get fuzzy answers the question
Doug Sweet, The Gazette
Published: Monday, January 16, 2006
OK, this is now getting a bit creepy.
A couple of days after I posted a piece about how far comics should go in pushing limits of taste in the context of a family newspaper, there's Darby Conley, author of Get Fuzzy, arguing in today's strip about whether "crap" is acceptable, along with "butt."
Rob, the human character, argued that ads for movies on primetime TV show torture, yet some "nut" complains about the word "butt" in a comic strip. And then, of course, Bucky and Satchel have to get their two cents' worth in. Especially Bucky.
It's hilarious, in the context of the strip, and it suggests that life might be a little more bearable if we would all loosen our girdles a bit.
Everyone will, of course, have their own taste limits. Some people would prefer not to see the word "sucks" in a family newspaper, unless it's in a piece about new vacuum cleaners. Others might indeed have trouble with "crap" and "butt," although I think the horse has long left the barn when it comes to the latter.
And, no, I'm not about to enumerate a list of words a la George Carlin. It's pretty clear that any word we'd treat with asterisks or dashes in the news columns (including words that start with f and s) have no place in today's comics pages. At least not in this newspaper.
But there's no question language has become more vernacular, subjects more true-to-life than ever (several comic strips have tackled homosexuality in one way or another) and elderly couples can suggest they do more in bed than crossword puzzles.
If there's an underlying current of opinion to your responses to our online comics survey, it's that a number of our strips are tired retreads that aren't funny any more. Sally Forth, Adam, Blondie, Hi and Lois, Garfield, Hägar the Horrible, the Wizard of Id and Beetle Bailey have all been singled out for that criticism.
It suggests to me that we could stand to be edgier. This is Montreal, after all, a city more sophisticated than most on the continent. I suspect it can handle some sophisticated comics.
Now, all we have to do is find them.BACK TO TOP