Those Old Funnies...

How funny are those old funnies??

As a child I used to wait for that evening newspaper - The Madras Mail - only to read "Mutt and Jeff", the comic strip that ran at the bottom left of the last page....the Mail disappeared from circulation and with it went those two funny men...

When I heard that the newest newspaper to hit Chennai carried that old strip..I bought a copy.. turned the pages eagerly...there it was... all slapstick...wham! bang! crash! ...only it did not really tickle my funny bone any more..

And the "Archies"......all in there too....
Jughead chomping through mountains of burgers, transfat n' all
Archie, Veronica, Betty and Reggie still at their old courting games...

Their world remains pristine, unchanged...
Even after the school shootings?...the Columbine massacre???
...the drug problem???..
...the crime wave???...
...teen pregnancies????...Get outta here..

And obviously, these guys haven't heard of Nike, Adidas, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Levis.... which must be wonderful for their parents!!!!!

No wonder Winner's generation gives them the go-by......they just cannot make the connection....

And neither can I...
Dennis the Menace was right there in his element in his root beer and cookie world...but it is strange to see him playing video games...Na!!!...not so menacing...not so cute...not for me...

Perhaps if Dennis had grown up and morphed into Calvin's dad....he, of the "Calvin and Hobbes" fame... that would have seemed like karma ...don't you think??

Come to think of it, Calvin is the Dennis the Menace of the twenty-first century.....in the same tradition...but rooted in our world...

The action heroes have done better..Batman, Superman, Spiderman.. in their movie versions...but not so the Phantom...ghost who walks..man who cannot die...he seems to have died out...and taken Lord Greystoke aka Tarzan with him

Also missing are Little Lotta and her friend, the polka-dot obsessed little Dot in her Dotland....Casper too has been rather quiet after his Hollywood debut..and as for Richie Rich, whenever I hear his name, I can only think McCauley Culkin!!!

The funnies have to be funny about our world..they have to grow and evolve with us, catch the flavor of our lives....maybe some of the old funnies do need a rest...perhaps we should just let go......gracefully.....

Now, I'd rather be reading "Marvin" or "On a Claire day".......
Or look at life in India through the eyes of RK Lakshman's ubiquitous common man..
How about you?