You know you’re looking at a right-leaning site when the consistently awful comic strip, Day By Day, is doing well. But the Best Comic Strip category in the 2008 Weblog Awards does have two great entries: Jesus and Mo, and xkcd. If there is any justice in the universe, one of those two must win!
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I went with Jesus and Mo for two reasons:
1. It’s less well known.
2. Blasphemy is funny.
I’ll have to check out xkcd tonight. Thanks for the alert. Jesus & Mo is good. Not only is it funny, but intelligent too.
Also, Jesus and Mo is the reason I now call myself an atheist rather than an agnostic. Its the reason I found many great skeptic sites (such as this one and butterflies and wheels) as many of the commentors are pretty interesting intelligent people that will helpfully link you to more information when its needed. This process is also what has led me to becoming better informed politically as taking an interest in religious social issues has naturally led to me learning more about politics.
I love xkcd but all in all Jesus and Mo has made a big difference in my life. It is in many ways directly responsible for me being, I think, a better person than I was in years gone by.
(Vote Jesus and Mo!)
PZ is being too modest to encourage everyone to go vote for Pharyngula in the “Best Science Blog” category, but I think he’d change his mind if he knew that a climate denialist, sciency-sounding blog, “Watt’s Up With That” is leading the polls.
Let’s go change that. Vote Pharyngula for Best Science Blog.
There is no justice, and there never will be; life is unfair.
(But I still had to vote for xkcd ;^)
Garfield Minus Garfield is winning at the moment (39.4%). I find the concept amusing, but come on, it’s just deleting Garfield from Jim Davis’s strip. Then again, the artist has his own paperback for sale on Amazon.
PZ, it’s worse than that. Weblog awards is CERTAINLY run by a crazy conservative, to the point that they put a crazy PUMA/conservative blog (Confluence) in the “best liberal blog” category, and another one of them (UppityWoman08) in “best new blog.” They must both lose.
Please, tell your minions to vote for anyone other than UppityWoman08 here, and for anyone other than Confluence here
If you’re unsure what a “PUMA” is, they’re putative Democrats/feminists who pushed Sarah Palin as the “feminist” alternative to Hillary Clinton. They’re almost worse than creationists.
I get people’s points that J&M needs the support more and I do like the strip but strictly speaking xkcd is squillion times better. Incidentally Softer World isn’t nominated? These awards are worthless!
And come on, G-G is awesome, especially because it pushes fair use to its logical extreme.
Garfield minus Garfield is winning!? It’s just one joke! Wrong on so many levels.
Ames: Aren’t the short-lists made by numbers of nominations? So the PUMAs are there due the efforts of PUMAs not the decisions of the awarders?
Day By Day isn’t all THAT bad; it’s not particularly good, and cartoonishly conservatively leaning, but it does manage to be amusing once in a while.
XKCD is, of course, consistently amusing.
I wouldn’t say either one is really very good.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
Voted xkcd, which is currently in second. But I’m a bit confused – how does a 2-liter bottle contain 3 liters? Am I missing something?
Andrew T. – See “Oh, no…not again” in Recent Posts. :)
XKCD FTW! If there is any justice in the universe, XKCD must triumph! Especially over that Garfield Minus Garfield crap. Yeah, it’s funny occasionally, but in a “pff” kind of way. Fix it.
I voted for xkcd, but man, Garfield Minus Garfield has me in stitches sometimes! Either one could win and I’d be happy.
J. D.
I had never heard of Day by Day before, and I now which that I never had. More proof that it’s physically impossible for Conservatives to be funny.
I voted for xkcd because it’s so consistently weird yet on target. It also seems to have a good chance to win, since it’s nipping at the heels of “Garfield without Garfield” (merely a clever one-trick pony; good trick, but hey).
As for “Day by Day”, it tends to be insipid while doling out conservative talking points. The calm acceptance of an interracial couple is cool, but then they bill and coo while doing wordplay on Rush Limbaugh. Gag.
Nah, I voted for “Medium Large” because the 80s cultural references make me hard.
Should actual ability to draw count for anything? As amusing as xkcd and J&M may be, I’m not seeing the next Walt Kelly here.
Another omission, especially if you’re keen on story arcs, is Randy Milholland’s Something Positive.
I voted for XKCD, but got a scare. It is in 2nd behind “Garfield without Garfield”. A cute idea, but WTF? That is not an original strip, so should not count. Plus, as cute as the concept is, it is still Garfield (cute, but not great by any means).
Another good one is “A Town Called Dobson”. If you need to get some independent study time in, check the archives for 2008’s Black History Month entries. Each included a comic that was either funny, horrifying, or sarcastic (sometimes a combination of those), along with a well researched and written history of the facts behind the comic. Some made me think “Holy S**T!”
