Funny vs. Serious

[BillyWizz]

Following on from my 'help for someone who can't draw' thread, I was wondering if it's possible to create a serous strip, but with cartoon characters. I don't want the 'funny' look of my characters to take away from the subject matter, but because - as I say in my earlier thread - I can't draw SIn City style, I don't have much option but to draw cartoon characters.

Can anyone provide me with good examples of a comic strip that deals with serious and dark issues, but which uses a drawing style that is not beyond the (very very) average scribbler?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[deanlegion]

Honestly, I haven't read it, but my first thought when I saw your question was MAUS. Cartoon mice dealing with the Holocaust.

[samson]

Spiegelman is well beyond the average scribbler...

Not a "serious" comic, but "Superheroes and Sea Monsters" is pretty primitive art-wise and yet still readable. I would read a "scribbler's" book under 2 conditions:

1. that the art, while primitive, was consistent and still well-thought out from a storytelling viewpoint and wasn't simply a half-assed mess, and

2. that it was a f**king amazing story.

[Dark Sun]

I agree. If it's an amazing story it shouldn't matter, although I'd doubt stories like "preacher" and "watchmen" would have been as acclaimed had they been cartoony.
That being said, if you keep the adult content such as the violence, language and themes etc, then I guess there is no reason why you couldn't tap into an older market.
Look at South Park. Though not a comic per se, it is an example of a cartoon with adult material which is widely accepted by the mainstream.