"Today, my absolute favorite strip is called 'Cul de Sac.' I think it's only about three years old. It's by a guy named Richard Thompson and he's an absolute genius. He's in the Washington, D.C. area, but he's actually got roots in Michigan. He's absolutely brilliant and his strip is a thing of beauty."
The rest of the long interview is at -
Frazz is moving in: Comic strip with Michigan roots finds a new home in the Enquirer
Andy Fitzpatrick • The Enquirer • October 10, 2010
Showing posts with label Frazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frazz. Show all posts
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Catching up with comics in the Post
Comic Riffs looks at a couple of dunderheaded decisions in the Style section –
Doonesbury shrunk by almost an inch in the latest redesign, but it’s back at a bit larger now:
The Post's 'Doonesbury' shrinkage: winning the Battle of Inch-On
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 28, 2009
and Frazz, which has been exiled to appearing sometimes on the Kid’s page is missing this week because of a Halloween story which has a naked kid in a tree - god, you just can’t make this stuff up. The kids flip past, in today’s paper “TV report on breast self-exam bares all” and “The Dark Side of Peter Pan” book review to get to the Kid’s page, and they’re then protected from cartoon nudity. Anyway, here’s the story with the rationalization “There was no way this could run in KidsPost so we decided to hold it out for a week.”:
Calling all comics readers: To save 'Frazz,' what strip should we send to KidsPost?
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog October 29, 2009
In yesterday’s Style section (not the trend here), there’s a TV report on how inappropriate Family Guy is, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned:
By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post Wednesday, October 28, 2009
and a review of a play with an imaginary superhero friend:
By Celia Wren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
That darn Post!
Actually, I mostly agree with this letter - a rarity - except for the 'understandable reaction' since comic strips are apparently among the most popular features of the paper.
Stop All That Razzmafrazz
Washington Post Saturday, June 6, 2009
Earlier this year, The Post reduced the number of comic strips it carries in print and shrank the size of those that remained.
This was an understandable reflection of the economic pressures that The Post and the newspaper industry face. At the same time, the comic strip "Agnes" was relegated to the KidsPost page, a move that was rightfully criticized by readers as not being the best example for children. It was then replaced with "Frazz."
However, KidsPost does not appear every day, depriving those of us who enjoy "Frazz" of two installments a week. When "Frazz" appears, we adults are reduced to searching for KidsPost and surreptitiously reading the comic before we are accused of being juvenile, or worse.
Returning "Frazz" to its rightful place with the other comics would be appreciated by those of us who pretend to be adults while enjoying the humor of the comics.
-- Ken Poole
White Post, Va.
Stop All That Razzmafrazz
Washington Post Saturday, June 6, 2009
Earlier this year, The Post reduced the number of comic strips it carries in print and shrank the size of those that remained.
This was an understandable reflection of the economic pressures that The Post and the newspaper industry face. At the same time, the comic strip "Agnes" was relegated to the KidsPost page, a move that was rightfully criticized by readers as not being the best example for children. It was then replaced with "Frazz."
However, KidsPost does not appear every day, depriving those of us who enjoy "Frazz" of two installments a week. When "Frazz" appears, we adults are reduced to searching for KidsPost and surreptitiously reading the comic before we are accused of being juvenile, or worse.
Returning "Frazz" to its rightful place with the other comics would be appreciated by those of us who pretend to be adults while enjoying the humor of the comics.
-- Ken Poole
White Post, Va.
Friday, May 01, 2009
David Coverly and Jef Mallett's visit to Walter Reed Hospital detailed
I never hear about this in the base newspaper - sigh. For Jef (Frazz) Mallett and David (Speed Bump) Coverly's visit to Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital, see "From the funny page to just off the frontline: Lansing cartoonist takes trip to sketch for wounded soldiers," by Bill Castanier, Lansing City Pulse (April 29 2009).
