this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2026
449 points (99.1% liked)

Comic Strips

26064 readers
2622 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

Rules

  1. 😇 Be Nice!

    • Treat others with respect and dignity. Friendly banter is okay, as long as it is mutual; keyword: friendly.

  2. 🏘️ Community Standards

    • Comics should be a full story, from start to finish, in one post.
    • Posts should be safe and enjoyable by the majority of community members, both here on lemmy.world and other instances.
    • Any comic that would qualify as raunchy, lewd, or otherwise draw unwanted attention by nosy coworkers, spouses, or family members should be tagged as NSFW.
    • Moderators have final say on what and what does not qualify as appropriate. Use common sense, and if need be, err on the side of caution.

  3. 🧬 Keep it Real

    • Comics should be made and posted by real human beans, not by automated means like bots or AI. This is not the community for that sort of thing.

  4. 📽️ Credit Where Credit is Due

    • Comics should include the original attribution to the artist(s) involved, and be unmodified. Bonus points if you include a link back to their website. When in doubt, use a reverse image search to try to find the original version. Repeat offenders will have their posts removed, be temporarily banned from posting, or if all else fails, be permanently banned from posting.
    • Attributions include, but are not limited to, watermarks, links, or other text or imagery that artists add to their comics to use for identification purposes. If you find a comic without any such markings, it would be a good idea to see if you can find an original version. If one cannot be found, say so and ask the community for help!

  5. 📋 Post Formatting

    • Post an image, gallery, or link to a specific comic hosted on another site; e.g., the author's website.
    • Meta posts about the community should be tagged with [Meta] either at the beginning or the end of the post title.
    • When linking to a comic hosted on another site, ensure the link is to the comic itself and not just to the website; e.g.,
      ✅ Correct: https://xkcd.com/386/
      ❌ Incorrect: https://xkcd.com/

  6. 📬 Post Frequency/SPAM

    • Each user (regardless of instance) may post up to five (5 🖐) comics a day. This can be any combination of personal comics you have written yourself, or other author's comics. Any comics exceeding five (5 🖐) will be removed.

  7. 🏴‍☠️ Internationalization (i18n)

    • Non-English posts are welcome. Please tag the post title with the original language, and include an English translation in the body of the post; e.g.,
      Sí, por favor [Spanish/Español]

  8. 🍿 Moderation

    • We are human, just like most everybody else on Lemmy. If you feel a moderation decision was made in error, you are welcome to reach out to anybody on the moderation team for clarification. Keep in mind that moderation decisions may be final.
    • When reporting posts and/or comments, quote which rule is being broken, and why you feel it broke the rules.
Banned Artists

The following artists are banned from the community.

  1. Jago
  2. Stonetoss
  3. GPrime85

It should be noted that when you make reports, it is your responsibility to provide rational reasoning why something should be removed. Saying it simply breaks community rules is not always good enough.

Web Accessibility

Note: This is not a rule, but a helpful suggestion.

When posting images, you should strive to add alt-text for screen readers to use to describe the image you're posting:

Another helpful thing to do is to provide a transcription of the text in your images, as well as brief descriptions of what's going on. (example)

Web of Links
Other Comic Communities of Interest

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
dohpaz42@lemmy.world
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
Harvey656@lemmy.world
slazer2au@lemmy.world
otter@lemmy.ca
cannedtuna@lemmy.world
18107@aussie.zone
otter@lemmy.world
449
Glad I saw it in theaters [ToothyBj] (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by cannedtuna@lemmy.world to c/comicstrips@lemmy.world
117 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

ToothyBj | Bluesky

Transcript3 Panel Comic

Panel 1: James sits clutching a mug nervously as he listens to a conversation he’s afraid of. He stares at something off screen. Near by, a woman and smartly dressed man talk movies over their drinks. The woman nods along.

Man: I’d say probably the best filmmaking I’ve ever seen, has been ‘The Sacrifice’ by Tarkovsky

Woman: Mmhmm

Panel 2: James is pulled from whatever holds his attention as he’s dragged into the conversation.

Man: What about you James? What would you say is the best film you have ever seen?

James: Huh?

Panel 3: James turns back towards the window he’s been watching as he feeds the man an expected answer.

James: Ah! Uhm y’know… ‘Mulholland Drive’, maybe ‘Vertigo’

Outside the window, the movie ‘Step Brothers’ bangs on the glass demanding to be acknowledged. knock knock knock

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 68 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Whenever someone asks me what I think is the best movie I just say Robocop.

