Stripped

I have wanted to be one of these quirky comic strip artists since I was kid reading Garfield and Peanuts in the papers. The problem was, in pre-internet days, how do you even know what to do do get there? You read some books you can find in your local library but trying to get the info you really need always seemed impossible to me. To actually see the faces and hear the interviews of Jim Davis, Stephen Pastis, Bill Amend and of course, the legendary Bill Watterson and others is just so sought after for a nobody cartoonist like myself. (The only other similar documentary I know of was Dear Mr. Watterson and that one's really good too). There are just a few scenes of the artists actually drawing and this is something I have been dying to see for I-don't-know-how-long.

It's sad that it's really a documentary about the death of newspapers and therefore the end of the printed newspaper comics as we used to know them. It does shine a little light of hope in the direction of web comics - but I'm finding, at least for myself that it's nearly impossible to get seen and heard in a world where any kid can post a meme on social media and call it a "comic". I still think to myself, there has to be another way to aggregate all of us old-school ink & paper cartoonists outside the web...Like a yearly...or quarterly...no weekly...well heck, how about a daily printed volume or something...I don't know. We could call this printing something like "The Funnies" or "The Funny Paper"...yeah that'd be funny.

Anyway, this is a MUST SEE for anyone who draws comics (of the funny variety) or who who just loves them.

While I have a few complaints about this documentary, much of it is my own personal issue. As for the quality of the film, it's quite good and well worth seeing.

During the first portion of this documentary about comic strips, I was enjoying myself seeing a lot of artists in the flesh...but I was also annoyed at some of this old guard complaining about how comic strips are a dying breed now that newspapers are folding. I think this is nonsense for two reasons. First, many GOOD and ORIGINAL artists have made their mark using the internet and I doubt if comics are going to die anytime soon. Second, a lot of the strips in newspapers SHOULD die--particularly unfunny strips that are barely alive and/or their original artists have long since died!! Despite the likes of Ernie Bushmiller ("Nancy"), Charles Schulz ("Peanuts") and many others assuming room temperature long, long ago, their strips are either being reprinted again and again or are being done by entirely new artists...artists bereft of ideas.

Fortunately, the first issue is dealt with later in the show--and you learn about the many artists who are bypassing newspapers entirely or doing both online and newspapers to make their livings. So, you get to see clever folks who are NOT whining about the deaths of papers simply because they are putting out a product that people want.

As for the second issue, I think the documentary was a bit too nice. It was loathe to complain about these moribund strips and folks who just stopped being funny decades ago. Perhaps I am just a bit more caustic in my sentiments than these folks, but I wish they'd been a bit more confrontational about this aspect of the comic strip world. After all, in a given newspaper, about half (or more) of the strips are by dead folks--and how can talented newcomers ever hope to do anything but go to the internet?

By the way, if you do see this nice film, don't be prepared to see all your favorites. While many, many folks do appear, many others do not. Oddly, Bill Watterson ("Calvin and Hobbes") provides his voice...but you never see this illusive guy!!

The only reason I slight this flick to the tune of 1 star is because it doesn't make even a passing reference to that other significant outlet for cartooning talent; the ol' comics publishers, their stapled-and-folded comic books, and the neighborhood comic shop. Bill Griffith is interviewed, but that _he_ cut _his_ teeth publishing full-length Zippy(tm) stories (and other fine stuff) goes unaddressed. Bill long, long ago backslid into the (relatively) claustrophobic newspaper comics section format, and so he makes the cut in STRIPPED.

I'm supposing the production/direction decision to cut this comics culture out of the narrative was made in the interests of addressing the plight of the post-newsprint Joe Six-Pak consumer of "the funnies". But it's still a fun fact that a lot of great, great comic talents worked in the stapled-and-folded comic book format and distribution milieu. It even went through palpable "waves" of succeeding generational practitioners.

Had dinner with Scott McCloud in France one time, and watched him face off a paper comics publisher from London. So there was a bit of a squeeze on "comic books" at the time; but obviously not of the same nature as that faced by the syndicated strips, described so colorfully and wonderfully in STRIPPED.

BUT: That glaring omission aside, what this flick otherwise covers, it does incredibly well; the paradigm shift from syndicated strips to a digital future. There's even lovely homage paid to the ancient, seminal strips (e.g., Krazy Kat), so I find it in my heart to let the filmmakers cut the old comic books out of their mix.

With the proviso mentioned above, I highly, highly recommend this flick to anyone who's been pondering the future of comic strips. The production values are superb from bottom to top: The kickstarter backers certainly got their money's worth.

Watch and learn.

Comic strip artists discuss the state and future of the art form with the decline of the newspaper medium.

What I really appreciate about this film is how it takes a positive look at the comics industry. The story of newspapers dying and comics dying with it is an easy story to tell, but as this film points out, that is only half the story. It's not a "death", it's a change.

Just as with the news, some papers will die, others will evolve, and new sources will spring up... the idea of news does not die. Certain models float to the top. With the Internet moving in where newspaper was, will some strips fade away? Yes. And it is truly a sad story for those who lose their jobs, but unfortunately it is always this way in all industries.

I paid to watch this movie. Was interested in the material. Am I the only person that cannot hear half the interviews? I don't think it's me or my television since I've never had this issue. It's the mix. The balance between the recorded interviews (muffled recording - were the lavalier mics underneath shirts?) and the music levels are just too loud.

I realize this is a technical issue, but the doc is otherwise done well...but I CANT HEAR it clearly. Pisses me off.