Sunday morning and I am doing something I have not done for
many years, sitting back and reading the funny papers (comics to the newbies).
I find Dilbert very funny, and I get the humor even though I
am not permitted to work in an office environment along with other people.
That is a mandate from my employer.
I surely miss Opus but I am glad that some of my favorites like BC and Wizard of Id have continued on by family members after the
passing of Johnny Hart and Brant Parker. They maintain much of the same
flavor as their creators. Must be in the genes.
Peanuts can certainly continue, as much of its humor is
timeless. It was the first comic strip
I ever knew, read to me by my mother when I was a child, often as a bedtime
story as we did not have a vast library of children’s books. Charles Schultz as
the nightly sandman must have subconsciously been the reason why I once
seriously considered comics as a career choice.
I was on a cartooning fast track, studying the history,
following the work of the masters, practicing the craft and even submitting a
weekly cartoon to a local newspaper. I
finally gave up the quest after the realization that I lacked the two major
ingredients of a good cartoonist; a sense of humor and the ability to draw.
Of all the Peanuts characters the one I identified with the most
was a minor player never appearing very much. That was Pigpen.
I thought of Pigpen a lot recently as my region of the
country is going through a heat wave that necessitates frequent showers, 2 even
3 daily. I was the kid who would leave
the house, just bathed, only to return ten minutes later asking for a drink of
water with sweat glands on overload and a dirt ring around my neck. I now know why there was always a
slip-n-slide in the backyard and my pool membership card had #1 on it.
I needed to be kept wet.
Anyway I hope you are enjoying your Sunday morning and can
get back in touch with your inner child and read the funny papers again.
