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Funny Business on the Funny Pages
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Posted By:
ilovetwix at 02/12/2008 11:13:55 PM
Comment:
I agree that it's most important for editors to publish the best comic strips that'll relate to their reader's. That being said, maybe there's a reason why newspaper readership in steadily declining. Not that comic sections carry an entire paper but this shows perhaps, a small part of what is happening in general within these publications. Publications should be all about appealing to the most possible, if not all, readers in the area of distribution. However, maybe they are sadly failing at this effort by being out of touch with the reader. I think publications would be surprised to find that there may actually be room for growth by tapping into readers who in the past haven't been considered as part of the paper's demographics. One perfect example are Hispanics. There has been a surge in the population of Latinos, nationwide, in the past 20 years. But how many papers have considered them as a source of increasing readership? How many papers are searching for comic strips that'll appeal emotionally to that demographic? Culturally speaking, there's only one syndicated comic strip that I know of that specifically contains latino characters who are going about their lives in Somewhere, USA. Demographics change over time and papers need to be flexible enough to recognize those changes and adapt. Understand that I'm not relegating demographics exlclusively to race or ethnicity - age, income, gender, industry, education all affect who your readers are and what will appeal to them emotionally and that's what comic strips do: appeal to the reader's emotions and thoughts. It should be the paper's goal to be in touch with their readers and include material that'll appeal to the demographic of their readership. Artificial regulations are very rarely good business and usually the result of a few people's ideas that are not based on reality. -
Posted By:
swanpeg at 02/12/2008 12:44:27 PM
Comment:
I wondered why Boondocks left the Trib, replaced by Candorville and then Candorville disappeared for Watch Your Head. The unspoken 2 strip limit is ridiculous in today's society. I would prefer to have more to choose from on the page rather than have to look for favorites on line. -
Posted By:
kimfleur at 02/12/2008 12:08:53 AM
Comment:
I'm impatient for the day when it doesn't matter. I live my life that way, not color "blind," but in a rainbow. Content of character is more important to me than skin color; storyline is more important to me than color of characters. It's a mistaken belief that people only seek what they're familiar with. If that were true, nobody would bother to read Shakespeare or even watch the Amazing Race reality TV show. Humans are drawn to understand the experiences of others. -
Posted By:
kimfleur at 02/12/2008 12:04:58 AM
Comment:
I'm impatient for the day when it doesn't matter. I live my life that way - not color "blind" but in a rainbow. Content of character is more important to me than skin color; plot is more important to me than character backgrounds... except where the latter is integral to the plot. -
Posted By:
Beav at 02/11/2008 10:58:14 PM
Comment:
It has nothing to do with the race of the artist or the reader. It has to do with established strips that are void of thought and talent, as that has become the norm outside of Peanuts for so long. Papers got cheap, shrunk their space, and only bought bland crap that was mass produced and easily pumped out day after day week after week. Gone were the large, well crafted images and stories of the 20's and 30's. Eventually in the 80's, however, things began to change with more irreverant humor that made up for concept if not visual content (ie The Far Side). By the 90's, artists like Bill Watterson were fighting back, but by and large the standards like Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Blondie, Hagar, The Phantom, Cathy, and other uninspired crap remained, and do to this day. The comics are largely run by the very cautious, frugal and conservative, but unfortunately, a large portion of the audience can be described as such, too. It all boils down to loyalty and money. So until those in charge of the funny pages grow spines, or readers widen their horizons (or strips are seen less as a daily bland/repetitious gag and instead as ART), things will not be changing any time soon... -
Posted By:
wordsmith at 02/11/2008 8:19:31 PM
Comment:
With many papers across the nation clinging to reruns of years of Peanuts cartoons and some even holding onto other, older, comic strips, why can't they dust out the cobwebs (and Peanuts shells) and make way for more timely strips? So Lincoln and King really did die for nothing more than an ideal? What's wrong with people, anyway? And what's wrong with comic strips that reflect what we see on the streets and in the offices and stores everyday?
