Yo! Here’s a spoof comic by cartoonist Mark Tatulli, creator of Liō, a syndicated strip about a strange young boy. The regular strip is quite offbeat and one of the best new strips to zing into the newspapers. It is told in pantomime, thus having already hit an international audience with relative ease. The humor is dark, often involving strange creatures and questionable situations.

Now check this one out. By the way, Liō is the boy with the single-spiked hairstyle. What’s interesting about this comic is that it starts from Liō in the center of the page. Follow the “jumbo ants” from there on out. I like spoofs and it’s great to see a syndicated cartoonist attack his own peers with man-eating ants.

– Click to enlarge.

Marilla promised you funny last
week. What do you think of this one?

Yo! So there’s this Finnish company called Futuremark Corporation which does some sort of computer technology stuff, blah blah blah. For some reason they spun a comic strip competition into their marketing efforts. Heck, why not?!

Here’s the 1st place winner, an ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ strip by Uros Jojic and Borislav Grabovic. It’s pretty good and gave us here at Zingerding a good laugh. You can read the 2nd and 3rd place winners here. I didn’t even understand the third.

– Click to enlarge.

Yo! Here is a new comic strip to hit the web in the last few months, Bleeker: the Rechargeable Dog by cartoonist Jonathan Mahood. Starring the dog Bleeker and his kid, Skip. Bleeker is today’s do-all electronic gadget – email, digital camera, daily planner, printer, GPS and more.

It’s a good strip, well drawn and very enjoyable. I don’t think the humor is all that… yet. This is the kinda strip where the humor is gonna come from the characters and it’ll take some time for them to develop. It’s a new strip here, people. The current jokes are mostly about what Bleeker can or can’t do as a robotic dog. It is situation-driven, not character-driven which is typical of new comics. Given time, I think we’ll see the potential. There have been some good ones so far. So keep readin’ it and give it a solid chance!

– Click to enlarge.

Yo, friends. This is one bizarre comic strip advertisement for Pepsi, from May 1941. Read it and let me dissect this one for you. Sorry for the poor quality scan but that’s how these rare ones often are.

– Click to enlarge

Panel 2, the opening of the story. Pepsi (the bigger fat one) and Pete fall from the sky after passing through “the wrong door” into a magical tropical world of speed-planes and palm trees.

Panels 3 and 4. A grass skirt, top hat wearing native asks for a match so they can cook a “fat explorer” for a banquet. The similarities in the explorer’s body type to Pepsi worries him though it doesn’t seem the natives are interested in eating the two cops. The native is quite polite and not using his spear in attempt to capture the new fat people that fell from the sky (obviously their food source).

Panel 5. Pete shows his sympathy for the poor explorer while Pepsi just focuses on the act of running. You know, getting into the zone.

Following this so far? Does it make you thirsty for an ice-cold soda pop? It should.

Panel 6. Strange birds fly around with a somewhat Dr. Seussian looking fish and cat.

Panel 7. The two cops have captured one of these exotic birds, presumedly by Pete grabbing its legs as it flew by while Pepsi jumping it from the nearby tree, his weight pinning the bird down. Time for a drink, eh? For only 5 cents, they were able to afford to force the bird to swallow some Pepsi (the drink, not the man. You never know who may be eaten in this magical world.)

Panels 8. With the power of a sugar rush, the bird is able to help capture the happy fat explorer from becoming “fricassee” (a word not used enough in comics today).

Panel 9, the end of the story. Can the bird read English? If not, is it just coincidence that they happen to be heading back to America? The dazed bird doesn’t seem to care what happens to him now that he got his soda buzz. What will happen to them when they arrive back in Long Island with a naked fat man? Pepsi and Pete actually look worried about it.

But it doesn’t matter because all that is supposed to sell you on a big big bottle of Pepsi. Print out this comic strip and present it at your local grocery or email it to pepsi.com to get your 66 year old bottle for only 5 cents!

Here’s the first Garfield comic strip to feature lasagna, dated 7-15-1978, about a month after the debut of the first strip. Upon reading it, it’s not really that funny. But try to erase your mind of the fact that popular culture has known about Garfield and lasagna for almost 30 years. If this was the first time you saw a cat have a thing for a pasta dish, maybe you’d laugh. I mean, the lasagna thing caught on, right? Garfield readers in the late 1970s musta popped a rib laughing at this stuff. Ha ha, lasagna. Get it? Lasagna! Ha ha ha ha…

– Click to enlarge.

Yo! To join yesterday’s post, here’s another Hubert and Abby comic strip from this past week. I thought I’d post one again to give cartoonist Mel Henze a little boost. We’re all about helping the little guy here at Zingerding. Strips like Garfield don’t need the extra buzz.

– Click to enlarge.

What’s with that bottle of “Fiz?” Did Hubert spill it so he can stand in it? Did he pee on the table? It’s an odd thing to reveal in the final panel. If it has anything to do with the zinger, it is beyond me but I think it’s funny anyway!

Yo, here’s a comic strip called Hubert and Abby by Mel Henze. Hubert is a hamster or guinea pig or some sort of house rodent. Abby, well she’s a nurse. I just began reading the strip and so far, so good. Abby seems to just float by in life doing the best she can. Hubert causes trouble around the house more out of ignorance than rebellion. He is always giving his two cents that Abby at least entertains listening to.

I like this strip from this past week. I’m a fan of when nonsensical thoughts make sense to those who speak them. Hehe. The whole concept of swapping days around was also a common theme in my favorite comic strip, Pogo. I like it here too. Enjoy!

– Click to enlarge.

Yo. About a week ago, I blogged about several snowman-themed comic strips. Here is one more from a strip called ‘Off The Mark’ by cartoonist Mark Parisi. He actually has a bunch of snowman comics on his site under the winter category. His differ from the other ones I posted earlier in that his jokes aren’t about the snowman being built by someone (though maybe they are) but rather they have life, ala Frosty. And with that comes a whole bunch of funny new concepts. A majority of his snowman strips revolve around the carrot nose. This is a mark of a good cartoonist, that he has thought up several funny ideas based on a very particular theme, not just the snowman, but his nose. Great job, Mark! This one made me laugh. Click it to enlarge it.

Yesterday we discussed the common sexism seen in Andy Capp. This Andy Capp comic strip was printed the following day in the papers. Here, read it. Click it to enlarge.

I cannot even tell if this strip is sexist or not. On one hand, Flo is making a stand by pointing out how wrong it is that cake cutting is “women’s work” eluding to the mindset of women belonging in the kitchen. On the other hand, that’s supposed to be the zinger! So are we to laugh at that? “Ha ha. Women’s work. Good one!”

This one brings up sexism in an unusual way for an Andy Capp strip. Usually, Andy and Flo bicker at each other while Andy makes ignorant comments about women in general. This strip actually points out the negative of such a mindset. Maybe the new creators are bringing Andy into the 21st century after all? Oh wait, read the next day’s strip.

Yo. Andy Capp is still running after all these years. Started in 1957 by British cartoonist Reg Smythe who died in 1998, the comic strip is now created by Rogers Mahoney and Kettle. This is one of those unfortunate instances where comics are kept going for too long.

Check this one out. Click it to enlarge.

Aren’t we past the time where sexism equals humor? Is this funny? I’m a guy and I’m offended. Hey I’m not sayin’ these aren’t issues that comic strips shouldn’t tackle. But that’s not what Andy is about. He is known for his hostile, cutting remarks toward his wife. But it’s the 21st century now, people. It’s not cool to call your wife “pet” while demanding dinner.

Are you offended by such a strip or do you shrug off the crazy ol’ outdated Andy? Leave a comment.