Thursday, June 5, 2008

Remembering comic strips of yore

Do you long for the things of times' past, like telephone booths, vinyl records and those fried apple pies from McDonald's?

I don't really, I said to myself as I was clicking through a list of the Top 25 Things People Wish Would Return, as complied by AOL's Money writers.

But there is one thing that I do miss. The Far Side comic strip by Gary Larson, which was No. 1 on AOL's list. It was genius, out-of-the-box cartooning.

I stopped reading the comics a while ago when Charlie Brown and the whole "Peanuts" gang was put to rest. Over the years, I've seen a number of my favorite cartoon strips retire. My favorite one of all was "Calvin and Hobbes," about a thrill-seeking young boy and his stuffed tiger. They would go on imaginative adventures to the moon and play hours of Calvinball — the game where you make up the rules as you go along. Reading it was like reliving part of my childhood.

Another strip I dearly miss was "Outland." I always looked forward to reading about Opus the Penguin's plights every Sunday, along with that weird pop-eyed cat, Bill. Was I the only one who thought he looked strange? I was really sad to see "Outland" end.

Speaking of cats, I also enjoyed reading "Garfield," — though I loved the TV cartoon version a lot more. You can still find "Garfield" and "Peanuts" in the Herald along with some of the newer comics that may or may not stand the test of time. Unfortunately, the comic strips of today don't hold my attention like they used to. What are your thoughts on our current comic offerings? — January Holmes

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