Laugh Tracks

GoComics Staff Pick: Ollie & Quentin by Piers Baker

2013-05-22T10:03:42-05:00

Ollie and Quentin by Piers Baker | gocomics.com/ollie-and-quentin

This week's pick comes from our Creative Director, Joel Friday: There's something about duos. Cheese puffs and applesauce (yeah, I used to eat that as a kid), Hall and Oates, Calvin and Hobbes. The spark between them and the energy they can create, whether it be for flavor, angelic melodies, or even comedy can be golden. Enter Ollie and Quentin. After launching on GoComics last year they quickly became my favorite seagull-lugworm duo in a comic. Their adventures are consistently entertaining and the art is fantastic. I encourage you to add it to your daily comics reading list if you're looking for something funny. Otherwise, don't do it! Only if you want funny!

Add Ollie and Quentin to your My Comics Page

Sincerely Yours

2013-05-22T00:00:00-05:00

Things haven't gone very well for sincerity on the comics page for the last few decades. Reasons for this range from the changing tastes of audiences and creators, the difficulty of selling a gag without a measure of sarcasm, etc, but I'd imagine it also has a little to do with how few current examples occupy today's comic page, making such attempts seem antiquated. There's real risk in the approach that Nancy takes every day, since absent the comforting distance afforded by ironic detachment, the strip has to stand on its inherent strength to resonate.

I think that comics need to have a level of dignity to them in order to function at all. If Nancy had fumbled into a more cynical mode to suit modern appetites, it would no longer be Nancy, it'd be hollow and mean, because the world in which it exists wasn't constructed for such purposes. Basically, Nancy, and the good folks around her are nice, and it's a credit to the integrity of the strip's architecture that they have stayed nice for so long.

In Nancy, the standard conflict you'll see will fall along the lines of "Nancy hopes to enjoy cake before dinner, even though she's not supposed to" and the resolution will either be that Nancy gets some cake and suffers a gentle, comic consequence, or Nancy doesn't get any cake and has to settle for having some cake at some later date. No matter what, she either learns or affirms a lesson, so there's no real "victim." See? Nice!

The enormous upside to taking a sincere, direct approach in a daily comic strip is that things in Nancy are able to achieve a level of delightful weirdness, in both contrast to surrounding comics and as an extension of its own tendencies, which simply can't exist in an environment where every character is built around a nougaty core of snark. I've taken the liberty of magnifying the weirdness by separating the following panels from their context, unmooring them from their less-weird setups. The more cynical among you might think that the preceding paragraphs serve only to justify my posting all the crazy stuff below. I truly pity you.

Props to Guy Gilchrist for keeping the spirit of Nancy alive and well. Things aren't always so weird, but it happens often enough to warrant checking out the strip regularly. But you don't have to take my word for it-- click here to see what you've been missing.

(Prove me wrong, readers. Prove me wrong.)

Growing Up

2013-05-21T15:12:05-05:00

I am officially a college graduate, so I guess this means I am officially an adult too. This is a happy time. However, I find myself wanting to curl up and cry for my mommy more than ever right now, because I hate change. With this recent life transition, I find myself mourning the loss of my youth. I know I’m making a few readers groan, but I’m afraid I let some simple childhood pleasures pass me by while I was trying to pass my classes.

For example, the other night I found myself wondering if I am now too old to put glow in the dark stars on my ceiling. Sometimes I worry I’ll never be able to go on a middle of the week napping binge again, which is one of my absolute favorite pastimes.

The thing I have struggled with the most is the goodbyes. Watching my friends leave has been the worst, because when you’re in college these people are your family. I’ve found solace in Peanuts knowing they recently went through the same thing:

Charlie Brown Knows How I Feel:

~The Intern

The weekend update: GoComics style

2013-05-20T11:31:57-05:00

C'mon Captain. Et tu? Pirating was so 2008. (read more Break of Day here)

— Gene

Oh, Horace, I feel your pain. Which is why I'm a big advocate for cereal (read more Dark Side of the Horse here)

— Elizabeth

Ripley's Believe it or Not is such a consistently fascinating feature that it's easy to take for granted. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a nice article about the rags-to-riches tale of the real-life Mr. Ripley, who is the subject of a new book by Neal Thompson. "The awkward misfit-loner became the champion of the freakishness of others," Thompson writes. "He made it mainstream to be weird, teaching fans to gape with awe at America's chutzpah." Read more full-color Ripley's strips every day here at GoComics.

— Lucas

Still a more civil, productive exchange than congress can manage, am I right folks?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

— Dave

NEW! Comics Sherpa Pick of the Week

2013-05-15T17:54:49-05:00

Over the past few years, we've learned a lot about our readers through our social media engagement and surveys.

One, you're pretty awesome -- this is a quantifiable statement for the research analysts reading this blog post.

Two, our readers like to discover what's new and exciting. This is represented by some of our Pacific Rim readers using GoComics to learn the nuances of American humor and also by the reactions to our new comics when they roll out.

