Naturally, I take comics seriously. Yeah, who doesn't. But my childhood dreams of making drawing a comic strip are irrepressible, and I have channeled that creative drive into reading pages and pages of them. I subscribe to two lists: Mycomics.com and Ucomics.com. I will bore you later with my lists of the good, bad, and ugly but I was struck, yet again, by the inexplicable presence of the comic "Heathcliff"Those who lump all long-running animal comics in a pile (e.g. Garfield, Marmiduke) think that Heathcliff is just another wacky personification with zany antics. Except that Heathcliff is almost R rated. The cat has a bookie, a parole officer, and a convict father; he drinks and gambles, and if ethnic stereotypes persist, he hangs out with mobsters. Great stuff, yep, but for kids?
Yet again proof to me that either I was an exceptionally dim child (that I didn’t catch on) or I had *nooooo* idea what these symbols/pictures/implications meant.
Anyway, whenever a daily Heathcliff strip demonstrates these illegal and/or immoral activities in front of our nations youth and illiterates, I will let you know. (Also, if anyone has evidence of Marmaduke shooting craps, drop me a line).
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