Max Riffner

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What Happened to the Funny Books?

I’m sitting in bed last night reading Ivan Brunetti’s Misery Loves Comedy collection (beautiful book, by the way), and I’m wondering, where have all the funny comic books gone? Seriously, I can think of Angry Youth Comix and Arsenic Lullaby, but then I draw a blank.

The 90s had a load of hilarious comics out on the shelves, I thought. What happened? I started thinking I only read very serious comics, but then realized that I still do get my funny comics fix… on the web. The majority of my webcomics reading habits are comedies. Is this a sign of how fractured the Direct Market has become, catering mainly to the superhero crowd now, or is it just that all the cartoonists with a sense of humor decided that online is where it is at?

I miss them in print format, the funny books. I certainly enjoy them online, but I guess I’m a bit nostalgic for the old black and white independent funny comics.

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