We want to introduce you to our Comics Sherpa area, the section of GoComics where our up-and-coming artists develop a following and hone their skills in a safe, nurturing environment before the little comic birds are pushed out of the nest. We're happy to be your guide to what's new and what's next. Hence, our little sherpa guy.

Some of you already know about Sherpa? Good. Many don't, and that's a sad thing -- to deprive a reader of humor. So, each week, we're going to post a "Comics Sherpa Pick of the Week" highlighting a comic and its creator. There are more than 60 comics waiting to be discovered and taken to a new home.

First up is one of my favorite comics on the "Comics Sherpa" platform: "Adult Children," by Stephen Beals. The artwork is crisp, the story lines are quick and they make me smile. Beals' work highlights the little nuances in the dating world, but also is a story of a guy, a girl and their overly ambitious and lovable dog.

Click here to flip through the "Adult Children" catalog of comic strips. Hope you like it.

- Gene

Born under a worse sign

2013-05-15T00:00:00-05:00

When a new Born Loser Sunday strip shows up at Comics Tower, it arrives in three separate, vertical, scanner-friendly columns. Part of my job involves reassembling the full strip out of its component parts before handing it off for editing.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that if one were to only look at the middle column of panels in an average Born Loser Sunday comic, it becomes a very different strip, no longer a lighthearted portrait of our put-upon hero's gentle misadventures, but a sobering look at a life brimming with pathos and disappointment.

For instance? For instance:

See? In context, ol' Brutus makes the same mistakes we all do, and things really aren't that bad. Looking only at the middle three panels, however, Brutus' life seems so tormented that it has contracted to only two modes: sleep and suffering.

Here are a few other examples:

From May 18, 2008:

From Aug. 8, 2009:

From Oct. 23, 2011:

From Feb. 24, 2013:

I'd like to reiterate, this isn't the intended way to enjoy Born Loser; If anything, it's the wrongest possible way to enjoy Born Loser. Most days, things work out just fine for Brutus, after a fashion. But you don't have to take my word for it-- go show him some love over at his comics page.

"Hey Mom! Your Lil' GoComics Made It Big!"

2013-05-14T17:45:58-05:00

It's a must that you download the new GoComics mobile/tablet app. It's not just us saying it. It's Entertainment Weekly, the premiere pop culture magazine, shouting it out!

On newsstands today, the new GoComics mobile/tablet app was included in EW's "The Must List", denoting the top 10 things in the entertainment world that you must take note of this week. At a time of television series and season premieres, blockbuster movie releases and great music launches, your favorite comics provider was noted as one of the most wonderful things in the world.

See for yourself:

Entertainment Weekly™ magazine, Week of May 17, 2013 (#1259)

Entertainment Weekly's "The Must List" mobile app:

Choose your platform and download our mobile app!

- Gene

Big Nate walks the Boards

2013-05-14T11:35:21-05:00

People who really know me, know that I love three things:

1) The poetry of John Stamos
2) Fried foods
3) Musical theatre!

So when I heard that Big Nate was going to be made into a Broadway-style show with lots of dancing, I knew a phone call had to be made IMMEDIATELY!

And then after hanging up with Pizza Hut, I thought, "maybe I should audition?" After all, I'd been doing my one-man modern dance performance at regional civic centers for many years. Now might be a good time to actually be welcomed and/or appreciated and/or compensated for my art.

to be continued ...

-JG

The Weekend Update - GoComics Style

2013-05-13T13:58:15-05:00

The REAL Walking Dead! I love Brevity!

- Lindsay

I dog-sat for my parents this weekend, and part of my instructions included having Jerry choose (pre-cooked) steak or hamburger to have with breakfast. He went with the hamburger every time.

- Elizabeth

Hopefully, they can find some measure of fun between the end of dragonfly mating season and the annual return of lightning bugs. Otherwise, it's gonna be a long summer.

- Dave

Love the artwork in this Over The Hedge. To borrow a phrase from GoComics commenter Odd Dog, "Hammy surfs the light fantastic."

- Lucas

First, I wish Americans would adopt the term "mum". Second, she has a valid point.

- Gene

KC Star Comics Extra

2013-05-13T09:55:31-05:00

There are many great things about living in Kansas City: no traffic (comparatively), Google Fiber, nice people, lots of fountains to bathe my feet, baseball tickets quite easy to obtain, the best BLT sandwich of all time, etc.

But one thing that doesn't get enough publicity is The Kansas City Star's Comics Extra. Basically, on Sundays you get a comics and puzzle section that adds about 300% to what's offered in the regular newspaper. WTH! Have I died and gone to Vadalia?

And yes, it does cost 75 cents more a week, but can you really put a price on all this entertainment?

I mean, arent't you about to pay $12 to see Buzz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby"? I think we'd all admit that no one is going to be entertained by that film. So call your local editor and demand them to give you more comics! Certainly you'd be willing to pay the cost of a can of soda pop a week for such high laughter quotients.

-JG