Support NeoGAF

[Spike Spiegel]

www.libertymeadows.com

Read the Rest

Seeing as how you guys are such experts on what constitutes "funny" when it comes to comic strips, I was wondering what the general consensus was on Frank Cho's Liberty Meadows newspaper comic strip, which I've recently begun reading thru collections. Early impressions are that, Frank's fine and admirable appreciation of the female form aside (*fap* *fap* *fap*), I personally find LM to be a pretty humorous and likeable strip, if a bit too "hit & miss" with the jokes on occasion. But given what passes for "humor" in today's Sunday Funnies, even at its worst LM is a laugh riot in comparison.

So, read and critique. Like you've got anything better to do.

 

[Bob White]

Great fucking comic. Most likely the funniest news paper strip right now.

 

[kumanoki]

Very charming.

 

[Diomedeskun]

Funny animals, beautiful women, what more could you want in a comic?

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Tell me this isn't a direct Bloom County rip-off

 

[Jim Bowie]

It's too much like a direct Bloom Country r/o. And that brings up memories of how Bloom Country ended, became Outlands, and then ended again. And that hurts. Hurts like a stubbed toe.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Berkley Breathed would never do something like this, for shame...

 

[explodet]

Frank Cho rocks.

 

[belgurdo]

I gotta read this comic now :lol

 

[FnordChan]

Cho can only draw the one woman, but, man, he draws her really well. Aside from that, eh. It's okay.

FnordChan

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Tell me this isn't a direct Bloom County rip-off.

Having not read Bloom County, I really couldn't say. But Frank's said in past interviews that the three creators who got him interested in the newspaper strip business were Berkley Breathed, Bill Watterson, and Gary Larson.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Well, the blue stuff Cho can call his own, and his art is pretty damn good; but I have read pretty much all of Breathed comics, over and over again, and Cho has borrowed heavily from Breathed to the point of ripping almost entire strips.

Plus that pig is Steve Dallas. He's a pig now, but it's pretty clear where he came from.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I've been collecting Liberty Meadows for years now, and I honestly mean to stop.

It's not particularly funny. It does have it's moments, but overall it's not on the same level as Foxtrot or Dilbert. Granted you can't make a direct comparison between them because of the content, but for what it does; Liberty Meadows just falls kind of flat for me. Sophomoric humor with really well drawn panels. As a newspaper strip cum infrequent comic pamphlet it's just bland. Even without the editorial restraints.

I love Frank Cho's art, but I would suggest you steer clear of Liberty Meadows. Pick up Frank Cho Illustrator and wait for his Shanna the She Devil book from Marvel. It looks like it will be a sufficient showcase for his talents of drawing stacked babes and dinosaurs in the wilds.

 

[SpiderJerusalem]

I always bought it, but felt like something was missing sometimes. I have Brandy pics on my fridge though. Hawt.

 

[belgurdo]

Plus that pig is Steve Dallas. He's a pig now, but it's pretty clear where he came from.

No kiddin'

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Well, the blue stuff Cho can call his own, and his art is pretty damn good; but I have read pretty much all of Breathed comics, over and over again, and Cho has borrowed heavily from Breathed to the point of ripping almost entire strips.

Plus that pig is Steve Dallas. He's a pig now, but it's pretty clear where he came from.

Didn't some people also accuse Bloom County of being something of a rip of Doonesbury?

 

[levious]

I thought he wasn't in newspapers anymore? I used to read it when it was... didn't it end with Frank marrying Brandy? Was that her name?

 

[MrPing1000]

Brandy is hot

 

[FnordChan]

Didn't some people also accuse Bloom County of being something of a rip of Doonesbury?

From Doonesbury's FAQ pages:

Q: I know Bloom County bugged you and I cannot figure out why. I mean, why didn't the old saw of "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery mean anything to you?
--Peter Zale, University Heights, Ohio

A: A critic for the Comics Journal once wrote that to call Bloom County funny is like complimenting a shoplifter on being a snappy dresser. Breathed borrowed from a variety of his colleagues -- even as he scorned their work. He once wrote a series of strips about two characters looking at clouds that was so clearly lifted from a legendary Peanuts strip that the Washington Post called him on it. His reply: It was an "homage" -- never mind that the Peanuts strip had appeared 20 years earlier and was not referenced. The line between emulation and theft is a fairly subjective one, but Breathed developed a poor reputation among his peers because of the specificity of his lifts -- and his arrogance when confronted with them.

