Laugh Tracks

New Comic: The Barn!

Barnyard buddies Stan the bull and Rory the sheep, unlikely friends and stars of Ralph Hagen's new daily comic strip, The Barn, have a new home on GoComics.

The Barn, which is syndicated by Creators Syndicate, is the first daily strip of Hagen's 30-year career in cartooning. His work has appeared in publications such as Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post and Woman's World, among others. Hagen is looking forward to the expanded audience offered by GoComics:

"From the fan mail I've received, people really enjoy the unique personality traits of Rory and Stan, especially the innocence of Rory. There's a lot of fun to explore in the premise - a barn situated between a butcher shop, a French restaurant and a vet clinic. Stan spends his time evading the butcher and chef to live another day, while Rory seems oblivious to the dangers, and outside of his fear of shearing day, spends his time exploring and asking questions."

The Barn updates every day.

New Editorial Cartoonist: Donna Barstow!

Our newest editorial cartoonist, Donna Barstow, is a rarity. It's not just the fact that she's female - though that in and of itself is exceedingly rare in the field of editorial cartooning. But it's her background and her approach to cartooning that really set Barstow apart. Originally from the East Coast, the cartoonist crossed the country and landed in the Golden State, taking up residence in the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown. Barstow credits her familiarity with both coasts as one of the major reasons why her cartoons cover a broad mix of politics and pop culture, often putting a positive spin on things.

“I try to see more of the positive in the news,” says Barstow. “It’s important to have a point of view, but does it have to be fatalistic? I try and bring light to a subject even though I might loathe it.”

Look for new cartoons from Donna Barstow three times per week on GoComics.com.

New Comic: Rabbits Against Magic!

Every once in a while - and more often than one might reasonably expect - a cartoonist will launch a new strip on Comics Sherpa (our "community of undiscovered comics creators") and begin a steady ascent to the top. We're talking about a strip that has just the right blend - unique premise, deft cartooning, unpredictable humor, consistency. The strip starts out as an unknown commodity, and before long, begins to build a small following. As more and more people try out the strip and spread the good word about it, the strip catches the attention of the decision makers here at Uclick. If the strip maintains a high level of quality over a long enough period, the dream of online syndication becomes a reality as the cartoonist is signed to a contract. Bob the Squirrel did it. The Argyle Sweater did, as well. In fact, more than a dozen strips currently in online and/or print syndication, whether on GoComics.com or a competing site, got their start on Comics Sherpa.

One of the latest to make that jump is Rabbits Against Magic, a strip by Jonathan Lemon. Lemon cites legendary Krazy Kat creator George Herriman, classic children's book author Dr. Seuss and Simpsons mastermind Matt Groening among his influences, and a glance at his cartooning style confirms all  three. In short, his stuff is very good.

So what's the strip about? Here's the description from Lemon's own Rabbits Against Magic site:

"Ever wondered what goes on inside a magician's top hat before the wand raps on the brim and the word "abracadabra" is uttered? Well here's a comic strip that delves headlong into that world of wacky weirdness and silly surrealism. A strange world where two mutant rabbits, one in superhero costume, one a cynical cyclops—no doubt warped by appearing in too many magic tricks—speculate about life, death, love, truth, beauty and the futile nature of representative democracy.  There are foxes of limited intelligence endlessly and hopelessly pursuing their carnivorous instincts.  And then there's a duck."

Rabbits Against Magic runs daily on GoComics.com.

New Comic: Bozo!

From somewhere between the famous cartoons of The New Yorker and Gary Larson's The Far Side comes the humor of Kaamran Hafeez, creator of our newest addition, Bozo. From a spontaneous chorus line attempt by the combatants in a Roman gladiator arena to Ebeneezer Scrooge being visited by Bob Marley's ghost, Hafeez is already proving that Bozo is a single panel cartoon where anything can happen - as long as it's funny.

Bozo updates Monday through Wednesday.

