The Comics Curmudgeon

90 responses to “Did Ziggy show his passport to get on the plane? Did everyone laugh?”

1. MisterKerr
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:26 pm [Reply]

   I do like Dolly’s Iron Man costume.

2. Ellie
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:28 pm [Reply]

   Is that really the best they can do with drawing walking feet on Momma??

3. Samuel PG
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:31 pm [Reply]

   I can’t quite decipher the candy representing the “O” in “Trick or Treat.” Are the Keene children dreaming of dime bags?

4. Samuel PG
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:33 pm [Reply]

   I might be mistaking a knee for an ankle, but it looks like Francis has suffered a crippling injury. I can only assume that explains his desperate desire for alcohol to dull the pain.

5. sporknpork
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:33 pm [Reply]

   Say what you will about how scary Momma is today, but that’s the most terrifying orgy I could imagine. (Assuming that Momma is not on stilts. *shudder*)

6. Brimstone
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:33 pm [Reply]

   It’s pretty weird that in a comic strip page usually filled with generic, timeless non-entities they’ve got the correct Iron Man and the Dark Knight Batman. I’d expect most comic page writers to put him in an Adam West Batman costume. Or a 30s serial one.

7. [Old Man] Muffaroo
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:35 pm [Reply]

   @Artist formerly known as Ben (#303): Muffaroo hasn’t shown up today either. Wonder what that’s about.

   What timing! Well, Cathy left this morning on a trip until Thursday, so I’m a single parent most of the week. Also, we’re getting into the last rat-race round of rehearsals for “The Sound of Music” (I play Franz, the butler). Plus, I had to replace a broken toilet seat, and I had to dismantle Sarah’s trampoline ahead of the coming Frankenstorm. Fortunately, a neighbor for whom we’ve done favors has agreed to let me park Sarah at their house for three rehearsals this week that go until 10:30 at night, so apart from taking her to the dentist on Tuesday morning, about all I have to do is feed her in the evenings, help her with lunches in the mornings, go in for lab work on Wednesday morning, and go to class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. And update the web page for the Friends of the Library here by Thursday morning. I fully expect one of my clients to guess when I’m busiest and drop in with a new book for me to do at the height of the maelstrom. She’s already told me it’s happening soon.

   So I didn’t manage to get through all the comics until a few minutes ago, and then I lightly skimmed the CC, probably missing all the funniest parts. And for what? For these comments! Three of them! That’s all I’ve got today!

   Slylock supposes Slick Smitty is smuggling sweets in a slight slit in his suit.
   NO SLIT, SLYLOCK!

   Luann – You try to live a good life, help others, do your part, give to charity… then one day, you get a panel that just makes it all worthwhile. Something to cherish forever. Thanks, Greg Evans!

   Nancy – Yeah, that’s right. MOCK OUR PAIN.

   (And that concludes our presentation for tonight. I’m sure we won’t really be wiped out by what the weather service describes as the most outsized, unpredictable storm since forever.)

8. Ian C.
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:37 pm [Reply]

   Au contraire, Josh. PJ is dressed as Wonder Woman villainess Cheetah. Thankfully, the Keane parents are not pop culture savvy enough to know their youngest is cross-dressing for Halloween.

9. sporknpork
   October 28th, 2012 at 11:37 pm [Reply]

   I love the neighbors who gave the kids that millipede and the wad of ABC gum.

10. Aitherion
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:37 pm [Reply]

    Whoa whoa, what the hell, when did Momma start using Windows 95 default fonts?

11. Chareth Cutestory
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:38 pm [Reply]

    Momma: “Hey you remember that KKK strip is drew that one time but couldn’t think of any good dialogue or a punchline? I think I can use it for a Halloween strip. (30 seconds of scribbling) There we go, all done! Time for lunch now!”

12. Samuel PG
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:38 pm [Reply]

    @sporknpork (#9): Good call on the millipede. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that the ABC gum might actually be a popcorn ball, though.

13. Mincemeat
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:39 pm [Reply]

    @Samuel PG (#3):
    I suspect it’s one of those popcorn balls that clueless people still hand out. I often find them* in the street on November 1st.

    *The popcorn balls, that is.

14. Samuel PG
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:42 pm [Reply]

    @Mincemeat (#13): Now we have two competing theories on popcorn balls: the “o” or the exclamation point dot (see comment #12). Perhaps one is unopened, the other opened and discarded.

    My wife spent a good deal of time making haystack cookies for the kids in our graduate housing complex last year, and the few kids that came to the door looked so disappointed.

15. Artist formerly known as Ben
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:43 pm [Reply]

    You sure, Josh? PJ looks a little like Wonder Woman’s Golden Age villain the Cheetah. Or is she not licensed?

16. un malpaso
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:43 pm [Reply]

    Wait… the other kids are characters, sure, but PJ is a… cheetah? Is that from Chester Cheetah of Cheetos? Is that really a big thing among toddlers? Or is he supposed to be a leopard? Am I missing something? And PJ is too young to go trick-or-treating, anyway, isn’t he? (In the narrative world, of course, not in the actual world where PJ is 95.) I’m so confused. Of course, that’s the best way to come to grips with Family Circus… with your frontal lobes completely decommissioned.

17. Artist formerly known as Ben
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:44 pm [Reply]

    @Ian C. (#8): Ah, you snuck in there before I refreshed.

18. NotThatGuy
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:46 pm [Reply]

    Lint. Or, as they say in the Family Circus, Lint! Finally, cavity-free treats: lint and chapstick! ! !

