The Comics Curmudgeon

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Comics sporting developments!

Gil Thorp, 4/7/08

And so the Frank Bolle era, which was always intended to be transitional, passes on into history, and we meet the new permanent Gil Thorp artist: Rod Whigham! Rod’s reign of terror begins, naturally, with Gil thrusting his ass at his wife as he roots through the refrigerator, desperately looking for some sweet, sweet booze to take the edge off of his Andrew Gregory-blighted existence. I heartily approve of Gil’s awesomely chiseled flattop, manly nose, and protruding Adam’s apple, along with the return of the detached hideous claw-hands (gripping the cold one in panel two), Mimi in a vest for some reason, and a bowl full of unidentifiable ovoids sitting on the kitchen table. Yes, sir, Rod, you and I are going to get along together … just fine. There’d better be some damn earrings on Coach Kaz, though.

Dick Tracy, 4/7/08

One thing I don’t approve of in the new Gil Thorp is the use of Comic Sans for the dialog text, an affliction that seems to have metastasized into Dick Tracy today. While I don’t harbor the same animosity towards the font that some do, I do think that using a font that’s available on just about everyone’s home computer makes a strip look less polished. Admittedly, it’s not my hand cramping up from writing out the completely demented dialog in Gil Thorp or Dick Tracy, but I think the handwritten text looks better.

On the other hand, having Dick Tracy’s dialog all computer-y does makes it look like it was automatically and badly translated from the Chinese, which sort of makes the strip easier to enjoy, for some reason. Also, I think IN ANOTHER ROOM may be the lamest narration box ever. If you really need to make that clear, you always could just, you know, draw it differently.

Mary Worth, 4/7/08

Oh, man, Donna Amalfi in room 305, Mary Worth is going to meddle the hell out of you. She’s probably not actually bereaved at all, but just interested in learning more about a potential new career path while she recovers from routine surgery, but that won’t stop Mary’s relentless attempts to make her realize that life is still worth living, and that inside every cloud is a silver lining, and tomorrow is another day, and blah blah blah YOU CANNOT STOP HER SHE IS A MONSTER.

Family Circus, 4/7/08

“I only know how to think and feel in terms of references to products and corporate marketing! I’m the bastard, malformed spawn of late-stage capitalism!”

Apartment 3-G, 4/7/08

Now that Frank Bolle is done with his Gil Thorp stint, he’s free to dedicate his full attention to Apartment 3-G. Today, using only Blaze’s wordless expressions, he masterfully captures what it feels like to watch some junkie grope your cousin while prattling on with a bunch of nonsense that nobody in the room actually buys.

One Big Happy, 4/7/08

“And the bodies we hid in the shed are starting to smell!”

Dennis the Menace, 4/7/08

[uncontrollable shuddering]

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 04:14 pm and is filed under Apartment 3-G, Dennis the Menace, Dick Tracy, Family Circus, Gil Thorp, Mary Worth, One Big Happy. |

171 responses to “Comics sporting developments!”

Kibo
April 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pm [Reply]

Comic Sans? KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Sirkus Peanuts
April 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm [Reply]

Joey’s harelip is only worsening.
Razmytaz
April 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm [Reply]

Monday JP: Just who is that bespectacled woman with the skin condition talking to Abbey as she puts on her leathers and the snap brim chapeau to investigate the fence line? And with all her money, wouldn’t you think her boudoir would have better interior design than the local Motel Six? That green has got to go, girl. It is too close a match to the volunteer garb at the Santa Royale hospital, and we know what sort of implication that has.

Nice to have the puppies back in play, though. Arf, arf.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm [Reply]

Comic Sans alone doesnt’ bother me. Comic sans rational, human-like dialogue is what really irritates me.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm [Reply]

Do not ask Ruthie too many questions. She knows where the good scissors are.
Uncle Lumpy
April 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm [Reply]

Met Life, my ass — it’s the Pan Am blimp.

Everybody knows that.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm [Reply]

Snoopy also eats Dolly Madison.
Smokehouse
April 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm [Reply]

At first, in panel two, I thought Gil was saying he would try to “squeeze one OUT” before bed, and I immediately regretted that thought.
Laura c
April 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm [Reply]

AAAHHHH! The books are gray!!!! Why are are they all gray????? Where is Santa Royale — Commietown?
Dr. Pants
April 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm [Reply]

I’m glad someone else was as horrified that Dennis was menacing his mother with some crazy oedipal fantasies. But her pursed lips tell me she’s taking the threat seriously and her eyes are clearly pleading for Joey to find someone, anyone, who can help her.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm [Reply]

Dick Tracy is being stabbed in the back by an armored humunculous clown.
Kevin
April 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm [Reply]

I wonder if the Family Circus dad was reading today’s comics page, including the very comic he was in… creating some sort of perpetual time/space vortex which may destroy the very universe itself.

.. Nah, I doubt even he reads Family Circus.
Kirbyoto
April 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm [Reply]

I dunno, bizzare Oedipal demands and pronouncements are pretty menacing, Dennis. Maybe you’re on to something here.
DaveyK
April 7th, 2008 at 4:29 pm [Reply]

Why is the suit of armor in Dick Tracy wearing a wig? Oh, wait…it’s Dick Tracy. Never mind, I answered my own question.
mn
April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

I wonder what that ice cream is flavoured with. Probably darkness. Darkness and despair.
Porky
April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

GT

I thought Gil was in the local 7-11 grabbing a brew: that fridge has to be at least eight feet tall!
Sili
April 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm [Reply]

Is that FC in the FC paper?

I don’t know how to feel about that. If it was Li?, I’d think it edgy and ‘meta’, but FC? …

Help …
Diamond Joe
April 7th, 2008 at 4:32 pm [Reply]

Dick: Can’t find my gun… but no time to panic.

