The Silent Penultimate Panel Watch

Ka-boom

2007-07-04T11:28:00.001-07:00

The watch has been a little less than vigilant recently, and look what's happened, a fireworks explosion of SPPs: (and how about that clever timely metaphor?)

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnson
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

I need to get back on the stick here.

Confidential to commenter Kris:
Uh, yeah, holy crap, that's me. What's up? Somewhere in my box of old VHS tapes, I still have a copy of our performance at Mid-stock '92. Those were the days, man.

A very special SPP

2007-06-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

A poignant, heartwarming silent penultimate panel today:

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

How heartless can I be to make fun of this one?

Of course it's maudlin and false, but, darn it, not everything has to be Richard Yates-level depressing (or even Funky Winkerbean-level.) There's nothing wrong with a little Canadian schmaltz for breakfast.

So what are the chances now that April and her band will have a change of heart and agree to play at the benefit concert?

A new debut

2007-06-25T22:07:00.001-07:00

After all this time it's rare to see a debut anymore on the watch. So today please welcome:

In the Bleachers by Scott Moore

In the Bleachers is one of those wacky single panel cartoons that sprouted like beans after Gary Larson retired. This one's gimmick is that it always has something do with sports. In turn, the LA Times buries it deep in the back of the sports section next to the horse racing results, tide charts and WNBA standings. (Still, that might be a better location than in-between Marmaduke and the Bridge column.)

If you ask me, there just aren't enough human-head-in-a-jar gags these days.

Trippy SPPs

2007-06-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

I'm back briefly with one totally trippy silent penultimate panel.

Frazz by Jef Mallet

While visually interesting, doesn't this distract from the gag a little?

And doesn't the Frazz silhouette look like something from a Krazy Kat background?

Metapost: Sporadic postings ahead

2007-06-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

and behind. The daily watch may become a little less regular than what I like. It's a simple case of TMSTD.

Golf lessons

2007-06-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

Missed Thursday, quick update today.

Monty by Jim Meddick

I don't always talk about myself here. I'm a rare blogger who doesn't feel it's important to tell you what he had for lunch, or how much corn chips cost at his work's vending machine. (They just went up to 90 cents!) But I will tell you that I've started taking golf lessons at the neighborhood community college. I figure only this way will I ever understand half the jokes on the comics page.

Nothing but Cathy to talk about

2007-06-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Things have been slow on the SPP front since I returned from my time off. Another apparent shut out today.

So, for the most part I just ignore Cathy, my eyes pass over just long enough to see if the next-to-last panel has a word balloon in it. Have these abstract shapes been going on all along?

It's like they're living in the Sea of Holes with Jeremy Boob. But I doubt Cathy will ever save Pepperland.

Purple rectangles

2007-06-12T21:55:00.001-07:00

Two today, Tuesday

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

Mutts again. Out of nowhere it's become the new Boondocks of SPPs.

Want to draw a comic strip that takes place at a driving range but have no idea how to draw one? Try the Cathy solution:

Have your character stand inside a purple rectangle, and the gag makes perfect sense.

Sally Forth

2007-06-11T20:39:00.001-07:00

Monday, one:

Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan

Ted Forth, the girliest hands in comics:

As Francesco Marciuliano writes Sally Forth with 2000-era sitcom rhythms, Craig Macintosh's art has remained stuck in the eighties. Thus we Sally Forth make quick-witted contemporary pop-culture references while wearing shoulder-padded power suits. Sally Forth has become one of the most bizarre things on the comics page.

Two day update

2007-06-10T22:42:00.001-07:00

Busy weekend, no time for blogin'

Saturday:
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Sunday:
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell
Piranha Club by Bud Grace

When Mutts first appeared here a week or so ago I made a comment saying how rare it was for Mutts to use an SPP. Now it has become one of the most frequent guests here over the past few weeks. These things go in phases. Interesting.

Double shut out

2007-06-08T20:57:00.001-07:00

So I just might be shut-out for two days straight. This is unprecedented for the watch.

Today's Betty shows how to create awkward silence without using an SPP.

The blank spot over Betty's head in the second panel creates the comic beat.

Yes, and Mark Trail just gets awesomer.

Shut out

2007-06-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

I think we have a shut-out today.

The closest I found was today's Monty with a silent third panel. And after that, there are still three more panels to go. If anything, Jim Meddick can draw more squares in a single daily strip than any other cartoonist.

Meanwhile, in Lost Forest, we have been stuck in one of the most interminably boring storylines ever. For about the past eighteen years now, there's been nothing in Mark Trail but people talking about birds and airports (all sentences exclamation-pointed, of course.) Today, after decades of inaction, something finally happens. And it's awesome:

I notice these things.

2007-06-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Two for this Wednesday:

Blondie by Dean Young, Inc.
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

Blondie may not count:

It really isn't a silent panel. The punchline--Dagwood's hair going crazy--actually occurs in the second panel, it's just obscured from us and Blondie. The second panel delays the punchline. It's delayed not by awkward silence but in a slightly different way.

I don't know what it all means, or if it's clever or not. I just notice these things.

Cellphone talking

2007-06-05T19:38:00.001-07:00

Only one today. Things have really slowed down since my break.

Overboard by Chip Dunham

Meanwhile, this week in Rex Morgan is non-stop cell-phone action.

Graham Nolan at least tries to make things a little exciting with extreme angles and close-ups. If this conversation continues any longer (and in standard serial comic strip time, this could go on for months,) it will be interesting to see what Nolan does next--maybe a panel from the point of view of an ear canal?

Very silent.

2007-06-04T21:10:00.001-07:00

Two silent penultimate panels today:

Bo-Nanas by John Kovaleski
Frazz by Jef Mallett

For some reason, both of these panels seem more silent than normal. They might actually be well done depictions of awkward silence.

And again, I get a little silly with the photoshop (or GIMP, actually)

Quick Saturday wrap-up

2007-06-02T17:07:00.001-07:00

Three to wrap up the week:

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Prickly City by Scott Stantis
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh

Non Sequitur wins the week with three SPPs from Monday to Saturday.

Peanuts

2007-06-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

Three today:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Peanuts (1960) by Charles Schulz

Doesn't even know his breed? At this point, ten years into Peanuts, Charles Schulz still hadn't figured out that Snoopy was a beagle. So many of the characters, running gags and facts we all think of as essential to the Peanuts universe were not invented until ten, twenty, thirty years after the strip began. It makes you wonder where Calvin and Hobbes would be now if Bill Watterson hadn't called it quits after only ten, quick years.

