The Comics Curmudgeon is an American

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

devoted to humorous and critical analysis of newspaper comics. Its author, Josh Fruhlinger, is a freelance writer and editor based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Content

For each blog post, author Josh Fruhlinger selects two to eight comic strips for comment, usually focused on topics such as poor artwork, inappropriate coloring, nonsensical plots, and sexual subtext or

innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

. Long-running

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

-style comic strips such as '' Apartment 3-G'', '' Mark Trail'', and ''

Mary Worth ''Mary Worth'' is an American newspaper comic strip that has had an eight-decade run from 1938. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, this soap opera-style strip influenced several that followed. It was created by writer Allen Saunders and ar ...

'' bear the brunt of Fruhlinger's humor, an emphasis that he attributes to their being " heperfect targets for the sort of metatextual detached irony that is our generation's terrible contribution to Western civilization." Fruhlinger's blog also features commentary on long-running legacy cartoons like ''

Family Circus ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'', also ''Family-Go-Round'') is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Bil's death in 2011, is currently written, inked, and rendered (colored) by his son, Jef ...

'' and '' B.C.'' Weekly "metaposts" update readers on notable events in Fruhlinger's life, such as his July 22, 2008, appearance on the game show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

'', offer critical commentary on the comic strip industry, and include a "Comment Of The Week" that highlights the best comments posted by the blog's readers. The blog's original name was "Josh Reads the Comics so You Don't Have To", which is reflected in the site URL, joshreads.com.

Impact

The Comics Curmudgeon was among the blogs criticizing what they deemed was the declining quality of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

family strip '' For Better or For Worse'', and who were noted for "harsh attacks" on creator

Lynn Johnston Lynn Johnston (born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip '' For Better or For Worse''. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award. Ea ...

. Humorist

John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...

, in a review of comic-strip reprint collections, said the website "regularly ridicules the creaky war horses like ''

Hagar the Horrible Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to h ...

'' icand ''

'', the opaque woolgathering of ''

Ziggy Ziggy is a masculine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Zigmunt and other names. It is also a nickname. Notable people with the name include: Nickname or hypocorism * Ezekiel Ansah (born 1989), National Football League pla ...

'', the dull crypto-evangelism of '' B.C.''" A blog contributor's July 21, 2008, post broke the news that a recent '' Blondie'' strip had been recycled almost verbatim from one published in 1952. This was followed in March 2009 with a similar report of strip recycling in ''

''. ''

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973 and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirem ...

s cartoonist

Chris Browne Christopher Kelly Browne (May 16, 1952 – February 5, 2023) was an American comic strip artist and cartoonist. He was the son of cartoonist Dik Browne and brother of cartoonist Chance Browne. From 1989 to 2023, Browne wrote and drew the comic s ...

, '' Liō'' artist/writer Mark Tatulli, and '' Sally Forth'' scripter

Francesco Marciuliano Francesco Marciuliano is the writer of the syndicated comic strips ''Sally Forth'' and '' Judge Parker''. Marciuliano also wrote ''The New York Times'' bestselling book ''I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats'' (2013), the national bestseller ...

have commented on the blog. Bob Weber Jr., artist for '' Slylock Fox'', created merchandise for the Curmudgeon

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store with original art of the character Cassandra Cat (from the ''Fox'' strip). On December 18, 2008, the comic strip '' Archie'' began occasionally referencing the blog's recurring "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000" joke, in which the strip is allegedly written by a sentient computer program which continually tries (but fails) to understand genuine human interaction. On August 12, 2009, writer and illustrator

Stephan Pastis Stephan Thomas Pastis (; born January 16, 1968) is an American cartoonist and former lawyer who is the creator of the comic strip ''Pearls Before Swine''. He also writes children's chapter books, commencing with the release of ''Timmy Failure: ...

mentioned The Comics Curmudgeon by name in his comic strip '' Pearls Before Swine,'' in the context of satirizing internet criticism. On May 6, 2012, the comic strip '' Crock'' introduced a character named "Freerloiter" (an apparent

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of Fruhlinger's name) who lost all of his artistic talent after a

lobotomy A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections t ...

. However, Commander Crock " pulled the plug" on Freerloiter after he announced his intention to move to

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and start a comics blog. Fruhlinger responded on his blog: "Of course, if you aren't me or part of the fairly small slice of the comics-reading public who also reads my blog, this strip would make exactly zero sense to you. Just another Sunday ''Crock'', in other words." ''Crock'' concluded publishing new strips two weeks later.

Awards

The Comics Curmudgeon was ranked 13th on '' PC Magazine's'' 100 Favorite Blogs list for 2007, and Elite Choice named it one of 2007's Top 125 Elite Blogs (judged on traffic generation, Alexa ranking and other measures of visibility). Josh Fruhlinger was named 2007's Blogger of the Year by ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...

'' based on his analysis of editorial cartoons. The Comics Curmudgeon has also won the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Humor Blog.

References

External links

The Comics CurmudgeonCartoon Violence blog on WonketteJuly 2, 2006 Molly McCall interview of Fruhlinger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comics Curmudgeon Websites about comics American comedy websites Internet properties established in 2004 2004 establishments in the United States