Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, November 9, 2011
Death / Horrors / Nerd Bil Keane Is Dead.
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Even worse: For as long as shitty small-town newspapers manage to eke out their meager operation costs from advertisers, Keane's horrible legacy will continue to stain comics pages around the nation. The Family Circus has survived him. The Family Circus, with its horrible conservative agenda and fawning worship of the inane, will survive us all. And that's all Bil Keane's fault. He may have been a warm and caring human being, but his legacy is made of shit and terror and self-loathing. A man has died, and that's a shame. But I cannot celebrate the disgusting "art" on which he built his fortune. I wish it died with him.
2
His "art" and its popularity is merely a symptom of our culture's taste for the saccharine. It's the same reason why that Painter of Light® shithead is a millionaire.
3
Let us pray that Joe Frazier is smearing Keane's lily-white, Tea-bagging ass all over the canvas of Purgatory.
11
Holy crap, Paul! I came on Slog looking to see if the death of Bil Keane had been addressed here, and if it hadn't, I was preparing myself to write a grudgingly respectful obit and then I found THIS!
I thought I hated "The Family Circus" more than anyone, but clearly not. Probably my deepest feeling of hate for FC comes from how it has and will continue to warp the behavior of children. FC was one of the first things I could read in the newspaper as a young kid, which made me feel smart, but then there was the comic, which displayed how acting stupidly cutesy was a way to impress adults. From then on, I could diagnose whenever kids were acting like "kids."
Also, riffing on the "deaths come in threes" trope: first Andy Rooney, now Bil Keane.....who's next? COULD BOBBY FORCH GET HIS COUNCIL SEAT AFTER ALL???
I thought I hated "The Family Circus" more than anyone, but clearly not. Probably my deepest feeling of hate for FC comes from how it has and will continue to warp the behavior of children. FC was one of the first things I could read in the newspaper as a young kid, which made me feel smart, but then there was the comic, which displayed how acting stupidly cutesy was a way to impress adults. From then on, I could diagnose whenever kids were acting like "kids."
Also, riffing on the "deaths come in threes" trope: first Andy Rooney, now Bil Keane.....who's next? COULD BOBBY FORCH GET HIS COUNCIL SEAT AFTER ALL???
12
But without Mr. Keane we would have missed the subversive recaptioning joy of Dysfunctional Family Circus.
The best ever showed the four kids standing next to a chainlink fence in front of a factory that had smoke coming out the chimney. The caption read "That's where they turn Jews into soap, only we're not supposed to talk about it."
Which just about perfectly sums up the saccharine inanity of Family Circus.
http://dfc.furr.org/
The best ever showed the four kids standing next to a chainlink fence in front of a factory that had smoke coming out the chimney. The caption read "That's where they turn Jews into soap, only we're not supposed to talk about it."
Which just about perfectly sums up the saccharine inanity of Family Circus.
http://dfc.furr.org/
13
Could you tell us more about Bil Keane's "horrible conservative agenda," Paul? And maybe the "terror"? If there's anything lamer than Family Circus, it has to be hipsters who think everything that isn't edgy deserves their utter contempt.
14
Family Circus is an evil being with its own sick agenda to drive me and I'm sure many others insane. I actually have to cover it with my hand when I read the funnies because Family Circus draws me in to my own doom. I feel that reading Family Circus increases your risk for heart disease and heart attack because of the raising effect it has on blood pressure. For the sake of sanity and heart health, Family Circus should be banished from this world completely!
17
@ 13 you've clearly never read Family Circus. Nothing is lamer than Family Circus. At least hipsters make me laugh when I look at them in their funny little outfits.
18
Right this moment my contempt for Paul rivals his contempt for The Family Circus. However, he has done something specific to earn it.
19
What's lamer than The Family Circus? Well, how about ridiculous hipster writers who luxuriate in smug self-satisfaction while they loathe something like this comic way out proportion to any disdain it may have earned?
22
Gee, Paul, chill out a little.
