History DorkAge / NewspaperComics

** True purists of the strip might contend that ''Garfield'' entered its greatest Dork Age in the late '80s, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks when the strip was at the height of its popularity]]. Maybe it was an attempt to compete with the new breed of zany and/or surreal strips such as ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', maybe it was a blatant attempt to appeal to children... but for whatever reason, ''Garfield'' descended to pure absurdism. Jon Arbuckle changed from a modestly cool guy to an outright {{Nerd}}, Odie went from being merely TheDitz to borderline retarded (and to [[ToiletHumor drooling a lot]] - seriously, a ''lot''), and Garfield himself unexpectedly transforming from the passive-aggressive SnarkKnight he was originally to a certifiable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, wearing banana peels on his head and grinning like an idiot. Of course, this was also during the debut of the ''GarfieldAndFriends'' TV cartoon, so maybe a little zaniness was necessary in order to keep everything consistent.

** True purists of the strip might contend that ''Garfield'' entered its greatest Dork Age in the late '80s, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks when the strip was at the height of its popularity]]. Maybe it was an attempt to compete with the new breed of zany and/or surreal strips such as ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', maybe it was a blatant attempt to appeal to children...but for whatever reason, ''Garfield'' descended to pure absurdism. Jon Arbuckle changed from a modestly cool guy to an outright {{Nerd}}, Odie went from being merely TheDitz to borderline retarded (and to [[ToiletHumor drooling a lot]] - seriously, a ''lot''), and Garfield himself unexpectedly transforming from the passive-aggressive SnarkKnight he was originally to a certifiable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, wearing banana peels on his head and grinning like an idiot. Of course, this was also during the debut of the ''GarfieldAndFriends'' TV cartoon, so maybe a little zaniness was necessary in order to keep everything consistent.

* ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean'' was simple enough – a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. Years later, after a few in-universe {{timeskip}}s, it became one of the most dark & depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even its sister comic ''ComicStrip/CrankShaft'' (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't an dramatic exaggeration either; read Funky Winkerbean's trope page.

** True purists of the strip might contend that ''Garfield'' entered its greatest Dork Age in the late '80s, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks when the strip was at the height of its popularity]]. Maybe it was an attempt to compete with the new breed of zany and/or surreal strips such as ''CalvinAndHobbes'', maybe it was a blatant attempt to appeal to children...but for whatever reason, ''Garfield'' descended to pure absurdism. Jon Arbuckle changed from a modestly cool guy to an outright {{Nerd}}, Odie went from being merely TheDitz to borderline retarded (and to [[ToiletHumor drooling a lot]] - seriously, a ''lot''), and Garfield himself unexpectedly transforming from the passive-aggressive SnarkKnight he was originally to a certifiable {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, wearing banana peels on his head and grinning like an idiot. Of course, this was also during the debut of the ''GarfieldAndFriends'' TV cartoon, so maybe a little zaniness was necessary in order to keep everything consistent.

* For a while in TheSixties, classic comic strip ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' tried to capitalize on the ongoing [[TheSpaceRace Space Race]] by sending its characters [[RecycledInSpace TO THE MOON!]] One character even got married to a "Moon Maid". After the moon landing, however, the moon, and most of the sci-fi elements, were dropped from the strip, and Dick Tracy went back to old-fashioned crimefighting...
** ... only for the strip to almost immediately stumble into a ''second'' Dork Age with its faux-{{blaxploitation}}[=/=]"[[JiveTurkey street-wise]]" '70s style, including giving Tracy a god-awful mustache and longer hair. And lest you think "god-awful" is putting it too stronlgly, we should inform you that even in-universe, Tracy's friends hated his mustache so much that they eventually forced him to shave it off.
** Both of these periods (which may as well have been a single long one) carry the undercurrent of creator Chester Gould's increasing conservatism. Starting in the early 60's, Gould would regularly halt the story progression to rant about the Warren Court's decisions on the rights of the accused. Like the more obvious Dork Age mentioned above, these {{author filibuster}}s would only stop with Gould's retirement in 1977.
** The strip would eventually hit a third Dork Age from 2006 to 2011, which is widely considered to be its absolute worst period. A combination of artist Dick Locher's advancing years and the failure to replace writer Mike Kilian after his death led to five years that were marked by atrociously bad artwork and stories that tended to drag on for three or four months without much of anything happening, before everything was suddenly and unsatisfactory wrapped up in just a few days. Fortunately the strip was able to recover yet again when Locher left and was replaced by Joe Staton and Mike Curtis.