New Comic: W.T. Duck!

Wow, how long has it been since we first heard that Aaron Johnson's hit webcomic What the Duck would be appearing in print? Feels like ages ago. But the day finally arrived, and yesterday W.T. Duck made its debut in newspapers nationwide and on GoComics.com.

What is W.T. Duck all about? A duck photographer. That's it. And it's really funny. Funny enough to be a finalist for the 2008 Weblog Awards comic strip of the year, even. Go read W.T. Duck!

New Comic: The Doozies!

What can we say about The Doozies that hasn't been said countless times in the strip's near-70 years of existence?

Everyone knows the strip follows the antics of Dean Doozie, a lovable boob, who has an understanding wife and an adorable daughter. Is there anyone on earth who isn't aware that the strip was created in 1939 by Flaude Gammill, and that it helped popularize the phrase, "a real doozy?" You would have to look under quite a few rocks to find someone who hadn't heard that The Doozies is now being drawn by Flaude's grandson, TV writer/producer Tom Gammill (The Simpsons, Seinfeld, SNL), who has recently added such innovations as characters playing video games and women wearing pantsuits.

Well, we'll tell you all of that stuff anyway, despite the fact that Tom Gammill made up all of those historical Doozie facts in a shameless attempt to drum up interest in this brand new, completely original and hilarious strip (but he really is a TV writer/producer for all of those shows, and really has a grandfather named Flaude). You can just pretend like you already knew, since you were about to do that anyway.

The Doozies is the latest addition to GoComics.com.

Here's Tom on YouTube, with Lesson One of his video series "Learn to Draw with Tom Gammill":

And for a few more Tom Gammill comics, visit Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts website and click on the "Don't Let This Happen to You" cartoon ad on the lower left. Then buy another copy of all of Handey's books, of course.

New Comic: Garfield Minus Garfield!

Garfield Minus Garfield, the Dan Walsh webcomic that reveals just what a lonely, bizarre human being Jon Arbuckle would be without his fat feline friend, is now on GoComics.com. A few months ago, we told you about the G-G book, which features Walsh's productions along with the Jim Davis originals. We're presenting the strip online just like it's displayed in the book, with the G-G strip on top and the original Garfield strip below it. Go check it out!

New Comics - Love Is..., Bliss and Free Range!

We've added three hit single-panel cartoons to GoComics in the last week or so:

Love Is... by Kim Casali, conceived by and drawn by Bill Asprey. A classic, heart-warming cartoon that gives simple daily examples of love showing up in everyday actions. And yes, the characters are naked 99% of the time.

Bliss, by New Yorker cartoonist and best-selling children's book illustrator Harry Bliss. Bliss' cartoons are drawn in such a warm, distinct style, it's easy to get caught up in the art and miss the joke entirely. But don't do that, because the humor is top-notch.

Free Range, by Bill Whitehead. All right, now we're just spoiling you. Consider yourself totally spoiled.

Pibgorn Sketches are back!

As we announced a couple of weeks ago, Brooke McEldowney is now updating Pibgorn five times per week. Most fans rejoiced over the fact that they were now getting more new installments of their favorite strip, but many fans were dismayed - outraged even - that the Pibgorn sketches, which had been filling the gaps nicely between new strips, would now be going away. Fearing riots in the streets and large groups of strategically-"dappled" protestors, we had no choice but appeasement: Check out Pibgorn Sketches.

New Comic: Boomerangs!

Meet Jane Tinker, recently divorced mother of two. Still reeling from the breakup of her marriage and with few options left, Jane has swallowed her pride and done something she never thought she'd have to do: She's become the newest member of the "Boomerang" generation, moving back in with her Baby Boomer parents, daughters in tow. Now these three generations will attempt to live together under the same roof - a "close" family, in every sense of the word.

Follow the exploits of Jane and the whole family in Jack Pullan's new weekly comic strip, Boomerangs, now on GoComics.com.