Humor Online: The Life Saver in the World of Depressing News

Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Squealing.Rat in Miscellaneous

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Ah, humor. The oasis in the desert of a newspaper full of depressing articles. Wait, paper? There’s an offline addition? True, many are skipping the old fashion paper and getting the same thing for free online. One flaw with reading it online: no funnies. In the hard copies, when you get depressed with the latest news, you could always flip to the funnies to get a laugh.

But now, in part because the funnies aren’t as funny, and because no one checks them, people are going to the next best thing: drinking. Just kidding.

But when you look back, all of the best regarded cartoonists: Bill Watterson(Calvin and Hobbes), Gary Larson (Far Side), Jim Davis (Garfield), Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), Bill Amend (Foxtrot)…. All are either done, hanging on for dear life, or letting some other schmuck drive it into the ground.

But I won’t try to depress you even more. Instead, I will show you how to resurrect your old inclination to look for the funnies.

Comics Go Online

First, encourage the new. Cartoonists now a days are looking at the newspaper market, and going into advertising. Instead, let’s convince them that cartooning is the better business.

Just because the hard copies are no longer are popular does not mean that comics can’t still be popular. Let’s go through a couple of options:

Comics.com: Here you can find your old favorites and still read them. Looking on the site, I found Peanuts. Some even republish strips from the archives.

King Features: For the comics you can’t find on Comics.com, you can try this site. (Tip: Googling the comic that you are looking for usually comes up with the publisher’s site, which almost always has the strip.) King Features has Zits, Dennis the Menace, Baby Blues, Blondie and Hagar.

GoComics: This is the best of the comics sites in my opinion. That is probably because my favorite comics (Foxtrot, Garfield) live here. So if you are looking for even more comics, come here. Great source.

Now, what about internet comics? Commonly called webcomics, these gems entertain a large audience. Here are several of my favorites, and some other comics that are not just available on the web:

Webcomics

xkcd: Slightly NSFW, xkcd seems to appeal to a young, geek audience. Worth a look.

Penny Arcade: I really enjoy this comic’s graphics, some NSFW words are dropped throughout the comics.

Foxtrot: My personal favorite, Foxtrot now only does Sunday strips, but is still quite funny.

Dilbert: A classic, featuring a work place comedy.

Garfield Minus Garfield: A more serious exploration of comics with Garfield without Garfield.

The Joy of Tech: The comic for tech lovers.

Cyanide & Happiness: A harsh wit that can echo your feelings at the end of a long day.

[Note: Many web comics that I found were too NSFW to be listed. Looking for even more web comics? This is a good list, and both Mashable and Gunaxin Humor have articles as well.]

Videos/Audio

David Pogue Videos: Goofy tech videos. Spend an afternoon watching the archives for laughs.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me: An NPR show that sums up the week’s news in a game show comedic format.

The Moth: Not always funny, but entertaining stories told without scripts on the spot.

Ringtales: Animated cartoons.

Hulu: Watch funny TV episodes and some movies, for free.

Text

Vulture Wit: Infrequently updated (by me), but fun, quirky updates.

Awkward Family Photos: Pictures that don’t make you feel so badly about the bunny ears incident.

Fail Blog: Someone screws up. Hilarity ensues. Posted on the internet.

Texts From Last Night: As the name suggests, NSFW, but funny.

So, what do you like? Let us know in the comments!

The writer of this post compiles the latest tech news and more at Squealing Rat, and writes abouttricks and tips of deception, trickery and survival at Lone Iguana. Find him on Twitter.

Photo: dotbenjamin

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