Just think… if things had gone a little differently, we’d have gotten this:

Dick: Can’t find my gun… and… yes! There’s time to panic! (runs tearfully in circles around the room, flapping his hands like a ninny) OH MY GAW-HAW-HOD! I CA-HAN’T FIND MY GUH-HUH-HUN! (checks watch) Okay, out of time. Back to work.
Gal Friday
April 7th, 2008 at 4:33 pm [Reply]

MW: The Patriot Act hits Santa Royale General–perhaps Donna Amalfi didn’t want her reading requests broadcast to the general public!
Cap\'n Cheetah
April 7th, 2008 at 4:36 pm [Reply]

MW – Why are the books gray? Well, it’s possible that they are only clay replicas placed there by the hospital staff to facilitate the atmosphere of a real library. After all, they don’t want patients reading fanciful stories and getting ideas about life outside of Santa Royale. Soon everyone would realize that there are places beyond the reach of Mary’s meddling, like Vietnam…wait, nevermind. The books are probably gray just to illustrate the despair that you will feel if you happen to run into Mary on one of her daily meddling prowls to the library. And trust me, if you’re reading anything slightly suspicious, like counseling books or “Suicide for Dummies,” she WILL find you.
Gal Friday
April 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm [Reply]

GT: And let’s just say “Rod Whigham” is a manly name!
Steve S
April 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm [Reply]

Joey wears a pink crop-top and has arms that are about one-third as thick as Dennis’s, but that’s still the sissiest thing he’s ever heard.
Dean Booth of the Affect Ad Patrol
April 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm [Reply]

GT: Does Gil keep his beer in the freezer? I’ve never seen a fridge with the freezer on the right — though perhaps I have just led a very sheltered life. …But as they say, if you can’t stand the drawing, stay out of Gil’s kitchen.
Stan
April 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pm [Reply]

Is it just me, or does Gil now look like that guy on the target used by the NYPD for target practice?
Eh, beats the square, SQUARE head and dead eyes.
velvet goldmine
April 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm [Reply]

#16 Porky, thank you! I was just coming on here to blush for saying in the earlier thread that Gil was in a package store or entering one — that ‘fridge door really threw me off too!

That’s karma for you — I admit I snickered (privately) at some of you for thinking Andrew had an ATM in his kitchen a few weeks back. I guess it doesn’t matter who draws Milford residences — those are some crazy-ass kitchens!
Sans Sense
April 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm [Reply]

Comic Sans? I am suing for copyright infringement. I SAID GOOD DAY SIR!
maughta
April 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm [Reply]

Gil doesn’t have an ass to show off to Mimi. Too many pats in the boys’ locker room.
Joseph J. Finn
April 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm [Reply]

Interesting; when the Pulitzers came out today, Tom Batiuk was announced as a finalist:

“Tom Batiuk of King Features for a sequence in his cartoon strip “Funky Winkerbean” that portrays a woman’s poignant battle with breast cancer”
Sans Sense
April 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm [Reply]

“A beer? At home? On a weeknight?”

Are they playing 20 questions or is Mrs. Thorp just surprised it’s not the usual 10 weeknight scotches at the Milford Inn?
Sans Sense
April 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm [Reply]

Blaze has no idea that LuAnn is even in the room. It’s all “Alan, Alan, ALAN!”
Foobar
April 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm [Reply]

Old-timey cartoons love the Oedipal conceit and trot it out in full view of children while they are eating their breakfasts. It disgusts me.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm [Reply]

Maybe, much like Alan and his painting, Mary Worth will take a new direction!

“Oh, I’ll just drop off these gray, informative self-help books, Ms Amalfi, and then be on my way. It’s really none of my business. Enjoy.”
velvet goldmine
April 7th, 2008 at 4:51 pm [Reply]

Oh, I also meant to say that Gil and Mrs. Gil now look a gangster and his moll to me.

“I’m grabbing me a beer before I go knock off that bank, see? And I don’t want no more of your lip, see?”

“Geez, lighten up awready. Have ya damn beer while I scratch you like a putty-cat, lov-ah.”
Hawkeye
April 7th, 2008 at 4:52 pm [Reply]

I know a lot of people like the new look in “Gil Thorp,” but in panel two it looks to me like ol’ Gil’s nose had a run-in with the business end of the Right Fist o’ Justice.
CoolJerk
April 7th, 2008 at 4:53 pm [Reply]

Comic Sans — the only font guaranteed to look worse than your own handwriting.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 4:56 pm [Reply]

I kinda like the idea of the “@” symbol for a tee shirt design, although, unlike Joey, I wouldn’t choose a violet one.

Does Dennis always have Popeye arms?
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 5:01 pm [Reply]

18. Diamond Joe

Hee hee. That’s an improvement even rendered in Comic Sans.
Jamus The Bartender
April 7th, 2008 at 5:16 pm [Reply]

Luann: I like Toni’s cousin Shannon. I think she just upped the Luann IQ quotient with three words, if only slightly. Good for her.
Slylock Fox: I like the new motorcycle with sidecar. Now that makes three popular fictional characters who’ve made a motorcycle and sidecar work, along with Zach Braff and Batman.
AhClem
April 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm [Reply]

MW – The Charterstone Hospital library consists of nothing but six thousand copies of Chairman Mary’s Little Grey Book of Platitudes.
Flipper
April 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

Young Sarah Vitalobos’ creation has found a new home, where its weeks-long mescaline binges will go quite unnoticed.
Mooncattie
April 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

DtM – http://www.marusha.de/ I can see little Joey growing up one day…next stop, Berlin!
bryan
April 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

“[uncontrollable shuddering]”

Well, sure seems like he menaced you alright.

…punk.

The coach looks like a hard drinking man who isn’t above smacking his bitch up. In fact, I’m pretty sure what we see here is actually the grown up Dennis and his plastic surgery maintained moms, just before the sex scene. Dad is buried in the back yard of the One Big happy strip.
Joe Blevins
April 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

So when you say Gil now has a “manly” nose, you mean phallic, right?
Hal Jordan
April 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm [Reply]

Mark Trail OK, this is the type of criminal mentality that keeps Slylock Fox in business. The dognappers M.O. is to return the dog AND THEN have the owner pay the ransom? Do these guys work for Count Weirdly? Did it ever occur to Miss Flapper to just change her mind? “Um no, I don’t think so. Tell you what little boy, you tell the criminal masterminds to stay out of my yard or I’ll call the police.”
“Curses! Foiled again!”
Jamus The Bartender
April 7th, 2008 at 5:20 pm [Reply]

7. Which pissed off James Madison…* drumshot*
The Wild Sow
April 7th, 2008 at 5:21 pm [Reply]

Sunday Slylock Fox: Did anyone mention the *real* problem with inventing a “Universal Solvent”?

