The Top Ten
in order of preference:
1)Garfield
2)Calvin & Hobbes
3)Beetle Bailey
4)Blondie
5)Archie
6)Peanuts
7)Mother Goose & Grimm
8)Dennis the Menace
9)The Phantom
10)Moose Miller
The lure of comic strips have remained as strong as it was when I first took a liking to the same. One of the prime reasons of getting used to opening the newspaper every morning, and especially on Sundays, was my love of comic strips. It evolved into the love for comic books of all sorts, be it the capers of Tintin, or Asterix, or the fondness for the Archie comic books (which was always looked down upon by the puritanical adults) or the desi treasure-house of colorful narratives - the Amar Chira Katha (an eclectic collection of tales from history, mythology, folk-lore and more) & the Indrajal Comics (where action-adventures of the Phantom, Rip Kirby, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, and Bahadur were featured). My comic book heroes were aplenty: from the superheroes like Spiderman and Batman to Tarzan & Korak.
Among the magazines, The Illustrated Weekly of India was a favorite of mine - as it had a rich offering of The Adventures of Phantom. The love for comics never dissuaded me to take up reading of the serious nature, rather it opened the floodgates of my imagination. I rue the fact that in our country we have never had exclusive outlets for comic books as rampant for a century or so in America. However, the comic strips still survive, they still have their place of pride in the daily newspapers, despite cost-cutting through curtailing of the quantity on offer. Television has morphed many of the print-age comics into their dynamic animation versions, yet for a thoroughbred comics-lover like me, the preference for comic strips cannot be subdued by any such replacements.
6 comments:
Well comics are such things which always attract the child heart as well as the matured buffs to. It a complete entertainment in terms of the words wid funny touches. well the post you have given over here is really a nice one to cherish all those days of my childhood when i used to hide the magazines behind my text books .....
This is one of the coolest listings of yours, dude!
It was a pleasant surprise to learn that you have been such a great 'comic-strip' buff.
I love almost all the ones that you have mentioned, though my order of preference would have been different. I am not familiar with Moose Miller or Mother Goose & Grimm. But I would have had Andy Capp, Family Circus, The Born Loser or Executive Suite among my favorites!
Blondie, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, and Archie are the best known comic strips, I guess. They are being featured the most in the greater number of magazines and newspapers allover. And their appeal lies in the fact that they have a universal appeal, plus they have a timeless quality. I also like Hagar the Horrible, Redeye, Beau Peep and The Lockhorns - all of which are classic favorites!
wow..very happy to see ur write up on a topic close to my heart as well...u r so true..comic strips r somehow a part and parcel of growing up years for most but somehow they seldom get their rightful place in the book-lover's world!!And i completely agree with u that cartoons on tv can never match up to the magic the print versions can create..
My personal favourite among ur list will be Calvin and Hobbes surely :)
Wow! Comics are my passion too!
You know, historically the comic strips dealt with only humorous subject matter, but now its scope has expanded to encompass the full range of literary genres.
Today, apart from the comic strips found in newspapers and magazines, and the much-loved, age-old comic books, there's a huge upsurge of the graphic novels (which are often known to have adult content), and comic strips/panels that regularly appear on the web.
Almost all the comic strips that you have listed here are my favorites too. A few inclusions: For Better or for Worse, Doonesbury, FoxTrot, Mutts, Trudy, Luann, and Cathy (the last three being essentially chick-lit comic strips).
My all-time favorite newspaper regular: Peanuts
Nothing beats it...... still!
Post a Comment