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Weingarten's Chatalogical Humor chat on some comics
Comments on comics from the past two weeks including Chatological Humor: Denim Friendly Since 2001; Talking Susan Boyle (UPDATED 4.24.09) aka Tuesdays With Moron, Gene Weingarten, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, April 21, 2009; 12:00 PM.
--------------
What were they thinking?: So the comics editors brought back "Judge Parker." Okay, fine, I'm cool with that. I was wondering if Sophie was going to make the cheerleading squad. But to make room, they chose a strip to move to the KidsPost page, and the strip they chose was... "Agnes"? Um, has anyone involved with this decision actually read "Agnes"? It's often incomprehensibly edgy, certainly for the KidsPost demographic.
I have a ten-year-old daughter who likes to read some of the comics, and I can tell you without a doubt which strip most appeals to her: "Baby Blues." It manages to be truly funny but also understandable to kids. If the point of this exercise is to get more kids to look at KidsPost, they should really rethink the choice of strip.
Could you go slap the comics editors around for me, Gene?
Gene Weingarten: I am not allow to slap comics editors.
_______________________
I am not one of your sycophant groupies...: I want you to know how utterly reprehensible it is that your weekly harangue against Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus et al should result in your comic strip being picked up by a syndicate. Many of us cut our teeth and learned how to read from those very strips and what you don't seem to understand is that not every comic has to appeal to the tastes of a 60 year old, old fart like yourself.
So go enjoy your ill gotten fruit but know that some of us recognize the dublicity of it all especially picking on poor little PJ -- I mean heck, he's just a little kid !
Gene Weingarten: I think P.J. is something like 48 years old.
_______________________
[apropos of a previous discussion of what makes a hero]
Krypt, ON: I find it interesting that Superman would not be considered a hero here for doing good since he risks nothing and expends, for him, little effort, but would be because he does it on his own time. Sometimes. When he isn't defrauding a newspaper. Which may be the real reason newspapers are going under.
Gene Weingarten: Whoa, whoa. He is a hero. It's not a question necessarily of what you risk, it's what you sacrifice. He sacrifices privacy. He sacrifices the ability to be a fully realized person. He is definitely a hero.
Rockville, Md.: Gene,
Is there something wrong with me because I was incredibly turned on by seeing Janis topless in yesterday's Arlo and Janis? I'm a happily married 39 year old guy if it makes a difference.
washingtonpost.com: Arlo and Janis, (April 20)
Gene Weingarten: I've said it before. Arlo and Janis is the hottest comic strip maybe ever.
_______________________
Funny Pa, PR: Since you're not allowed to bring this up: the April 17 Lio was genuinely unreadable at the size the Post printed it. The only way to make sense of it was to work backwards: there was a staggering drunk spider, so the spiderweb must have had something intoxicating in it.
At first there didn't seem to be anything in the middle of the web at all. Prolonged close study revealed what I guess was a beer can. Figuring this out was not worth the eyestrain.
Gene Weingarten: This was absolutely true. It's how I had to read it to get the joke. Liz, can you link to this? Online, it will be bigger; but imagine trying to figure it out at an inch high.
and a 'new' contest, although Cavna's been doing this off and on at Comic Riffs, usually with editorial cartoons.
Chatological Humor: Swine Flu Fever; Quiet Cars; Cat Calls (UPDATED 4.30.09), Gene Weingarten, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, April 29, 2009; 12:00 PM
Several weeks ago, Chatological Humor discontinued its regular Comic Pick of the Week feature, on the theory that it would be unseemly for me to critique comic strips if I were soon to be the author of one. I promised to find a replacement feature, and here it is. It's going to be reader-generated, and the first submission is by Justin Stone.
That's what we're doing. Rewrite dialog balloons for any current comic strip; you can either post your results on a Web site like flickr or Facebook, and send me a link, or you can send it right to me at weingarten(at)washpost.com. Important: You must make your dialogue fit the existing balloons. As Justin discovered, this can be hard. Comic-strip writing is Pinteresque.
