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Phantom
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Herb and Jamaal, 11/14/12
Jamaal mangles the ancient punchline, “… twelve people too stupid to get out of jury duty”, and outs himself as an idiot.
Pluggers, 11/14/12
… b-but the joke is that Spaniel-man is spending exactly the same time looking for his glasses and wearing them. Right? Am I missing some subtlety here? Oh, wait — it’s Pluggers.
Phantom, 11/14/12
It’s time for Hide the Lion — and anybody can play! Hot Queen is ticked, and the mighty Llongo warriors look all mopey. Everything is proceeding as Pissy Elder has forseen.
Heathcliff, 11/14/12
Garfield is disgusting. Oh, wait, this is Heathcliff. Well, Garfield is disgusting too, but this is Heathcliff.
Apartment 3-G, 11/14/12
Hey, it’s Six Differences time again! Can you spot the changes Greg has made to Mrs. Bloom’s apartment? Moving the invisible piano doesn’t count. (Hint: he locked the Taser® up with the sex toys. Margo’s in for one hell of a night.)
Spider-Man, 11/14/12
Yes, Peter — Sherry would have dug Genghis Khan, and you would have dug out the yak wallow behind his yurt.
– Uncle Lumpy
Phantom, 11/10/12
OK, stay with me here. The “panic to keep the modern world at bay” is a bunch of pissy Llongo elders’ plan to undercut their hot queen’s rare-earth mining deal with a story about a vengeful immortal lioness who protects the tribe’s sacred land. The plan requires hardworking Llongo warriors to secretly release a captured lioness near the village, publicly kill her, privately dispose of the carcass, and then go find a matching replacement lioness — repeating the cycle to keep the “immortality” myth going until either they run out of lionesses or the queen relents and shuts down the mine.
The miners’ ace counterplan is to lock the corpse of the next-to-die lioness in a cage, confronting the tricksy elders with steamy, maggot-infested proof of their bad faith, and breaking the cycle. Despite the toll on the poor decomposing lioness, the Phantom is apparently cool with this, since he doesn’t want anybody horning in on his family’s own long-running “mammal-who-can-never-die” scam.
PS. To Wambesi terrorist and Phantom arch-nemesis Chatu “The Python”: before your next attempt on the Phantom’s life, buy a nice strong cage, and maybe some air freshener.
PPS. Have I mentioned how much I like saying “lioness”? No? Lioness, lioness, lioness …
Gasoline Alley, 11/10/12
Despite appearances, this isn’t yet another tiresome “bullying is bad” lesson-comic. Boog’s helicopter mom Clovia smothers him in glurgy mash-notes and three-cupcake lunches to stupefy and fatten him into the image of his father, idiot-whale Slim Skinner. But these three young heroes will have none of it, bravely staging an intervention to keep their pal tough and slender.
Hey, grotesquely-drawn moppets gotta stick together, am I right?
Update — Boog’s mom is Hoogie, not Clovia, and Slim is his grandfather. Other than that, the story was accurate!
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/10/12
Did you know that tomorrow is Veterans Day in the U.S.? Snuffy Smith does! And he has every right to join that parade, since he not only shares the nickname of a genuine WWII Army hero, but served in the Army his ownself:
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 9/24/1941 (panel, courtesy of The Comics Journal)
So what explains Snuffy’s descent from stalwart Defender of Democracy in the 1940′s to the shif’less no-’count skonk we know and love today? The world’s longest-running case of PTSD? Bone laziness? My money, as always, is on the likker.
Hi there, I’m sitting in for Josh until Sunday, November 18th. You can contact me at uncle.lumpy@comcast.net to report any site or comment issues. You can still reach Josh at bio@jfruh.com, but expect sloth-related delays.
– Uncle Lumpy
Archie, 10/12/12
Let’s forget for the moment Reggie’s absurd claim that his laptop has petabytes of storage, and the fact that he and Jughead are having one of those hilarious “haha we are misunderstanding each other’s use of polysemous phrases, with hilarious results!” conversations that no humans ever have, ever, or even that Jughead might be vaguely implying that his beloved dog is a cyborg replicant. Let’s instead enjoy the glory and majesty of Reggie’s sweater, which is the ’90sest sweater that ever lit a candle at a spontaneous vigil that formed on the quad the night Kurt Cobain committed suicide and then later got a “Rachel” haircut. Admire it in all its Clinton-era glory!
Phantom, 10/12/12
Look, I’m the guy who will bawl uncontrollably in a movie whenever an adorable animal is killed or injured in the most transparently emotionally manipulative fashion you can name, but … hey Phantom, I know you’re hurting, but you’re being kind of a dick here? “HE WAS TRYING TO PROTECT BOTH OF US, OKAY? BUT MOSTLY ME, OKAY? BACK OFF, MAN, HE’S MY LOYAL WOLF-DOG!!!”
Funky Winkerbean, 10/12/12
“Yeah, my first wife sure scarred me emotionally and left me the morbid hate-sack I am today! How about your first wife? Oh, right, dropped dead. Hey, look, I have a whole pizza here, let’s punish our colons with it!”
