By Darryl Ayo
The shortest version of this is that when all else fails, comics should be funny. It’s nice when they’re not funny but are instead suspenseful, emotionally revealing, sexy, adrenaline-fueling or intellectually provocative. Every one of those responses is valid. Despite it all, comics are still basically a wonderful vehicle for comedy. Which becomes sad when one considers how few comics are actually funny. Even/especially those particularly created with the intention of provoking laughter. I try to keep my rage in check, but one day, I’m going to snap and begin reviewing comics with the sole criteria being whether or not the comic is funny. This would be a critical bloodbath. This is one of my deepest fantasies.
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I think 99% of the comics I own would fail this benchmark, excepting a few things like Peanuts and Hutch Owen (which are the only funny comics I can think of right now).