I've been impressed by the quality of Get Fuzzy for a while now, but in recent weeks, it seems that it has really hit its stride. For those of you unfamiliar with the strip by Darby Conley, the setup is something that could have gotten boring very fast. I mean, a comic about a dog and a cat and their master is sort of old now and it doesn't get very good mojo from Garfield. In fact, most comics get bad mojo from Garfield.
And yet, Darby Conley found a niche that is infinitely interesting. He made his characters very expressive, and the world they occupy is also quite detailed, and it is that very attention to detail that I most admire. There was a few weeks back in late 2005-early 2006 where he had an arm injury and the art style of the strip was greatly simplified, so it became very easy to see just how much work goes into each panel of the comic daily.
Over the past few months, there has also been an influx of new characters, each with a distinctive personality that allows the three main characters to play off them. Whether it is the Brit cat Mac Manc McManx, Shakespug, Foodar or any of the other strange characters that now inhabit that little apartment building on Boston's Longwood Avenue, they all bring something new to the experience and it is a joy to read.
I look forward to reading the comics every day now, and in a comic strip world without Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side, well, that is saying something.
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12 comments:
I love Get Fuzzy! They have always made me laugh. But my favorite panels would have to be the ones about Satchel's "Midnight freakouts." That strip cracked me up HARD, because that is so Everycat to me. Every single cat I've ever owned? Mastah of the Midnight Freakout. And the way he depicted it was awesome. There goes Satchel, running up and down the house, arms waving furiously in the air, making funny noises. HI-larious.
I had read it from time to time, but I did check out the last week's worth and laughed like I rarely do with comics. So I added it to the ol' Bloglines collection.
I love Get Fuzzy and I get it in my inbox every morning. But for the past two months I haven't read any of them, I don't know why. Thanks for alerting me to the fact that I need to start reading them again.
Mel: See, that's the mark of good humor... the kernel of truth/
Chris: I think the Lord of the Rings game strip was especially strong.
Brandon: I read it off and on over the past couple of years, but it just reached a certain level the past couple of months.
I seldom bother reading the funny pages anymore (most comics are just so awful). Then I stumbled across a collected volume of "Get Fuzzy" at my in-laws over the holidays, and I've been hooked ever since.
I'm with you on this one. Get Fuzzy is one of the few comics I read daily.
Oooh, I LOVE those!!!
Finally something I DO know about ;-)
Jess: That's why I mentioned it in good company(C&H etc).
Paul: hear hear!
dutchy: I am sure you know about more things than you let on ;)
Get Fuzzy is one of the very few comics worth reading these days. There are probably many online comics worth reading, mind you, but when it comes to the newspaper...pretty much Blah City.
I am certainly not going to deny the fact that there are many great online comics... but in the newspapers... not so much.
I concur... that strip rocks!
:)
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