Mutts

2007-05-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

A rare one today:

Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

This one probably wouldn't work without the SPP. It happens sometimes. Every once in a while.

Gosh, those little guys are cute.

Switcheroo

2007-05-30T18:01:00.001-07:00

Two today:

Drabble by Kevin Fagan
Frazz by Jef Mallet

I'm surprised I never thought to do this before:

Deja Vu

2007-05-29T18:21:00.001-07:00

Only one for this Tuesday, from the reigning all time champ of SPPs:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Wow, talk about deja vu.

Meanwhile, Dan Piraro does his twentieth kids-today-sure-do-wear-baggy-pants gag of the past year.

How about something more timely--like a good kids-today-sure-do-play-that-bug-music-too-loud gag or maybe even a what-ever-happened-to-movie-stars-like-Tom-Mix gag.

Quick Monday update

2007-05-28T20:02:00.001-07:00

Only one for this Monday, from the reigning all-time champ of SPPs:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

I missed posting yesterday, Sunday. Who knew a quaint little ocean-side cottage wouldn't have WiFi? Sorry about that, but I assure you I am back on a regular schedule here. (As if you were worried.)

Sally Forth

2007-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to count today's only candidate, Sally Forth. It actually is pretty clever.

An infinite amount of time can pass within a single panel and also in-between panels. It is something that is unique to the grammar of comics and Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh use it to make a pretty clever joke.

Meanwhile, in my L.A. Times today, Berkley Breathed embarrassingly pretends he is influential and relevant to mainstream entertainment. Read it here.

Friday update

2007-05-25T18:38:00.001-07:00

Quick, Friday picture-only update.

Bo-Nanas by Jon Kovaleski

Look for quick updates all weekend. The Mrs. and I are heading out of town for a couple days for the holiday weekend. I come back from a long blogging vacation only to immediately go on a real one.

Pointless pictures

2007-05-24T21:21:00.001-07:00

Two today:
Piranha Club by Bud Grace
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

The Get Fuzzy streak ends.

In Prickly City, a girl and a coyote have commandeered a dirigible. There's no reason plot-wise or joke-wise for them to have done so, they just have. Sometimes the pictures are there just so that the word balloons have something to point at.

Silent cat

2007-05-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

Get Fuzzy's streak continues:

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

Thank you, Darby, for keeping me in business this week.

There are plenty of 9 Chickweed Lane fans out there, and I do not mean to insult anyone, but...

For the past week and a half, I haven't even attempted to read it. For some reason, when I see this much text blocked together on the comics page, my brain refuses to comprehend. It's not that I can't read without the aide of pictures and sound effects, but I definitely have some sort of mental block here. Am I missing anything by not reading? Or is this just the prose equivalent of McEldowney's stretching-cat weeks.

It would be funniest if I didn't add anything to this.

Silent dog

2007-05-22T18:35:00.001-07:00

Only one today, one poor, pathetic Satchel.

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

By taking two months off, and quietly returning, I might just catch some cartoonists unaware. Shhh, the watch is back.

Wait, I'm Here!

2007-05-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

It's an all-canine edition of the watch today:

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Get Fuzzy and Pooch Cafe both use a silent-sandwich technique. A sandwich made with "wry" bread, maybe?
Ha!

My idea to save the industry--guaranteed to work!!!

2007-04-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

During the course of my year-long study of silent penultimate panels, Doonesbury appeared only occasionally—a silent, angry B.D. here, a silent third-quarter of the White House facade there. This week, however, was over the top with three out of four days using an SPP, and two being essentially the same panel. While not always the case, a preponderance of SPPs indicates a cartoonist spinning his wheels waiting for a good idea to come. And compared to a lot of things in recent Doonesbury, this Jeff applying to be the War Czar is a little boring.

But to follow up on my post from two weeks ago: I have an idea for all you frustrated cartoonists that can't get a break from the syndicates. The essential contradiction of web cartoonists and fans is that while complaining about how dumb and unfunny and talentless newspaper comics are, they also complain that they can't get in. This club is terrible, we say, the DJ is horrible, the drinks are overpriced, and goddamn it, they won't let us in. So, what needs to be done is to re-write the rules. There should be another way to get good, edgy, creative comic strips on newsprint and in the hands of smart readers. And I have an idea. I don't have the means or time to follow through with it (I can barely keep up with a weekly blog,) but I'm sure there is someone who can.

This is it—a weekly, free newspaper of comic strips, paid for by local advertisement. Along with comics by a dozen or so of the best unsyndicated cartoonists unconstrained by format or subject matter, there would be a section dedicated to local entertainment—movie and restaurant reviews, concert and club listings—and it would all distributed on street corners and coffee shops in the hipper neighborhoods of a major city. Basically, I'm talking about an alternative weekly with comics instead of feature-length articles about pollution and transit strikes. Once this paper proves its success in New York or Los Angeles (or even a place like Austin, Texas or Lawrence, Kansas,) it can expand nationally in the same way The Onion has done. (The Onion prints the same “feature” content everywhere but supplements it with a few localized items and lots of local advertising.) I have no experience in newspaper publishing, but I would guess that to start you would need (in addition to a lot of cash) an editor with some sort of cartooning experience, a lay-out and design person, a couple of regular freelancers for the local articles, and a few really good salespeople to fill up the advertising space. Again, I'm talking about a legitimate, professional publication, not a homemade tract printed at 3am at Kinkos. It may just be wishful thinking, but something like this could be very successful if done right.

If the game really is broken, if its fixed for the betterment of dead guys and the amusement of elderly, easily-offended readers, then don't play it. Let's make up a new one.

Next week, I get off my soapbox. I promise.

Legacy strips

2007-04-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

After the Johnny Hart's death last week, Creators Syndicate announced that his strips, B.C. and The Wizard of Id, would be continued by assistants and "digital archives." Some folks are upset about this. One of the common myths in the internet comic strip community is that new cartoonists are kept out of the newspapers by the proliferation of "legacy strips," or, in other words, comics by dead guys. When a cartoonist dies, his strip should cease running and a new cartoonist should get his chance, goes the popular thinking. And I've found myself disagreeing.

While we're getting rid of fifty-year old Peanuts, should we also keep John Lennon off the radio, stop selling Miles Davis albums, and take I Love Lucy off the air?

