By Brian McNett
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 9, 1998

Wildcat comics stink

To the Editor:

I would like to address the sorry state of the "comics" page. I usually read most of the Daily Wildcat between, but mostly during, classes, for entertainment and hopefully a laugh. Though the Wildcat, I guess, eliminates all humor from its pages and especially that of the "comics" page. I won't attack the fact that none of the commentaries are funny, though they failedly [sic] attempt to be, or that "Police Beat," which should be funny, never is and becomes an informative strip about criminals no one knows or cares to find out about. Every "Police Beat" is about some harassing phone call or a backpack being stolen from a 400-room building. It's worthless. My real problem simply lies with the"comics." "The Deep End" is all right and "Falafel" is okay. So, that brings us to the other comics which are like some half-assed form of Medieval punishment. "The Woods" is basic at best and adds a new, less funny character to mask the lack of creativity and humor. "Pickle" is crap, except on those off days when it's especially crappy.

So, this semester when Chad Strawderman was looking for a new cartoonist, I applied. I, of course, was turned down because I incorporated humor into my comic. The two new comics, "Chromatic Aberration" and "Animal House," beat me out. And why not, they're less funny than the other comics. "Chromatic Aberration" takes not one but two creators to make it not funny. "Animal House" uses predictable jokes he probably found in his little brother's Big Book of Kids Jokes II.

At the very least these comics do attempt humor, whereas, "Looking for Billy" is the worst thing I've ever seen. I'm talking funerals, car accidents, and "Faces of Death," it's just troubling. It should be renamed "Looking for Jeremy Olsen's Sense of Humor." It's like reading "Mary Worth" on crack. Most of the Daily Wildcat's comics are similar to those found in the Sunday comics. The only thing is that those are designed for kids. Try drawing comics a college student would enjoy. And that doesn't mean incorporating some crap joke about frats or kegs or pot. For those readers that search long and hard for humor in the Wildcat try looking elsewhere. I recommend you watch Comedy Corner in the cellar on Fridays at noon. You'll actually laugh.

Brian McNett
Economics junior