I have a list of <A HREF="
http://www.lightlink.com/schissel/comics.html" TARGET=_blank>favorite comics</A> up I've been slowly organizing, or trying to organize, anyhow. Most of my "top 5" have been mentioned already, though I don't think I've seen <A HREF="
http://www.kevinandkell.com" TARGET=_blank>Kevin and Kell</A>, <A HREF="
http://www.theclassm.com" TARGET=_blank>The Class Menagerie</A>, or <A HREF="
http://www.newshounds.com" TARGET=_blank>Newshounds</A> mentioned yet. <P>
Kevin and Kell (5 days a week and the occasional one Sunday a month since 1995, now 7 days a week) is on one level the story of a rabbit and a wolf who've gotten married on a world where predators and prey- just <B>don't</B>; The Class Menagerie (I don't only like furry comics (what would I be doing in POCKET forum?,) I definitely don't like all furry comics (grant me some taste...), but I do have a liking for the genre, yes) is an often very funny (and, like most of my favorites, sometimes rather serious) set-in-college strip; while Newshounds, sometimes political without being preachy, is about a news station that a woman has allowed her pets to crew (sorry if that's not a verb, I do find it hard to be grammatical at 7 in the morning lately.) <P><rant><P>Again like my other favorites it manages to find the right mix of humor and seriousness for my liking... and recently its characterization of one of the anchors reminded me of something I look for in writing in general, for I am getting fairly tired of satire when it lacks heart, and I gave up on Sluggy, I think, at least in part (retrospective analysis, this) because I came to feel that Mr. Abrams had never shown this quality, and that I had come to need for an author to show what I call (or miscall- most likely the latter) 'caritas' towards his characters. (And Renata, the half-collie, in Newshounds? Who has more than enough reason <I>not</I> to stick up for Ferris, the rat? Who, especially given recent events, has adequate cause to be furious with him? <A HREF="
http://www.newshounds.com/d/20001020.html" TARGET=_blank>She's the one sitting on the left...</A> - and the fact that, despite all her grievances against Ferris, she's <B>furious</B> because someone else is completely indifferent that he's in pain- that might have to be what I meant right there...<P>I tend to seek out, I think, the work of authors who are (again and of course balancing the humor) fully sympathetic to the emotional lives of their characters, and not just their main characters (though not necessarily all their characters <IMG SRC="
http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> .) <P></rant><P>Anyhow, sorry about that.<P>(The others of my top 5 that have been mentioned are CRFH, and Ozy & Millie. Then there are comics like <A HREF="
http://genecatlow.keenspace.com" TARGET=_blank>Gene Catlow</A> that are just close to <IMG SRC="
http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> ... CotC which has been mentioned... and Acid Reflux is, of course, great stuff. Others besides.)
-Eric Schissel<p>[This message has been edited by schissel (edited 10-25-2000).]