No doubt, some of these legacy strips are patently awful. (I'm looking right at you, Nancy.) But, so is most everything on television, commercial radio and the best-seller lists. Unfortunately, the major networks and the major newspapers aren't necessarily catering to our refined tastes. They are putting out what they think will sell. And for the most part they're right. Most newspaper readers would prefer to see Dagwood collide with the mailman for millionth time instead of reading a brilliant web-comic filled with timely pop-culture references and sassy talking animals.

Anybody frustrated with the staleness of newspaper comics can find fresher, quirkier stuff elsewhere--the web, a big city's alternative weekly, a good comic book store. Any good cartoonist frustrated with the business aspect of the whole comic strip business can create his or her own alternate distribution system. It's not the syndicates' job to make sure you get exposure. That is yours.

Easter/Johnny Hart

2007-04-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, sometimes some things just don't work out. I was originally going to write about the lack of Easter-themed strips this year. Easter, Income tax deadline, and Memorial Day are normally the three days a cartoonist can't let pass without a special Sunday strip about it. I didn't notice many Easter strips in the paper this morning and thought that that was peculiar enough to write about. But then I went on-line and found plenty. And then I re-read today's newspaper and found plenty more. (I must have been distracted the first time around by my arguing with the TV during the This Week with George Stephanopoulos round-table.) Easter is still celebrated in the funnies. No story there. So then I thought I would just fall back on an old comic-bloggers stand-by--complaining about B.C. His Easter strips are simply something else. And today did not disappoint:

That deserves a big "WTF?"

But, sadly, Johnny Hart passed away today. He was, in fact, an extremely influential and talented cartoonist. His loss is a great one. Mark Evanier wrote a very interesting piece on his blog today about Johnny Hart. He knew him personally and offers a fair critical assessment of his work. Now that Hart's weak and bizarrely religious work will no longer be annoying us everyday, hopefully his good work can be remembered and given its proper due.

And I am sure he is just pleased as punch to die on Easter Sunday.

Metapost: I'm so proud of myself

2007-04-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

As pointed out in the comments, today's (April 3) Retail contains an apparent shout-out to me. I'm so proud to see the term I made up used and used correctly in a syndicated newspaper comic strip. I think I can finally say this: I've contributed to the lexicon! That's been my goal all along, to add a phrase to the terminology of comics. Thank you, Norm Feuti

Also, I would like to ask a huge favor. I'm not sure in what papers Retail is printed--most likely the Seattle Post Intelligencer and maybe a few other papers in the country--but if you have a copy of one, I would love to get my hands on it. If you can help, email me at penultimatepanel@gmail.com. Thanks again, everyone.

Missed deadline

2007-04-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I missed a self-imposed deadline for the first time in my blogging career. Update coming Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanks for sticking with me.

Non Sequitur and Prickly City

2007-03-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Easily, two of the reigning champions of silent penultimate panel usage are Scott Stantis and Wiley Miller. Considering that a good portion of daily Non Sequiturs are single-panel gags, Miller's SPP ratio is extremely high.

When Prickly City debuted in 2004, my first thought was that the girl and animal pair of Carmen and Winslow were a direct rip-off of Non Sequitur's Danae and Lucy. Consciously or not, Scott Stantis created a conservative mirror of Miller's strip. Looking at the SPPs side by side, the parallel is especially apparent.

It is probably fairly obvious which way my political thoughts lean, but it is not because of that that I think Non Sequitur is the better strip. For one thing, the Danae and Lucy relationship , like Calvin and his friend Hobbes, is very genuine. Danae is first of all a lonely girl , raised by a single father, whose one true friend happens to be a talking pony. Like any political strip, that relationship can get lost to bald opinions and straw-man fighting, but Miller does seem to understand that his comic strip ultimately lives and dies by the believability of Danae and Lucy's friendship.

Carmen and Winslow, on the other hand, are just talking scribbles that exist only to be the mouthpiece of Stantis' opinions. We know nothing about Carmen and her likes and dislikes and how she became to be what she is. To be fair, Stantis has tried to add some characterization to Winslow, most notably with the running gag where Winslow tries to fly. But too often, Prickly City is just a slightly more sequential, slightly more sophisticated version of the talking diarrhea that is Mallard Fillmore.

(And it seems that Stantis and Bruce Tinsley subscribe to the same conservative talking points newsletter. They often parrot the exact same obscure argument at roughly the same time. Take these two strips from the past week for instance:

)

Both Non Sequitur and Prickly City need to cut down on the SPPs, but Prickly City still needs a lot more work to become the classic strip that Stantis is striving for.

(Oh, and about these arguments against the existence of global warming--please just give it up. You don't need to abandon your free-market political views to accept the fact of global warming. You can, in fact, just debate the government's role in solving the issue. It's like this: you can honestly and intelligently debate the need for universal health care, but you can't argue the fact that people get sick.)

Web comics

2007-03-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

Those two Peanuts SPPs look almost identical, but they actually are from successive strips (from forty-seven years ago.)

A while ago I left a comment on the Daily Cartoonist that I thought was pretty good. I thought I should unbury it and rewrite it here. It's about webcomics. It seems there is always a fairly successful web-cartoonist bitching about not being able to get a newspaper syndication deal. I'm generalizing here, I know, but often it seems that web cartoonists are simultaneously complaining about the state of newspaper comics and the business of them, while at the same time complaining that he or she can't break into the same business he deplores. I hate this club, they say, they're old and out of touch, have no appreciation for real talent, and, what I really hate about them, is that they won't let me in.

Web comics and newspaper comics are ultimately two different mediums. They have a different form, different rules, and, really, different audiences. As for stage and film actors, being successful in one medium does not necessarily guarantee success in the other.

Also, while I am not saying that one medium is inherently better than the other (even if I personally enjoy one more than the other,) newspaper comics do tend to be more professionally executed and edited than web comics. Even a dull, creatively bankrupt legacy strip like Blondie is more consistent and fundamentally sound than 99.9% of self-published web comics.

In all web publishing (comics, music, video, and, yes, blogs,) there seems to be a misconception that editorial guidance is the same as censorship, that any suggestion or criticism on the part of a publisher somehow contaminates the art. This is not true. F Scott Fitzgerald needed Maxwell Perkins, The Beatles needed George Martin, and, er, The Game needed Dr. Dre.

What is really desired by the web comics crowd is legitimacy. They seem to feel (and maybe not say it out loud) that publication by a syndicate somehow legitimizes their work. A web cartoonist may be extremely successful in his work, earning a living with a devoted fan base, but still feels he is missing something without the “legitimization” of newspaper syndication. This is silly. If you are successful, you are successful.

