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Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/22/26

You really gotta give it up for today’s Rex Morgan, M.D.: it truly offers a master class in absolutely nothing happening. Rex asks if his and June’s current situation could get any less interesting, and June counters that she plans to quietly read books on her tablet, something that would be interesting for her but very boring for anyone who might be watching her in a visual medium like the comics. Rex then proposes an extremely low-stakes bit of tension: will they call his name soon, or will he have to wait around for a while? This is resolved in that very panel, as his name is called almost immediately. A truly wondrous series of soap opera panels. These two did not in fact have sex in the lead-up to all this, just in case you were wondering.

Judge Parker, 1/22/26

You know how Alan’s been drunk and depressed ever since Randy disappeared? Well, apparently he forgot that he had another child whose location he could be very sure of, since she was in prison, and that he could’ve confided in her, or at least told her about her brother’s disappearance. They let you get letters in there, you know! And make occasional phone calls! Whoops! It’s easy to let that sort of thing slip your mind, I guess, when you’re very sad and very drunk.

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Herb and Jamaal, 1/20/26

Man, that’s a harrowing expression on Herb’s face. He just realized that he shouldn’t engage in thinking … and he can’t stop thinking about it! Much as he knows he should, nay, must stop thinking about it! Where’s Jamaal, Herb should not be left alone at the restaurant with his thoughts. His terrible, terrible thoughts.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/20/26

Oh wow, Rex’s cataract surgery has been delayed by several hours, leading to … sex? Sexual relations with his wife? Not since the great “Rex and June lying around in their underwear for a whole Sunday strip” incident of aught-eight has this strip teased something so risque. Too bad everything will just be all blurry for Rex so he won’t fully enjoy it! (Ha ha, just kidding, Rex doesn’t “enjoy” sex, because it involves sustained interaction with another human being, something he generally tries to avoid at all costs.)

Beetle Bailey, 1/20/26

Oh, wow, I know we’ve always assumed that Beetle just magically bounces back, cartoon-style, after Sarge beats him into a pile of goo, but in fact it appears that each beating is followed by several painful months of recovery in a hospital, with the abuser staring down at his victim the whole time. Grim stuff!

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Mary Worth, 1/6/26

OK, sorry, I do not buy that dour Scot Ian Cameron is someone whose heart is cheered by the presence of Christmas decorations, and anyway look at that deranged expression in the second panel: he’s doing more evil anti-Sunny plotting! The cat thing didn’t work but he’s got more up his sleeve. Is tinsel poisonous to parrots? Only one way to find out! Meanwhile, Toby continues to read BLAM! (?) Magazine, oblivious.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/6/26

If you’ve been given the awesome responsibility of stewarding one of America’s beloved soap opera comic strip, you could do worse things with it than reassure your rapidly aging audience that cataract surgery is immensely beneficial and really not a big deal. This series of strips is probably going to reduce highway deaths by a small but measurable amount! Still, in-universe, I’m reading the subtext here as “So I’m just letting you know that you’re not actually going to be spending that much more time with us at the clinic, which is good, because most of the staff here does not like you very much.”

Garfield, 1/6/26

Now, normally, I would say that Paws, Inc., is such a massive corporate juggernaut in the comics world that it can do what it wants — appropriate Hi and Lois’s “Sunbeam” intellectual property, whatever. But the company was bought by Viacom in 2019, and, thanks to a series of other corporate acquisitions and maneuverings over the past few years, is today part of Paramount Skydance, which is in the midst of a complex and politically contentious attempt to acquire Warner Bros., so their legal department is probably pretty busy right now. This could be the ideal time for Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries LLC to strike back!