Favorite Newspaper Comic Strips

Circulation figures for newspaper keep going down and down. Too many other ways to get your news, TV and the Internet are where I have been keeping up with the news. Yet one very valuable function for newspaper is the daily comic strip. I like to read them and always have gotten frustrated when my home town paper, drops a favorite strip. Thanks to the Internet I have been able to keep up with all the comics that I like. Some sites, like Daily Ink, charge a yearly fee of $15, other sites depend on ads to make a go of it. And there are some newspaper websites, such as the Houston Chronicle, that has a large assortment available to read.

In no particular order, here are my favorites, the ones I need to read.

1. Deflocked by Jeff Corriueau. This is a very funny strip where animals run a farm, have a human orphan that they care for, and the sheep (Mamet, I believe is his name) is a rival for Rat from Pearls Before Swine as my favorite devious character. Very funny.

2. Heaven's Love Thrift Shop by Kevin Frank. This is a Sunday only strip about a Christian thrift shop with an odd assortment of characters. Dag, is a reformed alcoholic, who is born again and is oddly appealing in his attempts to minister to others. I don't find it to be preachy, and noticed that the strip will point out hypocritical actions by some of the church members.

3. Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. A very appealing strip that hearkens back to the age of classic comics like Peanuts. Mooch and Earl are a great pair and when McDonnell does the story lines about adapting a pet from the shelter, it always gets to me. I wish I was not allergic to cats.

4. My Cage by Melissa Dejesus and Ed Power. Set in a world where humans are extinct and animals are running things. this strip often brings a smile to my heart. Very similar to Dilbert, but with more likable characters who seem a tad more realistic. I am often reminded of my workplace in this strip.

5. Safe Havens by Bill Holbrook. I wish my college experience was like this strip. Mermaids, genetic mishaps causing cats to become human, the one lead character to have her body morph into different shapes. and getting to spend the summer work as roadies for one of your friends who hit it big with her music career. My college life was getting drunk on Genesse Cream Ale and then having diarrhea the next day.

6. Sally Forth by Francesco Marciulian, drawn by Craig MacIntosh. This strip is one of my favorites because of the bond between Sally and Ted. No matter what happens, they will be there for each other. I wish that the storyline about having another baby would have went through, I would have liked to see that.

7. Edge City by Terry and Patty Laban. This is story about a Jewish couple raising a family among comic mishaps. Reminds me of For Better or For Worst when is was good. I loved the storyline of the Passover celebration when a relative brought this ex con biker with her and he ended up going against stereotype by helping to illustrate what Passover really is. A great strip.

8. Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis. This is the best strip right now being published. Very clever, very original, and very funny. A classic line, "Hello zeeba neighbor" made it into Juno. I never want to miss this strip and the classic story when Rat babysat for the Baby Blues family still has been laughing. A friend of mine, who loves Baby Blues, thought that was one of the funniest comic story lines that she ever read.