Sunday Funnies: PLAYBOY

Not the usual magazine you'd look to buy for reading comics, I know. Yet Hugh Hefner's PLAYBOY has a long track record for having the best of the best cartoonists and comic artists. From the earlier years when they got Jack Cole, to the more recent past when they were using Dean Yeagle in every issue, they've maintained a quality (and classy) standard. No smut here.
I'll give you a little fair warning: there is a li'l bit o' nudity in these comics, but it's not porn. Just humor.
I find these funny, but your results may vary if ya don't keep your mind in the gutter like I do.

from PLAYBOY, November 2011
































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GOBLINS

This is another scanlation that I stumbled across on a random site. I couldn't find any google links for an 'official' English translation, so I guess there isn't one. Why are there so few companies that release Euro-Comics in English and so many that do mangas? I don't know.
I guess we should feel lucky that there are dedicated fans willing to translate this stuff for free. Who knows; these same fans may one day start an actual publishing company and get the English rights to the bande dessinee that they've translated.

Anyhoo, this is a simple kind of series, it's just one-page gag strips about some goblins that live in the woods. Even if you don't usually read or watch any fantasy series, you'll get the jokes.

by Corentin Martinage & Tristan Roulot
from GOBLINS vol 1, 2007









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LINK: INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATORS
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JONAH HEX: BOUNTY HUNTER

One of the most messed up thing about DC's "NEW 52" is the fact that All-Star Western is arguably the very best title that they're running now. Sad. They rebooted 51 other superhero comics just to prove that the western genre is not dead yet.
I guess I can't be too harsh tho', if it weren't for a whole bunch of people's recommendation, I wouldn't have ever known how awesome that the Jonah Hex series is (and was), as you'll see in this classic Hex tale from the 70s.
ENJOY!

by John Albano & Tony Dezuñiga
from WEIRD WESTERN TALES #16, February 1973















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When Comics Do Things Wrong

I actually like Archie comics for the most part, but with this one, I think they really lost their target audience. It's not a really bad story, but it seems like whoever wrote and drew it was totally out of touch with current fashion at the time.



Yeah, see what I mean? This comic is dated for 1979, yet Chuck just bought an outfit from 1969. Nobody was wearing anything like this in 1979 except maybe Bootsy Collins or Rick James.
Other than the totally outdated fashion, the rest of the story ain't too bad.






So, you see it's really just a typical "oh the generation gap creates comedy" type of stories. But UGH! that outfit.
Luckily today's more recent Archie comics are more in tune with the real world; or at least they try to be.

This story from: ARCHIE'S PALS N GALS #136, October 1979
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Sunday Funnies: NON SEQUITUR

Starting as an editorial cartoonist way, way back in 1976, 'Wiley' has been doing comics ever since. Non-Sequitur is actually his second syndicated feature (if anybody was counting). Without a whole lot of recurring characters at first, the current run usually features his little girl character 'Danae', who has an almost-as-morbid sense of humor as (Mark Tatulli's) LIO, but not quite.

Which brings us to this selection of strips. I'm not actually sure why I picked all of these comics that are about death and suicide, I think I was planning on making some eloquent comparison between Wiley and Charles Addams or something, but now I've forgotten. Whatever. But it is pretty dang-ol' interesting how dark some of Wiley's humor is, especially when it's stacked up against plain vanilla comics like Garfield or Family Circus in the newspapers.

by David Wiley Miller
from NON-SEQUITUR'S BEASTLY THINGS (ISBN: 0-7407-0016-2) 1999













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LINK:
INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTIST
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