The Sunday Funnies awards

In honor of the Oscars (which I don't plan to watch), I am launching my own awards program to recognize excellence (and its opposite) in the Sunday Comics of the L. A. Times. Since these are the only sections of the paper I consistently read, they are the only sections I'm qualified to speak on. Based on their merit as impartially determined by me (and perhaps with some lobbying from SpinMom or our SpinSons), the following awards will be given:

%- excellent, something to share with others
&- very good
5- good, about par for a decent strip
4- neutral, about like reading an advertisement
6- fair, not quite clear why the author bothered
q- mixed, somewhat funny but having other negative strands in it too
h - sick
!- toxic, attacking without any humor

And now, with no further ado (trumpet fanfare, please), I present to you the first weekly Sunday Funnies awards,

Comics I

• Zits & (of course I'm prejudiced, since I have sons like this too)
• Foxtrot 5 (amazing how things can change that way)
• Get Fuzzy % (lovely puns on the songs and a beautiful putdown of that cat)
• Frazz & (cute and fun, as it usually is)
• Baby Blues & (good, and SpinMom likes it...)
• For Better or Worse 5 (curious...)
• Jump Start 5 (the lead frames are in some ways the best)
• Brewster Rocket 4 (pretty typical - which isn't saying much)
• Drabble 5 (mom gets her turn)
• Peanuts4 (maybe someone who has taught kids will find it funny)
• Garfield4 (nothing special)
• Mutts & (sounds like some kids I know)
• Heathcliff 5 (not bad)
• Marmaduke 5 (if you have a packrat around you'll sympathize)

Comics II

• Doonesbury !! (bitter and toxic - Trudeau will be the tragic figure, not those he names)
• Opus h (sick and clueless - oh well...)
• Cathy q (do we laugh or cry?)
• Ballard Street 6 (if there is supposed to be something funny here, I'm missing it)
• Blondie 5 (typical Dagwood)
• Momma q (is it just me, or is the punchline almost cruel?)
• Herman 5 (not a bad lawyer joke)
• Boondocks ! (he always manages to see something bad even when it's not there)
• Dilbert 5 (ouch!)
• La Cucaracha 5 (ok)
• Mallard Fillmore 5 (typical Oscars joke)
• In The Bleachers 5 (decent for this strip)
• Non Sequitur 4 (even if this is an intro to a topic, it needs something more)
• Prickly City & (getting too close to home - put this on the front instead of Doonesbury!)

Update: fixed some font issues. Mozilla doesn't appear to like the webdings font, but Internet Explorer is handling it properly.