* Due to the rather static nature of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'', it can be difficult to tell whether the strip is in one or not. The general consensus is that the comic became horribly stagnant starting in the late 90's – during this period, nearly every single weekday strip consisted of Jon and Garfield at the table and most Sunday strips dealt with the spiders. The base broke when Jon and Liz became a couple (with many fans accusing the comic of [[JumpedTheShark jumping the shark]]), because it destroyed the potential for any future "Jon has a horrible love life and/or has insane wacky dates" jokes – a major theme of the strip.
** More infamously, around this same time in the late 90's, the strip – which actually has quite a large ensemble cast – cut back on the appearances of nearly every side character (Nermal for instance), in favour of just Jon and Garfield with occasional Odie. Later, Liz's increased role led to even Odie only showing up even less occasionally.
* With ''ComicStrip/{{BC}}'', near the end of Johnny Hart's life he became very heavily Christian, and started [[AuthorFilibuster shoehorning his fundamentalist beliefs into the comic]], leading to some controversy (one infamous Sunday strip had a menorah morph into a cross). After Hart's death, his kids took over the strip and changed it back to its original light comedy format.

** ... only for the strip to almost immediately stumble into a ''second'' Dork Age with its faux-{{blaxploitation}}[=/=]"[[JiveTurkey street-wise]]" '70s style, including giving Tracy a god-awful mustache and longer hair.
*** Both of these periods (which may as well have been a single long one) carry the undercurrent of creator Chester Gould's increasing conservatism. Starting in the early 60's, Gould would regularly halt the story progression to rant about the Warren Court's decisions on the rights of the accused. Like the more obvious Dork Age mentioned above, these {{author filibuster}}s would only stop with Gould's retirement in 1977.

*** Both of these periods (which may as well have been a single long one) carry the undercurrent of creator Chester Gould's increasing conservatism. Starting in the early 60's, Gould would regularly halt the story progression to rant about the Warren Court's decisions on the rights of the accused. Like the more obvious Dork Age mentioned above, these {{author filibuster}}s would only stop with Gould's death in 1977.

** More infamously, around this same time in the late 90's, the strip – which actually has quite a large ensemble cast – cut back on the appearances of nearly every side character (Nermal for instance), in favour of just Jon and Garfield with occasional Odie. Later, Liz's increased role led to even Odie only showing up occasionally.

** The strip would eventually hit a third Dork Age from 2006 to 2011, which is widely considered to be its absolute worst period. A combination of artist Dick Locher's advancing years and the failure to replace writer Mike Kilian after his death led to five years that were marked by atrociously bad artwork, and stories that tended to drag on for three or four months without much of anything happening, before everything was suddenly and unsatisfactory wrapped up in just a few days. Fortunately the strip was able to recover yet again when Locher left and was replaced by Joe Staton and Mike Curtis.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' seemed to hit one in the late-Aughties as Garry Trudeau spent more and more of the strip's time focusing on the Iraq War, eschewing most of the political satire he was known for in favor of observations that were rarely funny. The nadir came when he spent several months on B.D. losing his leg and Alex's boyfriend returning to America after getting brain damage from an IED. SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, certainly, but Trudeau was not nearly as maudlin with his strip during the Vietnam War.

* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'' is widely considered to have ended on one of these, then restarted on another. It became a soapbox for the creator's very dated (and somewhat warped) views and beliefs.
* Garfield seemed to be going through one for a long while, especially after having JumpedTheShark once Jon and Liz became a couple, destroying any future "Jon has a horrible love life, or has insane wacky dates" jokes. As well as most side characters (Nermal for instance) seemed to have been put aside, appearing very rarely, to put more focus on Garfield, Jon and Liz.
* With B.C, near the end of Johnny Hart's life, he became very heavily Christian implementing his beliefs heavily into the comics, sometimes becoming very controversial. (One infamous strip had a menorah turn into a cross) After Hart's death, his kids took over and turned it back to it's original format.
* FunkyWinkerbean was simple enough, a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. Years later and after a few in-universe time skips, it became one of the most dark, depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even it's sister comic CrankShaft (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't an dramatic exaggeration either, read FunkyWinkerbean's trope page.

* FunkyWinkerbean was simple enough, a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. Years later and after a few in-universe time skips, it became one of the most dark, depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even it's sister comic CrankShaft (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't an dramatic exaggeration either, read Funky Winkerbean's trope page.