Some people will will be disdainful. These are people I'm not interested in talking about movies with because they equate pretentiousness with quality. These are boring people to have a conversation with.

Some people will be like "Fuck yeah! Robocop! Dead or alive you're coming with me! I'll buy that for a dollar!" These people don't care about getting any kind of deeper meaning from a movie, but that's cool. It's fun to talk about cool action scenes in movies.

Then there are people who are actually capable of understanding the subtext and are willing to look for meaning in a movie that from appearances is just a dumb 80s action movie. These are the people that you can have interesting conversations about movies with.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

You're right to say RoboCop. It's a masterpiece of cinema.

What makes a man a man? What makes a human a human? When has society used us up? When have we sacrificed everything for nothing, and come to the realization in front of a house where we are no longer welcome? When can a sacrifice bigger than one's self close the final chapter on a life lived in naive folly?

If someone doesn't come away from watching RoboCop feeling nearly every feel, they missed the point.

[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

The movie is also a pretty hardcore criticism of capitalism and its willingness to reanimate your corpse to make a buck and then kill you again when you start to question it.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I do this for Starship Troopers since it's both a masterclass in parody but also works as a solid idiot filter. Though there is always the chance for it to devolve into two largely intelligent people devolving into a weird mashup of Earth Defense Force, Helldivers, 40k, and Starship Troopers memes.

Also go watch the sequels, they get increasingly weird and eventually devolve into weirdly horny 3d anime. Also read the book and then read any of Heinleins other books, the dude was a competent author and just kinda liked playing around with weird ideas like psychic sex cults and obviously fascistic protagonists.

I said devolve way too many times.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 10 points 1 week ago (7 children)

I always pull out "Velocipastor" or "Iron Sky" for very similar reasons. There's quite a bit you can dig into on any level with those movies.

[–] mr_jay@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you haven’t, you should check out Kung Fury.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Oh I love Kung Fury. And Kung Fu Hustle. And Shaolin Soccer.

I've just found around me more people have seen Velocipastor and Iron Sky, or are more willing to watch them, so they work better as discussion pieces with others. My real friends get introduced to everything.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] maya_s_trojan@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm still mad that the follow-up/remake that was a full feature length film got shelved.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

And the Iron Sky studio collapsed. I keep my fingers crossed something will happen eventually.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago

Holy shit someone else who knows about Velocipastor.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Hobo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

The sunscreen commercial is possibly one of the most dystopian things I've ever seen in a movie. That might've been in Robocop 2 though. Still both films are legitimately two of the best dystopian sci-fi films out there.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 week ago

RoboCop radicalized me.

[–] spirinolas@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

Robocop is a great movie and far from bring a dumb action movie. Behind its appearance it's actually a very deep and layered movie Even Paul Verhoeven couldn't see it when he first saw the script until he actually read it carefully. The title and the main concept are subtly satirical and it's not apparent until you actually watch it. When I say it is one of my favorites to movie people, they always look at me funny. Unless they actually saw it.

My favorite movie IS actually Mulholland Drive but I never say it to anyone because I'm always afraid people will think I'm a pretentious dick trying to look smart. This post doesn't help XD

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Yeah, Blade Runner was great for the atmosphere, but it didn't really emphasize PKD's overall message about empathy. Robocop came out of that, it was about underlining that message. And yeah it's about a corporation literally taking away a person's humanity, but also removing humanity from society in general.

The US is at war with Mexico in Robocop, but nobody even cares. There's one line where a cop says "Damn! They bombed Acapulco!" the other cop says "So what?", and the first cop says "I booked my vacation there, I gotta call my travel agent!"

It's a world where there's virtually no empathy left, and turning a human into a robot is representative of what corporate culture is doing to people.

Alex Murphy is able to recover some of his humanity, but he doesn't fully escape from the system. He is still limited by the corporation's directives at the end of the movie, but he does have his identity as Alex Murphy in the end, so that's good I guess? It doesn't hold your hand about this, it's a smash cut to the end credits. It's just like "you figure it out!"

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] oxideseven@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

I always give 2 movies.

Fifth Element as my personal favorite that everyone should see and holds up.

North by Northwest as my "Film" of choice.

That way I can still hold a conversation no matter what anyone wants to go on about. Plus it lets me push for someone to broaden their horizons no matter where they fall on the spectrum of movie nerd.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If they don't respect The Fifth Element as the iconic masterpiece that it is, I don't want to hold a conversation with them anyway.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Fifth Element is a movie that in theory I should hate, but I actually love it. The title refers to love and the romance plot doesn't work for me at all. They do an overly clever thing where the villain and the hero never meet (and kinda rub it in your face about it) and normally I hate it when movies are overly clever in that way. And Chris Tucker is annoying as hell.

