Outward appearances of a smarmy and cute "family strip" are quickly dissipated upon closer inspection. Just think about it for a moment: the main characters are a husband, a wife and an infant child. The husband ("Jimbo") is without a doubt the most openly gay married man in modern sequential art. He is so conflicted and bewildered by his plight that his strongest desire, regarding his trim and healthy appearing wife, is that she gain at least 300 pounds. The thinly disguised hatred and self-hatred evident here is incontrovertible. The most masculine act this hillbilly milquetoast sap is capable of is taking the garbage to the curb - and he turns this into some quasi-spiritual and pacifistic cosmic experience that involves a half hour of standing at the curb dreaming of receiving much-needed guidance from the garbage gods. A more pathetic excuse for a man is seldom found, in fiction or fact.
His wife is the strip's title character, "Rose". This bewildered and dizzy "lost soul" can only escape the quiet suburban horror of her existence by frequently lapsing into a decidedly unhealthy delusion wherein she portrays herself as some anti-social and misguided lesbian biker chick who overreacts to every potentially controversial situation with an attitude of intimidation and violence. Otherwise her real world involves imagined conversations with birds and squirrels, and insipid, contrived love notes to and from her covertly miserable hubby.
Perhaps the most tragic character in the strip is the infant Pasquale, who reacts to this hopelessly unhealthy family situation by stumbling through a world of complete and inconsistent fantasy and delusion. His home life is so aberrant and unfocused, so filled with mixed signals and lack of direction, that he falls in love with the school house where he attends grade school - an obvious symbol of some sort of stability and order in his otherwise emotionally chaotic life. Sadly, the only true male role model in his life is his cousin Clem, who is one of the most frightening and horrific characters in comics since the Comics Code Authority emasculated the comic book industry in 1955. Clem is a classic narcissist, a budding sadist and sociopath, intent on destroying his cousin Pasquale, as well as his aunt and uncle, even his own parents, in order to promote his own horribly sick agenda. From him Pasquale learns the most relevant life lesson that is available to him - namely, that he has always been a hapless victim, and always will be - a weak tool in the hands of Clem, who is without doubt a future serial killer and psychopath.
The hopeless and futile worldview espoused by this comic strip is unmistakable - yet it continues in the daily newspaper, unimpeded. I'm not saying I object to this - I just find it interesting, that the subtext here, so thinly veiled below the surface, is never acknowledged in any way by editors or the general reading public. The creative team of this strip is (presumably) husband and wife - these folks must be a real piece of work. I wonder how they ever found each other? I guess this sort of thing has a mental quality of magnetism that is often unstoppable - as evidenced by everything from Bonnie and Clyde to Baker and Stroup. If only "Doonesbury" could cut this deeply.
So what's going on with Family Circus?
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