Jim's Journal

Jim's Journal is a comic strip written and drawn by Scott Dikkers, co-founder of The Onion. The strip first appeared in the University of Wisconsin–Madison The Daily Cardinal newspaper in 1988.

Since April 25, 2011, Jim's Journal has run on "GoComics" featuring both new and classic comics.

On the flyleaf of the first Jim's Journal collection is a felt-pen drawing of a nondescript young man sitting at a desk and writing in a notebook. Above him are the words, "I'm Jim. This is the journal of my day-to-day life."

And that's just what the strip is: nuggets of experience, not processed by Jim, but merely recorded as he moves passively through his world. No context is provided, though anyone who's been to college, worked a minimum-wage job, or lived in a rundown apartment building can supply it. Jim and his friends muddle through school and a series of dead-end jobs, have vague dreams (never seriously attempted) of working in the entertainment business or the space program, and share thoughts such as "I don't think life is absurd or meaningless. I think it's funny." In Jim's world, it is enough to simply exist, and order a pizza once in a while.

Dikkers' purpose was to parody the typical four-panel comic strip, creating a character-driven strip with a main character who had no discernible personality, observational humor that provided no insights, and no comic timing, just strips that ended without a gag, or sometimes without even a conclusion. Dikkers calls this style anti-humor, "creating humor by poking fun at other humor". (Dikkers, 1999)

He is an almost completely passive person, speaking little and almost never initiating conversation, content to go to school or work, come home, and occasionally venture out in the company of his few friends. He is a keen observer, though he seems to lack the capacity to draw conclusions about what he sees.

Jim's college roommate, and later off-campus apartmentmate. Tony is impulsive, often trying out new lifestyles and hobbies, but his short attention span and low threshold of disappointment prevent him from making any major changes. He loves practical jokes, but lacks the knowhow for them to succeed, and appoints himself expert on many subjects, though his attention span for other peoples' interests is slight.

...
Wikipedia