What the heck are you gonna KEEP it in, huh, Count?
Dingo
April 7th, 2008 at 5:24 pm [Reply]

Oh, please, Dennis. Who are you kidding? You’re a little blonde bear in the making. Joey has always had that anorexic boy toy with a tambourine look and will when he’s fifty. Admit it, you’re a big ol’ bottom just hankerin’ for a night with Joey’s sweet nectar at the edge of his DillyBar ticklin’ your innards ’til you could hit high C. Margaret is your hag and that little Italian girl will spend her twenties trying to change you for naught. Mom already knows but Dad will spend his later years encloistered in the den chair, thinking of the fun you and Joey are having with your sling while he had to settle for separate beds and the occasional drunken Saturday night with your mother.
Freezair
April 7th, 2008 at 5:24 pm [Reply]

4. PeteMoss: COTW! COTW!

On the subject of DtM: Anybody else getting flashbacks to that Blondie strip where the dog was in bed with Blondie? Shudder.

“Oedipus Schmedipus–as long as he loves his mother!” *quietly twitches*
Mooncattie
April 7th, 2008 at 5:24 pm [Reply]

Spider-Man – I don’t think the game is necessarily up for Mr. Krandis and his political ambitions. He kept his cigar in his mouth and didn’t drive MJ into a pond, and running away from (and pulling a revolver on) a guy in spider leotards who had just executed a B & E on his mansion is hardly going to send him up the river for very long. Lose 30 pounds, Simon, ditch the vest, give Larry King an exclusive tour of your ultra-cool secret cave, and the road to the Governor’s office will be wide-open again! Even Peter Parker will watch the show and go, “Hey! This guy’s good!”
Flipper
April 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm [Reply]

A year or so from now, when Mary has successfully taught Donna Amalfi how to smile once again, we can think back to this day when it all started. And we, too, shall smile.
sally
April 7th, 2008 at 5:32 pm [Reply]

Geez, Gil’s wife is even uglier than she was when she was hideously square-headed. And his freezer is backwards. And institution-sized, as is his kitchen for that matter. Are you sure it isn’t the new artist having a mid-life crisis over landing this gig?
monsieurjohn
April 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm [Reply]

“Donna Amalfi” is an anagram for “mainland oaf” … think about it.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm [Reply]

45. Jamus

…And Little Debbie is jealous.

What a couple of Ho Hos.
Kenny
April 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm [Reply]

Oh, Wow. They’ll really have to flex the Dewey Decimal for that FAMILY COUNCELING AND BEREAVEMENT
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm [Reply]

JP — What if Biff and Elvira found Abbey checking out the fenceline, kidnapped her, took her to their farmhouse, stripped her naked, tied her down on their bed, and tickled her unmercifully until she promised to quit nosing around their pot operation?

I just felt someone should ask.
Moss_Mowes_Us
April 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm [Reply]

“Anal Oaf Mind” seems like a good anagram for Donna Amalfi. Although we haven’t met her yet, her desire for dust coated books on bereavement seems pretty anal and because she is vulnerable, she should be a ready candidate for Mary’s intrusive meddling, which is certain to follow.

“Kindness towards the terminally ill is the greatest kindness of all”
jules
April 7th, 2008 at 5:45 pm [Reply]

I find Dick Tracy’s lack of punctuation unsettling. I’d take “wump” and “urg,” or whatever those sound effects were a couple of days ago, any day over these open-ended sentences.
Lou Shumaker
April 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm [Reply]

Josh;

Here’s a better way to enjoy Comic Sans, courtesy of Achewood.

“HE WANTS TO TASTE THE CURB!”
Adam
April 7th, 2008 at 5:48 pm [Reply]

Jeez. I hate comic sans, too, but remember what it replaced! It was nigh-unreadable… Actually, it was the only thing that made that comic bearable.
Diamond Joe
April 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm [Reply]

Wild Sow:

That was my first thought, too… if only because I once read an Encyclopedia Brown mystery like that.
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 5:51 pm [Reply]

(DT)GT — Geez, what a chin on that guy. And what a massive neck. Is this the beginning of GT’s Testosterone Era?

DtM — I’ve sort of gotten used to Alice’s Barbie-doll waist, but I really wish Joey would wear long pants to cover those creepy little spaghetti legs of his.
Moss_Mowes_Us
April 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm [Reply]

3. Razmataz, that is Marie, Spencer Farms’ formerly hot french maid who is now drawn homely to make Abbey look better by comparison.

55. Poteet, judging by your name (Pot Eat), you may have consumed one of Elvira’s “special” brownies.
Razmytaz
April 7th, 2008 at 5:55 pm [Reply]

Poteet (55): I think the foreshadowing fairies have decreed that Abbey is going to get dumped by Shadow (after being spooked by a near pass by Biff in the biplane), hit her head against the fence post, and Elvira will have to take her in and treat her concussion with miraculous blood pressure reducing brownies.

Of course, at that point the tickling can ensue…
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 5:56 pm [Reply]

# 57 jules — I quite agree. It’s especially unnerving that the unpunctuated “mister” in the last panel reminds me just a little of a certain old Alphonse and Gaston strip, and I will probably be struck by lightning for making such a blasphemous comparison.
Razmytaz
April 7th, 2008 at 6:03 pm [Reply]

62: Moss – That’s (*choke*) Marie!?! That’s a crime that is. Though I guess it’s better than thinking that Sophie’s post-adolescence turned out a bit worse than her sister’s.

Though, speaking of crime, maybe Abbey has some frowzey “personal secretary’ (like in all the country house murder mysteries, who knows more than she says). I like that a whole lot better than it being Marie. (*shudder*)
Brent
April 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm [Reply]

#46 (Wild Sow):

Actually there are a number of possible ways:

1) Store it in weightless conditions.
2) It’s likely very polar, so suspend it in a magnetic field.
3) Freeze it solid when not in use.
4) It won’t dissolve everything equally well. Pick a substance it dissolves very poorly and use that for the container… just make it thick and change it periodically.
5) If it’s like aqua regia, store it’s components separately and mix when needed. It’s reactivity will cause it to decompose into a non-universal solvent quickly. If that’s not fast enough for what you want to dissolve, there will almost certainly be something you can add or use after that that will stop it from boring through the floor.
BigTed
April 7th, 2008 at 6:05 pm [Reply]

After all this time, Dennis’ dish of a mom is just as pert and gorgeous as always. But take a gander at the mother in that last panel of “One Big Happy” — her kids’ mischief has reduced her to a permanent stance of slope-shouldered, drop-jawed resignation. And that’s just from them digging a hole… wait till they figure out what else you can do with a shovel.
Shermy Glamrocker
April 7th, 2008 at 6:05 pm [Reply]

First, detached hideous claw-hands.

