I’ve found that I don’t really enjoy “Non Sequitur”:http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/ is much as I thought I would when I originally started following it a couple of years ago. Usually, when the Danae/Lucy arcs appear, I skip them; same goes for the tall-tale fisherman. I think it’s the fact that I already get a far too large a dose of cynicism in real life to want to “humor” myself with it again in comic strips. About the only reason I still follow it is because every now and then, he comes up with a good one that I can actually relate to.
And it so happens that both “Strange Brew”:http://www.gocomics.com/strangebrew/ and “Speed Bump”:http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump frequently leave me scratching my head. Seems like the creators of these strips are trying to mimic the sort of thing that Gary Larson accomplished. The problem is that Larson _always_ made me laugh; the punch lines in Strange Brew and Speed Bump are far too often too obscure for me to pick out. “Rubes”:http://www.gocomics.com/rubes/ does a better job – the punch lines are always pretty clear, but I don’t always find them funny. Ultimately, these comics will always be “Far Side” knock-offs for me – nobody does bizarre humor like Larson.
Keep in mind that Speedbump is pun-based. Always, always a form of semantic humor. Strange Brew may be the same way — but Far Side had a much broader range of humor. Oh Far Side. My girlfriend recently got me the 2007 rip-off calendar. I knew she had good taste.
Yeah, Speedbump leaves me puzzled much less often than Strange Brew.
I have that daily Far Side calendar, as well. I was so happy that they brought it back, even if I _have_ already seen them all before.