Reading the occasional dotted lines Sunday comics was fun, especially to ocd-ish kids who liked to carefully follow the path. That was more enjoyable than all the "art" in Marvel/DC comics.
Reading the occasional dotted lines Sunday comics was fun, especially to ocd-ish kids who liked to carefully follow the path. That was more enjoyable than all the "art" in Marvel/DC comics.
23
@15 You're their all time best-seller!
@19 I totally agree that Paul Constant is annoying as shit but I reeeeally hate Family Circus.
@19 I totally agree that Paul Constant is annoying as shit but I reeeeally hate Family Circus.
24
@20, why does it need to be relevant? Dude just died at 89! Are we really upset that his comic (that he hasn't drawn himself in years, btw) wasn't RELEVANT?
25
@11 - No, I think it would have to be someone in entertainment who has only ever appealed to old people. Pat Sajak might want to see his doctor.
26
Bil Keane was a genius and an extraordinary graphic artist as well as a great human being. Millions of people worldwide loved Family Circus. The humor was gentle and never mean spirited.
His straightforward and unsophisticated cartoons were an antidote enjoyed by average American families who wanted a chuckle with their coffee while reading a newspaper full of grim stories
If you hate the Family Circus then you hate life itself.
His straightforward and unsophisticated cartoons were an antidote enjoyed by average American families who wanted a chuckle with their coffee while reading a newspaper full of grim stories
If you hate the Family Circus then you hate life itself.
28
@23, I just can't imagine why anyone would hate The Family Circus as much as Paul seems to. Read what he wrote again. It's kind of deranged. Actually, I don't get continuing to actively hate art/music/pop culture/whatever that you don't like once you're out of college age. It's a pretty adolescent pastime. Unless you're talking about hating Stranger writers, in which case it's a mature and worthy calling...
30
A strip like the following (from Channel Chuckles, which started years before the Family Circus) is still relevant (just google Jay Leno Corporate Shill):
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk705u…
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk705u…
31
And Keane had a distinctive and well-developed, effortless-looking drawing style, regardless of how upset you are that he didn't do strips about toddlers being abused at daycares or teen pregnancy or whatever else you think he was missing. Seriously, what would you have him make the strip about?
34
Bil Keane, a talented graphic artist who drew innocuous comics about little kids running around with dotted lines behind them and phantoms named "Not Me," has passed away. If you find yourself filled with rage at the thought of The Family Circus, maybe take a moment of self-reflection, drink a glass of water, relax a little.
35
Or troll the Slog with a deranged post about it as if the guy started the KKK and watch your page hits soar!
37
@20 - I remember trying to tell my grandmother how horrible I thought Family Circus was, and she was absolutely offended because she thought it was sweet and "like how kids actually act!". *sigh*
39
Once again, Paul proves that no matter how hard Goldy tries, he will always be the biggest horse's ass.
41
This made me laugh aloud, twice. I, too, utterly disdain the Family Circus, all out of proportion to its significance. I wish it could be done defiling the pages of the funnies in the newspaper. Its success both baffles and frightens me.
43
I understand Paul's disgust completely. I remember well how the public schools used to have those federally mandated daily readings of The Family Circus (right after the Pledge of Allegiance, which, as we all know, is responsible for all of us being so militaristic). If you missed the question about that day's strip, they used to make you stick your finger into a light socket, and then tormented you about how you wet your pants.
Actually, I haven't looked at a Family Circus since the 1970's, but I used to enjoy it. Back in the day, when the grandparents were still alive, the mom had that kick-ass hair, and they had mod furniture.
After the grandparents died, however, and we saw afterlife grandpa that saved the kids from dog bites, etc, that started to get a little too weird for me.
But what if Keane was right? What if there is an afterlife Keane, just like the afterlife Grandpa, and what if he comes to The Stranger's offices? If Paul finds himself at the bottom of the elevator shaft, he may sing another tune.
Actually, I haven't looked at a Family Circus since the 1970's, but I used to enjoy it. Back in the day, when the grandparents were still alive, the mom had that kick-ass hair, and they had mod furniture.
