comix redux

By Todd Stadler · Friday, July 12, 2002 6:02pm

In the small chunk of the universe that is my world, in the relatively large subchunk that deals with reading the comics, there is something strange going on.

First off, I laughed at a Ziggy cartoon. Not just any old tepid, up-with-people Ziggy cartoon, mind you. This cartoon.

I'm sure that I will have my detractors. The masses will say "Todd's gone soft!" and whisper among themselves. And yet I assert that this Ziggy cartoon is funny.

Okay, the intended gag doesn't measure up to the sublime humor of Get Fuzzy. But it still makes me giggle.

His car is making funny noises, and it's a clown. That's mildly surreal for Ziggy. I don't know, maybe my expectations are just so low for this Tom Wilson (and "Tom II") cartoon.

But what is causing me to giggle (or at least breathe irregularly) to this very moment is the drawing of that clown. Go look at it again! I assert that that is the most perfect clown drawing, ever.

Look at him! He's so serene! His smile is more that of a placid monk than some grotesque circus actor. And he's just happily floating there in the car's innards. Before, he was under the hood, but now he has happily risen up to show everyone how happy he is. He may be corpulent, his hat may dwarf his misshapen head, and he may be wearing the most ridiculous yellow ruffled thing I've ever seen, but he's so calm about it.

Fine, you think I'm crazy, and that's okay. But I'm telling you that this is a watershed Ziggy comic.

But if you can't understand that cartoon, then there is no way that you will grok yesterday's Family Circus. For in that cartoon, which involves a very dumb gag in which Dolly once again mispronounces something (there's only so many times you can laff at a learning disability), you can plainly see ...

Zippy the Pinhead's head!! There, on top of one of the totem poles!

Do you know what consternation this caused me when I was reading the comics in bed last night, ready to drift off to sleep?

Oh, fine, it actually didn't constern me much at all. Because I know, deep down, that Bil Keane is pretty darned hip.

After all, his own web site features a large number of parodies of his strip, some of which aren't so flattering or on the same level as Family Circus.

Heck, there's even an extensive collection of Zippy the Pinhead cartoons that feature a guest appearance by Bil Keane. So I guess the two know each other and are good friends.

Which might seem disappointing, in that it makes yesterday's Zippy sighting less edgy.

But when I think about it, if Bil Keane and (Zippy artist) Bill Griffith can be friends, then I know that the universe is a strange and wonderful place, and we can, in fact, all get along.

And really, isn't that what the internet is all about?