Post Content

Mary Worth, 11/30/25

Ahh, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: when Ian returns from his weeks-long “teachers conference” and confronts the bird who has taken his place and reduced him to a mere “friend” of the household. This bird was perfectly nice to Mary when she came over, so he obviously isn’t strictly speaking aggressive towards newcomers; rather, he just instinctively recognizes Ian as his main antagonist going forward and has decided to go on the attack from a position of strength as the current possessor of the disputed territory. I’m glad this week’s Sunday Mary Worth Quote® is from David Mamet, because that implies that the dialogue that ensues after the final panel is just a nonstop stream of colorful obscenities.

Pluggers, 11/30/25

Why is this plugger looking so depressed? Nobody’s making him eat that pie. Nobody’s making him work as a mall Santa either, unless you count his underfunded retirement account as “someone,” I guess. Still, you’d think he could at least spend a minute to enjoy the pie.

Post Content

Dick Tracy, 11/24/25

“Can’t believe this clown would rather cut people’s brake lines for money instead of building elaborate funny cars for the mafia. Nobody wants to work anymore!”

Pluggers, 11/24/25

Not sure if the joke here is “pluggers are lazy and listless, and look for ways to postpone even the simplest chores as long as possible” or “pluggers shit a lot, and messily.”

Mary Worth, 11/24/25

Wait, does Toby think Sunny’s entire species was smuggled over the border from Mexico, only to die en masse in a trucking accident? Can’t believe I’m just now putting this together, but is she, like … dumb dumb?

Shoe, 11/24/25

It was 51 years ago! That’s actually a pretty easy fact to look up.

Post Content

Pluggers, 11/14/25

I have to admit that I’m intrigued by the “come out here” formulation. This isn’t a plugger who has walked into the living room and forgotten what task he was pursuing; this is a dog-man who has gone somewhere, for some purpose now mysterious to him. “Let’s see … was I supposed to sell my soul to the devil? No, it’s sunset, and that’s more of a ‘midnight at the crossroads’ thing. Maybe I challenged someone to a gunfight as the sun went down? But wouldn’t I have brought my gun? I’m pretty sure I would’ve brought my gun.”

Crock, 11/14/25

Man, you read Crock every day for 20 years and you assume you know all the stupid lore but then you read a strip and learn that the shirtless guy in the fez is named “Pretty Boy”. This is pretty dumb, but in a strip where the cowardly guy is named “Captain Poulet” and the woman who’s supposed to be ugly is named “Grossie” and the evil commandant is named “Vermin P. Crock,” having a character with a sarcastic name represents a quantum leap in semantic complexity. Unless this guy is actually meant to be read as attractive? Possible, I guess. Anyway, one of his soldiers has to pee, which has foiled his attempt to capture the Legion’s fort and kill everyone inside.

Herb and Jamaal, 11/14/25

Hey now, the whole point of Herb and Jamaal is to be non-specific and, occasionally, quite confusing. I don’t need Herb smiling wryly while he contemplates his mortality! I have the entire archives of Funky Winkerbean for that!