“US”

An essay

By Sara McDermott

There they are, wrapped around the ads and just behind the editorials, bright and varied as life itself – the Sunday comics. Are they a frivolous addition to the morning paper or a mini-reflection of our own need to see ourselves and our foibles in picture and print?

The comics have it all;  the problems of the traditional family in The Family Circus, the travails of Dilbert, that hapless office worker whose career seems to center around confounding his contemporaries, and Zits, the humorous look at teenage angst through the eyes of the teenager himself.

B.C., on the other hand, looks at our modern galaxy through a telescope from prehistoric times and captures the silly dreams and schemes of today’s man, dreamed and schemed instead by cave-men, while the Wizard of Id rules his medieval kingdom with a muddle-headed authority that reveals true comedic genius on the part of the writer.

The wisdom and vulnerability of children are captured to perfection by Charlie Brown and company, and Dennis the Menace proves that the mean little kid next door is alive and well and plotting his next move.

Down the street the Bumsteads innocently maintain a mildly stereotypical view of marriage.  Blondie is still the traditional wife, albeit running a catering service, while Dagwood remains the benevolent forgiving bumbler, napping on the couch and sneaking out for card games with Woodley and the boys.

Animals like Garfield and Snoopy mirror the loving relationships between ourselves and our pets, proving to disbelievers that they do know what we are thinking and, in many ways, they own us instead of the other way around.

Beetle Bailey personifies the earnest and well-meaning foot soldier drowning in army regulations who, never-the-less, manages to foil Sargent Snorkle at every turn, whether it’s grabbing a nap while on kitchen duty or double-talking his way into a week-end pass.

Doonsbury delves the deep societal consequences of superficial politics and pokes mocking fun at the hypocrisy of jaded politicians.

Pluggers reminds the golden-agers that humor is the antidote for the problems that await us all as we enter the twilight years after a life well lived, and The Lockhorns provide comic relief for the eternal battle of the sexes.

The comics are a kaleidoscope of impressions and information in which we can see ourselves and our contemporaries.  We can love them or hate them, but no-one I know totally ignores them, for to paraphrase Pogo, they are us.