HPD, wiseass squared. *ahem* that "tan" is unbleached titanium with just the faintest touch of raw umber, and the uneven yet fixed pyramidic shape with its apex closest to Quill indicates he's the real compositional focal point. _____ ROTFL - your take on Quill's hands reminds me of a popular 80's artist named Susan Rios who couldn't draw a hand or a foot to save her life, so she would put these idiotic long sleeves on her subjects or drape hair or scarves or grass over them. I can't tell you how many prints I sold to people who just "adored" her work and were willing to overlook those clumsy clenched mitts and stubs.
HPD - I trust that by "nearly naked" you mean without any words, these are underage girls after all! But seriously, whole strips sans dialogue was one of the things I liked best about "For Better Or For Worse." Lynn Johnston had a real knack for that. And in retrospect, I admire the way her artistic and storytelling talents grew in pace with her characters. I thought that was happening here at "Luann", but as Curlyfries aptly pointed out, the stories have been suffering for a long time now. I fear we're past the dry-spell stage -- lately there have been breakdowns in the basic tenets of good storytelling which Mr. Evans has proven he knows how to achieve. Foe example -- how many more story arcs are going to end with no real conclusion? I hate to think it, but could the dramatic decline in newspaper readership be leading Mr. Evans to simply "phone it in"? As for the artwork in the strip "Momma", I wouldn't call Lazarus' style crude because the overall "schema" is consistent (there's my art-school training rearing its ugly head). But in contrast to that -- as Curlyfries already pointed out (you again?) -- "Luann" has three different styles that don't quite gel. Then the D.C-trip backgrounds were yet a different style. And don't me started about the problems with perspective. So while perhaps it's unfair to compare, when I see how the overall craftsmanship of Johnston, Batiuk and others continually improved over time, I guess I expected more from Mr. Evans over the last year than I've gotten. At what point is the audience justified in launching some rotten tomatoes? But to answer your question of which current strips DO I enjoy -- I like Funky Winkerbean, 9CWL (a great way with story arcs, although the men there could use a testosterone booster shot), Get Fuzzy (wacky humor often with great wordplay), Dog Eat Doug (another strip that often succeeds with little or no dialogue), Mutts (which rarely makes me laugh but always makes me smile, plus I like the frequent homages to golden-age comics and illustrators), Doonesbury, Non Sequitur, and Pickles (which I think has a plain-spoken, Will Rogers kind of sensibility).
Wait, wait, wait a minute! WHAT is going on here??? Luann meets Quill a week ago and shes perfectly CALM then. She see him today and NOW she goes GOOFY?? Did I MISS something???
HPD, you wiseass, you open that can of worms again at your peril. I posted a wonderfully lucid argument on perspective 2 boards back and now I'm dangerous, I'll pull the trigger again just so I can correct my typos, I swear I will! *maniacal cackling laughter sound effect optional*
