If you occasionally check this thing out solely for the comic book related content, and could give a crap about the rest, all that noise has now been stuffed into it’s own category, named Funny Books. I would have just done this quietly, but I also wanted to share this little quote from Dan Nadel (from the first issue of the always inspiring Comics Comics), that I think nicely sums up my own feelings on the topic. [the emphasis on the last bit is my own]
This comic-book collection of Bill Griffith’s classic syndicated newspaper strip [Griffith Observatory] reminds me that comics can actually be intelligent and sophisticated. I know we’re already supposed to believe that by now, but have you ever read Persepolis? If so, you see the problem. Point is, people should be taking a cue from Griffith: He’s smart but not smug, clever but not pretentious, funny but not mean. And he’s never turned into a prick. Plus, he actually has things on his mind that exist outside of his own brain. He has articulate, interesting thoughts to express—an exceedingly rare trait in comics.
Having worked on the Zippy collections for Fantagraphics, I can confirm that all of this is true, and also that Bill Griffith is one of the nicest and sharpest people working in comics. And he’s been doing it for a very long time at a very high and consistent standard of writing that few, if any, have ever matched. So, welcome to the Funny Pages on Wow Cool, where we never forgot the fun.
