How do you make 9/11 funny? It’s not possible. It’s like good and evil. They are mutually exclusive.
But of the 24 Sunday comics in The Philadelphia Inquirer almost half had some sort of reference to 9/11: Dustin, Doonesbury, Edge City, Blondie, Baby Blues, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Hagar the Horrible, Zits, Family Circus?, and my favorite Lio–since it is simple, dark and relevant.
I understand both why a comic would want to make a timely allusion to 9/11, and why they wouldn’t. It is risky to do it. What if your attempt at remembering 9/11 alienates readers, seems inappropriate or comes across as sappy?
It is risky to not do it. Wouldn’t it be bad if you were the only comic who decided to completely ignore the topic, or if your attempt at humor was interpreted as bad taste on 9/11?
But how do you make 9/11 funny? You can’t.
The point of the comics is to be comedic, to entertain with humor. 9/11 isn’t funny. It’s tragic.
But Qohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, tells us, “there is…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4). Today is definitely a time to weep and mourn, but is it also a time to laugh and dance? I would like to think so, but I’m not sure. I love to laugh (dancing, not so much), and sometimes laughter helps us in the midst of grief.
What do you think of Sunday comics and 9/11? What was your favorite 9/11 comic?