Daily Comics

I start my day with the comics, which come emailed to me via Go Comics:

Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson

Stone Soup by Jan Eliot

Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen

Betty by Gary Delainey and Gerry Rasmussen

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Frazz by Jeff Mallett

Fox Trot Classics by Bill Amend

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn

Real Life Adventures by Gary Wise and Lance Aldrich

Bliss by Harry Bliss

Rubes by Leigh Rubin

Moderly Confused by Jeff Stahler

Speed bump by Dave Coverly

Strange Brew by John Deering

or are emailed to me directly from their creators site's:

Savage Chickens by Doug Savage

Wrong Hands by John Atkinson

I love Savage Chickens the best--cartoons about work and life featuring chickens drawn on yellow sticky notes. I end up pinning about 50% of these for use in class, or just 'cause. So great. Highest 'hit' rate of any of them. Based in Vancouver.

Wrong Hands is mostly word play, and frequently brilliant, he only posts when he thinks of something, so irregular. Great when he does. Based in Ottawa

Cul de Sac was a complete surprise, recommended to me by a stranger (which inspired me to do my own reviews here). It took a little while to get into it because individual strips are not necessarily that hilarious, but once you're following it, there is a cumulative effect so that I have come to love the characters. Kind of a modern Peanuts--but with more realistic kids and occasional appearance of actual adults. Highly recommended.

Stone Soup is pure soap, but I love it. Again, have to give it a little time to get caught up in the story and the characters, but charming and optimistic and humorous. Delightful.

Ballard Street, again, a very high hit rate in spite of being just totally eccentric: everyday starting points of neighbours who are not quite right, psychologically speaking.

Betty was a spinoff/revampng of a strip that started in the Edmonton Journal decades ago. Funny family strip with many daily insights.

Frazz is about a school janitor and his relationship to the kids and teachers in the school. Always pleasant, but I often find school-related content I can use in class.

Zack Hill is about a kid and his dog and the boarding house his mother runs. The cast of characters in the boarding house are often interesting, the commentary by the dog is often funny, and Zack's adventures at school are often something I can use in class.

Fox Trot, Pearls Before Swine, Calvin and Hobbs will already be familiar to everyone. The others are all singe-frame cartoons with various levels of nonsense.
A typical Bliss cartoon.

Reading the comics gives me a minute to compose myself before standing up, since I usually read them on my phone email, directly after turning of the phone wake up alarm. Better thing to start with, much less depressing, than the "to do" list.