Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Man, That’s Awkward
The trend in comics today (both web-based and printed) is to use multiple panels to get a joke across, usually to great effect. But there still must be something said for the side-splitting one-panel comics that give you instant gratification. Perhaps the greatest one-panel comic of all time, Gary Larson’s Far Side, ended in 1995 (much to my dismay) and there have not been many comics creators that have risen to the challenge of filling Larson’s shoes.
Enter Zach Weiner’s demented and delightful Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Though not always a one-panel comic, more often than not SMBC uses its quirky art style and minimal text to get big laughs. The comic is usually excellent, sometimes verging on brilliance. Weiner tends to focus on the awkward moment and often juxtaposes an innocuous image with a truly harrowing line of text, as if to say that all is not what it seems. On top of the hundreds of daily comics on the site, Zach and his friends have a video site filled with hilarious vignettes and funny sketches. Clearly Weiner has a strong grasp of humor in all its forms.
Is SMBC as good or as consistent as the Far Side? No, but that would be like comparing a skilled rookie to a hall-of-famer. With quality comedy like this, it is not unreasonable to think that Weiner will get there someday.
That guy is very funny.
I can't believe The Far Side has been gone for 15 years! That's insane. I'm still missing the good ol' days with The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes.
I actually found a very funny comic similar to Calvin & Hobbes and with Bill Watterson's blessing, it's called Cul de Sac. Definitely give it a spin.