I've read about 34, planning to read practically all of them. A few of these are among my favorite comics.
Worst one I've read is #97 - The Hannah Story, and I don't really like the work of Lynda Barry, so we'll see how that goes.
It's really silly how they listed these (Love and Rockets taking up five spots instead of two at most, singling out the autobiographical stories of Yummy Fur, splitting up Eightball but not Acme Novelty Library, putting comics in with editorial cartoons).
How about you?
Embarassing list. No wonder the japs are kicking your ass.
Look at it this way: a chunk of the list is the stuff that inspired manga and Euro comics. If these truly are the best of the 20th century, that means the US stagnated a long time ago.
57 if I count things I've read at least parts of, which frankly is the only fair way to approach this question. It's not reasonable to expect someone to be able to dig up all the old EC or New Yorker comics, or complete a newspaper comic's entire run under long runners like Schulz or Gould. But it's only 6 if I'm expected to be a completionist.
All of those are good. My problem with the list is that they make a lot broad categories like "The EC War Comics", anthologies like "RAW", or all the Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks, but then list each title of individual Love and Rockets books. It's a bit too gratuitous on Fantagraphics' part.
I'll go to bat for Krazy Kat and Peanuts, sure. Pogo kinda loses its spirit in the later years so I guess it could go lower. As I see it, a lot of comics here are included for impact and influence, and the top 8 at least are all pretty important.
I won't say that I fully agree that Krazy Kat is the best comic of the 20th century either, but a big part of that is because I'm not personally inclined to pick any single comic as being number one. But in a ranked list like this, I think it deserves to be included, and I wouldn't necessarily rank anything else above it either. So I'm fine with top three as is, and I see arguing over who should truly be number one as splitting hairs.
I don't endorse the list entirely either. Like I said, the aggrandization of the Hernandez bros. is pretty silly. There are others on the list that I think aren't all they're cracked up to be, like Little Lulu and Dennis the Menace. I'd say Nancy is more important than either of those. And if anthology publications like RAW are on the table, then Witzend should also be there.
>As I see it, a lot of comics here are included for impact and influence
well yes, that brings up the topic of what exactly is being measured in a "top 100" list
Over half.
Big deal.
This list is fearless in its pretense. What purpose does it serve? About all it’s good for is starting pointless arguments- not unlike the rag that published it. Comic readers can start pointless arguments all on their own, so it’s not even good for that.
I don’t need my tastes validate by a bunch of self satisfied fatboys, nor does anyone else. I’m certainly not going to make a distinction between country of origin. What a stupid metric.
Pic related is TCJ not in a nutshell.
Cutting into chunks so it's easier to read >1-10
I've read and enjoyed a few years of Krazy Kat, read some Nemo but not my speed. >11-20
Thimble Theatre, Popeye is awesome >21-30
Nothing >31-40
Plas/Cole are great, liked Calvin and Hobbes in my youth but not so much nowadays. >41-50
Nothing >51-60
Nothing >61-70
God's Man is fantastic >71-80
Captain Marvel is good, I like Sivana >81-90
Fourth World is top 10 material in my opinion, Kirby had a way with words much as he did art. >91-100
Watchmen's alright, Prince Valiant is fantastic. >How many have you read?
10 out of 100
What do people see in Krazy Kat to where it's praised so highly? I've only seen a few strips here and there, and while it does have a pretty good style, the actual content is downright incoherent.
A lot of them are more accessible now, thanks to reprints. Unfortunately a lot of reprints haven't been released digitally and haven't been scanned, so finding a good library is the only alternative to shelling out hundreds of dollars on giant hardback collections.
What do people see in Krazy Kat to where it's praised so highly? I've only seen a few strips here and there, and while it does have a pretty good style, the actual content is downright incoherent.
It's one of those things that becomes more coherent the more you read. It does also get more freewheeling over time. The earlier strips from the 20s have a more familiar punchline delivery structure while by the 30s it's just riffing on its own idiosyncrasies.
Kind of. If you like Segar's Popeye strips then you might like Thimble Theater the year or two before Popeye's first appearance.
A lot of guys in the 1920s sure, when comics had barely existed for long. No one now. It's irrelevant and just used as an easy answer for greatest comic.
Many do. Krazy Kat collections are still getting reprinted unlike many strips that were more popular in their time like Li'l Abner.
And yet still no one cares. No one cares about newspaper comics from the 20s. I mean outside of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes there is no relevance for any of these things. It's a dead format and has been for decades, like newspapers themselves.
A lot of guys in the 1920s sure, when comics had barely existed for long. No one now. It's irrelevant and just used as an easy answer for greatest comic.
I've read about 34, planning to read practically all of them. A few of these are among my favorite comics.
Worst one I've read is #97 - The Hannah Story, and I don't really like the work of Lynda Barry, so we'll see how that goes.
It's really silly how they listed these (Love and Rockets taking up five spots instead of two at most, singling out the autobiographical stories of Yummy Fur, splitting up Eightball but not Acme Novelty Library, putting comics in with editorial cartoons).
How about you?
>How about you?
Only 13. I want to try EC comics and Fourth World next. Also they couldn't think of anything to replace Dennis the Menace?
The UK Dennis the Menace
The American one has much better art.
Look at it this way: a chunk of the list is the stuff that inspired manga and Euro comics. If these truly are the best of the 20th century, that means the US stagnated a long time ago.
>Worst one I've read is #97 - The Hannah Story
Why?
To put it harshly, it's a boring sob story told badly.
Ah, I see.
Nothing?
Morrison seething
?