Gene Weingarten: Ooh, this just in. Chatological Humor might have had a beneficial, tangible effect in the world.
Last week, a chatter noted, correctly, that "Agnes" was a tone-deaf joice as the comic strip chosen to appear on the KidsPost page. Very, very true: It's excellently cynical, even nihilistic, with big words and complex themes.
Someone apparently listened. I've just heard that it goes back on the comics page, and will be replaced in KidsPost by Frazz. Much better choice. Frazz or Big Nate would have been my choices.
I disagree here, as did some other Comic Riffs commenters. Garfield or Peanuts would have been a better choice. My 11-year-old daughter doesn't read Frazz.
--------------
What were they thinking?: So the comics editors brought back "Judge Parker." Okay, fine, I'm cool with that. I was wondering if Sophie was going to make the cheerleading squad. But to make room, they chose a strip to move to the KidsPost page, and the strip they chose was... "Agnes"? Um, has anyone involved with this decision actually read "Agnes"? It's often incomprehensibly edgy, certainly for the KidsPost demographic.
I have a ten-year-old daughter who likes to read some of the comics, and I can tell you without a doubt which strip most appeals to her: "Baby Blues." It manages to be truly funny but also understandable to kids. If the point of this exercise is to get more kids to look at KidsPost, they should really rethink the choice of strip.
Could you go slap the comics editors around for me, Gene?
Gene Weingarten: I am not allow to slap comics editors.
_______________________
I am not one of your sycophant groupies...: I want you to know how utterly reprehensible it is that your weekly harangue against Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus et al should result in your comic strip being picked up by a syndicate. Many of us cut our teeth and learned how to read from those very strips and what you don't seem to understand is that not every comic has to appeal to the tastes of a 60 year old, old fart like yourself.
So go enjoy your ill gotten fruit but know that some of us recognize the dublicity of it all especially picking on poor little PJ -- I mean heck, he's just a little kid !
Gene Weingarten: I think P.J. is something like 48 years old.
_______________________
[apropos of a previous discussion of what makes a hero]
Krypt, ON: I find it interesting that Superman would not be considered a hero here for doing good since he risks nothing and expends, for him, little effort, but would be because he does it on his own time. Sometimes. When he isn't defrauding a newspaper. Which may be the real reason newspapers are going under.
Gene Weingarten: Whoa, whoa. He is a hero. It's not a question necessarily of what you risk, it's what you sacrifice. He sacrifices privacy. He sacrifices the ability to be a fully realized person. He is definitely a hero.
Rockville, Md.: Gene,
Is there something wrong with me because I was incredibly turned on by seeing Janis topless in yesterday's Arlo and Janis? I'm a happily married 39 year old guy if it makes a difference.
washingtonpost.com: Arlo and Janis, (April 20)
Gene Weingarten: I've said it before. Arlo and Janis is the hottest comic strip maybe ever.
_______________________
Funny Pa, PR: Since you're not allowed to bring this up: the April 17 Lio was genuinely unreadable at the size the Post printed it. The only way to make sense of it was to work backwards: there was a staggering drunk spider, so the spiderweb must have had something intoxicating in it.
At first there didn't seem to be anything in the middle of the web at all. Prolonged close study revealed what I guess was a beer can. Figuring this out was not worth the eyestrain.
Gene Weingarten: This was absolutely true. It's how I had to read it to get the joke. Liz, can you link to this? Online, it will be bigger; but imagine trying to figure it out at an inch high.
and a 'new' contest, although Cavna's been doing this off and on at Comic Riffs, usually with editorial cartoons.
Chatological Humor: Swine Flu Fever; Quiet Cars; Cat Calls (UPDATED 4.30.09), Gene Weingarten, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, April 29, 2009; 12:00 PM
Several weeks ago, Chatological Humor discontinued its regular Comic Pick of the Week feature, on the theory that it would be unseemly for me to critique comic strips if I were soon to be the author of one. I promised to find a replacement feature, and here it is. It's going to be reader-generated, and the first submission is by Justin Stone.
