The Comics Curmudgeon: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8.2
(update links) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8.2) |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}
A blog started by Josh Fruhlinger in July 2004, under its original title, ''I Read The Comics So You Don't Have To'' (a Boston-area newspaper that featured a similarly-titled column forced the name change). In it, Josh selects several [[Newspaper Comics|newspaper comic strips]] every day and offers (usually sarcastic) commentary on them. Over time, the blog has developed a great deal of media attention as the authors of many comics have discovered it. Some comic artists or writers are even fans of the blog, including Chris Browne (''[[Hagar the Horrible]]''), Mark Tatulli (''Lio'', ''Heart of the City''), Francesco Marciuliano (''[[Sally Forth (syndicated strip)||Sally Forth]]'' and also the web comic ''Medium Large''), Ed Power (''[[My Cage]]''), Jumble Jeff Knurek (the ''Jumble'' puzzle/comic), and Bob Weber, Jr. (''[[Slylock Fox]]''). Marciuliano, who is also registered on the boards, even created a logo for the site during a major site redesign in early 2010, while Bob Weber has actually used the blog to sell official Slylock Fox merchandise directed at the adult fans of his strip.
Josh has also developed a great deal of [[Running Gag
Read it [http://www.joshreads.com/ here].
----
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Nephewism]]
{{tropelist}}
* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]: Much of the blog is based on this.
Line 18 ⟶ 21:
* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: "Marmaduke's owner can't get the dog to stay off the furniture, stop digging up the yard, or refrain from eating the neighbors"
* [[Caustic Critic]]: Josh can be this at times, especially to strips that he dislikes, though he's generally more sarcastic and jovial than outright hostile. Except for the one and only time he discussed political cartoons.
** Josh can get pretty hostile about strips he wants to see end, ''Crock'', ''[[Marvin (comic strip)|Marvin]]'', and ''[[Luann]]'' being among the hardest hit. Generally, though, he just mocks the on-going nature of long-running strips, often citing them as horribly out of touch with modern times (such as ''Crock'''s belief that kids these days "swap iTunes" as a sign of commitment).
*** He has come to genuinely and openly hate ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]''. Considering he had been ''impressed'' by the writer's willingness to go through with depicting Lisa's death from cancer, this should say something about the direction the strip has taken since then.
** Subverted by ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]''. He hates it, but has only talked about it once. Plus, mentioning it on his blog is a bannable offense.
Line 29 ⟶ 32:
{{quote|I'm overjoyed to see Billy's comically overwrought expression of crushing despair as his mother drapes that suit jacket over his shoulders. It's as if he’s won the Masters, only instead of a green jacket he's getting a blue jacket, and instead of winning the Masters he's going to be executed wearing a blue jacket.}}
* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: Parodied. Josh often explains the punchline of a comic in the most outlandish and unfiltered manner possible.
* [[Fan Fiction]]: There was a post about a joke in ''Hi and Lois'' when one of the kids misunderstands a metaphor, and assumes that Beethoven was buried alive. [
* [[Fan Nickname]]: Many, many characters that catch either Josh or the readership's eyes have earned these, though for the sake of length, we'll spare listing them all here - check the pages for those strips however.
* [[Fetish Retardant]]: In-universe, Josh has noted that he's never turned on by highly sexualized female characters such as June Morgan or Blondie, yet is [[Perverse Sexual Lust|head-over-heels in love with]] Margo McGee. Part of it is his well documented love of strong, take-charge women.
Line 40 ⟶ 43:
** And ''Herb and Jamaal''.
* [[Human Mail]]: Josh [http://joshreads.com/?p=1555 interprets] a silly ''[[Hi and Lois]]'' strip this way.
* [[Hypocrisy Nod]]: Often, Josh complains heartily about some aspect of a comic, only to turn around and demand that the very next strip include more of what he disliked about the first comic. He always [[
* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: Josh writes some of his own for a ''[[Dennis the Menace US|Dennis the Menace]]'' riff. He says that Dennis hates baseball, America's favorite pastime. Therefore, he hates America, and is a terrorist/fascist/commie.
* [[Memetic Badass]]: In-universe, Mark Trail, Margo Magee, and Mary Worth when a '''peon''' interferes with her meddling.
Line 53 ⟶ 56:
* [[Precision F-Strike]]
{{quote|'''[[Family Circus|Billy:]]''' Now that we're in bed, they won't have to watch their language on TV.
'''Josh:''' You sure got that right, you little fucker.
* [[Promoted Fanboy]]: Josh's constant riffing on newspaper ''[[Spider-Man]]'' got him invited to appear in the Rifftrax commentary track for ''[[Spider-Man]] 2''.
* [[Rule 34]]: He found one of Cassandra Cat on someone else's blog and posted it to his own. It later got taken down from both blogs, at Bob Weber, Jr.'s request<ref>though the pic is easy to find, if you know where to look</ref>.
Line 65 ⟶ 68:
*** And those two being "on the down-low." You know what I'm talking about.
** ''[[Marmaduke]]'' being a demonspawned hellhound who can't stop killing and eating people, and his owner being Adolf Hitler.
** ''[[Marvin (comic strip)|Marvin]]'''s obsession with [[Toilet Humor]].
** ''[[Mary Worth]]'''s obsession with sanctimonious meddling (although that one is more or less canon).
** ''[[Archie]]'' being written by a sterile computer, the ''Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000'', that "almost, but doesn't quite, understand humor."
** ''[[Mark Trail]]'' solving most of his problems by [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|punching bearded hillbillies]].
*** As well his [[Asexuality]]
*** Don't forget the abominations that are <s> Rusty's attempts at expressing emotion </s> the author's attempts to draw Rusty as something more resembling a human boy than some sort of hellspawn.
*** And all the giant animals running around, and even occasionally speaking.
** ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' is an authoritarian tyrant who believes violence is the solution to everything.
| |||