Next, a fungal melding of digits.

Finally, a sideshow job as Seal Boy.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm [Reply]

So the dog nappers in Mark Trail aren’t restricted to taking only canines. In today’s strip we learn they’ll also swipe your ground hog if you leave him in the front yard.
Edgy DC
April 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm [Reply]

Isn’t kind of self-defeating when a campaign demanding the banning of a particular font under any and all circumstances uses signage set in that font.
Edgy DC
April 7th, 2008 at 6:14 pm [Reply]

I don’t worry about summer coming, Joey, because my mom is HOTTER THAN JULY!
Mollie
April 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm [Reply]

#57 Jules — totally! Was DT’s text always rendered sans periods? Maybe, but it looks oddly robotic when it’s not handwritten. To me it reads like an instant messaging transcript. “Hey man what’s up” “NMH just in a museum or something” “That’s cool” “I think I’m a prisoner” “LOL”

I must admit I barely noticed the lameness of “In another room,” because I was so busy admiring the euphemistic potential of “Dick Tracy broke into my sanctuary.”

And is Family Circus trying to be satirical? Like the Keane characters have never been shills! Nothing says artistic integrity like that FC-emblazoned garment one of y’all gave Josh a while back.
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm [Reply]

Gil Thorp(e) will be played by Brad Degroot in panel 1, but in panel 3, Burt Lancaster makes the role his own.
Muffaroo
April 7th, 2008 at 6:19 pm [Reply]

DtM – “I wish I had that stuff in my room!”
bats :[
April 7th, 2008 at 6:24 pm [Reply]

55. Poteet re JP: I thought that Abbey just needed to employ the standard MAD magazine “snappy answers to stupid questions”:
Maria (watching Abbey getting dressed in obvious riding apparel): Are you going out riding?
Abbey: no, I’m going to track down Biff Dickens and discipline him for buzzing our land with his bi-plane.”
bats :[
April 7th, 2008 at 6:26 pm [Reply]

72. Mollie re FCapitalism: that was me (that was I?) who made the vest for Josh. It’s okay, though, because the comics featured were all religious in nature.

“Heaven is like a hug that goes on forever.”
PeteMoss
April 7th, 2008 at 6:29 pm [Reply]

MW – “And for room 315, drop off this copy of ‘Your Sex Re-assignment and the New You.’ Room 322 gets, ‘Suicide for Dummies,’ and then take ‘Coping with Disfiguring Burn Scars’ to 325.”

Mary has a long day ahead of her on the third floor.
cheech wizard
April 7th, 2008 at 6:40 pm [Reply]

At least the new Gil Thorpe looks like a jock – and I don’t just mean the beer in his hand. He’s got that bull-necked, bent-nose Joe Palooka look to him. Maybe in the weeks to come, we’ll even see him make the gym class run bleacher laps and allow the basketball team to work out its frustrations on the geeks with a rousing game of dodgeball.
Squeak
April 7th, 2008 at 6:43 pm [Reply]

“Sure. Who’s it for?”

Hey, Mary Worth, unless you’re involved in the patient’s medical care, I hope all those grey books are copies of HIPAA guidelines.
Islamorada Girl
April 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm [Reply]

Gads! The new Gil Thorp has a jaw the size of a ‘57 El Dorado!
I just want to paint him hot pink and drive him down to Graceland.
I am holding my breath waiting for Coach Kaz, and he better have his pearl button earrings on.
pccmdoc
April 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm [Reply]

OK, now I am still relatively new to this world of comics curmudgeonly, but I have to wonder even more than usual about Billy’s comments.

It seems that most newspapers finally decided to give living comic strip artists a chance and stop running old Peanuts several years ago.

Why the hell is Billy commenting on Peanuts? Is ‘Dad’ reading a several year old newspaper, trying to recollect a time when Family Circus might have seemed funny? Is Billy trying yet again to please his Dad by feigning knowledge of something his Dad is interested in (ie comics)? Or is Billy, having spent years getting shot up with Ketamine to keep him sedate so his Dad can try to exist in his miserable life with 4 small children, having a bad trip and seeing visions of ‘dogs’ flying ‘planes’?

I think the latter, but in order to deal with the revelation, I think I must go…have a beer…on a weeknight…at home.
velvet goldmine
April 7th, 2008 at 6:52 pm [Reply]

#81 Here in the Connecticut, aka The Land of Stead Habits, our biggest newspaper, the Hartford Courant, gives Peanuts its most prominent spot. I’m pretty sure the papers more local to me also run Peanuts.

But then again, did I mention our steady habits?
Tats
April 7th, 2008 at 6:53 pm [Reply]

Oh, man, poor Donna Amalfi. Telling Mary Worth to deliver a book cart to a widow is like asking Jason Voorhees to deliver a cart full of chainsaws to a pair of teenagers having sex. It just can’t possibly go well.
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 6:56 pm [Reply]

# 62 Moss — Not for years and years. *reminiscent smile* My current relationship with pot consists of occasionally whacking it out of my road ditches. Though ditchweed barely qualifies as pot, and I’m told you could get just as high by smoking fescue.
Invisible Me
April 7th, 2008 at 6:58 pm [Reply]

Donna Amalfi? Like the Duchess of Malfi?

And Batiuk was up for a PULITZER?!?
Corkey
April 7th, 2008 at 6:59 pm [Reply]

DT: Why is this unarmed guy such a threat? He’s able to hold people hostage and put Tracy in a panic without even having a gun! Are art colectors known for their brute strength?
The Spectacular Spider-Brick
April 7th, 2008 at 7:00 pm [Reply]

Poteet @ 55: I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your ~~por~~ newsletter.
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 7:03 pm [Reply]

# 65 Razmytaz — If you are right about the Foreshadowing Fairies, I give you props in advance. And you’re right, poor Marie has been turned into a distant cousin of Alfred E. Neuman. I came across the former Marie in an old newspaper last week, and really, she should sue.

# 75 bats — I’d totally watch that, if Abbey were wearing the right outfit.
The Spectacular Spider-Brick
April 7th, 2008 at 7:06 pm [Reply]

Tats @ 83 wrote:

Oh, man, poor Donna Amalfi. Telling Mary Worth to deliver a book cart to a widow is like asking Jason Voorhees to deliver a cart full of chainsaws to a pair of teenagers having sex. It just can’t possibly go well.