For web comics to be truly taken seriously, the community itself must take itself seriously. Cartoonists and readers must demand excellence. Cartoonists must not bristle at any criticism that may float their way. Readers and critics need to read intelligently and not engage in the this sucks/this is awesome school of criticism. The web comics community must develop its own standards of legitimacy and not look for approval from a different medium that really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them.

In the course of this blog, the biggest complaints I got where when I dared to criticize lesser known comics like Barkeater Lake. There seems to be an unspoken rule in comics criticism that it's okay and funny to make fun of the Garfields and the Marmadukes, but pointing out the short-comings of small comics with devoted web followings is off-limits. For the web-comics community to fully mature, it most learn to accept Garfield-level criticism.

2007-03-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm back. There are a few slight changes here. I've relaxed the obsessive cataloging of every instance of a silent penultimate panel and instead will just present an assortment of interesting (or extremely dull) ones from throughout the previous week. And my posts were be a little bit longer, and a little less flippant.

The previous week of comics was a frustrating and confusing one in the L.A. Times. The Times dropped four strips and squeezed the remaining into three columns.. The result is a near-unreadable mess. The comics are now scrunched to abnormally tall and skinny proportions--like an old Sunday afternoon TV presentation of a Panavision western. And to make it even more annoying, their explanation for all this was that they were expanding the Sunday Kids section. In order to make room for the fantastic new kids section on Sunday, they were dropping three strips Monday through Saturday. Strange logic.

Originally, the Times dropped Candorville, La Cucaracha, Mr. Boffo, and Mallard Fillmore. But halfway through the week, due to “reader demand,” La Cucaracha was back and Heathcliff was gone. (And Rex Morgan survives!) (And it seems arbitrary to drop Heathcliff and keep Marmaduke—I wonder how they decided to keep one for the other—darts?, coin-flip? amount of ink used?) I hate to see any comic strip dropped, (even, sigh, Mallard Fillmore) and I think newspapers are only shooting themselves in the foot whenever they do condense the comics. Comics make a newspaper special. They are as essential to the newspaper experience as the letters to the editor and the Op/Eds. Newspapers need comics and comics need newspapers. To steel an advertising catch phrase from several months ago, save the comics, save the newspaper.

A good year

2007-03-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, my work here is done. Only one silent penultimate panel for Sunday.

The Meaning of Lila by John Forgetta and L.A. Rose

The L.A. Times shook up their Sunday comics sections today. They expanded the kids section in Comics I to two pages and moved a couple of less kid-friendly strips to Comics II. What it all amounts to is that they have one-half page less of comics. And it looks like they took a "fair and balanced" approach to what to drop. Gone now from the Sunday comics are Candorville and Mallard Fillmore.

Honestly, I didn't notice the lack of Mallard Fillmore at first. But at some point this afternoon I realized that somewhere in the back of my brain, a normal prick of annoyance was missing. I wasn't doing anything special, but it seemed like a better Sunday than normal. I mentally went through my morning and realized what it was, Mallard Fillmore, that little prick, was nowhere to be found.

And this is my last daily update. I'll be posting here once a week on Sundays from now on. It's been a productive year, I think we've accomplished a lot. Thanks for your steady readership. I would not have been as dedicated if I didn't know you were out there.

And now I would like to introduce my new daily blog...
Ta-da-da-da <---that's a trumpet fanfare

Today's Rock Stars:
The Rock Star Metaphor Watch.
http://todaysrockstars.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy it.

Week wrap-up

2007-03-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Continuing with just the pictures.

Candorville by Darin Bell
Frazz by Jef Mallett

Monty and Frazz tie this week with two SPPs each.

All the pictures

2007-03-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

Pictures only tonight. A lot of pictures only.

Adam@Home by Brian Basset
Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson
On the FasTrack by Bill Holbrook
Frazz by Jef Mallett
Hagar the Horrible by Chris Browne
Tina's Groove by Rina Piccolo

More accidental brilliance

2007-03-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Two silent penultimate panels for Thursday:

Brewster Rockit: Space Guy by Tim Rickard
Monty by Jim Meddick

Sometimes the SPP collage takes on a whole new life. And I think it's done so today. Yes, the image of two sci-fi characters, one extremely large, one extremely small staring straight at you is quite intriguing. It almost tops anything else on the comics page.

At least I thought so until I saw this:

Now that is brilliance.

A giant-ass Z

2007-02-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Only one today. Monty sits there and ponders where have all the other silent penultimate panels gone.

Monty by Jim Medick

I found today's Heathcliff pretty interesting:

The Z is so large, it is no longer just a conventional comics device. It has a physical presence that makes the reader reconsider what these traditional pieces of comics shorthand mean. It's a cartoon about the medium itself.

You might think I'm reading too much into a stupid Heathcliff cartoon, but if this was Zippy you would think it was brilliant.

Killer Bs

2007-02-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

Four for this Tuesday:

Between Friends by Sandra Bell-Lundy
Blondie by Dean Young and John Marshall
Bob the Squirrel by Frank Page
Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! by Tim Rickard

And with the last week of daily updates, we have more firsts for the watch. This time, for the time ever, every title on the watch begins with the same letter. A fact which, I guess, is like one of those inconsequential and barely interesting statistics you see on Monday Night Football late in the fourth quarter of a blow out. "This is the first time on Monday Night that two left-footed kickers have played against each other in a dome in October."

Still fine tuning.

2007-02-26T20:20:00.000-08:00

A big day

Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson
Bo-Nanas by John Kovaleski
9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
The Duplex by Glenn McCoy
Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan

I've been at this for just about a year now, and I don't think I've seen something like this before:

A silent penultimate panel with no panels preceding it.

And I counted that, but I didn't count this:

The leading panels show progressive action. It probably goes on for a panel or two too long, but it just doesn't quite count.

Remember, this is the last week of daily updates. Next week, a brand new, mind-blowing blog experience begins.

Blondie.com for the comic strip, Blondie.net for the band.

2007-02-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

Three for this Sunday:

Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott
Blondie by Dean Young and John Marshall
Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson

I guess Blondie has appeared here a few too many times, as currently the Google Ad on this blog is an advertisement to start your own Dagwood sandwich shop franchise. If anybody coming here to read esoteric comic strip criticism and smart-ass remarks ends up buying a Dagwood franchise, well, I'd be very surprised. Please let me know if you do.

Yes or no

2007-02-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

We wrap up the week with two silent penultimate panels:

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

That makes Prickly City the weekly champion with two SPPs between Monday and Saturday.

Unless, you want to count Wednesday and Friday's Get Fuzzy:

I didn't. But they certainly are legitimate candidates.