* With B.C, near the end of Johnny Hart's life, he became very heavily Christian implementing his beliefs heavily into the comics, sometimes becoming very controversial. (One infamous strip had a menorah turn into a cross) until it became a fully religious comic. After Hart's death, his kids took over and turned it back to it's original format.

* With B.C, near the end of Johnny Hart's life, he became very heavily Christian implementing his beliefs heavily into the comics, until it became a fully religious comic. After Hart's death, his kids took over and turned it back to it's original format.

* FunkyWinkerbean was simple enough, a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. Years later and after a few in-universe time skips, it became one of the most dark, depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even it's sister comic CrankShaft (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't an exaggeration, read FW's trope page.

* FunkyWinkerbean was simple enough, a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. Years later and after a few in-universe time skips, it became one of the most dark, depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even it's sister comic CrankShaft (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from. This isn't an exaggeration, read it's trope page.

* Funky Winkerbean was simple enough, a wacky comic that took place in a high-school. After a few time skips, it became one of the most dark, depressing comics ever syndicated. Constant mention of cancer, death, characters trapped in a miserable world, and even a story arc of one of the major characters even getting Cancer and slowly dying from it for the reading public to follow. Even it's sister comic CrankShaft (Which is in the same continuity) can't escape the constant gloom that all the characters suffer from.

* Garfield seemed to be going through one for a long while, especially after having JumpedTheShark once Jon and Liz became a couple, destroying any future "Jon has a horrible love life, or has insane wacky dates" jokes. As well as most side characters (Nermal for instance) seemed to have been PutOnABus (making very very rare cameos) to put more focus on Garfield, Jon and Liz.

* Garfield seemed to be going through one for a long while, especially after having JumpedTheShark once Jon and Liz became a couple, destroying any future "Jon has a horrible love life, or has insane wacky dates" jokes. As well as most side characters (Nermal for instance) seemed to have been PutOnABus (making very very rare cameos) to put more focus on Garfield, Jon and Liz. The parody webcomic GarfieldMinusGarfield has been praised by many as being superior to the current original comic.

* Garfield seemed to be going through one for a long while, especially after having JumpedTheShark once Jon and Liz became a couple, destroying any future "Jon has a horrible love life, or has insane wacky dates" jokes. As well as most side characters (Nermal for instance) seemed to have been PutOnABus (making very very rare cameos) to put more focus on Garfield, Jon and Liz. The parody webcomic GarfieldMinusGarfield has been praised by many as being superior to original comic.

* Garfield seemed to be going through one for a long while, especially once Jon and Liz became a couple, destroying any future "Jon has a horrible love life, or has insane wacky dates" jokes. As well as most side characters (Nermal for instance) seemed to have been PutOnABus (making very very rare cameos) to put more focus on Garfield, Jon and Liz. The parody webcomic GarfieldMinusGarfield has been praised by many as being superior to original comic.

** ... only for the strip to almost immediately stumble into a ''second'' Dork Age with its faux-{{blaxploitation}}[=/=]"[[JiveTurkey street-wise]]" '70s style, including giving Tracy a god-awful mustache, and the introduction of Groovy Grove, a [[TotallyRadical "cool"]] sideshow freak with a body literally shaped like a corkscrew. (His body was a ''groove'', [[DontExplainTheJoke see]]?)

* ''ForBetterOrForWorse'' is widely considered to have ended on one of these. Then restarted on another.

* For a while in TheSixties, classic comic strip ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' tried to capitalize on the ongoing [[TheSpaceRace Space Race]] by sending its characters [[RecycledInSpace TO THE MOON!]] One character even got married to a "Moon Maid". After the moon landing, however, the moon, and most of the sci-fi elements, were dropped from the strip, and Dick Tracy went back to old-fashioned crimefighting...\\
\\
... only for the strip to almost immediately stumble into a ''second'' Dork Age with its faux-{{blaxploitation}}[=/=]"[[JiveTurkey street-wise]]" '70s style, including Groovy Grove, a [[TotallyRadical "cool"]] sideshow freak with a body literally shaped like a corkscrew. (His body was a ''groove'', [[DontExplainTheJoke see]]?)

* For a while in TheSixties, classic comic strip ''DickTracy'' tried to capitalize on the ongoing [[TheSpaceRace Space Race]] by sending its characters [[RecycledInSpace TO THE MOON!]] One character even got married to a "Moon Maid". After the moon landing, however, the moon, and most of the sci-fi elements, were dropped from the strip, and Dick Tracy went back to old-fashioned crimefighting...\\