THAT'S what people can relate to ... NOT soap operas in the "Funny papers". -
Posted By:
awin357 at 02/11/2008 8:05:07 PM
Comment:
Black artists: WAKE UP!! Black humor the depicts (primarily) caucasians as hostile to 'blacks' is not funny. If you want to make a statement, send your work to the editorial page. If you wish to depict humor, remember that race issues are not funny. It's about humor, not color. -
Posted By:
larflc at 02/11/2008 7:49:24 PM
Comment:
WHY IS IT ALWAYS RAICAL WHEN THERE IS NOT ALOT OF "BLACK" THIS OR THAT IN THE MEDIA. COULD IT BE THE MATERAIL IS NOT RIGHT FOR MASS MEDIA BE IT HARD TO CONNECT WITH OR JUST PLAINLY NOT FUNNY -
Posted By:
awin357 at 02/11/2008 7:48:07 PM
Comment:
If the black artists would acquiese to drawing humor that would make the bulk of all readers smile, if not outright laugh, the papers could hire them all. Unfortunately, they do not understand that the reality of selling papers, including the funny pages, must relate to the people, no matter what color they are. Personally, I do not find anything funny about the black humor especially when it shows caucasians as hostile. Get on with the humor and forget about race. Artists of any color remember this: If it is funny, I read it; however, if it is not, I write to the editor. -
Posted By:
larflc at 02/11/2008 7:45:36 PM
Comment:
why is it every time some form of media is "lacking" in black this or that its racist? could the real reason be that there not intrested in the materail at hand or the humor is not right for mass print. -
Posted By:
raflet60 at 02/11/2008 7:31:16 PM
Comment:
The problem with black comics strips is that they tend to focus on "black" themes so often people get turned off. They use their strips for their own little agenda and it's usually a swipe at whites. The funny strips don't have to remind one of the race of the characters. I find today's strips so political and socially oreinted that they forget the true theme of giving the reader a funny situation in four panels. If they want to be carried in more newspapers try writing comic type material and leave your views and gripes off the strip. -
Posted By:
lablotogob at 02/11/2008 4:46:10 PM
Comment:
Notice the Tim Jackson cartoon featured: big, loudmouthed, unhip white guy making a fool of himself. Boondocks is just a bigoted point of view that's tolerated because it's a black strip.
Jump Start is about a black family and I enjoy it. I don't need politics and racial angst invading my funny page escape.
Black bigotry against whites won???t bring people together ??? It only satisfies the cartoonist. -
Posted By:
dingo at 02/11/2008 4:27:06 PM
Comment:
If race is not central to strip, as these cartoonists claimed, then why render the characters Black. If it is not the 'Black' experience/s that the cartoonist is trying to capture, then shouldn't only 14% of their characters be Black? -
Posted By:
newport23 at 02/11/2008 4:25:21 PM
Comment:
I think that we have become a nation that has to be PC about everything. It's crazy! No one cares if a comic strip is in black and white or color. If the comic strip is funny people will read it. If it stinks then guess what - write something new or remove your comic....If you think this is a racial issue then you need something else to do with your life. -
Posted By:
pengo66 at 02/11/2008 3:59:34 PM
Comment:
How wonderful it is to see that others share my opinion on the "race card" issue. I personally do NOT care what color your skin is until you make an issue of it. Why do we have a Black history month and not an Indian, White, Oriental or European History month? I myself am a mongrel of skin colors but instead of calling myself "caucasian/african american/indian etc" I call myself an AMERICAN (and proud of it). I don't look at the skin color in the "funnies" (my family calls them the "funny paper") but instead I look at the "funny" content. If it's missing then so is my interest!! -
Posted By:
JazzSinger at 02/11/2008 3:57:37 PM
Comment:
The day we stop counting how many black this or black that there are and start judging things and people based on their merit only is a day when we will take a huge step towards stopping racism. The sad thing is that people who write articles like this think they're helping the cause of equality, but they're actually hurting it. -
Posted By:
pengo66 at 02/11/2008 3:43:58 PM
Comment:
How wonderful it is to see that others share my opinion on the "race card" issue. I personally do NOT care what color your skin is until you make an issue of it. Why do we have a Black history month and not an Indian, White, Oriental or European History month? I myself am a mongrel of skin colors but instead of calling myself "caucasian/african american/indian etc" I call myself an AMERICAN (and proud of it). I don't look at the skin color in the "funnies" (my family calls them the "funny paper") but instead I look at the "funny" content. If it's missing then so is my interest!! -
