Friday Five: Comic(s) Relief Edition

This week's Friday Five is all about the comics:

1.What was your favorite comic strip as a child?
Definitely Peanuts, because I identified so totally with good ol' Charlie Brown.

2. Which comic strip today most consistently tickles your funny bone?
Um...er...none of them. Even into my thirties I used to turn to the comics section of newspapers first -- before the editorial pages, even -- but I honestly can't tell you the last time I looked at the funny pages. I wonder what the demise of paper-in-hand newspaper reading will do to the cartoon industry.

3. Which Peanuts character is closest to being you?
See Question 1. I am Charlie Brown.

4. Some say that comic strips have replaced philosophy as a paying job, so to speak. Does this ring true with you?
Not anymore; perhaps in the days of Peanuts, Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes. Now I think the lucky few bloggers-for-pay have stepped into that role.

5. What do you think the appeal is for the really long running comic strips like Blondie, Family Circus, Dennis the Menace as some examples?
I think there's a certain comfort in turning to the funnies and seeing familiar faces there. The other day I picked up a Detroit Free Press -- a newspaper I've been reading online for a couple of years now -- to read with my lunch, and I was startled to turn to the comics section and find row after row of unfamiliar characters. And as far as serial comic strips...I've certainly gotten caught up in the plot lines of cartoons like For Better or For Worse and even, God help me, Brenda Starr.

Bonus question: Which discontinued comic strip would you like to see back in print?
Well, for humor I'd have to say Bloom County, back when it was at its funny and insightful peak. And "The Far Side." And I miss Bill the Cat ("Ack!") But for style points, my vote goes to: