10 Comic Strip Tropes & Trends That Aged Poorly

CBR ^ | 5/14/25 | George Chrysostomou

[ansel12]

As someone who always read as many daily newspapers as I could get, whether that was only 3 a day or 5 or 6 a day, I saw when the newspapers started fixing everything about 1970.

The more they fixed, the more the kind of people who read newspapers canceled their subscriptions, it turned out that the type of Americans who read the papers were already reading them, and the people who weren’t, didn’t want to and never would.

Like Disney and the military, newspapers fixed themselves until the people who made them lost interest.

[Dr. Sivana]

I was just thinking of “Bringing Up Father”. Like MOST comic strips, both main characters are lampooned.

[SkyDancer]

What I miss is: Calvin, and Doonesbury.

[Dr. Sivana]

I agree with him on Family Circus. I never liked that comic strip. And Garfield.

Just like a TV network, a good comics page has something for everyone. Family Circus is not supposed to be "bust a gut" funny, and you are probably NOT the target audience. Mildly amusing and reaffirming was what Bil Keane aimed for, and he got it.

Garfield is a zombie comic strip, but people read it the way they watched the color episodes of Andy Griffith.

[Flycatcher]

Garbage.

[P.O.E.]

My fave Sunday comic as a kid was Smoky Stover

Full of puns and general anarchy.

[READINABLUESTATE]

The far side was always my favorite.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Mildly amusing and reaffirming was what Bil Keane aimed for, and he got it.

Family Circus was never hilarious, but I enjoyed reading it everyday. And I liked Bil Keane's art.

[IndyTiger]

Bloom County was by far my favorite strip in the 80s. Also liked The Wizard of Id.

[Allegra]

The movie Airplane! would probably send him into convulsions.

And imagine him watching “Blazing Saddles.” 😆

[Da Coyote]

Got about 25% through and hurled. Not even close to worth reading.

[Jonty30]

Garfield was started just so Jim Davis could sell toys.

Family Circus, I would classify it as a cartoon that brings comfort and routine. Every day was basically a repeat of last week’s comic because he would rotate themes regularly, without having to do much work. Which is nice, for him. I think it’s target audience were those who can relate to the antics of children.

I tended towards philosophical comics like Farside, Bloomsfield, and Opus and Pogo and such. My humour tends to border along the lines of honesty and real world without pretension.

[Dr. Sivana]

Bloom County was by far my favorite strip in the 80s.

Berke Breathed was able to laugh at himself, as well as us. He was certainly a lefty, but he was genuinely funny and has legitimate insights into the modern pop culture and its contradictions. I loved Binky's anxieties about tabloid celebrities keeping him up at night. And many freepers loved this classic:

[Dr. Sivana]

The character "B.D", was based on Brian Dowling, who was the Harvard quarterback in that game.

I beg your pardon?!

B.D. was an Eli!

[Flash Bazbeaux]

BD was the Yale quarterback.

[Dr. Sivana]

The author is risking cancellation for not touting the party line.

Not at all. He was omitted because Scott Adams already is a non-person.

[READINABLUESTATE]

I’m guessing that author George Chrysostomou wakes up on the wrong side of the bed every day and is offended that the sun came up and the sky is still blue.

[Dr. Sivana]

Andy Capp would give his wife black-eyes, and she would give them to him right back.

A shame they took away his cigarette butt (cookie from Beetle Bailey's, too), and Mark Trail's pipe.

[Chainmail]

The writer of this stupid article is a flamer: “nuclear family didn’t represent the other forms of family”?

This is the kind of perverted idiots who have wormed theirselves into everything - I’m sorry, but the nuclear family is the only real family, period.

[Jonty30]

Doonesbury was the one comic strip that I tended to skip over.