The Decline of the Sunday Funnies

As a kid I read the comics every Sunday and looked forward to it but it seems times have changed.

In the not too distant past, comic strips once provided timely and witty commentary on the current news of the world. They were generally just about how the world is strange, crazy, and funny. The days of insight have fallen by the wayside and the funnies have relegated themselves to cheap anecdotes and subjugated themselves to the lowest common denominator.

I’m not romanticizing the political cartoons one might find in the New Yorker magazine where the smug can be smelled right off the stand, just comics with social relevancy. Comics like Calvin and Hobbes, a long standing favorite of all generations, and much to my chagrin is still finding a new audience. 


It showed the world in an earnest perspective of a young child. Then we have Far Side providing non-sequiturs and pointing out some of the most absurd bits of life that we can all relate to.

           

Reading the Sunday paper recently I’ve noticed how insignificant comic strips have become. Where is the social commentary in the strips? It died years ago. Calvin and Hobbes and the Far Side pushed some social conventions and did it in anywhere from 1-5 frames.
The funnies are no longer funny.

If I see another Garfield strip referencing lasagna or him being a fat and lazy fuck, I'll flip. He should just bang Nermal and get it over with. Fat men can’t be too picky. Cathy was a fat lazy whore and Dilbert and his coworkers are incredibly inefficient. I understand there is a place in the funnies for strips like this, I really do. We all need an escape and frivolous and silly is one way to achieve it.

The Sunday funny section gets smaller every year. The decline of the newspaper certainly has something to do with this. With circulation declining it makes it much more difficult for new strips to break through. If a new strip does break through there is a decreased chance it can achieve the type of syndication and success others have had in years past.

It’s in fact something that was inevitable. Something few could have seen 17 years ago when the Internet first entered many homes in America. That this new information source would supplant our primary source of news and entertainment after hundreds of years. But it did and it ushered in a new age of “Funnies’’.

The new age of funnies is certainly a change from the past, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a change for the worse. There are many benefits to having comics no longer tethered to publishers and syndication. No one has to worry about offending anybody and the purest of opinions can be expressed with less dire consequences.

Best of all, anyone can create them. That doesn't mean they’re worth reading, but hey it’s an opportunity nonetheless. With sites like Penny Arcade and many others there are great outlets for the art to continue albeit in a different form.

Though the days where many others and I looked forward to the Sunday paper for the Funnies, and not just the Best Buy weekly sale have passed, it doesn’t mean the tradition has too. It’s taken on a new form and been put into the hands of a new generation.

No web comic will gain the same ubiquitous recognition as their paper counterparts once did, it doesn’t take the value away from the message. Being able to tell a story and make a point in a few short sentences and images is a unique talent and one that cannot be taken for granted. All I hope for is that those continuing the tradition do so in a manner fitting of the Sunday Funnies, Make them relevant, humorous and most of all, enjoyable to everyone.