(the culmination of a week-long sequence in which Wiz invented the telephone. Telemarketer jokes and such)
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I think it’s because phone=internet killed newspapers, where print comics are published?
(This interpretation is admittedly a logical mess, but I think the fault lies with this strip, rather than with me.)
Because people get their “news” from Facebook on their phones, rather than buying newspapers.
Newspapers are the real customers of comic strips (they’re the ones who put money on the table for the syndicates, who turn around a send some to creators in return for crushing deadlines, odd coloring errors, and sometimes-overactive editorial oversight.
But… since newspapers are dying anyway, isn’t the Internet helping to keep comics ALIVE?
The Wiz didn’t invent the Internet. He invented phones.
Remember this was the comic that claimed “millenials don’t read comics”…. and all evidence seems to point out that that seems to be true (much as I hate such generalizations).
I’d like to think the internet is keeping the comic alive but…. both Internet killed comics; and internet saved comics are both just speculation and opinion. And making a comic expressing either opinion is perfectly acceptable.
Woozy: whether the internet is helpful or harmful for comics is speculation. But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, which doesn’t seem consistent with the large number of comics I see daily.
“But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, which doesn’t seem consistent with the large number of comics I see daily.”
And there are many web-only comics that wouldn’t exist except for the Internet. (Some of those are now available on dead trees, but few, if any, segued to newspapers.)
“But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, ”
Which is a fair assumption if … that is what you assume.
Sure. You and I read a lot of comics. And my step-father and his ilk eat organic stone-ground oats. That doesn’t mean mean comics and oatmeal is still “alive”. It’s reasonable and understandable that the guy who writes the Wizard of Id thinks they are dead. We don’t have to agree with him but we can see why he said it.
Woozy: I disagree. Not all assumptions are fair assumptions. Factually, there are quite a lot of comics getting produced: “Beetle Bailey,” “xkcd,” “Bad Machinery,” etc. . . To state that comics have been killed strikes me as an assumption on par with assuming that celery is a type of animal: simply wrong, rather than an opinion. Not because I personally read a lot of comics, but because a lot of comics are being produced.
There may be things that the guy who writes The Wizard of Id dislikes about the current state of comics. Maybe he wishes he had more print viewership, or perhaps he doesn’t like web comics, (I dunno. I actually don’t know why he said what he said.) But disliking the current state of comics is different than them being killed.
“To state that comics have been killed strikes me as an assumption on par with assuming that celery is a type of animal: simply wrong, rather than an opinion.”
But, “x has been killed”, paradoxically, does NOT assume that “x is dead”. Viva la X!
It’s metaphor, and metaphor can be “true” even when the metaphorical comparison is not perfect. For example, Misters Holly, Valenzuala, and, er, Bopper have been dead for a considerable period. In fact, it’s been almost fifty years since their deaths were said to mark the day the music died. Or perhaps music died with John Lennon, or Kurt Cobain, or the day they knocked down the Palais (that’s a Kinks reference).
So… Comics died with Mr. Schulz. Or, if it didn’t die, it was perhaps grievously wounded when Gary Larson retired. No, wait, comics DEFINITELY died when Bill Watterson stepped away.
You can argue literal truth with a person who’s making metaphor. This accomplishes nothing. Some people believe “The Crucible” is really about Salem witch trials, just because there are a lot of references to Salem, and witch trials, and historical figures who were at the Salem witch trials in it.
I just noticed that the talk about killing comic strips was made in a zombie strip.
I like the shout-out to Bad Machinery up-thread! It’s one of my favorites!
For successful newer strips, I wonder if they make more money from trade paperbacks than newspaper fees. A bit like TV series that are consumed as discs or streams rather than scheduled broadcasts.
In recent years a startling number of vintage strips have enjoyed lavish reprints. Are there that many geezers (like me) who crave Prince Valiant, Gasoline Alley, Mary Perkins Onstage, and even Walt Disney’s Treasury of Classic Tales? Or are post-newspaper youth (younger than me, anyway) attracted to them in this form?
MinorAnnoyance, there have been many books of webcomics, such as XKCD and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. I expect that a big part of the audience for these is the post-newspaper youth, not that I’ve done any actual research.
Books of cartoons are extremely hit-or-miss. Gary Larson, Charles Schulz, and Bill Watterson have sold a LOT of books, and continue to do so. But a good many long-running, successful strips get only occasional collections, or none at all.