After the grandparents died, however, and we saw afterlife grandpa that saved the kids from dog bites, etc, that started to get a little too weird for me.
But what if Keane was right? What if there is an afterlife Keane, just like the afterlife Grandpa, and what if he comes to The Stranger's offices? If Paul finds himself at the bottom of the elevator shaft, he may sing another tune.
44
The last time I thought of Family Circus was when Pearls Before Swine's Rat had them trapped in the sewer. Pearls Before Swine makes me smile.
"If Y'ALL DON'T WANNA
HEAR MY BANJY..."
"If Y'ALL DON'T WANNA
HEAR MY BANJY..."
45
I thought someone would have mentioned The Other Family by now (especially since Slog was where I learned of its existence), but it looks like I'm going to have to do it:
http://theotherfamily.com/index.php
http://theotherfamily.com/index.php
47
Geez, it was just a stupid COMIC STRIP. I can't stand FC, either, but I try to save such venom for crap that actually matters in life. Go drink a scotch or five and relax.
49
Holy cow, if this is the treatment given to long-term American comic illustrators, I'd hate to see what's written when Al Jaffee goes...
51
@47 - The problem is that as long as Family Circus (and BC, and Peanuts, and Shoe, et cetera) is kept alive in the paper, it muscles out new, living artists who might actually be funny. Newspaper comics were once an admirable venue for humor and contemporary art, but it is now a place for simple one-liners and bland nostalgia. Bill Watterson had the decency to retire the strip when he was done being funny, and while we can't expect an artist to surrender his livelihood when he crosses an arbitrary threshold of amusement, we could hope that someone, somewhere in the line of decision-makers would seek out and promote new talent.
52
I am amazed that anybody feels anything at all about Family Circus. It doesn't seem worth hating or even taking notice of.
53
How could anyone not like those dotted line adventures he took throughout the neighborhood? I'll bet you also hate Norman Rockwell and Andy Williams?
54
I feel your frustration but did you not know that nearly all his characters were closeted veggiesexuals? Indeed through his art he pioneered veggiesexual freedom long before it became mainstream.
55
I've hated Family Circus since I was a kid. Maybe I sensed there was something anti-kid about it. If you feel the need to sanitize childhood experience that much, you must deeply disapprove of what real children are about.
For that reason, I think "his legacy is made of shit and terror and self-loathing" is a great line.
For that reason, I think "his legacy is made of shit and terror and self-loathing" is a great line.
56
of course you don't like FC. you're not a grandma. IT IS FOR GRANDMOTHERS. like how For Better or Worse is for Moms.
57
For those of you who like "Pearls Before Swine," here's what Stephan Pastis had to say about this:
http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2011/…
http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2011/…
58
@53- Norman Rockwell did lots of non-saccerine work. I'm unaware of Bill Keane ever doing anything aside from Family Circus.
@56- Both my grandmothers are dead, but I can't imagine my dad's mom liking Family Circus at all. My great grandmother on that side was a single mother, my grandmother used to go on dates just to get food because there was none at home. She never had much use for bullshit. Mom's mom might have liked it.
@56- Both my grandmothers are dead, but I can't imagine my dad's mom liking Family Circus at all. My great grandmother on that side was a single mother, my grandmother used to go on dates just to get food because there was none at home. She never had much use for bullshit. Mom's mom might have liked it.
60
I don't disagree with what you're saying; I think the timing is in bad taste. If ever there is a time to demonstrate self-restraint, at the expense of wanting to assert our own opinions and emotions, the immediate hours and days after someone's death is the one.
You are offended by his work, fine. Waiting a few days to publicly lambaste the man and his influence would be decent.
I hope no one takes the time to publicly rake you and your work in the immediate hours after your death, no matter how they felt. That would simply be indecent.
You are offended by his work, fine. Waiting a few days to publicly lambaste the man and his influence would be decent.
I hope no one takes the time to publicly rake you and your work in the immediate hours after your death, no matter how they felt. That would simply be indecent.
