Sweets and Treats Part 2

Happy Halloween!

P.S. Boy, is my face red!  i just noticed the duel writing credit -Jeff AND Bil-on this strip, so disregard the attribution griping in my last post.  Apparently, Bil's son Jeff works as his assistant, and is expected to take over when his father retired.  BUT! I still suspect Bil has minimal involvement in the strip.  Prove me wrong!

Sweets and Treats

Why do i even look at the daily cartoons?

I hate to be negative, but these daily strips prove time and again that the Family Circus is a shadow of its former self.

 First of all, look at that crappy drawing.  It looks like something from a bootleg dollar store coloring book. I know they never looked realistic, but their heads weren't always amoeba shaped. I'm pretty convinced that Bil Keane in nothing more than a Orville Redenbacherstyle figurehead, with little or nothing to do with the actual creation of the strip .. if he's even still alive!  If his son -- occasional "guest" cartoonist "Billy" -- is actually doing all the work, i don't see why they don't just admit it.

Second of all, this strip takes the "non-joke" -- something the series has already perfected --  to a new level.  "Your tummy could use some cake, Jeffy?  And? That's it?"  I keep re-reading it, thinking I MUST be missing something, but there is nothing. 

(Note that Dolly seems to be looking right at the camera, something I don't think I've ever seen any of the family do.  Billy Keane breaks down the forth wall!)

Compare to this sweets-related cartoon from the early 80s:

(sorry for the blurry phone photo)

This one of my top 5 favorite FC strips. Unlike the cake cartoon, this one makes me smile every time i read it. Look at how tired Billy's eyes are.  Is he diabetic?  But even on the edge of  fainting, he never for a moment forgets how to turn a phrase.

Jeffy could really stand to take a page from Billy's book....but that's kind of always been true.

(Dedicated to Dower of Refuse, lover of sweets)

Right now I'm sitting in a coffee shop with my back to the window and I'm feeling embarrassed at the prospect of some passerby looking in and seeing me reading the Family Circus website (www.familycircus.com .. check it out! Lots of fun.) But what is there to be ashamed of?  What's wrong with a 27 year old checking up on the daily activities of America's Most Perfect Family?

And this is what they're up to today, apparently.  I really don't have much to say about this, aside from: this is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with TFC. This is pointless, sentimental garbage.  What's the joke here?  Stupid Jeffy thinks his "dog is people"?  "Kids say the darndest things"?  Keane, if this is your definition of "darndest," you need to expand your horizons.  Just because it's cute when your own children/ grandchildren say it, doesn't mean it will satisfy the rest of America's comic readers.

I don't want to get too negative here... there's already a guy who does that, and his name is The Comics Curmudgeon (check out http://joshreads.com after you get bored with the Family Circus site).  So, here's something positive: i couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the dog who isn't "Barfy," and now i know its "Sam."