The Addams Family

Yeah, I'm still here. Just haven't been reading comic books. Not for 2 months! That's what DC's done to me, killed off my interest with the DCnU. Well, no, not really, but my enthusiasm has waned a bit. I'm still buying and now that I'm -- tada! -- retired, as of the end of 2011, I should start to be able to catch up. Anyway, Google caught my eye with its latest logo doodle, and since it's comics related, I realized it would make a good post to kick off 2012 here.

So, thanks to Google, I know that today is the 100th anniversary of Charles Addams' birth.

Google Doodle

I've adored the cartoons of this cartoon genius since I was a kid. My father had briefly worked in the stock room at Doubleday following his discharge from the navy after WWII and was able to buy a lot of books. Lots of non-fiction, some fiction, and a lot of cartoon collections. I bought my own cartoon collections over the years and a few years ago, my father gave me his because he knew how much I coveted them.

Charles Addams Collections

The one with the plain cover is Drawn and Quartered. Its dust jacket fell apart many years ago. Favorite Haunts still has its dust jacket, which is in remarkable shape. And Monster Rally is a softcover I was able to find on my own. A number of Addams cartoons are also in the bigger anthologies that collected works of many wonderful cartoonists. But none were quite as perverse as Addams was, though many cartoonists who followed him brought their own brand of lunacy to the genre, ie Gahan Wilson and Charles Rodriguez, both of whom contributed to the National Lampoon.

But back to Addams. I supposed my favorite of his cartoons was the skiing one. I'm too lazy to go find and scan it, but it's classic: a tree with one set of ski tracks that run up to it, around it on both sides, then rejoin in front of it to continue on. There's no caption; none is necessary as we're left to scratch our heads in puzzlement, and wonder about the nature of the human/creature who left those tracks.

I grew up reading all those cartoon collections over and over and over. I traced the art. I practiced drawing by copying them freehand. Cartoons, as much as comic books, were a vital part of my childhood and now, my adulthood. And the cartoons by Addams feel as fresh today as when I first read them 50 or so years ago.

By the time The Addams Family premiered on TV, they were all familiar to me, as well known to me as my own family, though far more entertaining. And were brought to life by that amazingly perfect cast led by John Astin and Carolyn Jones.

So, here's a toast to Chas Addams, as he signed his cartoons... one of the very best to create a world with pen and paper and a deep imagination.

We Interrupt the Comic Book Posting for a Rant

First, for anyone coming here to the blog itself, it seems the host for my site where most of my blog graphics are stored is down. I haven't heard from the guy in charge, so I don't know what's going on. But for now, my apologies for the mess. Now, on to the rant.

I've been a loyal reader of the comic strip For Better or For Worse since it first appeared in the New York Daily News many years ago. I've enjoyed the fully realized characters, the daring plots (Lynn Johnston introduced disabled and gay characters, killed off others, and tackled sensitive subjects), the slice of real life feel, the wonderful art, the fact that the characters age and grow. But now, the culmination of a long, ongoing storyline looks to be ended as I've been dreading for the last year or so. And I'm not the only one who is appalled by the engagement of Elizabeth and Anthony.

Aside from how poorly it was written, not to mention dull, it is clear to me that Warren returned only to be the impetus for Anthony and Liz to have "the conversation" about the M word. In the past, Lynn would never have resorted to such an obvious plot device.

What has continued to bug me is that Liz is the character who left home, looking for adventure, going up north to teach in a tiny community, where she met Paul who seemed her soulmate. Then, pining for home after a couple of years, she just leaves, expecting he would follow and leave the only life he knows or wants. She was the one who'd left home to seek out new experiences, she was the one who entered his world. And yet, he considered giving up his job for her. It was similar with Warren, a pilot she met during that time, prior to meeting Paul. She could obviously teach anywhere (she seemed to have no trouble getting jobs), but the men in her life had jobs that were not easily transferable. But they obviously didn't love her enough or she them, because she had no trouble returning home to her boring old life and her boring old boyfriend Anthony who now, after splitting with his cold, selfish wife, is a single father. And as has been pointed out in the LiveJournal discussion I linked to above, not once have they said they love each other. They're merely two old friends who are comfortable with each other who want to marry.

It's Lynn's right to do what she wants with her characters, but I guess I don't like the whole theme of settling for what you have in the place you grew up, that you can't find happiness outside that small, comfortable world where your expectations aren't challenged and there are no surprises. And yes, it does feel like settling and Liz comes across as manipulative, as if she'd been angling to get Anthony all along and merely toyed with the affections of Warren and Paul. I think perhaps Lynn's only marital problems (she and her husband split after he was unfaithful) has influenced her story arc for Liz, and if so, that's sad. Liz when she was teaching up north was a fun character, becoming part of a new community, forging a new life for herself. Now, she's back home and with her bun, looks like a younger version of her mother. She looks a bit worn, too, as if the best years are behind her.

feh. I hate when something I love reading becomes routine and boring or simply loses the spark that made it special. Kinda like the post-Darwyn Cooke The Spirit, so far.

Bill Watterson Interview

Watterson created one of the best all-time comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes. This interview gives a nice overview. (Link found on Blog of a Bookslut, cross posted to Cyber Chocolate.)