Quick Friday update

2007-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Friday is the traditional day of the week where a post just quick, picture-only update. So here it is:

Baby Blues by Jerry Scott & Rick Kirkman.

Goodnight.

Shut out

2007-02-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Oh, wow, I think this is another shut out. Maybe may work here is done?

So, according to tradition, a joke from the kids page of the L.A. Times, from Davit, age 11, Los Angeles.

Why did the bee join a rock band?
So it could be the lead stinger.

Well, Davit, that's pretty funny, but it could be a little tighter. Try it this way: Did you hear about that new bee band? They've recorded the backing tracks, but they're still looking for a lead stinger.

See if telling it that way doesn't get you some bigger laughs. Keep it up, you're on your way, kiddo.

Antepenultimate

2007-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

Just one, and it's from forty-seven years ago.

Peanuts by Charles Schulz

After nearly a year of painstakingly pointing out every silent penultimate panel possible, it's time to point out more of the variations. We've seen two silent double this week, and today we see a silent antepenultimate panel in Dog Eat Doug.

A few more

2007-02-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

Three for this Tuesday, one rare, two all too common:

Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Prickly City uses an increasingly common silent-double.

And it is very unusual for Mallard Fillmore to appear officially on the Watch. Not because Bruce Tinsley is a master of comic pacing (oh, Lord, no,) but because it is so rare that his panels follow each other in any sort of sequential order.

And you know what, Duck? I used to be like you. I used to hate going to work on the third Monday of February every year. I totally resented those few that did get the day off. But did I just complain and wait for a vacation day hand-out? No, I worked hard and earned myself a job with a government agency. And, yes, it was very nice to sleep in yesterday. You can have this, too, duck. Just get over your sense of entitlement and do something about your situation.

Speech bubble headroom

2007-02-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

A big start to the week with seven silent penultimate panels:

Candorville by Darin Bell
The Duplex by Glenn McCoy
Cathy by Cathy Guisewite
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey
Garfield by Paws, Inc.
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Momma by Mel Lazarus

Candorville goes with the silent double.

Cathy makes a rare appearance. The constant thought and speech bubbles usually leave the characters with very little headroom. In the Cathy universe, you can't stand up straight without conking your head against your own thoughts.

A demonstration of wasted space

2007-02-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

It's a relatively quiet Sunday. Three.

Herman (reprint) by Jim Unger
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Brewster Rockit, Space Guy! by Tim Rickard

Today's Marmaduke: A one-panel gag
'

stretched needlessly into a full Sunday. Each preceding panel could be excised with no loss to the gag.

In fact, you could randomly rearrange the strip and not change a thing.

It's sad to see newsprint so blatantly wasted.

Huh?

2007-02-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

And again, only one. A very slow week, indeed.

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

Pearls Before Swine and 9 Chickweed Lane tie this week with two SPPs each.

And what's going on in Get Fuzzy? It could be the joke is simply that silly Satchel says he is so hungry he could eat and the rest of the strip is just a silent trail-off. But, if so, why does Rob look off-stage? This could also be one of those booger-like set-up for a future pay-off. But, if that is the case, why do it on a Saturday? No one will remember what's going on on Monday.

Quick quick quick

2007-02-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

Only time for a real quick update. One today:

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney

Frazz comes close, but no cigarillo.

Shut out.

2007-02-15T21:55:00.000-08:00

It looks like a rare day with no legitimate silent penultimate panels.

The closest is Overboard. The panel is necessary for the gag. Sort of.

DemetriosX make a good observation about today's Luann. In many cases, a cartoonist would use an SPP here. Here, Greg Evans demonstrates how to create a comic pause without using the standard SPP cliche.

But, today is a shut out, so:

How did the hammerhead do on his exam?
He nailed it.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Ahh, one lone, special Valentine's Day silent penultimate panel:

On the Fastrack by Bill Holbrook

Pearls Before Swine comes close with a silent antepenultimate panel followed by silent action penultimate panel.

I was about to count up and discuss all the Valentine's Day-themed strips today, but that would keep me here forever. And I just can't say "Sorry, honey, we'll have to cancel the reservations. I've got blogging to do."

Special friends

2007-02-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

Four silent penultimate panels--all beneath the fold of the second page of the L.A.Times comic section. It was this kind of thing that made me start the blog in the first place.

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh

Oh, I just love Non Sequitur's Danae and Lucy. That precocious little girl can't stop getting into trouble, and her adorable pet pony can only try to talk sense into...

Wait. Huh? Oh, that's Danae's seldom-seen sister, Kate. And I guess she needs a fantastic friend, too. Should we look forward to every recurring character having a special friend?

Prickly City

2007-02-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

We start the week off quietly. Just one political silent penultimate panel:

Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Yes, I remember fondly those childhood years when I never went to school and just jumped around the desert talking politics with my animal friend. Where some political strips are artificially contrived universes of stock political thought, Prickly City is just so natural, it's like a mountain stream of relevance.

Not.

So, just three weeks left of daily Watch updates. Then we debut the most astounding daily blog you have ever witnessed. Stay tuned.

Dogs, cats

2007-02-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

It's a very quiet Sunday on the SPP front:

Herman (reprint) by Jim Unger
Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

It's been several weeks now since the L.A. Times dropped the Sunday Heathcliff in favor of Pink Panther. And I've slowly realized that a delicate balance has been lost on the Sunday funny page. The simple fact is, one cannot enjoy Marmaduke's Dog Gone Funny without its counter-part Kitty Korner! My Sunday mornings aren't complete without the irresistible hijinks of both canines and felines.

Either drop Marmaduke or bring back Heathcliff. We need balance restored.

Week wrap-up

2007-02-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

We wrap up the daily week with three silent penultimate panels:

Adam@Home by Brian Basset
Prickly City by Scott Stantis
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey

With today's appearance, Sherman's Lagoon becomes the only strip with multiple entries this week. So there is no single gross SPP abuser this time. Good job, comic strips.

Ka-Zaam

2007-02-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

Two more for this Friday:

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey

Wait, Sherman's Lagoon? The one with the fish? What th-?

I've shared my whole thing about anthropomorphic fish before. The whole conceit can be very limiting to a cartoon. And when the cartoon world you've created no longer lets you address the things you want to, you can do like Johnny Hart and simply ignore it and just go ahead and have your Before-Christ cavemen talk about Jesus. Or, you can magically transform your characters.

I mean, really, bring in a magical character and have him transform your characters.

