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Fox Trot, one of the half-dozen reasons left to check the comics page, is near death. I don't miss it that badly; I found World of Fizz not long after. It updates 5 days per week without fail (neatly filling in the days Fox Trot doesn't update). The art works, the jokes work; head over and read it before the archive starts building up.
In a lot of family sitcoms the characters are distorted to the point where their only traits are stereotypes. Even more resort to rediculous scenarios to create the background for a joke. World of Fizz's characters are collecting their backgrounds and turning into solid characters. The setting is a perfectly ordinary and believable home and school. Reality is left stretched where needed, not carelessly.
Also done very well is the handling of minority characters. They tend to be more susceptable to degenerating into stereotypes. I suppose there's some excuse for this, simply because they are a minority you don't have a plethora of observations to work from. But still, to reduce personality to only a few words? World of Fizz introduces a homosexual character, then promptly continues business as usual. No massive shift in behavoirs, no shattering revelation. Just because they gained an extra label doesn't make them any less of an individual.
World of Fizz does a good job with the normal elements of the genre. Kids thinking big thoughts, and resolve them simply. Always fun how so many ideas become absurd once we stop complicating them.
This comic is shaping up well: a setting grounded in reality and characters developing personalities. I've yet to see an update missed. While touching on some subjects with political bagage, World of Fizz avoids these tangents (compare this to say Ozy & Millie which has a few political moments).
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