Hagar the Horrible is set in the Middle Ages in a coastal village somewhere in Norway and is a loose interpretation of Viking and medieval Scandinavian life. The strip waxes and wanes between two gags; Hagar is either being shamed by his battleaxe wife, Helga, or he is engaged in some conflict as he pillages the countryside. Twenty-seven years after its debut Hagar the Horrible remains largely unfunny and redundant.
Dennis the Menace has been around since 1951. Recently while helping my parents clean up their basement I stumbled upon an old scrapbook of my father’s that he made when he was 8 or 9 years old. Within the pages he had pasted a lot of comic strips and among them were a bunch of Dennis the Menaces. I can now report that the strip was no funnier 60 years ago than it is today. Dennis the Menace rankles me in a way other strips don’t. We are supposed to believe that he is “cute”, “precious”, whatever; when the reality is that Dennis is a brat growing up in an environment that provides no consequences for his endless misdeeds. He breaks everything, he’s filthy all the time, and he terrorizes his elderly neighbors by constantly trespassing and causing mayhem.
I make no secret of the fact that I love reading Archie comics. The comic book debuted in 1941 and the comic strip started in 1946. Believe it or not the strips from the 40s are excellent. Written and drawn by Bob Montana the early strips were clever and a bit darker than the Archie comics of today, which have devolved into predictable gags and punch lines. I won’t go into details about the world of Archie as most have some familiarity with it. If you don’t know a thing about Archie comics just know that Archie constantly swings back and forth in an endless love triangle with the rich, self-absorbed Veronica Lodge and the sweet girl-next-door Betty Cooper. His best friend is sarcastic, beatnik Jughead Jones and the stories are generally set at Riverdale High where the gang is involved in endless academic hijinks.
The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip has been around since 1977 and was featured heavily on this blog a few years ago. I’ve been following the strip daily for about 8 years (see also Rex Morgan) and can definitely state that its the same story written over and over again; Peter Parker is trying to spend some down-time with his hot wife Mary Jane and his attempts at leading a normal life are frequently interrupted by an endless array of super-villains.
Created by a psychiatrist in 1948 Rex Morgan follows the adventures of family doctor “Rex Morgan”. The strip occasionally deals with patient issues/themes but more often than not Rex and his wife June become mired in the problems of their friends and colleagues. I’ve been following the strip for years after being curious about “serious” comic strips. The stories are glacially paced, each lasting a few months, with little payoff but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I get sucked into them.