To which I respond: COTW.
Hawkeye
April 7th, 2008 at 7:07 pm [Reply]

#82, Velvet Goldmine: Hey there, fellow Connecticut resident. Yeah, the Courant does give it a prominent spot, but at least “Get Fuzzy” is right at the top of the other page. Just gotta get “Pearls Before Swine” up higher and we’ll be sitting pretty.
Poteet
April 7th, 2008 at 7:10 pm [Reply]

# 87 Spectacular — What I should have said was “I just felt someone should ask out loud.” I’m certain that several Mudges have asked themselves that question in private, and now we just need to locate the ones who have come up with appropriate sketches and are willing to share.

MT — I’m trying to fathom the mind of someone who, once she has her dog safely back and is essentially being ordered to pay blackmail money by an unarmed minor, decides to just fork over and not call the police first. Perhaps there isn’t much to fathom.
boojum
April 7th, 2008 at 7:17 pm [Reply]

GT — in all the publicity surrounding Whigham’s announcement as the new artist for Gil Thorp, I somehow missed this link; it’s his pencil sketch concepts of various characters. So we get to see what Marty Moon will look like. Still no Coach Kaz, though. . .

http://www.cagle.com/hogan/newsletter_extras/whigham/main.asp

Has anyone determined why Gil’s filthy, filthy plan of “squeezing one in before bedtime” was brought on by… Andrew Gregory?

Never mind. I don’t think I want to know.
Bryan
April 7th, 2008 at 7:19 pm [Reply]

Abbey pulling on those boots while that other chick leans against the door frame did all kinds of things for me when I read it at work this morning.

What the heck is up with Sturdivant in Gasoline Alley? Wasn’t he a Yalie like, two weeks ago? And now he’s from Princeton? Am I just not remembering it right?

#82, Velvet Goldmine: Hey, I grew up in CT! The Courant has a great comics section. It’s almost two pages.
boojum
April 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pm [Reply]

DtM — Has Joey always rocked that black hair bow? How did I miss this?
Rudy the Ape
April 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

How many beers/bodies can Kaz stuff in that gigantic fridge? His electric bill must be enormous.
Deschanel
April 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

Mary Worth: “Family Counselling and Bereavement! Bwahahaha!!”

Serious, it creeps me out that the character says this in bold, with exclamation mark, smiling like she just delivered a hilarious punchline.

Don’t get. Do not want!
Niall
April 7th, 2008 at 7:27 pm [Reply]

Yes. This was truly a red letter day for comics snarking.
Cheeky Wee Monkeys
April 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm [Reply]

Dick Tracy clearly needs to be written in wingdings.
Kumquat, Jungle Citrus Fruit
April 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm [Reply]

Luann – No, Brad. If you must insist on believing Toni to be a liar, at least have the decency to keep that opinion to your thought balloons when she’s around. That’s why you have them.

A3G – Yes, Alan, for the moment everything you want is within your grasp. But we all know you won’t manage to seize it. Odds are you’ll get busted for drugs and never see Luann again.
Tess
April 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm [Reply]

It all makes sense now. ‘Momma’ is actually just ‘Dennis the Menace’ 20 years on.
Cheeky Wee Monkeys
April 7th, 2008 at 7:34 pm [Reply]

Family Circus always makes more sense when you imagine it like this one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1960s-era_Family_Circus_cartoon.png
Wellsey
April 7th, 2008 at 7:36 pm [Reply]

As happy as I am to see the return of the claw hands, I’m actually sad that Frank Bolle is gone. Somehow, “transitional” was something I never latched onto before so opening up the Internet page today was quite a shock, finding the return of drawing craziness that is the world of Gil Thorp. Gil Thorp was actually making sense with the competent art direction the past few weeks.
Kumquat, Jungle Citrus Fruit
April 7th, 2008 at 7:37 pm [Reply]

#93 Bryan –

Two options on Sturdivant:

1) He’s so rich and intelligent that he’s managed to attend every school in the Ivy League.

-or-

2) He collects shirts with college logos on them.
M
April 7th, 2008 at 7:42 pm [Reply]

Maybe it’s just me. But when I see someone holding up a beer bottle and announcing his intention to “squeeze it in before bed”, I’m pretty sure I know what he’s going to do. And it doesn’t involve drinking the beer.
Family Circus Is My God Now
April 7th, 2008 at 7:51 pm [Reply]

Better: Snoopy doesn’t only fly WWI planes…he also opposes stem-cell research.
Saluki
April 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm [Reply]

At least we know why Toni has the hots for Brad.

It’s a well known fact that women love clingy, suspicious guys with no self confidence.
cheech wizard
April 7th, 2008 at 7:54 pm [Reply]

55/ Poteet – In that event, I would gladly pay for a subscription. Luckily for us, though, JP is still free of charge.
Gabacho
April 7th, 2008 at 8:00 pm [Reply]

#55 Poteet – It’s highly unlikely that would happen in Judge Parker. It would be too derivative of the recent Brenda Starr where Josh was stripped naked, handcuffed to a bed and lightly insulted by two young women who turn out to be bi-racial sisters. And one of their mothers, a bra busting harridan of the sort usually seen on Cops.
cheech wizard
April 7th, 2008 at 8:12 pm [Reply]

92/Boojum – I’m impressed – Whigham’s sample sketches of Gil and Marty look amazingly like Berrill’s original work. Especially Gil. The execution on today’s strip fell a bit short, though still closer to vintage Gil than the other replacements have done.

I can’t say the same for Mimi – I’m not even sure she was a Berrill creation. I say it’s time for Holly* to quit slutting around Hollywood, give up the glamor game and come back to Milford and the flat-top that makes the U.S. Navy green with envy.

As for what to do about Mimi? To paraphrase Lillian Soprano, “Her, I don’t know.”

(*Mega-bonus points to anyone who recognizes this gal – if you do, you probably remember Joe Sharkey and Billy Bumpkins as well!)
One-eyed Wolfdog
April 7th, 2008 at 8:12 pm [Reply]

#103 – I propose

3) He can’t see past his chin and has no earthly idea what’s printed on any of his shirts.
Uncle Balustrade
April 7th, 2008 at 8:13 pm [Reply]

I guess I’m missing something, but how does having a beer constitute a midlife crisis?
Les of the Jungle Patrol
April 7th, 2008 at 8:20 pm [Reply]

Dennis the Menace: “My mother will remain the only woman in my life Joey, but I see lots of room for men. Men like you, Joey. Men . . . and pony boys. Have you ever wanted to dress up like another animal, Joey? Want to go up to my room now and try?”

