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A review by zmull
Cul de Sac: This Exit by Richard Thompson
4.0
Newspaper comic strips have become an old thing like men wearing hats and penny candy and smoking at the hospital. They're a petrified art trapped at the center of a dying newspaper industry. The advent of Garfield in the early-80s was the flashpoint. Nearly all of the strips still running are frozen at that moment. It was the last cash-in. The shuttering of the art. The death.
But like a daisy in a cow turd, there have been a few strips to make it to sunlight. The greatest was Calvin and Hobbes. The most successful Dilbert. There were some minor greats, Bloom County / Outland, The Far Side, For Better or For Worse, and, maybe, Foxtrot. There are some good ones still running; Get Fuzzy is most funny of the current best. Cul De Sac is the closest to being great. It has everything classic comic strips of the past had. It's funny. It has pathos and character. The art is beatiful. Richard Thompson's got the gift. Cul De Sac has the looks of a great. At it's finest it's got that hint of poetry Charles Schulz. Some of the early strips in this collection are clearly find its feet. There's a few jarring moments where the focus moves off the Otterloop family and into surreal territory. But if you follow the daily you know that Thompson's found his groove. It's good.
But like a daisy in a cow turd, there have been a few strips to make it to sunlight. The greatest was Calvin and Hobbes. The most successful Dilbert. There were some minor greats, Bloom County / Outland, The Far Side, For Better or For Worse, and, maybe, Foxtrot. There are some good ones still running; Get Fuzzy is most funny of the current best. Cul De Sac is the closest to being great. It has everything classic comic strips of the past had. It's funny. It has pathos and character. The art is beatiful. Richard Thompson's got the gift. Cul De Sac has the looks of a great. At it's finest it's got that hint of poetry Charles Schulz. Some of the early strips in this collection are clearly find its feet. There's a few jarring moments where the focus moves off the Otterloop family and into surreal territory. But if you follow the daily you know that Thompson's found his groove. It's good.