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Comics archive!
B.C.
B.C., 2/3/10
Whoah, post-Johnny Hart B.C. is dangerously flirting with relevance, using as a cultural touchstone an actor whose career popularity peaked a mere 15 to 20 years ago! Perhaps — and this is just a suggestion — this joke shouldn’t have paired overacting with the name of a man who’s mostly known for squinting at the camera in an expression that might be described as either stoic or confused, depending on how charitable you’re being.
Momma, 2/3/10
It’s kind of disappointing that the first Momma to acknowledge that the title character is in fact 11 inches tall is also the one where her son leaves her outside in the snow to freeze to death.
Luann, 2/3/10
I’m pretty sure this is the opening scene of a film used as aversion therapy for porn addicts.
Crock, 1/18/10
One of the interesting aspects of following a decades-old comic strip as it runs through its mildly lucrative paces is that you’ll start to notice all the visual and conceptual cruft that is kept in place for reasons nobody can really remember. For instance, once upon a time, a prominently cleft chin à la Cary Grant or Rock Hudson was sort of a stereotypical marker of an especially handsome man, so naturally comically attractive Crock character Captain Preppie was outfitted with one. His chin cleft has only grown more exaggerated with time, even as society’s appreciation for cleft chins has waned, and one wonders if the artists remember what exactly that is at the end of his chin or what it signifies. At least the anatomically alarming bulbs depicted in panels one and two today are somewhat within the bounds of comic-strip stylized chins; but the two growths dangling asymmetrically off the bottom of Preppie’s jaw in panel three … well, let’s just say that they don’t speak well of the Foreign Legion’s medical care, or of the aesthetic judgement of the local ladies, who are generally depicted as being unable to get enough of the captain’s tumor-ridden face.
B.C., 1/18/10
Of course, you always have the option of just ignoring long-running visual features of your strip. Look, Wiley’s other leg grew back!
Mary Worth, 1/18/10
Mary Worth does nothing better than shattering our expectations for excitement and fun, but I’ve been really disappointed by the lack of drama in this bastard-son storyline so far. So, Wilbur and Kurt reconnect via the Internets, and, after a little initial awkwardness, bond over fishing and … all is well? NOT HARDLY! Look at that crazed, murderous expression on Kurt’s face in the final panel as he describes his mother’s lovers coming and going out of their lives, if you know what I mean, and I think you do! In a transparent bit of Freudianism, Kurt never got over the jealousy he felt when confronted with his mother’s sexuality as a child, and now has decided to track down every man Abby ever slept with and kill them one by one. Better start waddling for your life now, Wilbur!
B.C., 12/15/09
Wow, it took less than three years after the death of the devout Johnny Hart for B.C. to devolve into red-hot woman-on-wolf action. Impressive!
Mark Trail, 12/15/09
OH MY GOD MARK IS GOING TO BE LOCKED UP BY A FAT, CORRUPT, STOGIE-CHEWING SHERIFF! PLEASURE OVERLOAD! PLEASURE OVERLOAD!
Beetle Bailey, 12/15/09
Boy, Beetle sure gets around, doesn’t he? I’d be more convinced by his “Now I have to check for hidden cards in your underwear” gambit as just being sensible pre-gambling precautions if there were anyone in the room other than him and Cosmo.
Mary Worth, 12/15/09
Don’t be too hasty, Wilbur! If you end up having lunch with the young man, he might see you try to cram an entire sandwich down your throat without chewing and decide that maybe you aren’t related to each other after all.
Apartment 3-G, 11/5/09
Oh, man, apparently Tommie really isn’t familiar with I Dressed In The Dark, or with the reality TV genre in general, or with the sort of thing that normal humans enjoy as entertainment. If she were, she’d know that she should be jerking about spasmodically for the camera here, clowning it up for the people at home; if she must express negative feelings, they should be big negative feelings, with ostentatious, theatrical bawling. Instead, she’s just looking directly into the camera, and, with a flat expression and eerily affectless voice, describing the terrible emotional desert through which a cruel God has cursed her to wander, like the Israelites, but not as well dressed. I’m assuming that the cameraman is only managing to hold that microphone up through sheer professionalism, and will soon be quietly weeping. Tommie should very much not be allowed on television.
Mary Worth, 11/5/09
Ha ha, look, Adrian is already trying to squirm out of the drunken promises she made to Scott when she thought he was in a coma and couldn’t hear her. Now they’re getting married when he’s “better.” “Adrian, I’m back on my feet and back on the job, and the doctor says that these scars from the bullet wounds are pretty much permanent, so…” “Scott, please! You know I can’t marry a man with any sort of disfigurement! You’ll make sure they heal, if you really love me.”
Gil Thorp, 11/5/09
Congrats to Gil Thorp for depicting what most scientists agree to be the douchiest high-five possible there in panel two. Meanwhile, the parallelism of the two cafeteria scenes leaves one to contemplate the question: where’s a worse place to eat lunch, high school or prison? Your fellow inmates are more likely to shiv you, but at least they won’t stoop to lying about going to your volleyball game.
Dennis the Menace, 11/5/09
I’m sorry, Dennis, this is a game attempt to work within this strip’s restricted ambit of bad behavior, but good manners are never menacing.
B.C., 11/5/09
Ha ha, you see, because one of them wants to kill her, and one of them wants to have sex with her! Women, am I right? They’re like prey animals!
Beetle Bailey, 11/5/09
Honest to God, anyone who opens a gay bar named “McGooey’s” on the outskirts of a US Army base will get free advertising on this site for a year.
B.C., 9/1/09
Since Johnny Hart’s death, B.C. has spent significantly less time dwelling on evangelical Christianity, and, in a perhaps not unrelated development, more time dwelling on infidelity and the suggestions of infidelity. Today’s strip is kind of interesting in a narrative-theory sense in that it features the ant family characters — “features” in a very loose sense, as none of them are actually portrayed. We see only word balloons emerging from exterior of their anthill home, itself so stylized as to be unrecognizable outside the context of the strip; I’d have to assume that, unless you were a regular B.C. reader, the whole thing would be completely incomprehensible. Still, there is a certain perhaps accidental bit of visual interest, particularly in the silent penultimate panel, in which the absence of dialogue forces you to contemplate the rather phallic nature of this anthill of lies, just at the moment when the she-ant is coming to grips with her spouse’s inability or unwillingness to control the wandering of his own sexual organs.
Momma, 9/1/09
As ever, Momma is significantly less subtle. Momma wants to make sure that her sister knows that Francis is a man-whore, not a he-prostitute.
Jumble, 9/1/09
Meanwhile, these poor Jumble folks suffer from a (possibly drug-induced) paranoia so powerful that it’s negatively affecting their sex life. The hubby plans to keep wearing his slippers throughout their carefully planned sex act, to prevent prying eyes from seeing his toes.
B.C., 8/15/09
Ha ha! It’s funny because one of the B.C. characters whose name I don’t remember wants to sleep with one of the other B.C. characters whose name I don’t remember, and thinks the best means to that end is to act like she’s a stripper, or a prostitute!
Gil Thorp, 8/15/09
Ha ha! It’s funny because Ted is going to find out how much blow you can buy for $60,000, or get punched in the face, or both!
Family Circus, 8/15/09
Ha ha! It’s funny because the litigious nature of society, which is tearing our civilization and sense of community apart, is ingrained in children at an age so young that it’s impossible to dislodge! Also, it’s funny because their vacation is ruined!
