Comic Riffs is a blog devoted to the comics fan. Come in, sit down and put your feet up as we celebrate, contemplate, eviscerate and pontificate on cartoons.
Comic Riffs: August 10, 2008 - August 16, 2008
The E-Mailbag: The Caption Contest That Does Not Insult You With Cash Prizes!
AND THE WINNERS OF OUR FIRST O-FFIC-IAL CAPTION CONTEST ARE... We put out a call for Caption Contest entries last week and your clever responses did not disappoint. The cartoon in question was a recent "Rhymes With Orange" strip...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 15, 2008; 10:45 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (24)
Categories:
The E-Mailbag
Save & Share:
The Morning Line: The Riffy Awards (For Better or for Worse)
Much business to take care of today, so let's get right to it... First, many within the cartooning community are a-chattering over this week's announcement that beginning Sept. 1, "For Better or For Worse" will move into what is being...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 15, 2008; 6:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (13)
Categories:
The Morning Line
Save & Share:
The Riff: An Ode to "Calvin and Hobbes"
Bill Watterson's tot and tiger remain irreplaceable. "For all their seeming simplicity, the expressive possibilities of comics rival those of any other art form." -- Bill Watterson (2001) For a time as a teen, we spent countless hours studying...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (29)
Categories:
The Riffs
Save & Share:
The Morning Line: When Comics "Pull a Pastis"...
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE: Oh, Rat leaves his mark all right. (UFS)Enlarge Comic In today's "Pearls Before Swine," Rat coins a phrase that we feel compelled to appropriate without shame, embarrassment or royalty payment. The new phrase is "Pulling a Pastis,"...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 14, 2008; 6:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (15)
Categories:
The Morning Line
Save & Share:
The Rant: "Beetle Bailey" Must Shape Up or Ship Out
BEETLE BAILEY: It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that relevant ring... (KFS) Enlarge Comic In three weeks, "Beetle Bailey" will celebrate its 58th birthday. And to that we whoop: "Congratulations!" "What an accomplishment!" Oh, and one other...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 13, 2008; 11:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (19)
Categories:
The Rants
Save & Share:
The Morning Line: When Bad Art Happens to Good Characters
When a witty comic-stripper who has no pretension of drawing well gives us bizarre art, we get it. To quibble over the art is like complaining about the cinematography of a hilarious Christopher Guest mockumentary. Then, though, there are the...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 13, 2008; 6:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (8)
Categories:
The Morning Line
Save & Share:
The Rant: DC Is the Funniest City...After Montreal?
When it comes to comedy, with all due respect, this month's GQ magazine has all the ham-handed insight of a Gallagher routine. We've no beef with Seth Rogen cracking the cover of the recent "Comedy Issue," you understand, and...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 12, 2008; 2:49 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (2)
Categories:
The Rants
Save & Share:
The Morning Line: From John Edwards, Cartoon Lessons Learned
SALLY FORTH: Where parting is such sweet sorrow. (KFS)Enlarge Comic If there is one overarching Life Lesson to be gleaned from the whole John Edwards run-of-the-mill(worker) affair -- at least for cartoonists -- it is this: A pretty head of...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 12, 2008; 6:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (9)
Categories:
The Morning Line
Save & Share:
The E-Mailbag: Now Taking Your Comments (Out of Context)
Time, now, to dip into the e-mailbag... Thanks for the interview with Stephan Pastis -- "Pearls" is required daily reading! Pig, Rat, Zebra, the crocs -- they're all great. Can't wait to introduce our baby (due in March!) to this...
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 11, 2008; 11:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (6)
Categories:
The E-Mailbag
Save & Share:
The Morning Line: The Olympic Bar Is Mighty Uneven
When you're a comic-stripper staring at that blank Bristol board, turning to World Events for inspiration can be a double-edged Exact-O knife. In the best of all worlds, you tap into the approaching zeitgeist with sparkling wit and eerie prescience....
By
Michael Cavna
|
August 11, 2008; 6:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (11)
Categories:
The Morning Line
Save & Share:
