The mom in the "Family Circus" comic strip is a real...

[skypilot]

...bitch!!! Have you noticed that she almost never smiles and she gets pissy about the tiniest thing? A couple days ago one of her little boys bumped his head on a table and said something like, "Dumb, stupid, idiotic table!" and there was Mom scowling at him as if he'd swore. In fact, she seems more concerned about the innocuous words he has just uttered than she is with the state of his head. He ends up looking at her sheepishly and saying, "Can I delete what I just said?" Yesterday she's got the scowl again (and one hand on her hip) as she points to a counter and demands to know who took the pencil that was next to a telephone and notepad. A PENCIL!!! Even though the strip is relentlessly unfunny and has been for as long as I can remember, I can't help but glance up at it since it is a mere single-frame strip. I've started taking note of the times I've seen the mom smile or express affection towards her tots and it doesn't seem to be often. This comic strip mom seems to be a real psycho. Thanks for listening.

[ronnykmarshall]

1. I HATE HER!!!!

She's an evil, souless, mean she-devil! Kill her NOW!!!

[Kolesar]

2. modeled after Joan Crawford?

She does have black hair, for one thing.

[skypilot]

3. Hair

I think she might be a closeted lesbian who's bitter about being stuck with a dud of a husband and a bunch of kids that never grow up. I think she was trying to tell us something with that little butch haircut she got a few years back

[Lorien]

4. Actually, I know Bil Keane

(the author of the strip) I use to work with his son Glen at Disney ("Billy" in the comic). although I don't find much humor in "the Family Circus" either, I can tell you that Bil himself is hilarious! He MCs the National Society of Cartoonists awards most years, and remarkably will swear like a sailor and tell joke that leave audiences in tears. I have never understood why the stuff he puts on paper dosn't jive with who he and his family are in person (since it's based on them). Mrs. Keane is delightful-somewhat shy, but witty with an "everybody's mom" quality about her. Not bitchy in the least from what I've seen. :shrug:

My Grandmother loved the "Family Circus", so I guess he has his audience (maybe it's a generational thing)?

[davidinalameda]

9. I thought the family was estranged from each other

can't remember where I heard that

[OldSoldier]

34. IIRC that was the Ketchams

Dennis Ketcham claims that his dad ruined his life through the execrable "Dennis the Menace" comic. Apparently he was never able to live down being the real-life inspiration for Dennis the Menace, and so didn't speak to his dad for the last 20 or 30 years of Hank Ketcham's life.

[newyawker99]

35. Congrats OldSoldier!! 300 posts

:toast:

[skypilot]

11. That's really interesting...

...because I can't even begin to imagine the Dad in the strip swearing like a sailor or making anyone laugh. Ever. And the comic strip version of Mrs.Keane sure doesn't have an "everybody's mom" quality. Anyway, I'm glad she ain't MY mom.

[Lorien]

24. I just remembered something

Bil said a few years ago that his son Jeff was being groomed to take over the strip (panel, really). I wonder if he's doing it now? I've only met Jeff briefly, so I really have no opinion of him.

The family is very close-and yeah, I had a hard time believing that the guy on stage at the NSOC awards was the same guy who wrote the crap comic! Maybe split personality disorder?

His son Glen got a lot of ribbing at work (Glen is also an artist-Disney's top animator) "Hey Glen, love your work-but your dad's comic sucks wind!" etc.

[mark0rama]

29. Something for Glen to keep in mind.

I used to know an artist in California who had all this interesting art on her walls... and a Red Skelton clown collectible plate.

Turns out her father was a head of a company that put out all kinds of collectible "art", and she explained that she had the plate on the wall because it put her through grad school.

I'm guessing The Family Circus has a lot to do with where Glen is today. Art school ain't cheap.

[Creamed Corn]

5. She's lovely

And a darling figure... supple, pouting breasts... firm thighs....

[skypilot]

6. STOP THAT!!!

*

[ronnykmarshall]

8. Too bad

You two don't get along.

[CO Liberal]

17. Here's an Interesting One I Just Found......

[CO Liberal]

19. And Another One

[skypilot]

20. MORBID!!!!

*

[Aristus]

21. I'll say! Keane sure draws her as a hot mama, doesn't he?

I had little cartoon fantasies about her when I was a kid. Crazy, huh?

[mark0rama]

28. Not crazy to me...

I had a Family Circus paperback as a kid that had a cartoon with her in the bathtub. Damn! I sure hope what Bil was getting was even half that good. That paperback was permanently creased open to that page.

And that was when I was a kid and not now so stop saying that!

[BiggJawn]

25. All those kids and she's still "got IT"....

You KNOW it's a comix....

Most women around here let themselves "go" after one. About 6 months after their "studdlies" get that "ESPN Gut" on 'em...

[skypilot]

26. We only think she's "got IT"

I bet she's sucking in her gut or wearing one tight ass girdle. That would explain alot.

[WilliamPitt]

27. What, exactly, is a pouting breast?

I've always wondered.

[Michael Daniels]

30. I've heard of perky breasts.....

but never pouty breasts.

[ForrestGump]

32. I'd guess that they're perky ones

who've lately seen too much of life.

[CBGLuthier]

7. If you had to raise

The same shitty little ungrateful kids for fifty years and they never grew up you wouldn't be very nice either.

[LynneSin]

10. That's why I prefer "For Better of For Worse"

Geez I remember when Michael was just a baby and now he has one of his own.

[TrogL]

13. I thought Michael was gay

or was that just a passing fad?

[CO Liberal]

14. That Was His Friend Lawrence

Michael got married a few years back.

[Ellen Forradalom]

18. No longer a contraction to be married and gay in Canada

Michael could be both!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. I did notice that cartoon!

They could've at least had the kid say "@#$%!"

And she's also so terribly concerned about "Who did this?!" (thus the invention of the NotMe character) that you just want to tell her to calm down and get all the kids to help her clean up the mess.

Poor anal-retentive dummy!

[skypilot]

15. Last week...

...they were traipsing around here in Philly taking in the sights. I should have unleashed Marmaduke on her.

[CBHagman]

22. Not Me is now employed by the Bush administration

...in case you haven't noticed.

By the way, a few years back the Style Invitational (a humor contest in the Washington Post Sunday Style section) ran someone's alternative version of "The Family Circus" with Jeffy (or was it Billy?) whispering, "I see dead people!" (i.e., his grandfather, who is depicted in the regular version of the strip as being in heaven)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. Hahaha! Tooooooo true!

:D

[Ellen Forradalom]

16. Dysfunctional Family Circus

in the early 90s in a 'zine shop I saw pamphlets of Family Circus illustrations with raunchy new captions that left me in tears, I was laughing so hard.

[dback]

33. They were online in the late 90's--I think Keane sued to shut them down.

Since they were using his original artwork--and allowing people to submit their own captions--he had a legal leg to stand on. But I think underground versions are still floating around out there.

My fave: Billy and Jeffy having a slugfest on the sofa, with an open-mouthed Dolly (the troll) yelling off-frame. Someone captioned this: "A big shout out to my girlz and homies in Oaktown, and let's hear it for the Keane family dancers behind me!"

Some of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.

[TrogL]

23. Featured in the movie "Go"

The drug dealer does a give minute rant about it.

Between Family Circle and B.C., I've given up on the comics page.