But somehow that doesn't matter because it's so over the top about everything. The action, the costumes, the dialog, the visuals are all so over the top the stuff that normally would make me not like a movie doesn't really matter.

The overall meaning works even if the execution on the romance plotline falls flat for me. Gary Oldman and Bruce Willis not having any kind of confrontation is fine, since it's kinda how things work with billionaires. You oppose them without ever meeting them. Corbin Dallas is a man of action and Zorg is a man that's all about money, so they're from different worlds so it makes sense they never actually meet. And everything being weird as hell works because it's the future, things should be weird and unfamiliar. Chris Tucker is somehow the same kind of annoying as social media influencers are today, so even that works.

So the Fifth Element is a movie that is terrible on paper, but somehow everything fits together so well that it's actually great.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Zos_Kia@jlai.lu 4 points 1 week ago

I remember when Harmontown existed, they invited Neumann over and most of the interview was just drunk Dan Harmon saying "ok so you wrote two of the best screenplays in history, what the fuck bro". (Second one was Starship Troopers obviously). On a podcast that was obsessed with dissecting storytelling, this must have been the most cited movie, along with die hard.

Personally my go to is Mad Max Fury Road, as a kind of filter similar to what you have going on. It's a movie you need to engage with on its own terms, otherwise it is completely meaningless and you will miss the whole entire point.

It seems a lot of people have a problem with clear and radical artistic choices, and will mistake them for defects. This kind of media "literacy" is utterly boring to me as they just train themselves to detect and detest any deviation from Hollywood norms.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Vincent@feddit.nl 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Just wanted to say, that's an excellent transcript. I have good vision so I don't need it myself, but I appreciate the effort for those who do.

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Thanks. They’re annoying to write out sometimes, but it seems like people read them, so I’ll keep writing them.

Sometimes longer comics I’ll put off posting because writing the transcript can take time. But yeah if the artists didn’t write one (which only some do), I’ll do them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

The best movies i have seen in my life for me personally were probably:

  • Sharknado (all of them) because of their absurdity. It's something to laugh at, and they do not aspire to be anything else, which is something we all need from time to time, while it is seldom provided. Honorable mention for anything Monty Python.
  • Nolan's Batman movies, because they capture the atmosphere Batman Movies deserve perfectly (I am not a fan of his later stuff tho. Dunkirk was fine but somewhat boring for a film that should embody tension, Tenet is a fucking mess regardless of how often you watch it. Things like "The Prestige" are somewhat of a foreshadowing of his ability to create suspension and drama. They should really take away a bunch of tools from him to get better results - he fails when working without restrictions, he seems to get lost in the detail. Probably why I like the Batman movies so much - there he is confined to a preexisting world where he can't just do whatever his mind produces.) The Joker movie also hit that same mark.
  • Akira. This thing has formed my relationship to messy and gory anime, and i would never have it any other way.
  • Braindead and Event Horizon. The same thing for horror and splatter movies.

The best series:

  • Battlestar Galactica remake: The soundtrack alone is something to die for, and both the story and the acting are top-notch, surpassing their source material. I've been an Olmos fan ever since. Great stuff! (I've watched it 3 times from start to end)
  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: I was an old-school Shadowrun RPG player back in the 90's (Hermetic Mage all the way btw), and this anime really hit all of the targets. The crumbling society with normal people trying to life their lives in it, and the people being pushed to the edges and their resulting attempts to break the cycle they are caught in are fully shown here. Can't wait for the second season.
  • Breaking Bad: not so much for the series itself, although both acting and story are fine (i tried watching it a second time, but it's just not the same), but for the portrayal of how health issues ranging from cancer, getting hurt on the job (Hank), psychiatric problems like kleptomania (Marie) and PTSD (Hank again) or drug addiction (Jesse) can cause common people to spiral out in the US (while the whole premise is moot in most of the developed world with socialized health care and available mental health professionals (this needs improvement even here)), and how people who want to get out are caught up in this mess without any real options to escape (outside of Walt rigging up an M60 in his car trunk)
  • Death Note: Such an intelligent series. I love it to death (although the last few episodes can't keep up the pace).

