Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Bil Keane, R. I. P.

The Associated Press: 'Family Circus' creator Bil Keane dies at 89: Bil Keane's "Family Circus" comics entertained readers with a simple but sublime mix of humor and traditional family values for more than a half century. The appeal endured, the author thought, because the American public needed the consistency.

Keane, who started drawing the one-panel cartoon featuring Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J. and their parents in February 1960, died Tuesday at age 89 at his longtime home in Paradise Valley, near Phoenix. His comic strip is featured in nearly 1,500 newspapers across the country.

7 comments:

Gerard said...

I have a love-hate view on that comic. Mostly hate.

Jerry House said...

I'm with Gerard, except without the love part.

Kelly Robinson said...

"Why does P.J.'s bottle have cottage cheese in it?" will always make me laugh. (The visual clue is that it was left in the car while they were at the beach.)

Gerard said...

Keane was always aiming for those "kids say the darndest things" moments but invariably turned them insipid.

[That's two big words I had to verify the definitions of.]

Dan_Luft said...

Pretty harsh words on the day a man dies. There was something about the art, almost Nancy-like in its simplicity, that drew my eye. I also was not a fan but I read it whenever I read the comics. I can't say the same about most other one-panel cartoons.

Unknown said...

I've read it nearly every day for forty years or more.

James Reasoner said...

I've been reading it for about as long as Bill has. Most of the time it's not particularly funny, but danged if I don't read it anyway. (There aren't very many comic strips I do find consistently funny anymore.)