Post Content

Heathcliff, 6/16/25

This is, of course, a hilarious joke about rectal thermometers, and I laud the strip for being subtle enough to not use the words “rectal” or “butthole” or anything like that. However, just to make sure you get the point, Heathcliff’s butt, hanging out the window for his protection, has been depicted in a subtle but still vividly shapely manner, with gentle curves letting us know that yes, the punchline of this panel is specifically about Heathcliff’s ass.

Herb and Jamaal, 6/16/25

Look, Jamaal, I’ve been frank and open about the fact that I too struggle with difficulty remembering the names of acquaintances, even when I remember so many stories about them and details of their lives that it would be extremely embarrassing to ask them, once again, what their name is. So I appreciate you trying out this little “life hack” here, but I don’t think it’s practical. Think of all the social interactions required just to ensure you both end up at the same coffee shop at the same time! Surely his name’s going to come up at some point in that process. So, I like your creativity, but let’s keep brainstorming on this.

Dennis the Menace, 6/16/25

Oh NO but your mom ISN’T HERE RIGHT NOW so he’s gonna DRIVE RIGHT INTO A WALL and you guys AREN’T EVEN IN CHILD SEATS, this is gonna be a BLOODBATH

Post Content

Dennis the Menace, 6/5/25

I know that “ha ha, this little boy is repulsed by the idea of heteronormativity” is one of Dennis the Menace’s go-tos, but to do a “Dennis says something inappropriate in front of strangers who have never been in the Mitchell household before and, after this incident, will never be there,” the stakes need to be higher. Like he should be saying this to a woman, or a couple, or should be saying “I’m gonna be a confirmed bachelor — that’s what my dad says you are!” As it is, this is just kind of a non sequitur that this random grown-up can smile and nod at before returning to his normal conversation with Henry. And honestly, this announcement is a little confusing! You’re going to be a bachelor when you grow up? What are you now, married? To whom?

Gil Thorp, 6/5/25

Ha ha, Keri’s just kidding! They’re not getting back together! Unless … why are they touching each other so much. With their hands. Their big giant hands. All the better to touch each other with! You know, sexually.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 6/5/25

Oh, man, what are the chances, Truck’s bastard kid is also a working-class musician??? In this strip?????? Incredible. What genres do you think he’s into? Roots country? Rockabilly? Surf guitar? Garage rock? It’s one of those, right? Those are the only ones?

Post Content

Dennis the Menace, 5/28/25

When you have a long-running strip like Dennis the Menace, where one of the main characters is a child who never grows up and another is an old man who never dies, it does force you to contemplate how comic strip time operates for the two of them. Are we meant to understand that they are locked in an eternal, changeless struggle? Or is Dennis just a kid who’s only started wandering over and annoying his neighbor in the past few months? Mr. Wilson’s reaction today points towards the latter: clearly he’s never even thought about the fact that Dennis will have his days free during the summer, much less experienced it. “Ah shit! Ah fuck!” is his immediate, visceral reaction.

Wizard of Id, 5/28/25

The idea of this joke — “two armies must fill out paperwork with the owner of the battlefield before they hack each other to bits” — is solid enough, but I have a quibble with the execution. Specifically, we’re in a faux medieval setting, so you could just put this guy in vaguely medieval peasant garb or something and people would easily follow everything thanks to the dialogue. Instead, the logic seems to be “we’re saying field so it should be a recognizable farmer, let’s put him in overalls and a hat from the early to mid 20th century,” which doesn’t work at all, in my opinion. The fact that the colorist decided to make said overalls the exact same shade of brown as the ground doesn’t help.

Herb and Jamaal, 5/28/25

TIRED: Herb and Jamaal uses weird circumlocutions to avoid proper nouns so as to make the strips “timeless” and reusable in the future

WIRED: Herb and Jamaal takes place in an extremely specific alt-timeline where Star Wars-style droids are real and the subject of political controversy that elected officials need to field questions about at press conferences