That's what we're doing. Rewrite dialog balloons for any current comic strip; you can either post your results on a Web site like flickr or Facebook, and send me a link, or you can send it right to me at weingarten(at)washpost.com. Important: You must make your dialogue fit the existing balloons. As Justin discovered, this can be hard. Comic-strip writing is Pinteresque.
Gene Weingarten: Ooh, this just in. Chatological Humor might have had a beneficial, tangible effect in the world.
Last week, a chatter noted, correctly, that "Agnes" was a tone-deaf joice as the comic strip chosen to appear on the KidsPost page. Very, very true: It's excellently cynical, even nihilistic, with big words and complex themes.
Someone apparently listened. I've just heard that it goes back on the comics page, and will be replaced in KidsPost by Frazz. Much better choice. Frazz or Big Nate would have been my choices.
I disagree here, as did some other Comic Riffs commenters. Garfield or Peanuts would have been a better choice. My 11-year-old daughter doesn't read Frazz.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Weingarten corrupted three comic strips for Post Hunt
Gene Weingarten's May 20th chat had some comments about a 'comics' clue to the Post Hunt.
Arlington: G-Dub. How in THE hell can anyone claim that the "Comics" clue was hard? The comedians made it obvious what the topic was, Liz and Ginger walking around with the comics pages made it obvious where to look (not to mention that everyone was reading the Comics section) and the numbers weren't terribly hard to find. What was hard about it?
(Every other clue was @#$! impossible, btw.)
washingtonpost.com: And yet there were people who -- when offered a Comics section -- declined, saying "I have one at home."
Gene Weingarten: Heh heh.
As Tom said yesterday, the monitors at the fortune cookie site watched several times as small children were tugging at parents' clothing saying, "It tastes like coconut!" and the parents said, "Ssh. We're trying to solve the puzzle."
and later...
Consiracy Theories: It's bad enough that clueless Post readers may be misled by the clues planted in the magazine and comics, but what about the rest of the country? Is there an army of folks coming up with diabolical explanations for the numbers appearing in the three comics? Or do they get an explanation somewhere somehow (without stumbling on the Post)?
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I owe a great thank you to Stephan Pastis, Jef Mallett, and Berkeley Breathed. They were great sports about it. I'm sure they're getting dozens of letters from elsewhere in the country asking, yknow, what that "nine" was about.
and...
Opus Hunt: Gene,
A friend was telling me about Hunt (she went, I couldn't) and when I looked at the Opus strip, the first thing I thought of when she pointed it out was Al Hirschfeld. Did Breathed do that on purpose? And were the other numbers in the strip used as decoys?
Gene Weingarten: Yep, it was an homage to Hirschfeld, I believe. "Nine" was done exactly the way Hirschfeld did "Nina."
The other numbers were coincidence! He wasn't trying to be deceptive.
...with some debate over that...
Washington, D.C.: Did you notice that both Breathed and Mallet hid other numerals in their strips? The s in the title "OPUS" was a 5. In Frazz, the word "school" had both a 5 instead of an s, and an 8 instead of the two o's. The second occurrence of that word didn't have the 5, but it did have the 8. So we weren't sure which hidden numbers to use, until we finally noticed the "nine" on the doctor's coat, and decided to use the spelled-out numbers "six," "eight," and "nine," and ignore the hidden numerals 5, 8, 8 and 5.
Gene Weingarten: I disagree about the S being a 5.
But we noticed the "oo" looking like an eight. We noticed this at the very last minute. It turns out that is simply how Patty Mallett (who inks Jef's art) makes a double o! If the hidden number had been anything but eight, we'd a been scrood!
This is all nonsensical, until you go to the Post website. This video explains that Weingarten's friends Stephan (Pearls Before Swine), Berkeley (Opus) Breathed and Jeff (Frazz) Mallett snuck in clues for the Post Hunt.
