Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism/Newspaper Comics


 * Retail is planted firmly down on the cynicism end of the scale. The comic is about the trials and tribulations of minimum-wage retail workers, almost all of whom hate their jobs, their bosses, their customers, and everything else about their workplace.
 * Dilbert is very far on the cynicism end. In fact, it's been suggested in the strip (mainly by Dogbert) that "cynicism" and "wisdom" are synonyms.
 * For a comic about a boy having misadventures with his tiger friend, Calvin and Hobbes stays remarkably close to the middle; the world is full of wonders and often heartwarming, but it's also full of unfairness, cruelty, and Tear Jerkers.
 * Pearls Before Swine is generally pretty cynical, particularly during the first few years of the strips run.