When retiring his comic strip Bloom County, Berke Breathed remarked “a good comic strip is as eternal as a ripe melon.” Personally, I think that’s bullshit, and reflects more on Breathed’s motivation, or lack thereof. A good comic strip lasts a lifetime. We still pass around clippings of The Far Side and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, decades after they were printed. A cartoonist who can’t perpetuate over changing times has inked themselves into a corner. Or dried the well.
If a comic strip is still hilarious long past its sell-by date, it is a successful comic strip. That is the acid test.

Before you ask, the “flip book” of Dan Quayle eating a Twinkie actually works. Quite well.
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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Magazine Rack
Tagged as 1980s, 1986, 1991, Arizona, Berke Breathed, Bloom County, college, comic, comic strips, Doonesbury, Erik Andresen, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Family Guy, Franz Kafka, Jeff Shesol, laughter, New Kids On The Block, political correctness, Robot Chicken, strips, The Far Side, Tucson, University of Arizona
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