Honorable Mentions:

  • Psycho Pass: a very solid Sci-Fi detective anime, touching on some very heavy subjects.
  • Monster (2004): Another Anime, medical drama x detective story. Pretty heavy stuff, but a great watch.
  • Konosuba: It's somewhat of a Sharknado of Anime. If you like anime, you'll be very much entertained.
  • Star Trek (TNG, Voyager, Deep Space Nine): Each of them focuses on a different scenario, but all of them are both great entertainment and something to keep you thinking, with moral dilemmas to be discussed everywhere. While TNG is more focused on general moral dilemmas, Voyager makes decisions more personal because they mean it might take even longer to go home and there is no Federation to judge them for violating their princples, and DS9 then gets down and dirty with the politics of a Space Station right in the middle of multiple conflicts between different nations and religious belief.
  • Lost: I absolutely love the first seasons. It is a shame that you can pinpoint the exact moment they knew that there will be no more funding. The 4th season does not even exist in my mind, tbh.
  • The Game: A movie you can only watch once. Doesn't make sense to watch it again. But that first watch is worth it.
  • Monogatari: An absolute masterpiece regarding japanese mythology, wordplay (sadly i do not understand japanese, but even with subtitles and explanations it is a great thing, and one day my japanese will be up to the task!) and storytelling.

Edit: I forgot to mention my all-time favourite Anime:

Hellsing Ultimate.

I fucking love when Seras Victoria uses Zorin's fucking head to give the walls of Hellsing Mansion a new coat of paint. I could watch that segment every day, and it should be the fate of all Nazis.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Your description of breaking bad actually makes sense as you why I didn't understand the hype around it. I just didn't have the cultural context.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I am very sure that an appreciable amount of criminality and violence in the US stems from the missing health care, not just in the context of a series. If your quality of life depends on making enough money to pay the doctors, you will be deciding pretty quick to turn towards illegal methods to secure your wellbeing.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] insanemantis@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

Nausicaä, and it's not even close. Goosebumps and tears every time

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Edges@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago (3 children)

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 11 points 1 week ago

Woah. Too soon.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.social 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

Sounds like weird fun tbh.

I know this type of convo, where people try to top each other with name-dropping, but I believe one should participate honestly, not driven by self-profiling. Maybe the lady in the picture won't be impressed, but somebody will be.

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

It’s a classic. Definitely watch it if you’ve never seen it. Just good dumb humor

[–] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How do you honestly answer such an open question though? Unless someone is very passionate about a particular film, it seems like a good compromise to just name something that fits in the context or allows for further conversation. Answering it correctly would require the person to memorize all candidates on the spot and rate them all objectively in the same personalized way.

[–] Hylactor@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 week ago

I usually answer these "what's the best [bla]" type questions by narrowing the scope. I'll go, 'well, I don't know about objectively best movie, but the movie [I've seen the most times/I remember from the youngest age/that gets better every time I watch it/that had the coolest box art at the rental place/that I saw in theaters/that made me cry on a plane/that I used for the basis of my cult/whatever] is [bla].' Ideally no one cares about literally settling a debate. If it's a conversation worth having they're more interested in your metrics than your findings. I find conversations about empirical ranking are tedious and always end in that anticlimactic awkward silence where everyone has exhausted their actual opinions and is trying to hastily cobble together new opinions on the spot to keep the ball rolling out of politeness.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The gender divide in film criticism is a bit obnoxious. Male directors and male concerns = serious. Female directors and female concerns = frivolous and unworthy of study.

I'm guessing this lady would love to talk about Stepbrothers.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Gattaca. That "I never saved anything for the swim back" line always gets to me.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Paddington 2

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Can someone please explain why people llke Step Brothers so much?

The movie is literally about two NEETs being as insufferable as possible. Where is the comedy in that?

[–] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago

I wasn't a big fan but I watched it in front of others and they really liked the 'putting my balls on your drum set' part.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Casablanca and Demolition Man are tied for first.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] jestho@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

Starship Troopers

[–] CaptSatelliteJack@lemy.lol 6 points 1 week ago

Bullet Train, every day of the week, and twice on Sunday

[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Under rated Actually good movie : Conan the barbarian. Cable Guy.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The fact that you used the singular "movie" has conjured interesting images in my head

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

How are you going to fix my cable dressed like that and carrying only a sword?

I'll be back.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Hobo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Conan the Destroyer was a good flick too. The scene where they're walking into town and Conan warns Malak not to steal and he's like, "I know when to steal (swipes some jewelry) and when not to." Is just a fantastic setup/punchline.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Psionicsickness@reddthat.com 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not one mention of Tombstone. Not a ‘ner one of y’all got any sense at all.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›