death

As Americans, we have all grown up in some way conscious of the syndicated weekday comic strip, a traditionally lighthearted companion to a hot cup of coffee. It is a form of art that, along with taxidermy, TV voiceovers, & commercial acting, valorizes the product over the producer. While certain syndicated cartoonists have gained cult followings for their art (Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, & Charles Schulz leap to mind, though there are plenty others), for the most part no one cares about who is dishing up that day's strip, so long as it is short & funny. On the flip side, there is the comic artist who draws contempt from his or her audience for repeatedly serving the same stale jokes again & again & again without care for the reader. "Cathy" artist Cathy Guisewite & "Mutts"'s Patrick McDonnell seem to use a formula for their work that dates back to the age of "Marmaduke," & for many, Jim Davis is also one of these cartoonists.

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As discussed in class somewhat, there are a few cosmic laws that apply to the cartoon, and likewise, the comic world. For instance, animals talk and often wear clothing, sometimes special people have superpowers, gravity is only occasionally and inconsistently observed, and death, though often feared, is rarely the result of any dangerous stunts or malicious plots in the lighter comics of Disney and Warner, aimed mostly at child audiences, because slapstick is funny and death isn't (not usually anyway).

[There is a wonderful Animaniacs parody I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual
which is a self-referential diddy that addresses some of these classic gags and cosmic laws.]

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