That said, I really, really loved Bloom County, so I'm not overly concerned where Breathed lifted his strips from. If I'd been enjoying Liberty Meadows and had never read Bloom County, I imagine I'd feel the same.

FnordChan

 

[FortNinety]

I've been a fan of the strip since I first discovered it years back. Though all my cartoonist buddies gave me tons of flack; Frank Cho is well known to be an asshole. Still, I'll read it if it comes my way.

 

[belgurdo]

Didn't some people also accuse Bloom County of being something of a rip of Doonesbury?

Ah, never heard of that before. But I figure that cartoonists cribbing concepts and characters off one another is a pretty common occurrance. Hell, Boondocks is one of the funniest strips I've read in years even though it's just Calvin and Hobbes/Doonesbury with animu-styled black people

 

[Spike Spiegel]

I thought he wasn't in newspapers anymore? I used to read it when it was... didn't it end with Frank marrying Brandy? Was that her name?

From what I've been able to gather, after getting fed up with censorship Frank decided to end the newspaper strip on a cliffhanger in 2001, with Brandy about to marry someone that wasn't Frank. To find out what happened, readers were asked to look for this...

...at their local comics retailer, and to look for Liberty Meadows in uncensored comic book form. Since then, Liberty Meadows moved from Insight Comics to Image Comics, and as I understand it the strip is still being reprinted and collected, with new material and strips added to fill in certain gaps in the story. I dunno if Frank officially ended Liberty Meadows with "The Wedding Album" (haven't read it), or if he plans to pick things up once again when the reprints are finished.

 

[Mzo]

Didn't some people also accuse Bloom County of being something of a rip of Doonesbury?

Some of his early strips, before there even was an Opus, had Milo talking to his own reflection and were complete rips of Doonesbury strips.

I loved Bloom County, and I think Liberty Meadows is really funny.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

 

[way more]

Jesus, my paper stopped carring that like 8 years ago. I read it, its better then most of the crap out there.

 

[thomaser]

The best cartoon right now is Pondus by Frode Øverli. I don't know if it's published in English newspapers or mags, but it's big in most of Europe. A couple of years back, a LATIN version of one of his mags was released in the Vatican!

The only English version I could find on the net was on www.opera.com. Here's a couple of samples (these are pretty old, and in b/w, while the originals are always in full colour):

Pondus is the guy with the woman, who's called Beate. "Raymond" (Jokke originally) is Pondus' best friend, and is famous for his taste in women. One of his nicer catches in strip number four, there.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

Yeah a lot of that seems like Bloom County knockoffs. But then again, early Bloom County's seemed like Doonesbury knockoffs, so I guess it evens out.

I don't get a paper anymore. How's "Opus?"

 

[levious]

Opus is better than Outland I'd say... especially now with 50 year old Steve Dallas.

Bloom County far surpassed Doonesbury in my opinion... especially now that it's little more than a political editorial strip, certainly not what I look for in funnies.

 

[StoOgE]

Opus is pretty good. The new dirty old man Steve Dallas is classic. Also when Bill D. Cat was running for Mayor.. that was awesome.

Funny story about Brethead started out as a staff writer for the Daily Texan (UT student newspaper) and he would submit news that got printed that was completely made up. Not like satire (say, the onion), but completely seriously written pieces with no basis in fact at all. Evidently the guy thought it was hilarious. Needless to say he didnt get to write news stories anymore so he started Bloom County.

He wrote one story about a UT student who released hundreds of Baby Alligators into lake Austin.. property values dropped like a rock along the lake and he was arrested for it.

 

[FnordChan]

Bloom County far surpassed Doonesbury in my opinion... especially now that it's little more than a political editorial strip, certainly not what I look for in funnies.

Wait, when exactly wasn't it a political editorial strip?

FnordChan