Ernie Pook's Comeek is most remarkable because of its voice: lonely, unremarkable children struggling with everything that is awful and over-whelming about the world. In Ernie Pook's best years, in the late '80s, Barry's strip reads like actual diaries of children. While the writing has become less convincing as the characters have aged, they are such great characters that the reader is willing to forgive the occasional off-kilter week. In an act of developmental shorthand, Barry has created characters that have earned affection it takes most cartoonists decades to build.
The second great strength of Ernie Pook lies in the veracity of Barry's observations. In a time when recognition "humour" has spread across mainstream newspaper strips like a virus, Barry manages to convey common experiences of adolescent existence without ever once crossing over into generalities and cliche. She does this by being very, very specific - even if it's not your experience, it feel authentic - and by doggedly staying in character. Several elements may draw one into a comic strip, but one takes away the characters; there are none better than those in Ernie Pook's Comeek.
