What's the WORST COMIC STRIP ever? Some will say, "Garfield!" and forget the fact that through the 80's and into the 90's, Garfield was hilarious. Others will say "Hagar the Horrible!" Nope...it was once funny too. "The Family Circus"? No....I once saw a magnet made from an old strip that had Dolly greeting Dad at the door by saying "Billy's been sent to his room. He's been taking after your side of the family again." Even "Marmaduke" was funny once...at some point, back in the 60's...
In order to judge this properly, any strip that generated mass laughter in at least one point of history can't be the worst. The worst would have to never tell a joke throughout its entire run--it would have to be that bad. Sooo, here's "Bears In Love"!
This is the kind of strip that is thought up and printed purely for business reasons--meaning if not for that, no one would ever want to waste time and money on making it exist. This was the era of Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Popples, and all other sorts of cuddly fur-creatures. Cuteness meant big bucks in the 80's, and aside from "Ziggy" the syndicates didn't have much to contribute. They wanted in badly, so they approved "Bears in Love" as their newest offering to papers, and hoped greeting cards were in the future.
There was never anything funny or even entertaining about "Bears in Love." The thing was simply about two bears who were in love. The goal was to hypnotize people with the cuteness and get them to buy "Bears In Love"--related junk. Many strips try to be funny and just end up being cute...with those, you can at least say the cartoonist is trying. This strip never tried even ONCE--it wasn't the goal. Therefore, I think I can safely pronounce "Bears In Love" the worst comic strip ever.
Are you laughing yet?
You might be
wondering who was responsible for these things. Did you notice
the signature on the bottom of the strips says "E.
MEESE"? Yes, exactly....
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The strip was drawn by ED MEESE! Now everything makes total sense. |