The Angriest Dog in the World

[cyberghostface]

“The humor in the strip is based on the sickness of people’s pitiful state of unhappiness and misery. There’s humor in struggling in ignorance, but I also find it heroic the way people forge on despite the despair they often feel.” — David Lynch

Filmmaker David Lynch sadly passed away today. In his memory I’m sharing a newspaper strip he worked on called ‘The Angriest Dog in the World’.

Comments

[metadronos]

This would remind me of Ryan North's Dinosaur Comics (same art every strip, on purpose), except that the writing, surprisingly for someone of Lynch's brilliance, is rather weak. Despite the above quote from him, I don't see anything here about perservering in the face of misery and despair (better examples of that would be the work of Chris Ware, Peter Bagge and Daniel Clowes, to name just a few). What I do see is bad puns.

Fortunately, Lynch will be deservedly remembered for his groundbreaking film and TV work, so I'll close on that more appropriately respectful note.

[full_metal_ox]

So which Claire Voyant did Lynch have in mind (which could’ve been the basis for a better joke?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Voyant_(comic_strip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_(Claire_Voyant)

[tcampbell1000]

Dinosaur Comics made a direct reference to Lynch's strip over twenty years ago (Christ, it's been that long).

The basic premise seems great, but there's really no relation between that premise and the execution-- the strip could be "The Circle and Square Who Talk to Each Other" or "Shootin' the Shit with Shatner and Shutterton" and the jokes would be exactly the same. And, I mean, I guess you could say the same thing about Dinosaur Comics most of the time, in that it rarely makes any difference that it's dinosaurs talking to each other. But what makes DC sing is its joyous character work, an outgrowth of North's wonderful personality. Read a dozen of those strips and you soon fall in love with the exuberance of T-Rex, the common sense of Utahraptor, and the are-you-SURE-about this? vibe of Dromiceiomimus. Who are the Angriest Dog in the World's owners, and what are their personalities? No clue.

A great artist should have some ideas that don't work out. That's how you create, sometimes. And the relatively low-stakes world of cartooning (no huge production budget here, folks, just some ink, some paper, and a few spare Sundays) is a good way to do that.

So, is this a failure? Yes. But is it a sign of a lively mind and a life well-lived? Also yes.

[laughing_tree]

I don't get the second one.

[sadoeuphemist]

She's his half sister. The right half.

[laughing_tree]

Thanks.

[superfangirl1]

Very intriguing. Thanks for sharing it.