Political Reality Creeping into the Funny Pages

It is a rare event (outside of 'Doonesbury' or 'B.C.' that come at you from different parts of the spectrum) to have the world of the DDN's Sunday comics intruded upon by the political events of the day. So it was surprising to see TWO strips in yesterday's paper dedicate some or all of their allocated space to intersperse things of that nature with the upcoming 'celebration' of Halloween (I'm expecting more next Sunday due to the elections being only two days after that).

The first one was 'Hi and Lois' (courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer):

'Hi and Lois'...another lame attempt at well-worn political humor

In this offering, we see the eternally bickering Flagston twins (Dot and Ditto) trying to decide what to go 'trick or treating' as this year. Everything that Dot wants to dress up like is matched or trumped by her brother Ditto's counter choice. In the next-to-last (or set-up) panel, Lois tries to put an end to this sibling skirmish by saying that they have to pick get-ups that are the polar opposite of what the other one chooses. As they enter the living room in the final frame, Dot is seen sporting a headband and a vest, with one hand in a 'peace sign' and the other holding flowers. Ditto, standing next to her, is decked out in a black business suit and tie with a briefcase in his right hand. They then both announce their choices to the parents: Dot saying 'I'm a Democrat' with Ditto adding 'and I'm a Republican'. A subtle clue to their 'creative' decision is seen in the faces of Hi (startled from reading his newspaper, staring with his mouth agape sitting in his easy chair) while Lois stands behind him with a smile and arms folded across her chest--Mom is very proud of her little 'flower power' girl (Lois was 'liberated' herself by the strip's creator in the 1980s to reflect the growing number of women in the workforce during that time).

Although it might be good for a small groan, this comparison has already been worn out in television, the movies as well as in other comics since the advent of the 'hippie' movement in the 1960s. 'Hi and Lois' originated during the bucolic 1950s but needs to rely on well-worn stereotypes (the fat, lazy neighbor being nagged by his long-suffering skinny wife--sounds like a lot of sitcoms I watched over the years, the messy teenager's room--although having two of my own brings that one into the realm of fact, the overbearing boss, etc.) to amuse today's dwindling readership. I don't know about you but I haven't seen 'flower children' in quite awhile--and Yellow Springs is just a few miles down the road from our house!

The second strip with a political theme was 'FoxTrot' (courtesy of GoComics):

'FoxTrot'...an excellent overview of a modern day 'horror' story...

Sunday's edition of this strip has Jason (the family's über geek) showing off his Halloween costume--a touch-screen electronic voting machine--to his older brother Peter. In the following two build-up panels, Jason explains to his snacking sibling the 'horror' aspect of this device (imparting very accurate data readily available online about the machine's susceptibility to tampering and its widespread use throughout the country). In the second-to-last scene, the younger boy concludes his 3-1/2 panel monologue by asking the older one if there could think of anything scarier than that device. Finally given the chance to speak, Peter replies that most people don't care about such things. As he walks away in the final frame, analyzing that solicited response, Jason rubs his chin and seems to confirm his older brother's unintentional wisdom.

Of all of the offerings on today's comic pages, Bill Amend's strip was probably the most appropriate candidate to translate this dire warning to a tech-savvy readership. Since the machine already exists, 'Dilbert' and his system development accomplices would have already done their work--and hopefully, for the pointy haired boss' next performance review, on schedule and under budget. The daily editions of 'Non Sequitur' (politics) or the 'The Fifth Wave' (technology) are single panels so cramming that much background information into a confined space would be relatively impossible. 'Beetle Bailey', like the previously mentioned Hi and Lois, is so anchored in the past (Specialist Chip Gizmo the only exception) that I'm guessing that they still use paper ballots and a cardboard box with a slot in the top. Do you suppose that Mort Walker has the same mental picture of the Internet like his octogenarian contemporary Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska--a 'series of tubes' that get filled when you put your message into one?

There have been several surveys released recently that indicate that younger people are looking to 'unconventional' places for their 'hard' news--Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' is one such source. If the current political discourse in our country continues and more and more of this nation's youth flee the traditional nightly news format or newspapers in favor of on-demand downloads of Jon Stewart or online views at GoComics.com, strips like 'FoxTrot' could start to play a greater role in informing the public of what it really needs to know--bridging the divide between entertainment and information. Maybe it's time that more comics reflect real life instead of the escapist 'vanilla' world of the printed page...