"bu5mg. Tomorrow
s
a
the
15 the
educat10" for
r
"And
, " T™
d
T
f°r0mi
artists
a
6
zoning
P1TA)dlSCUSSm8
^ ^
Cathy Guisewite introduced "Cathy,' i, mtroaucecl L'athy'
Si8h',8“PS aP,,d ^0"sS'0'n wZch portrayT
'
makes
possi-
. . '
Z'
f™*
meaningful point tot
o(
“ -As
woman's
WlybfT
viewpoint.
we enter a new decade
^T'
^
that offers
COmkS
Z
whom 1 have (rated with governmentinefficiency? I con- Perhaps we could make an impression a humorist. on Washington if we all sent our con-
wdth
about wrong with government today?" my mind, some se- Harry replies: "Easy. None of the
SinCe 1 Write the StriPs
that are on
?P'CS
^
T'*
help bm preacher or
Zl
meet- don
t
claim to be
a
reformer. As a matter of fact,
And
in'
1 dam
great I don't
a
T
fools can think ri8ht- The mmd is aknife. Ifyou useitright, youcancut directly to the center of
any problem,
d°
Pe0P‘e Wh? bU' 'heSe dan8 Pe°Ple "0WadayS "ot above sIlPPin8 in a little in circles. They go 'round and 'round
time-"
from time to people seem to be
soft sel1
P-=choolers."
"ZZlrZ
life as
* "Z' (r°m day' 1 can't heIP no,ice "Broom-Hilda"strip in which few things going on m this world. Gaylord asks Harry S. Troll: "What's
^ eCol°8y Bu/ 1 T
A
fatS
,
°0kS
dZZT d Z H ^ Th "The M'a^ ^7
the current and temporal is-
true to
it as
The most interestingnew development is the entry of women. In 1976,
sider myself primarily But being of sufficient intelligenceto gressman and our President copies of a
Z" °'
s the
'Tnan'Zon^rn S“
even a
about a divorced couple
responded when he said,
bre?ZWn' thm8s
th“r caIendat: Tonight
are humorists, bu, they are ah con ' tuZ0n cerned about the human predicament
DropZs"
'Zr56'': °f
!b that
comic stop
d<^and nM °ne °f “
Z'd
^ “
same point- They
‘0
me'
theZrips^
reponses
^ They Zstress
go
to
the
sources the creators of themselves
T . u
ma
S^S
became interested in
I
several years
^
.
These strips have been analyzed theologianssocioloidsts phihLohets Dltto m0Jes away- say'n8, I and ' <’Moso^s »red of this. She always has
artists P
make
to
HeT11
one another's feei-
AelaZl'1"1' When
, 8
are
("Splitsville"). Grand Rapids Press sketch by Bob Kubiak
h^Z “Zb 8 Tu Itv 7' '°r humor ZS Cinbu T ^ ^ZsZ'^^Za
wT
strips
vafoi.en ptZndob-
making
watch
is
life
buying.
and get nowhere. If they would think straight,they could solve anything!
^
zrz;z?s,hTwz
remain always the domain of human- One of the most thought-provoking than those that serialize wit'hZap- much ZZthan'justThe kind: technology,survival, religion, strips is "Broom-Hilda," whose three opera sighs or offer one-shot gags, pers. interpersonal and societal relationmain characters represent different ships, etc."'
facets of
human
personality.
would be impossible to discuss all Once, when asked, "If you had one the strips running today, so let's look wish, what would it be?" they remore closely at two: "Hi and Lois" vealed their basic outlooks on life. and "Broom-Hilda." Gaylord, the vegetarian buzzard, "Hi and Lois" is a strip about a famwanted ji wamcu"to iu gain as much mucn knowledge Knowieai as It
,
..and,can be appreciated by
ily
it mem-
all
possible untiI
, h
somed
1
bers of a reader s family. Mort Walker understand the meani of lifJ, and Dlk Browne, its creators,call Irwin, the gent|e would „like
to
asof the 197S.
Alan A. Bell, fr.
“ S-vea
is
classics and
history,
having joined Hope facultym He is a graduate of Carson-NewmanCollege and holds the M.A. from Duke Universityand the Ph.D. from the University of
*i|
||
l™1 11114
flower to everyone in the a beer-
world. But Broom-Hilda,
sistant professor
*
guzzling, cigar-puffing witch, wanted to "kidnap Paul Newman, rent this
.
r,
.
'
cheap hotel room, and ... The strip sometimes puzzles
Join the 3rd Annual Run
Crowd •
Bike
•
Swim
readers. Gaylord recently read a letter
i
from a reader who complained:"I find the Broom-Hilda strip weird, bizarre, distu rhino and \ro
Saturday, October
25
For information write: Glenn Van Wieren,
"Znypa-0
o 3