The Comics Curmudgeon
 Meet Josh Fruhlinger, the Comics Curmudgeon. For years now, the mainstream funnies have been subjected to his sharp eye, sharper tongue, and troublesome insistence on truth—or at least consistency. From Archie to Ziggy, from syndicated strip to single-panel gag, nothing escapes Josh's scrutiny. And the results are hilarious. Not only is The Comics Curmudgeon a web success, but the site consistently draws praise from such online stalwarts as the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith (amen).
We wrote about Josh's blog almost two years ago. We check in with him now to find out how the Curmudgeon is holding up, what advice he has for building a blog readership, and what online comics get his stamp of approval... Josh, you know we love your site. And we're not the only ones. Your posts now garner hundreds of comments, you've scored a couple other comics-related gigs (like at Wonkette), and you got a rousing reception at ROFL. Has anything about the boom in readers been tricky for you? The trickiest thing for me has been just keeping on track of all the comments. Every single one is e-mailed to me! On my typical days, most of which are spent in front of the computer, it's manageable, but when I step away from the keyboard, even for just a day or so, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to wade through when I get back. But I hate to just cast them aside unread as so many are so funny! We like how you engage your readers with posts like your favorite comment of the week or the Self-Clubbing Tyler Look Alike Contest. What made you decide to do such "meta posts"? It's funny: When I first started the blog, I had this idea that it would be totally impersonal—I would never talk about myself, I would just be this sort of mysterious figure churning out comics snark. I can't tell you why I had this idea, but it quickly went out the window. I think that I started to get away from that as the community began growing up around it—I was just so pleased that others liked what I was doing, and shared some of my obsessions with the comics, that I wanted to hang out with them virtually! I don't do aloof well, I guess. I do think the metaposts help people form a bond with me and the blog and each other. The Finger Quotin' Margo contest started out as a way to get around copyright issues (I don't feel right about just using art from the strips on merch, but thought a staged re-enactment would pass muster) and I was blown away by the response. The Self-Clubbing Tyler contest was just pure fun, and I think a lot of people got into it. When all the pictures started coming in, I was practically giggling with delight. Any other "blog-related hoo-hah" you'd suggest for someone starting a site? My advice for people starting a site would be to give your users as much opportunity to interact with you—and even more importantly with each other—as possible, as it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling about it. Ever hear from any strip creators? Yes! And the reaction is almost universally positive. I've actually met Ces Marculiano, the writer for Sally Forth in person. I've also exchanged a few emails with Slylock Fox's Bob Weber and One Big Happy's Rick Detoire, and Hagar the Horrible's Chris Browne left some comments on my site. The meanest thing I've heard from an author was from Wiley Miller of Non Sequitur, who called me a "dummy" in a comment because I didn't get what was in my opinion an EXTREMELY opaque cartoon of his. But he's a legendary misanthrope, so I'd have been kind of disappointed if he had bee all sweetness and light. What are some of your daily reads online, comics-related or not? Since I've been doing the blog, I've actually become sucked ever more into the comics world, particularly web comics, a whole genre I was really only vaguely aware of a few years ago. Webcomics now in my RSS reader include Dinosaur Comics, Overcompensating, Wondermark, The Fart Party, Shortpacked, Sheldon, the Perry Bible Fellowship, and XKCD. In terms of on non-comics ... I'm a huge fan of Found Magazine, which collects notes, pictures, and other ephemera that people find and send in. The Find of the Day is always really great. On a similar note, I love Passive Aggressive Notes, which is ... well, pretty much what you'd guess, based on the title. Thanks, Josh! We hope you keep it forever curmudgeonly!
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