Arlington: G-Dub. How in THE hell can anyone claim that the "Comics" clue was hard? The comedians made it obvious what the topic was, Liz and Ginger walking around with the comics pages made it obvious where to look (not to mention that everyone was reading the Comics section) and the numbers weren't terribly hard to find. What was hard about it?
(Every other clue was @#$! impossible, btw.)
washingtonpost.com: And yet there were people who -- when offered a Comics section -- declined, saying "I have one at home."
Gene Weingarten: Heh heh.
As Tom said yesterday, the monitors at the fortune cookie site watched several times as small children were tugging at parents' clothing saying, "It tastes like coconut!" and the parents said, "Ssh. We're trying to solve the puzzle."
and later...
Consiracy Theories: It's bad enough that clueless Post readers may be misled by the clues planted in the magazine and comics, but what about the rest of the country? Is there an army of folks coming up with diabolical explanations for the numbers appearing in the three comics? Or do they get an explanation somewhere somehow (without stumbling on the Post)?
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I owe a great thank you to Stephan Pastis, Jef Mallett, and Berkeley Breathed. They were great sports about it. I'm sure they're getting dozens of letters from elsewhere in the country asking, yknow, what that "nine" was about.
and...
Opus Hunt: Gene,
A friend was telling me about Hunt (she went, I couldn't) and when I looked at the Opus strip, the first thing I thought of when she pointed it out was Al Hirschfeld. Did Breathed do that on purpose? And were the other numbers in the strip used as decoys?
Gene Weingarten: Yep, it was an homage to Hirschfeld, I believe. "Nine" was done exactly the way Hirschfeld did "Nina."
The other numbers were coincidence! He wasn't trying to be deceptive.
...with some debate over that...
Washington, D.C.: Did you notice that both Breathed and Mallet hid other numerals in their strips? The s in the title "OPUS" was a 5. In Frazz, the word "school" had both a 5 instead of an s, and an 8 instead of the two o's. The second occurrence of that word didn't have the 5, but it did have the 8. So we weren't sure which hidden numbers to use, until we finally noticed the "nine" on the doctor's coat, and decided to use the spelled-out numbers "six," "eight," and "nine," and ignore the hidden numerals 5, 8, 8 and 5.
Gene Weingarten: I disagree about the S being a 5.
But we noticed the "oo" looking like an eight. We noticed this at the very last minute. It turns out that is simply how Patty Mallett (who inks Jef's art) makes a double o! If the hidden number had been anything but eight, we'd a been scrood!
This is all nonsensical, until you go to the Post website. This video explains that Weingarten's friends Stephan (Pearls Before Swine), Berkeley (Opus) Breathed and Jeff (Frazz) Mallett snuck in clues for the Post Hunt.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
And in Sunday's WaPost
Frazz references a classic comic - Charles Addams this time - much as Lio did last week.
Emily Flake makes what might be her first appearance, illustrating the Jobs section (note the article next to it on archivist Connie Potter with whom I used to work).
The Book World gives a brief mention to McSweeny's latest project, THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE edited by Zadie Smith, a book which includes Clowes, Posy Simmonds and Charles Burns.
Sometimes comic book writer Paul di Filippo reviews science fiction books.
Jerry Beck's new history of Nickelodeon gets reviewed on the kid's page -
"Nick's History Is as Good as Goo; Text and interviews by Jerry Beck," by Scott Moore, Washington Post Sunday, January 27, 2008; Page M16
Emily Flake makes what might be her first appearance, illustrating the Jobs section (note the article next to it on archivist Connie Potter with whom I used to work).
The Book World gives a brief mention to McSweeny's latest project, THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE edited by Zadie Smith, a book which includes Clowes, Posy Simmonds and Charles Burns.
Sometimes comic book writer Paul di Filippo reviews science fiction books.
Jerry Beck's new history of Nickelodeon gets reviewed on the kid's page -
"Nick's History Is as Good as Goo; Text and interviews by Jerry Beck," by Scott Moore, Washington Post Sunday, January 27, 2008; Page M16
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