If you dismissed Sally Forth as a "skip it" strip a decade or so ago, you've really been missing out, and today's confrontation between the Old Forth and New Forth families is a triumph of Francesco Marciuliano's ability to ignore the orders his editor gave him some years ago: “You’re making Ted Forth insane. Stop it.”
Or perhaps it's a triumph of his ability to deflect the directive by making the entire Forth family insane, with Ted therefore only insane by external measures, which is a great deal like actually being sane. More or less.
There is a tightrope that good cartoonists walk with their strips, in that you can't smack it over the wall 365 times a year. You just can't.
But you also can't whiff so often that people give up on you.
For the blue-hair strips that go with the bridge column and Ann Landers, there's no need to do more than deliver up a familiar gag, day after day, because those fans show up for comfort, not belly laughs. You have a half-dozen established elements and you simply churn and recycle.
But doing "original work" doesn't mean going completely off a different wall every day.
Even if you want to do more than riff on a set number of jokes, you still have to establish familiar patterns and a consistent tone, and then create gags that work within that framework in a fresh, dynamic way.
It's a challenge all comedy faces: A new standup comedian has to kill with every gag, while Jack Benny could get a laugh simply by having someone bring up the topic of money, then folding his arms, putting a hand to his chin and looking at the audience.
And, if not every one of Benny's shows was a classic, his consistent style set the audience up for the famous "Your money or your life" robbery scene.
The better strips strive for those moments, the best achieve them twice a week or more.
The mission here is to point them out. So there's one. And here are two more:
Juxtaposition of the Crazy
Between Friends has returned to the topic of Maeve's ex and the Maeve look-alike he is currently dating. After spotting Maeve and the ex having lunch, the doppelganger is spying on her, and I'm entertained, but I'm not laughing.
Which is okay: laughter isn't a requirement. But, as I noted when this first came up, it gives me flashbacks to the experience of a coworker who had a serious stalker problem with an old boyfriend who was also dating a clone of her.
I trust Sandra Bell-Lundy, so I'm eager to see where she's going with it, but this is some seriously creepy stuff.
Speaking of which, I'm good with Rob's style in Pajama Diaries if the alternative is one of the showboat extravaganzas Jill describes.
As I also recalled in that above-linked piece, the creepy obsessed clone-dater was putting up public marriage proposals to his ex-girlfriend. It really changed my view of that sort of thing.
The fact that there's now a term for it -- "promposal" -- even robs the extravagant gesture of any claim to originality.
Lloyd Dobler standing outside with his boom box is one thing. Not only is it heartfelt, but he's only asking for her to hear him out, and a boom box is hardly a 12-piece orchestra.
Plus, standing in the driveway with a boom box now would only be riffing on the movie. It wouldn't even be original.
Most of all, however, Lloyd's heart was breaking and what he did was romantic. None of this showboat stuff is faintly "romantic."
It's just manipulation, pal, and if you're going to play the "How can she say no to this?" card, you'd better hope you're not dealing with somebody who can.
D.C.: Lloyd, why do you have to be like this?
Lloyd: 'Cause I'm a guy. I have pride.
Corey: You're not a guy.
Lloyd: I am.
Corey: No. The world is full of guys. Be a man. Don't be a guy.
Here's a bunch of pictures of people in Kenosha.
Mike Cope has posted all his Festival photos here.
It doesn't get you off the hook for missing it.
It just reminds you to go next year.
Yeah, yeah, okay, here it is:
Ces has made "Sally Forth" one of my favorite strips, and is Exhibit #1 of guys who took over a strip from its creator and made it better. Doesn't happen often.
I can't believe that more than 40% of those spectacularly failed proposals were authentic rather than two friends having a goof, but point taken. Like an attorney in court, if you're in that situation you probably shouldn't ask a question you don't already know the answer to.
Posted by: Brian Fies | 10/10/2015 at 11:47 AM
I'm a pretty suspicious guy, but I think those are real, though the one in the food court is awfully prolonged -- seems she could have started stopping him at some point.
But the growing "omigod this isn't happening" horror in each of them would be hard to fake.
And, while I admire the woman who can say "no" with the cameras on, I agree with that sportscaster who suggested that "Yes" under the spotlight can easily be followed by, "Okay, now that your audience is no longer watching ..." and probably is in a lot of those cases.
Worst case scenario: "Yes" followed by a wedding. When you have that clear a warning that he likes to yank your strings, you're signing on for a lifetime of being prodded and bullied.
As was said in 1902:
"No lover will assume a domineering attitude over his future wife. If he does so, she will do well to escape from his thrall before she becomes his wife in reality. A domineering lover will be certain to be still more domineering as a husband; and from all such the prayer of the wise woman is 'Good Lord, deliver us!'”
More such wisdom here:
http://nellieblogs.blogspot.com/2007/07/ove-and-honor-1902-guide-to-romance.html
Posted by: Mike Peterson | 10/10/2015 at 05:12 PM
Those were so painful to watch...and I watched every single one to the end. I like to think I'd find a graceful exit for both of us, but as Ben Carson would (never) say, "You don't really know how you'll react until you're in the situation."
Posted by: WVFran | 10/10/2015 at 07:30 PM