(Isn’t it completely obvious that this has nothing to do with anybody’s mom and everything to do with getting on Joey’s pants?)

“I’ve just gotten the most marvelous riding crop, Joey. You simply must see it.”
Harry Paratestes
April 7th, 2008 at 8:21 pm [Reply]

Wow, the comic we love to hate on (Gil Thorp) is back from Bolleitude. Check out Gil saying ‘Andrew Gregory’ in the same manner that he would utter ‘Anal Fissures’ or ‘Testiicular Lump’. You’re beautiful, baby, don’t ever change your swollen thyroid.
bats :[
April 7th, 2008 at 8:22 pm [Reply]

Here’s what the Pulitzer website said about the 2008 Editorial Cartoonist award. I’m more than a little stunned that Batuiuik is considered an “editorial cartoonist” now, just because of the subject matter:

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2008/editorial-cartooning/
Zaq
April 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm [Reply]

111 Uncle Balustrade: That’s a good question. I’d say it has something to do with the weird quasi-morality that the comics page tries to stuff down people’s throats, and yet, consumption of alcohol, beer in particular, is generally portrayed as, if not glamorous, at least perfectly acceptable and not at all noteworthy. I mean yes, there was the Marty-Moon-is-a-drunk storyline a couple years ago, but overall Gil Thorp is not known for being a bastion of temperance. I’m as confused as you are. I guess it’s all just part of the surreal magic we call Gil Thorp.

The possibility has been suggested by others that Mimi’s surprise at Gil’s beer (no doubt BEER brand) is at the weakness of it, rather than the strength, and she expects him to usually drink WHISKEY or GIN, but I don’t get that vibe. Sure, he goes down to PUB occasionally with Kaz, but I still don’t see him as a regular visitor to LIQUOR (the store name, naturally). I do have no problem imagining him drinking a beer on occasion, even on a weeknight, but the comics pages are just too full of drunken sots to attribute that to Gil. I just chalk it up to the surrealism of the strip as a whole.
jvwalt
April 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm [Reply]

There is absolutely no excuse for resorting to Comic Sans, because with the right software, any comic artist can create his/her own font based on his/her own handwriting. I believe most cartoonists have created their own custom fonts. Saves a whole lot of work, and makes the strip’s appearance more consistent.

Now,when you have a brand-new artist, maybe there’s an excuse for using CS until you can work up a custom font. But not in the case of Dick Tracy.
AhClem
April 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm [Reply]

Comic Sans used to be a respectable font until it grew facial hair and had its serifs punched off by Mark Trail.
JP (not Judge Parker)
April 7th, 2008 at 8:50 pm [Reply]

DT: Dick thinks in panel 1 he can fool us into forgetting about Saturday’s boggle-eyed panic. Silly Dick – you can say “no time to panic” all you want, but we all know you lost your shit without your gun.
Artist formerly known as Ben
April 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm [Reply]

#7 PeteMoss,
Quite enough squick from Dennis the Menace, thank you. Don’t need to think about the words “Snoopy eats Dolly” in relation to Family Circus.:)
Saluki
April 7th, 2008 at 8:55 pm [Reply]

109 cheech wizard:

Wasn’t Sharkey the star Milford baseball player who turned pro? I think I remember an accident being involved.
velvet goldmine
April 7th, 2008 at 9:01 pm [Reply]

#90 and 93 — I grew up in Ledyard and live in NW CT now, so I sure do see lots of the other papers and the half-sheet of comics. The Courant is cool that way — and I think they’ve finally realized that Omar Shariff is dead and moved the bridge column. But they dropped Apt. 3G! Booo!
ragthetiger
April 7th, 2008 at 9:03 pm [Reply]

#83 – COTW! COTW! COTW!
Artist formerly known as Ben
April 7th, 2008 at 9:04 pm [Reply]

#97 Niall,
I agree. It’s one for the scrapbooks.
Dick Tracy Broke into My Oddball Sanctuary
April 7th, 2008 at 9:08 pm [Reply]

#78 cheech wizard – Yikes. I almost had an asthma attack, that’s how strong my flashback to high school was upon mention of dodgeball.

Um, does Milford High HAVE geeks? I’ve seen brutes, jocks, and ne’er-do-wells, but geeks?
AlphabetFish
April 7th, 2008 at 9:10 pm [Reply]

Ah, I burst out laughing at the Mary Worth commentary, and the new Gil Thorp artist looks great–far better than Franke Bolle.

These comics really are much better as fodder for bored, sarcastic minds than they are taken at face value.
bats :[
April 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm [Reply]

121. velvet goldmine: good lord, with all the oldtimers shuffling off the mortal coil, don’t say that Omar Sharif is dead! He’s still very much alive. I just don’t think there’s a big following for a Bridge column (which, considering the readership of most big conglomerate newspapers is mostly made up of people Most Likely to Play Bridge, is unusual).
OTOH, Charlton Heston is still dead. The two of them never worked together in a film.
Dick Tracy Broke into My Oddball Sanctuary
April 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm [Reply]

I’m still not satisfied with the explanation (thanks for trying, though, Zaq) regarding the “If all else fails Sawbones” “joke” in the yesterthread. Anyone? Anyone? Josh?
Girl Reporter
April 7th, 2008 at 9:29 pm [Reply]

Omar was sooo dreamy in Lawrence of Arabia. But his brother Comic just lost all credibility when he tried to deny his ethnicity by changing his surname to Sans. What was up with that Estevez/Sheen shennanigan?!
Edgy DC
April 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm [Reply]

#88: I came across the former Marie in an old newspaper last week…

Um, gross.
velvet goldmine
April 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm [Reply]

#126 — That’s a blonde moment for you. I wonder who I was thinking of? I distinctly remembering hearing of his death and thinking that was the end of the bridge column. Sorry to any hardcore OS fans!
cheech wizard
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm [Reply]

120/Saluki – Yes, Joe Sharkey was the one athlete from Milford High who made it to the big time – he supposedly played for the Cubs. I think he did have a mishap of some sort that temporarily derailed his pro career and sent him back to Milford for Coach Gil’s advice. But what I remember is that no one but his girlfriend realized the reason he kept striking out was that he needed eyeglasses.