So the little nerdy fish and the milquetoast shark are now just a nerd and a milquetoast. They've become what they formerly only represented. It would be like Charles Schulz suddenly drawing Charlie Brown as an actual lonely and loveless middle-aged man.

Quick update

2007-02-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

Quick, late update. Three today:

Bob the Squirrel by Frank Page
Bo-Nanas by John Kovaleski
9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney

It's been a while for Brooke. Welcome back, we've missed you.

A tangent

2007-02-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

We're seeing the same flood/trickle pattern as last week. Strange.

The Duplex by Glenn McCoy

Speaking of anachronisms:

How long until every one has forgotten what a record store (and it's obnoxious clerk) is? I still by CDs, but only because I am DRM-phobic. (It comes with the territory as a Linux user.) That's just me. For most of the world, little discs with music on them are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Oh, and about the punchline, (let me get my snotty-music-afficianado hat on,) I wouldn't call Kevin Federline difficult listening; difficult listening would be something like Shostakovich. For me, K-Fed and Kenny G are in the same category: non-listening music. They just sort of take up aural space and don't do anything--perfect for people who love carrying around an iPod but don't really care for music. ...Ahem. I'm sorry. I'll get off this tangent. I'll just shut up and go listen to some krautrock now.

The All-purpose prefix solution

2007-02-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

Another big day, another full week of silent penultimate panels:

The Duplex by Glenn McCoy
The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee by John Hambrock
Hagar the Horrible by Chris Browne
Momma by Mel Lazarus
Monty by Jim Medick (technically, it's not silent--there's music playing--but it still counts.)

Vikings of the New Deal.

Chris Browne, Johnny Hart, Gary Brookins, listen up. It is actually very easy to create parallels to our current world that work believably in your imaginary past and/or animal world. It's called the Hanna-Barbarra All-Purpose Prefix solution.
Here is how the punchline would go in the Flintstones: "Hopefully, Social Rock-curity payments!"

So simple, huh? Please work on it.

Dear Mr. Trail

2007-02-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

We start the week with two silent penultimate panels:

Cow and Boy by Mark Leiknes
Luann by Greg Evans

Cow and Boy again uses the silent double.

And the power of the pause is further diluted.

Yes, I know, Mark, it has been some time. I was worried you might not want to hear from me after so long. I'm so glad that's not the case.

Special note: In four weeks, we celebrate the one year anniversary of the Silent Penultimate Panel Watch. And we will honor that by cutting back to only weekly updates. We here at Watch HQ are busy preparing a new daily blog that will totally amaze you. Stay tuned.

Superbowl Sunday

2007-02-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

I only found two today, very spare for a Sunday:

Bo Nanas by John Kovaleski
Herman (reprint) by Jim Unger

Mallard Fillmore might count, but I just can't tell.

Are those panels sequential? Where do those bespectacled, paper-holding people belong in the Mallard universe? The duck has stumped me.

Thought pause

2007-02-03T20:10:00.000-08:00

Quick weekend update here. And just one silent penultimate panel found today:

Garfield by Paws, Inc.

This is another example of the entirely artificial "thought pause."

We just don't add comic pauses to our thoughts like that.

Of course, Garfield could be addressing the reader directly, engaging in a sort of cat-telepathy. So I might be wrong.

Hmmm,

2007-02-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

I do believe it is a shut-out. Can anybody help me out here?

The closest we have is Momma's "Hmmm,"

It's been such a busy week, It's surprising to see this sort of drop off.

So, as per usual on these shut out days, I shall re-type a joke from the L.A. Times kids page:

Why is Alabama the smartest State?
Because it has four A's and one B.

(But what about the L and the M? How does that fit in? A good joke needs some internal logic for the parallel to work. I swear, kids make the worst comedians.)

Poop

2007-02-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

Another big day on the silent penultimate panel front:

The Other Coast by Adrian Raeside
Nancy by Guy and Brad Gilchrist
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Animal Crackers by Fred Wagner

Poop jokes. Why?

Clap on

2007-01-31T20:37:00.000-08:00

That will be four today:

Bo-Nanas by ~~Mark Leiknes~~ John Kovaleski (Oops. I think it's the K's that screw with my brain.)
Fisher by Philip Street (special thanks to Ugliness Man for obtaining a scan of this Toronto-only strip)
Broom Hilda by Russel Meyers
Red & Rover by Brian Basset

After reading today's Sally Forth, I was going to complain here about the over-use of pop-culture quotes--how they're played out and cliched and how we should have stopped considering these things funny sometime back in 1996 or so. But then I remembered that I made my own random Star Trek reference right here in yesterday's post. I would have to nitpick and come up with some elaborate explanation of how this Sally Forth Back to the Future quote is trite and useless while my Trek-talk was in actuality a really clever metaphor. But it's not right. I apologize for making a random pop-culture reference. Pop-culture references are played out.

A Half-dozen

2007-01-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

Lots of SPP activity today, thanks to everyone for helping me out.

Garfield by Paws, Inc.
The Humble Stumble by Roy Schneider
Monty by Jim Meddick
Pickles by Brian Crane
Red & Rover by Brian Basset
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

And some variations on the theme:

Red & Rover is actually a silent double.

And Dog Eat Doug uses a silent antepenultimate panel.

If my tricorder readings are correct, Non Sequitur may be the all-time SPP champion.

I'll need to run the data through the ship's computer to verify. That may take some time.

Slight technical trouble

2007-01-29T20:25:00.000-08:00

Six today, but due to strange technical trouble, only four are pictured.

Andy Capp by Roger Kettle and Roger Mahoney
Momma by Mel Lazarus
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

And not pictured:
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell
Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley

It seems that no King Features comic can be seen anywhere on any of the internets tonight. Which is a shame, as I lose a chance to complain about Mallard Fillmore. And, Jesus Christ, does today's need some serious complaining about.

We'll be back tomorrow, full speed ahead.

No set up

2007-01-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

Three nicely colored silent penultimate panels this Sunday:

Bo-Nanas by Mark Leiknes
Out of the Gene Pool by Matt Janz
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

As Charles pointed out, the second panel in the Humble Stumble serves the same function as an SPP. It's everything but penultimate.

Is a punchline without a set-up still a joke?

The Photoshop artists behind the Pink Panther try to answer that question. And I believe the answer is no.

Is he following something, is he being followed, has he tried to get through the door before? Just a little bit of exposition would be nice. As it is, it's a gag with no reason to exist.

Saturday

2007-01-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

Three silent penultimate panels to wrap up the week:

Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson
Garfield by Paws, Inc
Peanuts (1960 reprint) by Charles Schulz

And Dog Eat Doug will be the champion of the week.