Pop down to the bookstore (assuming you can find one) and look at the “cartoon books” shelf. You’ll find a bunch of Garfield books, a whole set of Calvin and Hobbes, and maybe three or four other strips well-represented. There will be another half-dozen strips that have more than one title. And not much else.
A big problem for cartoon books is that people get their comic strips from the local newspaper, and the local newspaper doesn’t carry all the strips (of course not) but this means that a national release of a book of comic strips will have some parts of the country where the strip is in the local paper, so people know if they like the strip, and some parts of the country where the strip isn’t in the local paper, so the book sits, untouched, on the shelf until the bookstore ships it back to the publisher and decides not to order any more comic strip books unless they know it will sell, like Calvin does. So the section just has Calvin books on it, and a person who WOULD HAVE considered buying a book of cartoons that isn’t in the local paper, goes away empty-handed because the store won’t waste the shelf-space on it.
In other words, it’s a self-reinforcing spiral. Arlo and Janis got one book from the publisher, and it’s so rare it sells for $400-500 (Mr. Johnson has a self-published book available from his own website. Some scammers try to list it on ebay, from time to time, at a huge markup despite the fact that it is still available at list price.)
When available, I buy the dead tree books, if only to support the artist/cartoonist, as I no longer buy newspapers. I figure it’s the least I could do.
Okay, so the internet didn’t kill the comic strip. But the zombie who writes the Wizard of Id thinks it did.
Man, now I gots “Video Killed the Radio Star” going in my head.
Share that. If. You. Dare.
Arthur’s comment about comics that are only Internet published reminded me of one SIL (yes, her, the crazy person) had online decades ago. (I am sure she was paying someone a fortune to host and post it as she did not use computers until maybe 10 years ago and would have had no idea how to put it online and rarely, if ever, does anything that she has not overpaid someone for something.) She does have a bachelors and a master’s degree in art.
She is a major fan of “The Godfather” movie (read the book – no way). One of her greatest goals in life, luckily not met, was to marry a mafia godfather. She can recite it line for line. So she decided after hearing that people make money by posting things online, she started drawing “Luigi, the godfather’s dog”, who looked amazingly like their family’s dog – Luigi. I know there were posts of it online for a month or two before she gave up. I just did a search and nothing related came up.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think it’s because phone=internet killed newspapers, where print comics are published?
(This interpretation is admittedly a logical mess, but I think the fault lies with this strip, rather than with me.)
Because people get their “news” from Facebook on their phones, rather than buying newspapers.
Newspapers are the real customers of comic strips (they’re the ones who put money on the table for the syndicates, who turn around a send some to creators in return for crushing deadlines, odd coloring errors, and sometimes-overactive editorial oversight.
But… since newspapers are dying anyway, isn’t the Internet helping to keep comics ALIVE?
The Wiz didn’t invent the Internet. He invented phones.
Remember this was the comic that claimed “millenials don’t read comics”…. and all evidence seems to point out that that seems to be true (much as I hate such generalizations).
I’d like to think the internet is keeping the comic alive but…. both Internet killed comics; and internet saved comics are both just speculation and opinion. And making a comic expressing either opinion is perfectly acceptable.
Woozy: whether the internet is helpful or harmful for comics is speculation. But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, which doesn’t seem consistent with the large number of comics I see daily.
“But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, which doesn’t seem consistent with the large number of comics I see daily.”
And there are many web-only comics that wouldn’t exist except for the Internet. (Some of those are now available on dead trees, but few, if any, segued to newspapers.)
“But “the Internet killed comics” includes a background assumption that comics have in fact been killed, ”
Which is a fair assumption if … that is what you assume.
Sure. You and I read a lot of comics. And my step-father and his ilk eat organic stone-ground oats. That doesn’t mean mean comics and oatmeal is still “alive”. It’s reasonable and understandable that the guy who writes the Wizard of Id thinks they are dead. We don’t have to agree with him but we can see why he said it.
Woozy: I disagree. Not all assumptions are fair assumptions. Factually, there are quite a lot of comics getting produced: “Beetle Bailey,” “xkcd,” “Bad Machinery,” etc. . . To state that comics have been killed strikes me as an assumption on par with assuming that celery is a type of animal: simply wrong, rather than an opinion. Not because I personally read a lot of comics, but because a lot of comics are being produced.
There may be things that the guy who writes The Wizard of Id dislikes about the current state of comics. Maybe he wishes he had more print viewership, or perhaps he doesn’t like web comics, (I dunno. I actually don’t know why he said what he said.) But disliking the current state of comics is different than them being killed.
