Comic Strips

This is maybe a topic that right off the bat divides my readership whoever you are. Read and follow. Couldn’t care less. Comic – not tickling my funny bone. Those story strips were probably part of the reason I sorta read in first grade and through years of teaching I clipped panels to illustrate plays on words or illustrations of allusions, those life lessons that everyone is familiar with. Join your journey with mine or just shake your head at what attracts some people.

My daddy loved comic strips. He sat in that previously discussed rocking chair and chuckled out loud at the antics of Jeep in Bringing Up Father and of Li’l Abner , the hillbilly who lived in Dogpatch, the counterpart of the day for The Beverly Hillbillies. He sat me on his lap in a position where he could see the paper over my head. One finger pointed to what was happening and the words that brought life to the actions. Two of my favorite strips are still in our paper. Though at one time I was enamored (yes, that’s the word to choose) with Prince Valiant and his Singing Sword and ongoing adventures, that fervor has dwindled. He married, had children, and now is being drawn by the fourth illustrator since 1937. The story line is like reading paragraphs and problems/solutions need to be remembered from Sunday to Sunday. My next ongoing series is The Phantom, currently #22, I think. Very up to date, the strip this week deals with AI and a capsule that is programed to think it has landed on the moon instead of in the jungle.

Comics are not all of this world. The story lines of Peanuts are still from the archives of Charles Shultz and the personalities of his characters will ever remain the same from Lucy being snippy to Charlie Brown’s memorable lines from A Charlie Brown Christmas. B.C. works with the stone age crew that at times offers a spiritual moment to note and remember. As the verse for the week reminds us, papers have to fill pages. On some days, I am just glad I have these as a choice over political discussions, climate disasters, and riots around the world.

There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out 

Ecclesiastes 12:12