Posted By:
Doctor Dude at 02/11/2008 3:39:27 PM
Comment:
Does it slip past anyone that perhaps they just aren't funny? If we're talking race, what race is "Garfield"? perhaps if you could get over that racial bump yourself, you'd see most everyone else has, no matter what their race. Until you do, you're actually making yourself the biggest racist. -
Posted By:
tmeljak at 02/11/2008 3:39:03 PM
Comment:
Well, as a comic strip reader for about 35 years, I don't think I would be able to tell you what race any comic strip is or was. I think the only picture I can recall is for Charles Schultz. Who cares what race the comic strip writer is? Just produce funny comics! I don't read Boondooks because I don't find it funny in the least. I can't even imagine that less than 1% of comic strip readers care a hoot about what race the writers are, let alone KNOW what race they are. If you're doing to get the editors and publishers attention, I would think there would be another way that was more effective. -
Posted By:
chief850 at 02/11/2008 3:29:38 PM
Comment:
Why is it always a racial thing. Maybe their strip is now appealing to the masses as the other strips are. The Boondocks is baned from some papers because of the language and content of the strip. I don't think that is right but it happens. So gee, just grow up, if your stuff is not funny or relevent try another line of work. -
Posted By:
lg at 02/11/2008 3:27:24 PM
Comment:
La Cucaracha is simply an intolerant and offensive vehicle of hatespeech and racial sterotyping. If a similar propaganda strip were published using white protagonists, the hand wringing would be epic. But this crap is somehow OK if it comes from a "minority" perspective.
I realize I'll get no response but just so I'm not annoymous: am.lance@hotmail.com -
Posted By:
chief850 at 02/11/2008 3:23:37 PM
Comment:
Why is it always racial, maybe their strips don't appeal to a larg number of readers. The Newspaper owners are only going to run the strips that the majority of readers like. Its a money thing, not a black white game. Please grow up. Gee, don't someone get upset of the language and the way blacks are portrayed in the Boondocks strip. Sometimes this gets raw and some Newspapers will not run the Boondocks in count of that. If your good it will sell, if not try something else. -
Posted By:
cyfromnc at 02/11/2008 1:58:56 PM
Comment:
The comic pages are my favorite part of the newspaper. However, I cannot stand "Boondocks" or "Jump Start" simply because they are NOT funny. Put some humor in them and I'd gladly read them, it has nothing to do with race. -
Posted By:
cyfromnc at 02/11/2008 1:56:39 PM
Comment:
The comic page is my favorite part of the newspaper, but I cannot stand "Jump Start" or "Boondocks" cartoon strips, simply because they are NOT funny. Being about blacks is irrelevant. Put some humor in them and I'll glady read them again. -
Posted By:
ffrookie at 02/11/2008 1:22:11 PM
Comment:
I don't understand what's going on here. Why does there have to be some racial agenda behind the editor's decisions to include or exclude a strip? MAYBE IT'S JUST NOT AS FUNNY OR RELEVANT AS HIS OTHER CHOICES. A little advice... if the idea is to get the editors to look past race, maybe pulling this stunt in the middle of black history month isn't the best idea. Also, why alienate the readers you DO have with this kind of repetition? Lastly, couldn't we also do as we've done in other areas minorities have been excluded (i.e. Miss USA v. Miss Black USA) and start a black newspaper with all-black strips and just exclude whites. There, now we're all happy... see, change is a good thing.-
Posted By:
wordsmith at 02/11/2008 8:26:14 PM
Comment:
Why does there have to be a racial agenda? There doesn't HAVE to be ... but there is. This is the way it works... the syndicates calculate that, for the most part, their newspapers are paid for (the advertising print, not the published papers) by corporate white America. They figure that, walking a fine line between "appeasing" the black American public and keeping their cash cow happy, they will include a minimal number of "Racial Cartoons" in their pages. This is not done on a paper by paper basis; this is a syndicate-wide determination (Like Gannett, which owns newspapers across the nation, as well as USA Today.) So, until the penthouse starts seeing a change in color, the funny papers are doomed to be limited in their racial mix.