Feature length update tomorrow.

How long?

2007-01-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Three for this Friday:

Cow and Boy by Mark Leiknes
Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
Cow and Boy by Darby Conley

At one point, just the gutter between panels was enough to create a comic beat. Then came the silent penultimate panel, and now not even that is enough.

Beats just get longer and longer and weaker and weaker. And they'll just have to get longer to have any sort of impact. How long?

Very long.

The Duck

2007-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Only two silent penultimate panels for Thursday:

Humble Stumble by Roy Schneider
Piranha Club by Bud Grace

At some point last summer, this blog came dangerously close to being nothing but a daily complaint about Mallard Fillmore. I just couldn't help myself. Then DaveyK started Duck and Cover, and lifted my burden. I was able to return my focus back to pacing-device esoteria.

In recent weeks, however, Mallard Fillmore has fallen into such a deep chasm of nonsense and delirium, I just can't let the plunge go by without mentioning. After two months of complaints about cranberry sauce, Ted Kennedy and Bowl Games (all in rhyming iambic craptameter,) he has now spelunked to uncharted depths.

Yes, it is time again for a double edition of the Silent Mallard Fillmore Game. Where we take out all the words,

And try to guess what the hell the duck is complaining about now.

Genetic research? Liberal indoctrination? Don Ho?

All wrong. The answer appears below.

(For even more in-depth duck analysis, see What's Wrong With Mallard Fillmore.)

Artificial

2007-01-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Silent penultimate panels for Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Garfield by Paws, Inc.
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey

Overboard uses a SPP following two other silent panels. Almost clever.

But still unnecessary.

And for an entirely artificial pause:

*sigh*

A whole bunch.

2007-01-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a a day.

The Other Coast by Adrian Raeside
For Better of For Worse by Lynn Johnston
Monty by Jim Medick
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell
Shoe by Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins
Red and Rover by Brian Basset

And that's not even counting the controversial maybes:

These things just come in waves, and it's high tide.

Changes

2007-01-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

Four for the watch this Monday:
Bo Nanans by John Kovaleski
The Buckets by Greg Kraven
Wizard of Id by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart
Heart of the City by Mark Tatulli

Wizard of Id may not count, but there is something interesting about self-righteous, born-again Johnny Hart making a "my wife has a fat ass" joke.

Today's Doonesbury may not have been the funniest ever, but it does demonstrate how far Garry Trudeau's draftmanship (or the quality of his assistants) has come.

He was once the Scott Adams of his day, derided for his lack of chops and accused of lowering the artistic standards of the daily comics page.

Times have changed.

Pink Panther

2007-01-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

It looks like four silent penultimate panels for this championship Sunday:

Foxtrot by Bill Amend
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Piranha Club by Bud Grace
Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson (four in a row!)

Darby Conley shows how to stretch a one panel gag across four:

For unknown reasons, the L.A. Times dropped the Sunday Heathcliff. No real loss there (one can only stand so many reader-submitted clever cat stories,) but the chosen replacement is very puzzling:

Pink Panther? A comic strip based on a forty-year old cartoon based on a movie's opening credits? Is there any one who would be interested in this? The reason's for this strip's existence can't be based in nostalgia. The only thing the Pink Panther reminds me of is insulation commercials. There is one possible explanation for its appearance in the L.A. Times--it is syndicated by Tribune Media, the mega-company that owns the Times. This is probably just another cost-cutting measure designed to homogenize together the worst aspects of the Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun into one third-class budget newspaper. But, really, could the fees for Heathcliff really have been that high? Puzzling, very puzzling.

Three in a row

2007-01-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

It looks like three today:

B.C. by Johnny Hart
Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson
Rose is Rose by Don Wimmer

Johnny Hart shows how to put a silent penultimate panel in-between two other silent panels.

I did miss an SPP in yesterday's Dog Eat Doug. (Thanks, Charles.) That makes three days in a row. Here they are, all lined up together.

The rhythm gets sort of dull after a while, doesn't it?

Pictures

2007-01-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

Four from four usual suspects.

Pictures for now. Feature-length update Sunday.

Appearances

2007-01-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

Four, with pictures, today:
Dog Eat Doug by Brian Anderson
Garfield by Paws, Inc.
La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

This marks a rare appearance for La Cucaracha. Of the non-serial strips I see each day in the L.A. Times, La Cucaracha, Jump Start and Dilbert are the rarest offenders.

Garfield, which I avoid everyday except when there is a gaping, wordless panel to draw my attention, is one of the most common offenders.

Every once in a while, someone tells me that I'm misguided in my crusade, that silent reactions are a classic comedy staple, and that a certain gag needs the SPP. What gets lost in the argument is that most often the punchline that the SPP precedes is terribly lame. In these instances, SPPs provide the appearance of a gag when there is none actually there. Today's Garfield, for instance.

Technical trouble

2007-01-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

I'm having trouble with uploading images to Blogger. I'll have to make do.

There are two silent penultimate panels today:

Andy Capp by Roger Mahoney and Roger Kettle -- Here, Andy Capp is at a bar with a guy reading a newspaper. Capp stares blankly at the pint of beer in front of him. No doubt he is contemplating how life has slipped by and how he keeps putting off the colonoscopy that his doctor says he needs.

Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey -- Here Sherman's wife stares blankly at the newspaper in front of her. Sherman looks on longingly, no doubt remembering their first year together, when the music they danced to seemed fresh and all colors around them brighter.

I'll try to get the pictures up later; I might be reading more into these than I should.

Update 1/18
Ta-dah:

Max

2007-01-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

Two on this Tuesday:

Cow and Boy by Mark Leiknes
Piranha Club by Bud Grace

Something about that Cow and Boy panel disturbs me. A talking cow and a boy naked but for overalls--they allow this in the paper?

The extended family circus is filled with these sorts of one-shot, random characters. They appear just for the sake of a gag. In this instance, Max has a champion goatee of the kind only worn by nineteen year old rap metal bass players from the Inland Empire. With this sort of influence, Billy will be making backyard wrestling videos of himself falling in to racks of fluorescent light bulbs at the age of fifteen.

Monday

2007-01-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

Four today:

Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott
Cathy by Cathy Guisewite
Drabble by Kevin Fagan
Hagar the Horrible by Chris Browne

That's all I have time for, regular feature-length posts will return tomorrow. Thanks for being patient with me this weekend.

