Leapin' Lizards! Today in ANNIE awesomeness.

I love the funny pages. It's why I'll almost always pick up The Daily News before The New York Times. I honestly believe that Doonesbury is one of the great artistic triumphs of our time.

Annie, on the other hand, has gone completely nuts! And I love it. As we head into Depression 2.0 (now with social networking), I thought it would be fun to check out one of the few remaining relics of Depression 1.0. There's an old-school pulp flavor to the bizarre story-lines. Check out today's strip. This follows yesterday's strip where Warbucks appeared ready to knife another guard. Though we often recall Annie as being that sweet little orphan, even in the 30's she often underwent harrowing adventures that sometimes crossed the lines of political correctness. I think the original creator, Harold Gray would totally approve of the direction that Jay Maeder and Ted Slampyak have taken the strip. I love it for its absolutely brilliant feeling of randomness, bordering on the surreal. Aw, who am I kidding, Annie has totally entered the land of surreal and become, possibly, post-surreal. I'd love to see Martin Charnin turn this storyline into a feel-good musical.

Anyway, stay tuned. I'm not done with my appreciation for Annie by any measure. It's just to good to miss.