>>149436033I don't think Funky is particularly good (as opposed to Foob which I think was a genuinely good strip from about the mid-'80s until about Liz's graduation from high school). Funky had a lot of issues with wacky shit (ghosts and time travel and shit) that detracted from the otherwise grounded setting and Batiuk would set shit up forever but never pay it off, could be flippant about his writing, etc. DoA is basically just a more "realized" version of Funky in that it takes a lot of the issues that it and late era Foob had but amplifies them which is combined with Willis' arrogance in thinking he's a great comic writer.
And I should probably be fine, it's just the monotony of having to grab and throw the strips together (it'd be done like pic related with Sundays being separate). My 'tism means I have to organize it by year and month anyway to keep things straight and not go insane. I'm reasonably liking the first year or so as I'm going through it. There's a little bit of bite to it and plenty of the jokes are worthy of a sensible chuckle IMO. Of course the best characters from those early strips (Livinia and Roland) straight up disappear after the first few years with no real explanation beyond Livinia being shown in 2008 as having died off panel.
>>149435927As someone who likes or at least has an interest in some of the strips Willis hates and is clearly trying to show up with DoA, I think the reason is that even if it's lame or bad trash you're still reading it regularly enough that you develop some investment in the characters and what's happening. You still want to see how things go both to make fun of it but also in the way you'd like any other guilty pleasure. Or it's people who liked and grew disillusioned but haven't quite been able to divest themselves of that affection.