“To state that comics have been killed strikes me as an assumption on par with assuming that celery is a type of animal: simply wrong, rather than an opinion.”
But, “x has been killed”, paradoxically, does NOT assume that “x is dead”. Viva la X!
It’s metaphor, and metaphor can be “true” even when the metaphorical comparison is not perfect. For example, Misters Holly, Valenzuala, and, er, Bopper have been dead for a considerable period. In fact, it’s been almost fifty years since their deaths were said to mark the day the music died. Or perhaps music died with John Lennon, or Kurt Cobain, or the day they knocked down the Palais (that’s a Kinks reference).
So… Comics died with Mr. Schulz. Or, if it didn’t die, it was perhaps grievously wounded when Gary Larson retired. No, wait, comics DEFINITELY died when Bill Watterson stepped away.
You can argue literal truth with a person who’s making metaphor. This accomplishes nothing. Some people believe “The Crucible” is really about Salem witch trials, just because there are a lot of references to Salem, and witch trials, and historical figures who were at the Salem witch trials in it.
I just noticed that the talk about killing comic strips was made in a zombie strip.
I like the shout-out to Bad Machinery up-thread! It’s one of my favorites!
For successful newer strips, I wonder if they make more money from trade paperbacks than newspaper fees. A bit like TV series that are consumed as discs or streams rather than scheduled broadcasts.
In recent years a startling number of vintage strips have enjoyed lavish reprints. Are there that many geezers (like me) who crave Prince Valiant, Gasoline Alley, Mary Perkins Onstage, and even Walt Disney’s Treasury of Classic Tales? Or are post-newspaper youth (younger than me, anyway) attracted to them in this form?
MinorAnnoyance, there have been many books of webcomics, such as XKCD and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. I expect that a big part of the audience for these is the post-newspaper youth, not that I’ve done any actual research.
Books of cartoons are extremely hit-or-miss. Gary Larson, Charles Schulz, and Bill Watterson have sold a LOT of books, and continue to do so. But a good many long-running, successful strips get only occasional collections, or none at all.
Pop down to the bookstore (assuming you can find one) and look at the “cartoon books” shelf. You’ll find a bunch of Garfield books, a whole set of Calvin and Hobbes, and maybe three or four other strips well-represented. There will be another half-dozen strips that have more than one title. And not much else.
A big problem for cartoon books is that people get their comic strips from the local newspaper, and the local newspaper doesn’t carry all the strips (of course not) but this means that a national release of a book of comic strips will have some parts of the country where the strip is in the local paper, so people know if they like the strip, and some parts of the country where the strip isn’t in the local paper, so the book sits, untouched, on the shelf until the bookstore ships it back to the publisher and decides not to order any more comic strip books unless they know it will sell, like Calvin does. So the section just has Calvin books on it, and a person who WOULD HAVE considered buying a book of cartoons that isn’t in the local paper, goes away empty-handed because the store won’t waste the shelf-space on it.
In other words, it’s a self-reinforcing spiral. Arlo and Janis got one book from the publisher, and it’s so rare it sells for $400-500 (Mr. Johnson has a self-published book available from his own website. Some scammers try to list it on ebay, from time to time, at a huge markup despite the fact that it is still available at list price.)
When available, I buy the dead tree books, if only to support the artist/cartoonist, as I no longer buy newspapers. I figure it’s the least I could do.
Okay, so the internet didn’t kill the comic strip. But the zombie who writes the Wizard of Id thinks it did.
Man, now I gots “Video Killed the Radio Star” going in my head.
Share that. If. You. Dare.
Arthur’s comment about comics that are only Internet published reminded me of one SIL (yes, her, the crazy person) had online decades ago. (I am sure she was paying someone a fortune to host and post it as she did not use computers until maybe 10 years ago and would have had no idea how to put it online and rarely, if ever, does anything that she has not overpaid someone for something.) She does have a bachelors and a master’s degree in art.
She is a major fan of “The Godfather” movie (read the book – no way). One of her greatest goals in life, luckily not met, was to marry a mafia godfather. She can recite it line for line. So she decided after hearing that people make money by posting things online, she started drawing “Luigi, the godfather’s dog”, who looked amazingly like their family’s dog – Luigi. I know there were posts of it online for a month or two before she gave up. I just did a search and nothing related came up.