I’m always reminiscing about something (it’s a habit us old folks have). As a kid, I was a big newspaper comic strip reader. I read nearly all of the classics: Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Family Circus, For Better Or For Worse, Hagar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Cathy, Dennis the Menace, and even Ziggy (ugh…no offense, Mr. Tom Wilson).

I loved anything that would make me laugh. As I have stated in previous blog postings, I did not have access to newspapers often, so I had to make do with whatever comic pages I could procure. Most of the time, a relative saved the funny pages for me until I visited (it made going to see them a bit easier). Old folks smelled funny to me, but I could deal with ‘em in exchange for a few minutes of uninterrupted comic euphoria. That’s why I loved the gag-a-day comic strips: I didn’t miss anything pertinent. If I didn’t see Tuesday’s paper, I could still get a joke when I resumed reading on Wednesday. Heck, weeks could go by, but when I returned, I could just plunge in where I left off and laugh myself silly at Charlie Brown trying to kick a football that Lucy held.

Sure, a lot of these comics(the majority, in fact) were formulaic. You knew Charlie Brown was gonna get played by Lucy. You knew Sarge was gonna wax ol’ Beetle’s @$$. You knew Mr. Wilson was not gonna appreciate Dennis’s antics. For me, that was okay. These comics were familiar to me, they were dependable. I could count on them every edition. So when I hear someone say that ADDANAC CITY isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before, I don’t fret. Sure, there have been other “bad boys” in the comics before, but nobody has ever done it quite like Hank.

I adored those type of comics. Give me something to laugh at and I will be back. That’s what I try to accomplish with ADDANAC CITY. The joke may seem familiar, but I always try to execute it with a fresh approach. Plus, someone else may not have heard the set-up or punchline before. Think of it this way: We’ve all heard the joke “why did the chicken cross the road”, right? It’s a moldy-oldie. But, remember, there are people (kids, even) who have never heard that joke. Somebody has to school them of the classics. Somebody has to tell it to them so they can groan 20 years later at the staleness of it. Nostalgia always returns. We’ve all seen Scooby Doo, but they’re makin’ babies every second who’ll see Scoob as something brand-new to them.

One thing I didn’t like in the comic pages were the serials (or soap opera-style stories). I’m not saying anything was wrong with them, it’s just that I didn’t care about these characters or stories. Mary Worth could take a flying leap as far as I was concerned. Maybe if she had snappy patter or told a joke or two, I would have taken her more seriously (or sillier). I didn’t understand why the newspapers had such serious-type comics in their paper. I believe that, as a kid, I couldn’t truly appreciate what those cartoonists (storytellers?) were attempting to do.

So, I figure Hank wouldn’t understand it either. I thought this would be a good strip illustrating my point. I would read Doonesbury when I was younger, too, and not comprehend one iota of it. Loved the art, but considered Garry Trudeau’s creation to be somewhat over my head. It was only until I got older that the series started making sense to me. Doonesbury is freakin’ hilarious now in reflection, but it didn’t do diddly for me as a kid. This AC comic is a tribute to those who felt like I did.