"It's nothing personal. It's just about the money."
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Posted By:
Parsnip at 02/11/2008 12:48:13 PM
Comment:
Boondocks in particular, presents a hostile view of non-blacks, particularly caucasions. Perhaps if Aaron MacGruder provided a more balanced view of all races and their foilables, readership might increase. I agree with loganwon, that the media in particular perpetuates the skin issue. It's tiring that when a group does not get what it wants, it becomes a racial issue rather than opposite views. If you want to heal the divide in America, lets start viewing differences for what they are, rather than assigning color to them. -
Posted By:
Parsnip at 02/11/2008 12:42:20 PM
Comment:
Boondocks is mentioned in the article. I have read it several times but find the humor is hostile to non-blacks, caucasians in particular. This is something the media never acknowledges - reverse racism. Readship would rise if Boondocks in particular made a attempt to present a more balanced view of the human condition regardless of color. -
Posted By:
thinkabout at 02/11/2008 12:20:20 PM
Comment:
If the strips are good they will get picked, if not they won't. if you think you're not getting picked because of the color of the ink the character is drawn with, try changing the color of the ink, the message will be the same. if it still doesn't get picked then you have your answer. -
Posted By:
thinkabout at 02/11/2008 12:16:34 PM
Comment:
If the cartoons are good they will be picked, if not they won't. if you feel your not getting picked because of the color of the ink your characters are colored with, change the color and try again. if you still don't get picked then maybe it is not a color issue. -
Posted By:
harold_dandy at 02/11/2008 11:49:46 AM
Comment:
barkley was right.we are tired of jessie and al sharpton playing the race card -
Posted By:
silverS at 02/11/2008 10:36:43 AM
Comment:
Does no one see? The reason the editors are so hesitant to put more than two "black" strips in their papers is because most of them are nothing more than harping about how minorities are getting hassled. When people read the comics, they're looking for a laugh and not a soapbox. I read the comics to escape from the world for 10 minutes, not be reminded of it.-
Posted By:
wordsmith at 02/11/2008 8:35:57 PM
Comment:
"When people read the comics, they're looking for a laugh and not a soapbox. "
How, then, do you explain "Rex Morgan" and "Apartment 3-G", and the like? Personally, my favorite ever comic strip was POGO. Now that was pretty racial! And politically oriented? WAY!
The best humor is that which will let you laugh but make you think as well.
"If the strips are goo they will get picked"? Not necessarily. And if you don't believe there are unwritten or written quotas you're being terribly naive. I'm not saying that most of the strips submitted probably aren't worth their ink. But many are good, very good. I've read them across the nation. Some make me wonder how they ever saw the light of day while others make me upset that I cannot get them in my hometown papers. Maybe everyone needs to take a step or two back. Those who feel they are not selling their strips because of their racial subject matter need to figure out if maybe their strips are not as funny as they'd like to think they are. And those who think that it's all about Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton telling white America that they're all racists should possibly consider that, maybe there is still a bit of racism at play, Sharpton and Jackson notwithstanding.
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Posted By:
samrees at 02/11/2008 10:33:06 AM
Comment:
As a (white) reader of comics, I can honestly say that most comics, be they black, white, latino, etc., are just not that funny, interesting, or thought-provoking. You mentioned a few of the "mainstream" black strips such as Jumpstart, Curtis, and The Boondocks. Jumpstart is usually just weird, Curtis has its moments, and The Boondocks is a breath of fresh air when compared to the other comics that share a page with it. I was sad to see it leave the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, especially when Opus and Doonesbury are still there. Maybe it wasn't liberal enough for their tastes. Oh, and La Cucaracha (produced by a Latino) was never that funny or interesting, and I was glad to see it leave the AJC.
Perhaps if the strips that were produced by "black" creators had a level of quality to them they would have staying power. But then, Garfield, Blondie, and Beetle Bailey keep using the same stale jokes over and over, and don't get me started on how inane Cathy is. So, maybe they should lower the bar, since that seems to get one published...in the AJC at least.