But again, the critical question is: Who remembers Holly, Gil’s onetime squeeze?
cheech wizard
April 7th, 2008 at 9:37 pm [Reply]

124 – the geeks are safely secured in their lockers – that’s why you don’t see them.
Ed
April 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm [Reply]

DM: Say what you will, that was pretty menacing.
naugahyde
April 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm [Reply]

In Mark Trail:
Let me get this straight… The dognappers send a little boy to deliver the dog, and pick up the payment? Why would she pay when she already has the dog back? Does the little boy stick a gun in her face?
commodorejohn
April 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm [Reply]

#126 bats :[ – Are you saying a dead guy couldn’t write a bridge column? I’d have to disagree.
Lisa
April 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm [Reply]

101- Wow that sure is a different FC from the one we get now… when did Keane get religion or whatever??

Re Comic Sans, I think I remember that it was originally based on Charles Schulz’s printing…. anyone else remember that or am I nuts?
Lisa
April 7th, 2008 at 9:41 pm [Reply]

(Why would she pay when she already has the dog back?)

Cause she is a moron?
Harry Paratestes
April 7th, 2008 at 9:50 pm [Reply]

Is it just me, or is there a resemblance between Gil and his wife, and Maxwell the Demon and his girlfriend?
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/tonia/maxwell/series.php?view=archive&chapter=12745
jayjaybear
April 7th, 2008 at 10:20 pm [Reply]

#73-PeteMoss:

Gil Thorp(e) will be played by Brad Degroot in panel 1

Nah, it just looks like that because he’s standing in front of an open refrigerator…
aquagirl3
April 7th, 2008 at 10:24 pm [Reply]

I enjoyed #117!!!! hahahhaahahaha

PS. I’ve been laughing all day about Josh’s comment about the bad guy “UMP”ing on the floor. (I was a little behind)
F-Hizzy Fo'Rizzy
April 7th, 2008 at 10:32 pm [Reply]

Love that Achewood. You’ve no idea how often his views align with my own, especially in this case.
Elektro
April 7th, 2008 at 10:42 pm [Reply]

How is it that swearing has to become non-sensical symbols in newspaper comics, yet today’s Dennis the Menace gets away with Oedipal fantasies right out in the open? Do the old people who pick up the comics get off on this or what?
Master Mahan
April 7th, 2008 at 10:43 pm [Reply]

So Dennis is tempting Joey with promises of eternal bachelorhood while deepthroating a popsicle? I’m not sure whether he’s torturing his mother or his sexually-confused friend, but either way, it’s pretty menacing.

While the casual viewer may take Blaze’s neckerchief as evidence of the wearer’s homosexuality (plus the fact that he calls himself Blaze), no self-respecting Friend of Dorothy would wear a scarf so utterly tacky. Clearly Mary-Ann’s cousin has some ulterior motive for pretending to be gay – perhaps a Three’s Company-type situation. Whatever it is, it’s probably more interesting than what the strip is actually focusing on.
CaptainColonel
April 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm [Reply]

When I first read the new Gil Thorp strip I thought it was a joke. Not in the way that it’s a comic strip and it’s thus meant to be funny, but that someone had written and drawn a fake strip where Gil and his wife went insane!
Master Mahan
April 7th, 2008 at 10:50 pm [Reply]

Oh sweet Jesus, they’re letting Mary Worth volunteer at a hospital? I wonder how many patients they’ll lose before the staff IDs her as an angel of mercy?
Dulcet
April 7th, 2008 at 10:53 pm [Reply]

Is it just me, or does Mimi have enormous hands? Is that paw she has on Gil’s chest there bigger than her head? Is it bigger than HIS head?
BigOrangeCat
April 7th, 2008 at 10:55 pm [Reply]

I’ve never read GT in my 50+ years of life, but thanks to my less than a year addiction to “The Comics Curmudgeon,” I can’t even begin to tell you how much today’s strip gave me thoroughly icky douche chills. Wow.
Edge
April 8th, 2008 at 12:16 am [Reply]

Using a computerized font instead of lettering by hand is one thing, but to use something as generic as Comic Sans flat out screams “amateur”, especially since customizing fonts has become so much easier in recent years. The comics in my school paper don’t even use Comic Sans!
Mr. Wuxtry
April 8th, 2008 at 12:24 am [Reply]

#28 Joseph J. Finn and #114 bats :[
See, this is why so many newspaper comic pages are so crappy. Those Pulitzer judges are the go-to heavyweights of the industry and, typically of the genus, they wouldn’t know a good comic if one bit them on the ankle. They turn the comic pages over to some rookie editorial assistant until a syndicate salesman drops by with samples. Then they take over again. Anything that’s guaranteed to be a hit with the “coveted 18-to-34 age group,” they sign a multi-year contract for, and the editorial assistant, probably a member of that very age group, just winces when he/she eventually sees it. The editors of newspapers Do. Not. Read. The. Comics. And would not understand them if they did. It’s a real miracle that any good ones survive at all.
taotu
April 8th, 2008 at 1:11 am [Reply]

Oh my God! That Family Circus reminds me of- well- another Family Circus! Only in -that- one, Jeffy was asked ‘What does a duck say?’ And he replied ‘Aflack!’ And it wasn’t until two years later, when the Aflack duck commercials finally showed on the American stations that I get here at home, that I finally understood that the joke never really needed telling in the first place.
Steve
April 8th, 2008 at 2:02 am [Reply]

A3G – Blaze? As in…Johnny Blaze? Oh, I hope so.

127 -Sawbones is a nickname for a doctor, because of all the amputations they had to do back in the 1800s (with a bone saw, natch)

So, “If all else fails, amputate!”
Audient
April 8th, 2008 at 5:32 am [Reply]

Ruthie and Joe were really making a political statement: digging a hole to China — in order to free Tibet.
John
April 8th, 2008 at 6:14 am [Reply]

Silghtly more sinister interpretation of today’s Family Circus: I wonder if, several years after Schulz’ death, some papers are thinking of doing a spring cleaning of “Classic Peanuts” and this is Keane’s way of reminding people — I mean editors –that the strip exists.
John
April 8th, 2008 at 6:14 am [Reply]

Silghtly more sinister interpretation of today’s Family Circus: I wonder if, several years after Schulz’ death, some papers are thinking of doing a spring cleaning of “Classic Peanuts” and this is Keane’s way of reminding people — I mean editors –that the strip exists.
fishmorgjp
April 8th, 2008 at 7:13 am [Reply]

In Gil Thorp, it looks like the same hand is depicted in panels 2 and 3… almost as if Gil has dropped the beer and magically sprouted bracelets on his wrist.
aquagirl3
April 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am [Reply]

Mary Worth:
Ms. Amalfi: I’m looking for a solution to my dilemma! Woe is me, if only I had some advice, some ideas! I am adrift at sea with loneliness and no direction!