Snappy

2007-01-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

Three SPPs for this Sunday:

Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

Adam@Home and Pooch Cafe don't quite count, but they still suffer from awkward rhythm. Snappier almost always equals funnier.

Picture only update

2007-01-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday night of a three day weekend; I'm just quickly posting the pictures.

Nancy by Guy and Brad Gilchrist
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Good night, see you tomorrow.

Grammar

2007-01-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Real quick update for Friday:

Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson
Candorville by Darrin Bell
Frazz by Jef Mallett
Overboard by Chip Dunham

Grammar gags are rarely much to laugh at.

Legitimate

2007-01-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

Four today, all found the old fashioned way--in print, in the newspaper delivered to my door.

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Prickly City by Scott Stantis
Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Doonesbury counts, but the SPP is essential to the gag.

So, on the watch, but with no finger wagging. A rare case indeed.

Possible shutout.

2007-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

So, just one and it may not count on account of technicalities.

Bob the Squirrel by Frank Page

But, this is from the Bob the Squirrel GoComics page, which is reprinting an earlier strip. While on the actual Bob the Squirrel web site, guest cartoonists are filling in for three weeks . The rules committee computer has been unable to sift through all our established eligibility standards and provide an answer. Who knew this thing would get so complicated?

Deconstruction

2007-01-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

Three on Tuesday:

Blondie under the direction of Dean Young
Candorville by Darrin Bell
The Meaning of Lila by John Forgetta and "L.A. Rose"

I could say that today's Blondie is actually brilliant:

By directly informing the reader that there is no punchline, it forces the reader to consider the whole artificiality of the standard SPP set-up/pause/punch-line rhythm. It's a self-conscious criticism of form.

Or, it's just another lame Mr. Dithers hates Dagwood gag.

Winnie the Pooh

2007-01-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

The week starts out strong:

Bo Nanas by ~~Mark Leiknes~~ John Kovaleski*
Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! by Tim Rickard
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh
Winnie the Pooh by Disney Enterprises

The official credit for the syndicated Winnie the Pooh strip is "A.A. Milne & E.H. Shepard."

Yes, Milne has come back from the dead to write gags as generic as Costco toilet paper. And Shepard (also reanimated) has decided that the Disney versions of his characters are, in fact, much more charming.

*Edit, 1/9. Thanks to fact-checker Charles for correcting this embarrassing miscredit. (In a post about misleading credits, too.) The biggest difference between blogging and real writing is the lack of editorial oversight. Oh, how I would love to have an editor.

The rise of the antepenultimates

2007-01-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm counting three for this Sunday:
Andy Capp by Roger Kettle and Roger Mahoney
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Shoe by Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Does Non-Sequitur count? We think so, but you may disagree.

The most fascinating thing today is the number of silent antepenultimate panels. This is just a small assortment. What is going on here? Instead of awkward silence before the punchline, we now have awkwardness before the setup before the punchline. Just where will this all end?

History

2007-01-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

Quickly here with three silent penultimate panels:

Between Friends by Sandra Bell-Lundy
Nancy by Guy and Brad Gilchrist
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

GoComics reprints old Calvin and Hobbes daily. This month, they re-set and started from the beginning. So here we get to see Bill Watterson's first Calvin and Hobbes SPP ever.

Trollope

2007-01-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Two for this Friday:

Bo-Nanas by John Kovaleski
Piranha Club by Bud Grace

In Thursday's Prickly City, I mistook the squiggly rectangle thing in the scribbly girl's hands for a book, and mis-read "trollop" as "Trollope."

For a day there, I thought Scott Stantis was making a clever literary reference and a statement about how our culture forces children to read maudlin 19th century fiction too early in life.

But, oh well:

That rectangle thing is a doll, and Stantis is just using our grandmothers' word for slut.

Echoes

2007-01-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Two silent penultimate panels for this Thursday:

The Born Loser by Chip Sansom
Garfield by Paws, Inc.

The SPP in the Born Loser is actually necessary.

There is no better way to do a sassy echo gag. But really, is there that much of a distinction between a well-executed and a poorly-executed sassy echo gag?

Is this another fat joke? Or is this just another incomprehensible gag spat out by the Joke-a-tron 2000 while it was defragmenting.

Peanuts

2007-01-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

Three more today:

Candorville by Darrin Bell
Momma by Mel Lazarus
Peanuts (1960 reprint) by Charles Schulz

That's two in a row from beyond the grave for Charles Schulz. If my calculations are correct, there won't be another one until January 27. I won't always admit it, but I first discovered the SPP phenomenon reading the early volumes of the Complete Peanuts.
Having to use exactly four identically sized panels every day forced Schulz to come up with ways to stretch out gags that might not necessarily need those four panels. His SPP usage seems to have peaked around 1957-1958. After that, it tapers off. Consciously or not, Schulz may have realized that he was repeating the same rhythm a little too often.

Building codes

2007-01-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

Three silent penultimate panels today:

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
Peanuts (1960 reprint) by Charles Schulz

and two gags about building codes:

Happy new year

2007-01-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

Two silent penultimate panels found this first day of the year.

Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey

And with what did the L.A. Times replace Foxtrot? Tundra by Chad Carpenter. It looks to be your standard YAWSP cartoon. (Yet Another Wacky Single Panel.) I'm totally unfamiliar with it; for now I'll just have to wait and see.

The Scarlet Arrow

2006-12-31T19:58:00.000-08:00

And we wrap up 2006 with four silent penultimate panels:

Hagar the Horrible by Chris Brown
Luann by Greg Evans
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh
Brewster Rockit: Space Guy by Tim Rickard

Brewster Rockit uses an extra-extended silent-double.

Sally Forth's may be a silent penultimate panel or a silent antepenultimate panel.

The two full column panels suggest that the last four panels should be read top to bottom. Further, Ted's tie and torso leads the reader's eye straight to the borderless silent panel. But traditional comic strip rhythm (and normal left-to-right reading habits) says that the silent panel should be penultimate. Either way, the gag reads the same, further demonstrating the uselessness of the silent reaction.

Back in the day, comic book editors would fix these sort of confusing lay outs with a "scarlet arrow" --giant pointers or numbers telling the reader exactly how to read it. It was also meant to embarrass the artist. Considering how they used to be treated, editors must likely also withheld a meal and removed one more link from the chain between the artist's wrist and his desk.

Still the weekend

2006-12-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

Another quick one for the last dailies of 2006:

Bo-nanas by John Kovaleski
Cow and Boy by Mark Leiknes
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh

All strips that appeared here this week appeared only once. That's a rare thing.