Tales from the Bronze Age

This is mandatory viewing for anyone who grew up reading DC Comics in the late 60s, early 70s. Longtime comic writer/onetime Jack Kirby assistant Mark Evanier interviews DC writer/editor/onetime publisher Paul Levitz about going from 14 year old fan to publisher. It's two fanboys-turned-pros who discuss their early disillusionment with the industry and how they made things better for artists.

Levitz has some horror stories about how DC treated its talent; but there's also some hope toward the end when Levitz (and others) worked to give neglected artists their due (and royalties).

Due to the time difference (Evanier is in LA, Levitz is in NY) Levitz seems to be getting sleepy toward the end, and some of the questions from viewers that Evanier introduces aren't questions at all, just comments, leaving the low-energy Levitz to just give one-word non-answers.

But there are a lot of stories about your favorite DC artists an inkers from the silver/bronze age and what the staff at DC really felt about them. (most cringe-worthy: DC executive tells Evanier to tell Kirby to try to draw more like Curt Swan.)

Keeping up with the times ... or not

I was impressed by Blondie on Sunday because Dagwood was working from home, and I thought, wow, Blondie's going to acknowledge and satirize the current pandemic. Pretty brave for a strip from 1930. Then the following week's dailies ignored the whole thing until Thursday when Dagwood made a "Social Distancing" joke, which actually, isn't bad. But, if they're all in the office are they not quarantining Dagwood? They seem to want it both ways.

To Dean Young I say: Sin boldly! Keep the Bumsteads home like the rest of us. Let Dagwood slowly drive Blondie mad until she's plotting his murder! Let Dagwood show up at an office Zoom meeting while in the bath tub, eating a sandwich!

Blondie's been slowly keeping up with the times and not doing a half bad job. This isn't a crisis, it's an opportunity.

Not everyone can grapple with changing times....

Which leads me to today's Beetle Bailey. Another strip where a character participates in a technological activity and that is the sum of the joke.

Here Gen. Halftrack says he hasn't had any complaints since he took down the suggestion box, and he's pleased with himself until Gizmo tells him that people complain on Twitter.

Yep, that's the joke, people complain about things on Twitter.

That's all they got.

Let's look at others in this astonishingly out-of-touch vein: Here and here.

I imagine the next jokes will involve people using their iPhones to call their friends, and people using TikTok to post videos.

Dagwood in Quarantine

Some props must go out to  Stephen Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine" for being the first or among the first comic strips to acknowledge, and satirize the Covid-19 pandemic. I kind of expect a strip as subversive as "Pearls" to tackle  a pandemic, but most cartoonists could be forgiven for pretending it's not going on for the sake of keeping things light on the comics page.

So the Blondie team should be doubly congratulated for keeping the strip's characters home. Think about it, a beloved strip that has kept one foot firmly in 1930 should be given a free pass during a global crisis, but no, Dean Young managed to wring humor out of a crisis without even mentioning the crisis!

They didn't have to do it, but I'm glad they did.

(Addendum: Life is back to normal in the dailies that followed this strip, so I'm hoping they had been done well in advance, but once they've run, the Bumsteads will be in quarantine every day of the week, we'll see.)

Beetle Bailey why have you forsaken me?

Once again, I hate to be one of those negative bloggers. The world doesn't need more negativity. But really what's going on in the Beetle Bailey writer's room?

Have they just given up?

Are they just using a random dialogue generator?

Plato is standing between two women, so Beetle surmises that it "looks like it's a good time to be a nerd."

Based on what? Two women chatting with Plato? That's it. So we set up the faulty premise.

In the next panel, Killer dressed like a stereotypical nerd to pick up women at the library because, you know, that's where nerdy women hang out. And nerdy women love nerdy men.

You can tell he's dressed like a nerd because he's wearing a bow tie and even his sweater has a pocket protector. And plaid pants. And he's carrying a book.

And it's funny because ...

No, it's not funny at all.