Sylvia by Nicole Hollander

Sylvia

A sociopolitical and social gag-a-day comic whose star, Sylvia, comments on current events from the comfort of her bathtub, a restaurant booth, her typewriter, and the bar. Sylvia's friends and family join her for discussions and jokes about politics, gender issues, and mass media.

Appeal: feminism, satire, politics, adults

Art: Rough cartooning, bold lines, lots of background detail

Textual style: Ironic, satiric

Other: Sylvia started as a series of cartoons Hollander drew for a feminist magazine

Awards: In 1983 Nicole Hollander won the Wonder Woman Foundation Award for Women of Achievement Over 40.

Bloom County by Berke Breathed

Bloom County

A political commentary and satire starring the residents of a small-town boarding house. Characters include Milo, a ten-year-old newspaper editor, his pop culture-obsessed friend Binkley, womanizing lawyer Steve, wheelchair-bound veteran Cutter John, Bill the (mostly braindead), and Opus, a naive and optimisitic penguin. Throughout the strips they run for president, form heavy metal bands, protest unfair treatment of comic strip characters, die, come back to life, and generally lampoon 1980s politics. It is available online at gocomics.com.

Appeal: Political humor, 1980s pop culture references, absurdism, talking animals, satire adults.

Art: Dynamic expression and composition, fine use of color in Sunday strips.

Textual style: Sarcastic, ironically juvenile, loquacious.

Other: Steve and Cutter John starred in Berke Breathed's earlier comic The Academia Waltz. Breathed followed Bloom County's run with two related strips, Outland and Opus.

Awards: Breathed won the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning in 1987. 

Breathed, Berke. Tales Too Ticklish To Tell: Bloom County. Boston : Little, Brown, 1988. Print.

The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder

The Boondocks

A political and social commentary comic about a young black boy and his family and friends in a middle class white suburb. Huey Freeman is intelligent and radically minded. His brother Riley is heavily influenced by gangsta rap and thug culture. Their grandfather was a Civil Rights activist and disagrees with both brothers' opinions on almost everything. The characters clash over and discuss current events in politics and the media. Huey hosts the "Most Embarrassing Black People Awards" each year, needles the naive biracial girl next door, and talks back to racism as it appears in the media.

Appeal: Liberal politics, black representation, satire, children in surreal situations, adults.

Art: Manga-influenced, the style changed slightly in 2003 when another artist took over drawing duty from the writer, Aaron McGruder.

Textual style: High-level vocabulary, heavily tied to current events, awash in irony and sarcasm. 

Other: The comic strip was adapted as an animated television show in 2005, and has aired four seasons to date. 

Awards: The animated adaptation won a Peabody Award in 2006.

McGruder, Aaron. Public Enemy #2: An All-new Boondocks Collection. New York : Three Rivers Press, 2005. Print.