>top three are all newspaper strips
this is why people don't take comics seriously
57 if I count things I've read at least parts of, which frankly is the only fair way to approach this question. It's not reasonable to expect someone to be able to dig up all the old EC or New Yorker comics, or complete a newspaper comic's entire run under long runners like Schulz or Gould. But it's only 6 if I'm expected to be a completionist.
All of those are good. My problem with the list is that they make a lot broad categories like "The EC War Comics", anthologies like "RAW", or all the Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks, but then list each title of individual Love and Rockets books. It's a bit too gratuitous on Fantagraphics' part.
>All of those are good.
Are you willing to go to bat for Krazy Kat, Peanuts, and Pogo being the three greatest comics of all time though?
I'll go to bat for Krazy Kat and Peanuts, sure. Pogo kinda loses its spirit in the later years so I guess it could go lower. As I see it, a lot of comics here are included for impact and influence, and the top 8 at least are all pretty important.
I won't say that I fully agree that Krazy Kat is the best comic of the 20th century either, but a big part of that is because I'm not personally inclined to pick any single comic as being number one. But in a ranked list like this, I think it deserves to be included, and I wouldn't necessarily rank anything else above it either. So I'm fine with top three as is, and I see arguing over who should truly be number one as splitting hairs.
I don't endorse the list entirely either. Like I said, the aggrandization of the Hernandez bros. is pretty silly. There are others on the list that I think aren't all they're cracked up to be, like Little Lulu and Dennis the Menace. I'd say Nancy is more important than either of those. And if anthology publications like RAW are on the table, then Witzend should also be there.
>As I see it, a lot of comics here are included for impact and influence
well yes, that brings up the topic of what exactly is being measured in a "top 100" list
>this is why people don't take comics seriously
No, it's why we don't take you seriously, casual
Cinemaphile doesn't want to admit it, but this isn't wrong.
No, it makes sense.
No it just means you're a plebbitor
Embarassing list. No wonder the japs are kicking your ass.
A few. Some of these are too old.
Bump
What would YOU put at the top of a greatest comics list?
Their decision to leave Cerebus off the list was petty and greatly diminishes their credibility
Fricking CHRIST that is an overrated list.
Nah, it's underrated.
I've read at least 57 that I can remember off the top of my head and most of them sucked. TCJ really were a bunch of pretentious homosexuals.
You just have shit taste.
No, the problem is that you, like the rest of Cinemaphile, are pretentious homosexuals with shit taste.
>like the rest of Cinemaphile
What are you smoking? This place is a philistine mudhole.
Over half.
Big deal.
This list is fearless in its pretense. What purpose does it serve? About all it’s good for is starting pointless arguments- not unlike the rag that published it. Comic readers can start pointless arguments all on their own, so it’s not even good for that.
I don’t need my tastes validate by a bunch of self satisfied fatboys, nor does anyone else. I’m certainly not going to make a distinction between country of origin. What a stupid metric.
Pic related is TCJ not in a nutshell.
(Me)
>in a nutshell instead of not in a nutshell.
Also, I forgot to mention that OP is a homosexual.
Incredibly pretentious reply.
Cutting into chunks so it's easier to read
>1-10
I've read and enjoyed a few years of Krazy Kat, read some Nemo but not my speed.
>11-20
Thimble Theatre, Popeye is awesome
>21-30
Nothing
>31-40
Plas/Cole are great, liked Calvin and Hobbes in my youth but not so much nowadays.
>41-50
Nothing
>51-60
Nothing
>61-70
God's Man is fantastic
>71-80
Captain Marvel is good, I like Sivana
>81-90
Fourth World is top 10 material in my opinion, Kirby had a way with words much as he did art.
>91-100
Watchmen's alright, Prince Valiant is fantastic.
>How many have you read?
10 out of 100
What do people see in Krazy Kat to where it's praised so highly? I've only seen a few strips here and there, and while it does have a pretty good style, the actual content is downright incoherent.
It makes sense the more you read.
Wish old newspaper comics were more accessible
Same.
Fanta, D&Q, IDW and others have reprinted most of the ones on the list
A lot of them are more accessible now, thanks to reprints. Unfortunately a lot of reprints haven't been released digitally and haven't been scanned, so finding a good library is the only alternative to shelling out hundreds of dollars on giant hardback collections.
It's one of those things that becomes more coherent the more you read. It does also get more freewheeling over time. The earlier strips from the 20s have a more familiar punchline delivery structure while by the 30s it's just riffing on its own idiosyncrasies.
Worth noting
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Nemo-The-Classic-Comics-Library
>no Cerebus
I genuinely believe Cerebus is the greatest achievement of American Comics.
It's Canadian.
So is Thimble Theater worth reading from the beginning or only when Popeye shows up?
Good question.
Kind of. If you like Segar's Popeye strips then you might like Thimble Theater the year or two before Popeye's first appearance.
Many do. Krazy Kat collections are still getting reprinted unlike many strips that were more popular in their time like Li'l Abner.
And yet still no one cares. No one cares about newspaper comics from the 20s. I mean outside of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes there is no relevance for any of these things. It's a dead format and has been for decades, like newspapers themselves.
Comic readers still care about the classic comic strips
Ok shut-in
I've never even heard of most of these. The frick is #1, 'Krazy Kats'?
It's a strip from the 1920 that everyone pretend to love but no one reads because James Joyce was really into it at the time
James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, E.E. Cummings, the list could go on...
Nobody pretended to like it. You either do or just don't get it.
A lot of guys in the 1920s sure, when comics had barely existed for long. No one now. It's irrelevant and just used as an easy answer for greatest comic.
Not many. I never got into newspaper comics and including editorial cartoons feels dumb. No one gives a shit about those.