Speaking of “holy s**t” (and being a devout atheist), based on the comments I’ll have to check out J&M.
XKCD is awesome, but I haven’t heard of Jesus and Mo, so I’m going to have to learn more about the other candidate before I make my vote.
Does voting at all legitimize these bogus awards? When they started up I knew people who asked to be removed from the running when they realized it was just an ultra right wing promotional tool. Well it’s too late, I voted for XKCD, it’s better written and better drawn, or at least Randall doesn’t over-reach.
A 2 litre bottle has air space and thickness… think I’m going to have to get some pebbles and do a displacement test now. I hope the fish don’t mind.
Not that Louis: Ability to draw doesn’t seem to count in print comics either, nor in illustration (but for some reason graphic novels tend to be more draughtsman-like than a lot of the putative fine art I see). I suppose it’s seen as elitist now, like being able to sing on key.
Gulliver’s Travels was kind of funny (Swift was a total winger). And South Park is sometimes OK.
When looking at the pool of right-leaning comic strips, I don’t think Day By Day can really be called awful.
Now… Mallard Fillmore… now THAT is awful with a side of awful.
What about PhD comics! http://www.phdcomics.com/ Anyone working on a PhD should be able to relate to this.
Could the 2-liter/3-liter thing be “2 liters of liquid and what would be 1 liter of carbon dioxide at one atmosphere crammed into a 2 liter space”?
Meh. Just a (probably very wrong) thought. Randall could just be fucking with us.
I’ve noticed with the drawing in xkcd that most of the time you think there is nothing to it all, that literally anyone could draw those stick people and simple backgrounds. But then you see other people’s stick person comics and they often look sucky in a way Randall’s never do.
If there is any justice in the universe, one of those two must win!
So… I guess they won’t. ;-)
Sorry, I’m one of those sticks in the mud who thinks a web *comic* should also have some visual artistic merit as well, such as someone who can actually, like, draw. Maybe they should just be blogging, or hook up with actual artists?
And what is “Garfield Without Garfield” doing there. Love the concept, but does it deserve an award for a web comic? It’s an edited version of another comic.
I can’t even see who else is there because the link is currently unresponsive.
I voted xkcd but I’m wondering why Jesus and Mo doesn’t have the wacky world of Islam foaming at the mouth and burning stuff. It is, after all, a depiction of The Prophet (piss be upon him).
XKCD and J+M are the only ones on their list I’ve heard of. There’s so much better. Frinst;
Alien lvs Predator – a bit like j’n’m but characters you can believe in.
Those of you bemoaning g-g should check out partiallyclips or dinosaur comics. The minimalist drawing means the writing has to be done right. Anyway, for me it’ll always be sluggy. Even their stick-figure weeks are quality.
“I’m wondering why Jesus and Mo doesn’t have the wacky world of Islam foaming at the mouth and burning stuff. It is, after all, a depiction of The Prophet (piss be upon him).”
Mo is not the real Mo but a double so as he won’t incur the wrath of the frothies X-D
Yes but eddie (#31) there used to be comic strips where the writing and the drawing were both good. If it’s all about the writing, why bother drawing pictures?
“Mo is not the real Mo but a double so as he won’t incur the wrath of the frothies ”
I’m surprised that the frothies are willing to buy that subtle distinction. They’re usually happy to take offense at just about anything.
Jesus and Mo is one of the few webcomics I have bookmarked and the only one on the list of candidates, so I voted for it.
Jesus&Mo and xkcd are great but Atheist Eve should get some kind of honorable mention.
http://www.atheist-community.org/atheisteve/
Medium Large is awesome and deserves more recognition for its black humour.
But I voted for Jesus & Mo.
Why would anyone nominate xkcd for an award anymore? The hordes of rabid fanits puts any pharyngulation to shame.
I voted for Book of Biff. It has nothing to do with science or religion, but it’s friggin hilarious.
You do kind of have to read XKCD in order though, to get some of the panels. For instance, some of the black-hat guy’s are funnier if you know the character. Remember the “XKCD loves the Discovery Channel” one? That one is funnier after you spend one or two nights in a row reading four hundred XKCD’s.
and xkcd is one of those comics where you go, “hey, this is funny. let’s read ALL OF IT.”
i really have to go with xkcd, because it’s the only one of those i read regularly. math and science and computer humor? hells yes, count me in.
don’t forget language and romance.
I love their jabs at literary criticism too! And they like to mess with string theorists as well, but I’m sure that one is all in good fun.
A global warming denialist site is leading best science blog.
No offense to PZ or his readers, but this blog isn’t all that science-y. It’s a great blog, & fun to read, but posts about actual science issues are few & far between.
Watts up With That is the antithesis of science. Surely a real science blog can beat them?