Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: Planetary influences

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Mike Peterson Published: April 8, 2010 1 minute 1 comment

Vic Lee's "Pardon My Planet" is a social-commentary panel that mixes observational humor with straight-up gags. Think of a New Yorker cartoon with a little more grit and a little less sense of entitlement. There is a permanent cast, but they're more of a rep company than established characters — each has a personality but they are brought into the scenario-of-the-day with no sense of continuity and, while it enhances the gags to know the gold-digger from the searching-for-love girl, there's really never a time when a new reader would miss the point.

And, while I enjoy exaggeration in some strips, I particularly appreciate that Lee rarely stretches the art to make his gags work. It's a matter of fitting the art to the mood of the strip. Nobody's eyes bug out any more than in today's panel, nobody faints with comic shock, nobody stretches out of proportion. Some are blissfully unaware of reality, others are in more-or-less a constant state of shock, and much of the comedy derives from the confluence of the two. Smart stuff.