An Open Letter
Dilbert: Creepy Clown rating: 1 Creepy Clown (1 C.C. = awesome comic; 5 C.C. = it sucks).
What can I say? Dilbert is the hizzy. It rocks my socks. It's the funniest damn thing in the comics today. I know that's not the world's greatest compliment, but it's still the truth.
So. An open letter to Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert):
Dear Mr. Adams,
Thank you for the excellent, funny, and insightful strip you produce every day. Its greatness reminds me of two strips from my childhood and teen years: Gary Larson's Far Side and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. Even now, across America, people have old Far Sides and C&H's taped to their office doors, cubicles, refrigerators, breakroom bulletin boards. The newspaper may be yellowing, and the tape used to hold it up may be cracked and brittle, but the brilliant humor shines through. Dilbert has now taken its rightful spot on America's corkboards and office doors.
The Far Side and C&H made fun of human nature. They were loving and without malice, though, and that attitude forced us to laugh with Larson and Watterson. In doing so, we laughed at ourselves. Dilbert is their succesor, instead of their peer, only because the Far Side and C&H are no longer with us.
Mr. Adams, I ask that you take that to heart: there is no shame in putting down your pen and saying "enough." When your creative juices get stale, when putting out the strip becomes a burden, just stop. If you think this is a good idea for a strip:
Panel 1: Dilbert is nervous about asking for a raise
Panel 2: Dilbert asks for a raise
"Punchline:" The pointy haired boss says no.
Put down your pen and step away from the drawing board. Dagwood's been asking Mr. Dithers for a raise for decades. Still not funny. You, Mr. Adams, always seem to make Dilbert's run-ins with the boss so much better. You take the scenario described above and add layers, so that the denial of the raise is not the joke, but the platform upon which the joke is built.
I am not saying that you are even nearing this stage. (Your latest bit with Alice attacking felonious CEOs is great. I loved the one where she worries about working in a "high crime" area, meaning white collar crime. Tee hee. ) Only you, Mr. Adams, will know when the time has come to say goodbye. It will be a sad day for me and for the millions of Americans who expect humor on the funny pages. But it would be a sadder day still if we opened the comics to find Dilbert complaining about his neighbor borrowing his stuff. Because. That's. Not. Funny.
All the best,
Big Al
What can I say? Dilbert is the hizzy. It rocks my socks. It's the funniest damn thing in the comics today. I know that's not the world's greatest compliment, but it's still the truth.
So. An open letter to Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert):
Dear Mr. Adams,
Thank you for the excellent, funny, and insightful strip you produce every day. Its greatness reminds me of two strips from my childhood and teen years: Gary Larson's Far Side and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. Even now, across America, people have old Far Sides and C&H's taped to their office doors, cubicles, refrigerators, breakroom bulletin boards. The newspaper may be yellowing, and the tape used to hold it up may be cracked and brittle, but the brilliant humor shines through. Dilbert has now taken its rightful spot on America's corkboards and office doors.
The Far Side and C&H made fun of human nature. They were loving and without malice, though, and that attitude forced us to laugh with Larson and Watterson. In doing so, we laughed at ourselves. Dilbert is their succesor, instead of their peer, only because the Far Side and C&H are no longer with us.
Mr. Adams, I ask that you take that to heart: there is no shame in putting down your pen and saying "enough." When your creative juices get stale, when putting out the strip becomes a burden, just stop. If you think this is a good idea for a strip:
Panel 1: Dilbert is nervous about asking for a raise
Panel 2: Dilbert asks for a raise
"Punchline:" The pointy haired boss says no.
Put down your pen and step away from the drawing board. Dagwood's been asking Mr. Dithers for a raise for decades. Still not funny. You, Mr. Adams, always seem to make Dilbert's run-ins with the boss so much better. You take the scenario described above and add layers, so that the denial of the raise is not the joke, but the platform upon which the joke is built.
I am not saying that you are even nearing this stage. (Your latest bit with Alice attacking felonious CEOs is great. I loved the one where she worries about working in a "high crime" area, meaning white collar crime. Tee hee. ) Only you, Mr. Adams, will know when the time has come to say goodbye. It will be a sad day for me and for the millions of Americans who expect humor on the funny pages. But it would be a sadder day still if we opened the comics to find Dilbert complaining about his neighbor borrowing his stuff. Because. That's. Not. Funny.
All the best,
Big Al
posted by big al at 3:49 PM
3 Comments:
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
I agree about Dilbert. I usually crack a smile or laugh about 90% of the time, which is double that of any other comic.
John
So nice he had to post it thrice.
I love Dilbert too. It's my favorite current strip aside from FoxTrot. That might be blasphemy to some but they're both miles ahead of most of the other comics I see in the paper.
Anyway, thanks for visiting my site and blogmarking it, Big Al.
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