Mary Worth: Hey, I’m sorry about that. Look, I have to keep bringing these books around, so….smell you later.
dimestore lipstick
April 8th, 2008 at 8:23 am [Reply]

Blondie: So–It’s been revealed that Dagwood is one of us? I’ve got to go review old comments and look for user names like SandwichSlave, NapMaster, or Ol’OneButton…
Anonymous
April 8th, 2008 at 8:25 am [Reply]

Mimi is excited that Gil is drinking because she knows it only leads to one thing: clumsy drunken groping, an unsuccessful attempt at sex, and a crippling sense of inferiority. Thats how she keeps her man under her control, see?
NotAGoatHead
April 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am [Reply]

Run for your lives!! The rocks are moving on their own in One Big Happy!
Shmork
April 8th, 2008 at 9:07 am [Reply]

AUGGH COMIC SANS MY EYES

seriously though. Comic Sans is the epitome of crude. It doesn’t look like a comic strip at all — at first I thought someone was doctoring the strips (it doesn’t help that the dialog is so lousy). If you want to do the digital font thing, take a hint from people who make comics for the internet and get some Blambot and be done with it.
PanicintheStreetsofLondon
April 8th, 2008 at 9:14 am [Reply]

DtM: What the hell’s up with those Popsicles? They’re so… black. It’s like frozen despair on a stick.
Quacks Like A Duck
April 8th, 2008 at 9:14 am [Reply]

First Family Circus features Spider-Man in a comic, and now it mentions Snoopy. The Keanes are clearly profiting off of other comic characters.

This is truly ironic, considering how Bil Keane & Co. have sent cease and desist letters to several web sites parodying Family Circus comic strips.

I weep.
Tybalt
April 8th, 2008 at 9:22 am [Reply]

No wonder Dennis is keepin’ it in the family. Alice Mitchell is looking fiiii-ine in that outfit. Come on over here and water me, little lady.
electro
April 8th, 2008 at 9:38 am [Reply]

Wow, Josh! 5 diamonds worth of snark today – just excellent.

I think Jeffy (through Billy) is commenting on the way Schultz managed to get Peanuts characters to advertise anything and everything, while Family Circus exists only within its small circle. Artistic integrity or sour grapes?

DT: Please oh please notice that sword, Dick!

GT: Comic Sans notwithstanding, this new art is wonderful. I don’t know which I appreciate more: The beginnings of Gil’s inexorable slide into alcoholism, the way he’s drawn sized as an 11-year-old boy in panel one, or the fact that the claw in panel 2 loses the hair and the bottle and gains bangles and long nails to become the claw in panel 3. No, it’s probably Gil’s idea of foreplay: “I figured I could squeeze it in before bed.”
Paul1963
April 8th, 2008 at 10:52 am [Reply]

GT: I’m having trouble reconciling this new artwork with the much-more-polished work Rod Whigham was doing in comic books ten to twenty years ago.

DT: Everybody wave goodbye to the distinctive lettering style Dick Tracy has had since Chester Gould was still working on it. You’d think it would have occurred to Dick Locher or someone else involved in the strip to create a Dick Tracy lettering font by now. Hell, someone went to the trouble to create a Peanuts font for the very last panel of Charles Schulz’s very last Peanuts daily.

FC: It’s been long-established that the Keane Kids are whores for anything aimed at their age group. I recall a few years ago when a certain fish-related CGI movie was in theaters and Billy (I think) declared that a good name for their recently-acquired–and never-seen-again–clownfish would be “Nemo.” Yes, you little kid-cult zombie, because God forbid you should put five seconds into coming up with an original thought when you can just refer to something you saw on TV. I’m amazed your dog isn’t named “Blue” and your cat isn’t named “Sylvester.”
Brent
April 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm [Reply]

Maybe I’m feeling a bit nostalgic or something but I find it somehow sad that Gill Thorp gets two new artists in the space of a couple of months and “They’ll Do It Every Time” couldn’t find one to replace the late Al Scaduto.
Bryce
April 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm [Reply]

Heres to hoping Donna Almalfi is in the hospital after surviving a school bus accident in which most of her students died after the bus lost control and careened in to a crocodile pond. Draw that flashback, bitch.

In other news Mary Worth has run out of names and is now using random assortments of vowels and consonants.
Chance
April 8th, 2008 at 5:56 pm [Reply]

I, too, find the lack of punctuation in DT oddly disturbing. That plus the font make it look quite a lot like, as Josh says, translations from a non-Indo-European language. One that doesn’t have the verb “to be” or declination or adverbs.

CAN’T FIND GUN, NO TIME TO PANIC

[IN ELSEWHERE]

WE RUN THIS WAY

COME WITH, GO ON

LET GO, MY HAND IS TWIST
Eridani
April 8th, 2008 at 9:47 pm [Reply]

You know, they had a CSI episode where a guy (I think) was killed who was obsessed with “baby” things. Like he bought oversized diapers, and had a secret playroom in his house with a huge cradle, playpen, bottles, and other baby-related paraphernalia. Then a clerk at the store where he bought that stuff said “some men can only love their mother.” It’s creepy yes, but that DTM comic reminded me of that.
Braniff
April 9th, 2008 at 8:38 am [Reply]

FC: I imagine that Billy and Daddy are just jealous of the fact that the Peanuts empire is still cranking out millions of $$$$, even though Schulz is long dead and the newspapers are publishing Reruns of Peanuts comic strips.

By comparison, have there been any bestselling Family Circus greeting cards, Family Circus comic books, Family Circus dolls, Family Circus TV specials, Family Circus tie-ins lately? I don’t think so. I doubt if the Family Circus people even try to make much of an effort beyond a few comic books (which attract the hilarious reviews at amazon.com).
joe
October 21st, 2009 at 7:12 pm [Reply]

darin mcbride 1974-1977 was the greatest athlete in the history of gil thorp

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