61
Eighty nine is a good inning to go out. May those who knew him be comforted by his memory.
@5280, that was a sweet, in the real way, tribute and a wonderful picture, too. Thank you for posting it.
@5280, that was a sweet, in the real way, tribute and a wonderful picture, too. Thank you for posting it.
62
One thing in the plus column, was Family Circus was well drawn. Bill could pack a lot of information in the little circle, maybe not as much as a Zippy strip, but he had the skill to really draft and compose good drawings. There's plenty of worse strips that just keep on chugging--Beatle Baily, Wizard of Id, Hagar the Horrible and, unforgivably, Peanuts--that are not only bad, but lazily drawn.
The PI has been testing new strips, and many of them are just bad, bad, bad. Badly drawn, badly written. Pearls Before Swine is the best new strip to come out in years. New talent isn't just being kept off the comics page by old strips, there just isn't that common.
And if you really want to complain, what the fuck is up with just letting "For Better or Worse" start over like they did with Peanuts!?! At least Keane was putting out original stuff. That "rerun" shit is the worst.
The PI has been testing new strips, and many of them are just bad, bad, bad. Badly drawn, badly written. Pearls Before Swine is the best new strip to come out in years. New talent isn't just being kept off the comics page by old strips, there just isn't that common.
And if you really want to complain, what the fuck is up with just letting "For Better or Worse" start over like they did with Peanuts!?! At least Keane was putting out original stuff. That "rerun" shit is the worst.
63
Unfortunately the strip will continue because his son joined him on it years ago. I hate it so much I have to cover it up so I don't get too angry to read the rest of the strips.
65
The worst thing about Bil Keane is that people will think he did the same profession as McKay, Seger, Gray, Canniff, Herrimann, Kelly, Schultz, and Watterson.
@62 If you think Peanuts is lame or poorly drawn you are stupid. No, make that colossally fucking stupid; so stupid that you are literally a thief of air. You are hang-yourself-with-your-shoelace stupid.
@62 If you think Peanuts is lame or poorly drawn you are stupid. No, make that colossally fucking stupid; so stupid that you are literally a thief of air. You are hang-yourself-with-your-shoelace stupid.
66
@65, the first couple of decades of Peanuts were sublime. Extremely well drawn, subtly and cleverly written. By the time that Schultz entered the Hallmark and Met Life era the magic was gone. The stuff that is run again today comes from that era. The same jokes over and over again. No fresh ideas, lame characters. It's a shame that what we see repeated every week is now his legacy.
67
Here's a different take on Bill Keane from the magnificent Lynda Barry:
http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/p…
http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/p…
68
Family Circus sucked. We all figured that out when we were nine years old. But dissing the dude the day after he died sucks too. unfortunately paul didnt figure that out when he was nine as well. classy!
73
To plagiarize a little known internet writer, Family Circus has been shitting down the throat of comedy for decades.
But hey- If I don't like your music, I don't listen to it. If I don't like your column, I don't read it.
My mother LOVES family circus, god bless her senile little heart.
No need to speak ill of the mostly harmless dead just because you don't like what they produced. If it brought joy to someone, however humor-impaired and senile they may be...that's got to be worth a little.
Me
But hey- If I don't like your music, I don't listen to it. If I don't like your column, I don't read it.
My mother LOVES family circus, god bless her senile little heart.
No need to speak ill of the mostly harmless dead just because you don't like what they produced. If it brought joy to someone, however humor-impaired and senile they may be...that's got to be worth a little.
Me
75
gholtby is right. I'd like to amend my earlier list to include Jim Davis, rather than Thomas Kinkade. The latter produces art that's only (barely) worthy of hanging in hotel lobbies, but the former should have packed it in decades ago.
76
"Family Circus" is pretty outdated, to be sure, but is pretty harmless. It always surprises me when people trash it with such glee. I suppose it's an easy target, as there isn't a molecule of hipness or cynicism (or humor, some would say) to be found in it. Keane was a decent guy, however, who accepted criticism graciously. No need to piss on the man's grave.
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