I've blogged at various times about Diesel Sweeties, including characters and panels from the egregiously funny mind of R. Stevens to illustrate a point. Now I'm forced to admit the truth: I love comics. While I'm a huge fan of animation in all forms (from Pixar films to Disney classics to the stop-motion Gumby shows to Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds), comics hold a special spot in my entertainment spectrum. I don't collect comic books, but I am a fan of compendiums, collections, and anthologies that piece together some of my favorite serialized strips: Calvin and Hobbes, Diesel Sweeties, Funky Winkerbean, Dilbert, and at some point in the future, xkcd (linked to a software- and work-appropriate strip).
There's something resembling engineering in setting up a joke or cultural reference in just a few frames, building on everything from internet memes to cross-references with the author's personal likes and dislikes. Charles Schultz, a hockey fan, made sure Snoopy had a miniature Zamboni for Woodstock's frozen birdbath-turned-hockey rink, popularizing the Zamboni more than TC coverage of the NHL. Bill Watterson had recrurring, and hilarious, snowmen riffs appearing in Calvin and Hobbes.
Despite following most strips online, I still love to pick up the occasional book. This week's acquisition was the first set of Diesel Sweeties syndicated strips, which I ordered with the souvenir Clango t-shirt so that it arrived personalized by R. Stevens. If he thinks I'm the "King of Jersey", who am I to argue? In the comic world, you can suspend all belief, three panels at a time.