the funny papers

In prepping for my response to the APSW assignment #4, I've been thinking a lot lately about lifestyles and the behavior of various groups of people. Seeking out and reading the comics in the daily newspaper is a behavior that can certainly help define a certain lifestyle -- when put into context along with other things it can help build a distinct profile of someone.


Here's a great post by Scott Adams over on the Dilbert Blog about comic readers. He has pulled upon his experience as a writer and painted a vivid picture of three types of readers:

"Gag Lovers: This group looks for classic cleverness in their comics. They don’t care that much about art, as long as it isn’t distracting. Nor do they care about the comic’s relevance to their life. “Funny is funny” would be their motto. They’re about 20% of the population at most. If you laughed at my “half vast” pun, you might be one of them.

Visual People: This group cares so much about the look of a comic that the writing becomes secondary. The people in this group would never admit that their sense of humor is influenced by the art, but their lists of favorite comics will always be the ones that are the most artistically accomplished. They’re about 20% of the population too.

Relevance People: This group cares the least about the art and cleverness of a comic. They look for comics that are relevant to their own lives. They want to know they’re not alone in their peeves and viewpoints. This group is the largest, probably 60% of the population."