Whether it were the Sunday Comics, Shel Silverstein or Louis Sachar, I'm sure everyone has some funny favorites from their youth. I thought I'd maybe split this one up into a couple days because of the quantity. So today, I'll focus on the comics and some memories from them. We had a few Peanuts books when I was a kid I'd flip through.
Sunday morning comics for me originally consisted of reading Peanuts & Garfield & losing my attention after that. When my oldest brother got married, we drove cross country to be there for it & we stopped in my first every "dollar store" where I found this gem:
Among all kinds of other Garfield brand absurdity, it had a list of 52 reasons to party - 1 for every week in the year, one of which was "because it's Tuesday." Also a delightful list of "instant parties." One I distinctly remember read something like this:
"On a public street, stare up at the top of a building. When someone joins you and asks what you're looking at, say nothing. Before you know it, you'll have a whole crowd of fools looking at nothing." Sadly, I lost the book within a year... But the invaluable knowledge I gleaned from it shall last a lifetime.
But inevitibly, The Far Side and Calvin Hobbes took over. And for anyone who claims either are not litereature, you have me and about a 1/2 a billion other gen-x'ers who would happily debate the issue with you. I (and my children now as well) have recreated some of the more choice Calvin & Hobbes Deranged Snow Goons. When I was in High School I even did one with an Axe standing next to his decapitated companion, head on the ground. My favorite part was getting the mouths just right to match Calvin's (or Bill Watterson's) brilliant creations.
I also made it a personal goal to be able to make every face that Calvin is ever shown pulling. If nothing else, the amount of comics that have emulated or imitated either should in reveal the true art that both still retain to this day. Sadly, within a year of each other while I was in High School, both Bill Watterson and Far Side creator Gary Larson both retired. I cut out their final comic strips and had them on my bedroom wall for a while. Their swan songs were beautiful. Larson's was undoubtedly more on the absurd side, but that's what made The Far Side what it was.
What were your favorite 'funnies'? Any that still strike a chord with you today?
Quack! Quack! Quack! ...There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...