Sam -
Posted By:
samrees at 02/11/2008 10:25:37 AM
Comment:
As a (white) reader of comic strips, I can honestly say that most comics out there, whether they be by blacks, whites, latinos, etc. are just not funny, charming, or even thought-provoking. You listed some of the more mainstream black strips, such as Jumpstart, Curtis, and The Boondocks. Frankly, Jumpstart is usually just weird, Curtis has its moments of humor, and The Boondocks is a breath of fresh air when compared to the majority of strips out there. I was saddened to see that it was removed from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when Opus and Doonesbury are still in that paper. Maybe because it didn't pander to their liberal leanings. Oh, and La Cucaracha was never all that funny in my opinion.
Perhaps if the level of quality were there, no matter the strip, more "black" strips would get published. But then, Blondie, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, etc. have been reusing the same stale jokes for years, and don't even get me started on how inane Cathy is. So, maybe these strips should lower the bar even further, since that seems to be the sure way to keep a strip...in the AJC at least.
Sam -
Posted By:
silverS at 02/11/2008 10:24:48 AM
Comment:
The reason editors hesitate to put more than 2 "black" strips in their papers is because apparently, the majority of them have something to do with how minorites are constantly getting "stepped on". When people read the comics, they're looking for a laugh and not a soapbox. -
Posted By:
desmondsetab at 02/11/2008 10:06:13 AM
Comment:
I would suggest that the content of the cartoon versus the demographics of the readership is the reason for rejection slips for any cartoonist. If a strip deals with the problems of the inner city but the newspaper's subscribers are residents of the suburbs, then the fit is not there.
It has been a couple of years since I last read the Sacramento Bee, but I recall that they ran "Curtis," "Wee Pals" and "Boondocks" at the same time. None of those were set in the inner city, and references to inner city life in "Boondocks" often went over my head because I could not relate to it. -
Posted By:
tiredofracism at 02/11/2008 9:19:55 AM
Comment:
Given the fact that blacks comprise 13%, or so, of the u.s. population, shouldn't the number of "black" strips reflect that? Aside from that, I would think that strips, in general, would be published based upon munor quality, not race of the characters or of the author. -
Posted By:
cconner9582002 at 02/11/2008 9:19:28 AM
Comment:
I think that there should be two pages for the comic strips in the newspapers. One for the classic strips and one for the new comic strips. This give the opportunity for people to enjoy the classic comic strips as well as new artist comic strips. As a reader of comics and comic strips I will say I enjoy the new and the old comic strips and think that the only fair way for these guys to get a fair share is to feature two pages with more than one strip for them. The newspaper could also vary the pages for the classics with new strips from these artist also. -
Posted By:
Steveazimuth at 02/11/2008 6:30:32 AM
Comment:
If I was a cartoonist I don't think I would want my work compared to "Boondocks" when trying to get signed for syndication. Boondocks is about one of the most racist pieces of junk there is out there and you're certainly not going to get picked up in most of today's conservative papers with something like that. -
Posted By:
Steveazimuth at 02/11/2008 6:29:24 AM
Comment:
If I was a cartoonist I don't think I would want my work compared to "Boondocks" when trying to get signed for syndication. Boondocks is about one of the most racists pieces of junk there is out there and you're certainly not going to get picked up in most of today's conservative papers with something like that. -
Posted By:
loganwon at 02/11/2008 4:07:18 AM
Comment:
The problem is just like this webpage, an us against them mentality thta seems to prevade black's thoughts. If Obama were a real man he would emphasize being bi-racial not his "blackness". -
Posted By:
Lady Double E at 02/07/2008 1:41:54 PM
Comment:
While I don't subscribe to any newspaper (for my own personal reasons) I think that it's a wonderful idea to do what they are doing. Times have changed and if people would stop and take the time to "look" beyond the skin color of the writer/the characters they would see that we are all the same. We sometimes deal with things in a different manner but for the most part it's all the same.
Good luck to all the "old" and "young" comic strip writers who are participating in this!
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