What can I say about today’s fear-mongering Family Circus? Well, maybe just that Dolly should be a little more scared of Grandpa than some random creepy stranger. Back by “reader demand,” indeed.
Actually, one thing I can say: “The Family Circus” was once, indeed, funny, if the comic strip’s archives are to be believed. A few strips from the ’60s were both humorous and edgy, touching on politics, alcoholism, and wife-beating (well, not really). The kids were even ugly in that non-sentimental, sub-culture kind of way.
Sadly, it looks like the strip fell into the rut we now all know and love as early as the ’70s with the classic “Mommy-can’t-take-care-of-herself-‘cuz-the-kids-are-in-her-hair-and-Daddy’s-nowhere-to-be-seen-(probablybecausehe’swithismistresstogetawayfromthishellspawn” panel.
classic Circus-haters
- Largerego (“Look at the mom in this cartoon.
She’s staring longingly
out the window thinking of the days when she was
single, living in
the East Village, and playing bass for the
all-girl band The Hotties…”) - The Dysfunctional Family Circus
- Bob’s Comic Reviews (“And of course if you like
Cute Things Kids Say, and jokes so inoffensive they’d get a chuckle out
of an ayatullah, why then, this cartoon’s for you”; also, why the
Dysfunctional Family Circus is actually a compliment to the Keanes) - A satirical (?) piece imploring the Tucson Weekly should run the Family Circus to appeal to hipsters, because “it’s not
funny in almost exactly the same way that real life isn’t funny.” - Evil Robots Family Circus Project (warning: not child-safe)
To me the most amazing achievement of Mr. Bil Keane is to be able to
sketch a room with a computer or a modern home-entertainment center that
looks totally authentically ’50s, without a hint of retro-chic glamor. Here’s to keepin’ it real, Family Circus.
Finally, I noticed that today’s Globe comics section contained a
half-page ad for the Flintstones DVD set and dropped — gasp! — Arlos & Janis,
one of the few comic strips left in the Globe that relies on subtlety
and readers’ familiarity with the characters for its humor. (By
contrast, the reader learns Garfield’s personality, such as it were,
through the humor, such as it were). They were able to pull this off by
dropping the “filler” panels from Doonesbury — something Watterson had
successfully fought, though precious few strips
have benefited from that victory. Anyway, I’m penning a letter to the
editors at the Globe to make sure they aren’t test-marketing dropping
this strip when there are so many others that should get the axe.
