History TakeThat / ComicStrips

* Creator/BillWatterson has used ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' to mock modern art, art criticism, and superhero comic books. Either Calvin uses phrases copied verbatim from art journals to describe his snow men, or his breathless praises of comic books as an art form are interrupted by comments like, "Oh no, Captain Steroid's getting his kidneys punched out with an I-beam!" Take note that Watterson's career peaked during UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|of Comic Books}} of western comics, which likely influenced his opinions quite a bit, but as to why he didn't seek out fellow "comics can be art" proponents such as Dave Sim and Scott [=McCloud=] and join up with the Graphic Novel movement is a complete mystery.

** It was inevitable that someone would do this regarding the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. According to ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', "Soon kids across the world will be rushing home from school so they can Wii."

** Bill Watterson's foreword to Bill Amend's first ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' book is basically an extended take that against Jim Davis. For example, Watterson champions Quincy the Iguana for not thinking "the cute thoughts that quickly get most comic strip animals in the greeting card business." Of course, one could also make the case that there are no Quincy the Iguana cards because the average person thinks ReptilesAreAbhorrent. Eventually Quincy became probably the most popular character and [[WolverinePublicity appears on the cover of almost every book, calendar and other piece of ''[=FoxTrot=]'' merchandise]] (which still isn't all that much) Watterson probably doesn't care.

* Bill Watterson has used ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' to mock modern art, art criticism, and superhero comic books. Either Calvin uses phrases copied verbatim from art journals to describe his snow men, or his breathless praises of comic books as an art form are interrupted by comments like, "Oh no, Captain Steroid's getting his kidneys punched out with an I-beam!" Take note that Watterson's career peaked during UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|of Comic Books}} of western comics, which likely influenced his opinions quite a bit, but as to why he didn't seek out fellow "comics can be art" proponents such as Dave Sim and Scott [=McCloud=] and join up with the Graphic Novel movement is a complete mystery.
** Watterson directed a few Take Thats at ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' creator Jim Davis over the years. In a rare 1987 interview, he harshly condemned Davis' comic strip ''ComicStrip/USAcres'', calling it stupid and badly done. In ''The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book'', Watterson extensively discusses why he hates merchandising, and how it robs a comic strip of its heart and soul. He even writes about how a cartoonist risks becoming a "factory foreman", remarking on how he went into cartooning "to draw cartoons, not to run a corporate empire." He disgustedly remarks on how he would have sold out his own creation if he'd done this. Given the context, it was pretty clear who he was talking about. Granted, since Jim Davis stated that he created Garfield for the purpose of making money, and probably didn't intend there to be much of that deeper significance in which Watterson puts so much stock, it's unlikely that Watterson would have liked it anyway.

** ''Funky Winkerbean'' loves this trope. The most recent comics of this writing (9/14/2009) on for a couple of days, are basically one big TakeThat at all the people who complained about the whole [[TrueArtIsAngsty "dying of cancer" arc.]] The local school is putting on a production of ''Wit'', a play about a woman who, surprise surprise, dies of cancer, which gets the parents up in arms and complaining how they came to the theater to be entertained, not depressed. The author basically writes them all into a strawgroup of his critics and then has his avatars talk "reason" to them (The reason being that plays about cancer are "[[TrueArtIsAngsty true art]]" and ''Spam-a-lot'' isn't).

** Watterson arguably even did SelfDepreciation with some of the strips where Calvin waxes about the deep significance of art and the evils of censorship...even though his "dinosaurs in rocket ships" art isn't exactly profound and the reason Miss Wormwood is trying to stop him is actually because he's drawing them during math class.