The Phantom, 9/4/12
Hey, everybody, the Phantom is starting a new plot! This one’s of the type that fascinate me the most, where the strip genuinely tries to grapple with the sociopolitical realities of post-colonial Africa. In this plot, the Llongo, a tribe living in rural Bangalla, are negotiating with some businessdudes over a treasure trove of rare earth metals sitting under Llongo land. Today we learn that, like many African people, the Llongo suffered from violent attempts to expropriate their resources during the colonial era. Will the new multinational elite treat them badly in their own way? I’m guessing “yes,” since otherwise there’ll be no plot! Still, the best thing about this strip is the Phantom talking about “the law!” while putting a large book on a shelf with dozens of other volumes that look just like it, making him appear to be The Ghost-Who-Advertises-Legal-Services-On-Local-TV. No doubt he will eventually be enforcing various contract provisions and environmental regulations … with his fists.
Momma, 9/4/12
Since Francis’s predominant personality trait is sloth, we must determine how his flailing energetically about in a backyard pool fits in with his larger plans to never do any work whatsoever if he can avoid it. Does Francis believe that if he sends this photo to Michael Phelps the swimmer will invite him to become part of his posse and possibly put him in charge of bong maintenance? Or are we seeing another side of Francis’s character — the side where he wants nothing to do with Momma in non-Momma-giving-money-to-Francis contexts — and this is an attempt to appear so aggressively deranged that Momma stops hanging out with him?
Archie, 9/4/12
I thought at first that Jughead looked so pissed in the final panel because of his contempt for low-calorie foodstuffs, but then I decided that he rightfully believes that the terrible sub-pun he’s being forced to recite is beneath even his dignity.
The Phantom, 4/9/12
For those who came in late, that’s Phantom creator Lee Falk just stone cold chilling in first class, ready to lay down a little exposition, while the Ghost Who Is Cheap squeezes with his wards into a three-abreast row in coach. Of course, if you were the sort who needed a little Falkian guidance right about now, you’d probably also be baffled by this fellow hoisting his martini glass and saying “For those who came in late” without any context, but whatever. Lee Falk does not feel any obligation to hurry up and fit a complete sentence into this strip just to make it easier for people who aren’t paying adequate attention to his creation’s adventures. He’s just going to sip that fancy drink and tell you what’s what in his own sweet time, demonstrating the sort of cool sang-froid that ensured that airport security didn’t dare ask about his skull cane/bludgeon.
Apartment 3-G, 4/9/12
For once, I’m kind of thankful for the ongoing writer-artist estrangement at Apartment 3-G, which today has taken the form of “I never would’ve thought to choose this furniture, and if nobody’s going to describe it it’s sure as hell not going to get drawn, so let’s just stand here in front of this stepladder with no steps.” This way instead of whatever bland nursery accoutrements Margo probably got, I can imagine that a better and more interesting set of furniture lurks just below the bottom of the frame. “I never would’ve thought to buy baby furniture covered with rusty iron spikes, but if you say that it’ll toughen our son or daughter up for life in the big city, I’ll take your word for it!”
Marvin, 4/9/12
Are you worried that the jokes about Marvin pooping that you tune into Marvin for are going to be replaced by jokes about Bitsy farting? Don’t worry, we’ll be back to the Marvin-pooping content you love soon; the strip is just going to spend a few days setting up the new spin-off strip, Bitsy, which will focus exclusively on Bitsy farting. It’ll be hilarious!
Mark Trail, 3/18/12
Yes, “… this monster will spend his remaining days in an eco-tourism park where he can be admired.” There’s so very much to admire about this ravenous ocean brute: his winning smile, obvious relish munching on that poor doomed zebra, determination to run down a tasty bird-snack, and handsome striped tail thrashing in anguish as strangely impassive villagers reel him in. Sure, maybe he can’t crush a turtle, but let’s not quibble.
So if you ever find yourself in the vast, impoverished marsh district 500 miles southeast of Manila, stop by and check in on our pal here — but if you do, take a Nature Tip from Mark Trail and stay indoors at all times. Seriously, you could get killed out there.
Blondie (panels), 3/18/12
Speaking of monsters, check out the Blondie-narwhal. Crocodiles of the deep, you have been warned! YOW!
Slylock Fox (panel), 3/18/12
Psst — the bird did it. Killed the fish, too! Ask the spider.
Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop, 3/18/12
My favorite parable is the one about the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1–13), in the telling of which Jesus appears to endorse sharp dealing, hanging out with a bad crowd, and outright fraud. Its deeper message is that children of God should be as practical preparing for the Hereafter as children of mammon are for the Here and Now.
In this Sunday-only (natch) comic, child of God Dag is so mightily upset that his bosses (Wilson and Cassidy) think he should set out on his own that he threatens to, um, stay? Maybe a little more attention to the Things of This World wouldn’t be such a bad thing? Things like punchlines?
The Phantom, 3/18/12
It’s hard out here for a Nemesis. Injured during his botched Phantom-killing mission, Eric Sahara (The Nomad!) hitchhikes back to his jet and scuttles off to his ramshackle desert retreat — the one with the sharp left turn in the airstrip. Seriously, his badass predecessor Chatu would just be embarrassed.
Also: worst minion ever — Beast Man can breathe easy at last.
– Uncle Lumpy