19. Aitherion
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:46 pm [Reply]

    Also the implication that the patriarchy that is the Keane compound would allow Dolly to dress as a main character from a very female-centric movie like Brave rings totally false. I’d expect her to be dressed as Alice from Brady Bunch, or maybe a mop.

20. Anonymous
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:50 pm [Reply]

    @Samuel PG (#14): don’t feel bad. Kids are taught to view homemade treats with suspicion. All those urban legends

21. Samuel PG
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:54 pm [Reply]

    @Anonymous (#20): But in seminary housing? I won’t complain, though; I enjoyed the leftovers.

22. bourbon babe, unbuckled
    October 28th, 2012 at 11:57 pm [Reply]

    Here’s my preparation for Hurricane Sandy and the likely resulting power outages:

    Just assume that had I been able to access the internet, I would have posted numerous brilliantly witty models of sparkling snark, so compelling that come Friday, Josh would have to build a float just to accommodate them all. My Mark Trail comments would illuminate heretofore-unexplored humorous nuances of large animals talking out of their butts; my insights into Mary Worth would reveal depths of Dawn’s idiocy that would, from now on, establish the standards by which all other idiocies are measured. And my extended riff on Bubba’s surprising regard for celebrity investors would linger in the depths of the CC hive-mind, surfacing regularly to renewed and ever-vigorous laughter.

23. Frank Lee Meidere
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:03 am [Reply]

    Rex Morgan, MD While it’s not often that this strip gets into humour, this one’s got me in stitches. The guy is going to give up a pot farm for — are you ready for this? — a solar farm! No, really! A solar farm. And they’re going to power the whole mountain with it. When it’s sunny, of course. And they’ll make money! Almost one tenth as much as they would with the pot farm.

    And as for the Hollywood movie stars being very concerned about their carbon footprint? Not so much. But they, like the government, are remarkably concerned about our carbon footprint.

    Ha! From a pot farm to a solar farm. What a laugh.

24. Roto13
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:04 am [Reply]

    Judging by the way everyone in this Momma strip is hovering slightly above the ground, maybe those aren’t costumes and they’re all really dead. Oh, if only.

25. Lael
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:06 am [Reply]

    Wait!?! In PARIS, FRANCE, Ziggy felt it necessary to wear pants?! But not anywhere else?! The world has flipped over…

26. Lael
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:08 am [Reply]

    @Ellie (#2): I know! I thought they were all on stilts at first!

27. Frank Lee Meidere
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:13 am [Reply]

    @Frank Lee Meidere (#23): And by “Rex Morgan,” of course, I meant “Judge Parker.”

    Sheesh. I’ve been away from this too long.

28. Ed Dravecky
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:16 am [Reply]

    Who would hate Ziggy enough to smash his dreams and strand him on the side of a rural highway? Oh, right… everyone.

29. Joshua
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:16 am [Reply]

    Momma: What is up with the lettering? Usually the lettering looks handwritten, but this is Comic Sans.

    And shouldn’t Francis’s friends be able to recognize each other by their voices anyway?

30. Dr. Weird
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:18 am [Reply]

    @Brimstone (#6):

    Behold, the 2010 Family Circus, illustrating how all but PJ have sold out!

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bdVR-JIDi2g/TM4R9pmahpI/AAAAAAAATwQ/Yh00JwppVqw/s1600/fam+circ.gif

    Also, Billy was dressed as a reasonably modern Batman (armored, but a yellow oval around the bat that hasn’t been in any recent movies), yet picturing himself in an Adam West style. Perhaps that’s the only version deemed decent enough to watch in the Keane Kompound.

31. Sequitur
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:20 am [Reply]

    Ziggy: If they had sent him to Paris, Texas at least he could have enjoyed soup!

32. Droopy Says
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:22 am [Reply]

    Spiderdick: The showgirl has a first name. Her last name is Chekhov.

    Funky Whatahasbeen: Aw, all the young’uns are getting on with their lives. Is this a set-up for a time jump?

    Mock Trail: Golly, Pops, you look so cheerful when you assure Trail Otto will take care of “his” people. And, um, Trail? Not to spoil your relentlessly clueless thoughts, but shouldn’t you worry about what happens to you?

    Jugs Parker: Yes, Avery, Bea is coming to save you. In Tupperware. Times are tough, but with a bit of seasoning you won’t be.

    Family Circus: No, Dolly, don’t ask Daddy to put a face on your upgrade. Let Billy (7 years old) do it.

33. Lee
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:23 am [Reply]

    I would like to assume that Ziggy knew he was going to Illinois, and wore a beret to be ironic. The fine print he should have read is that he would not be provided a hotel, only transportation. Hopefully, he can afford the fifty dollars per night.

    If that is not the case, then this strip assumes that Paris, Illinois is a cultural wasteland. Not true! Ziggy could visit the Edgar County Historical Society, The art center, numerous parks, and several fast food chains. The locals will probably treat Ziggy better than those in his home town.

34. Mincemeat
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:23 am [Reply]

    @Samuel PG (#14):
    I hadn’t noticed that the dot of the exclamation point is a popcorn ball, but of course it is. So perhaps the mystery “O” is an individually-wrapped apple or clementine. In any case, it is not an acceptable treat, and I trust that house got a healthy dose of TP and raw eggs.

35. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:34 am [Reply]

    MT — The hut has turned into the Tardis, but does that mean Mark has turned into Doctor Who? Nooooooo!

36. pparf
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:42 am [Reply]

    Momma: Hey, we’re all going to a party and we know cuz somebody set out a sign that says so. We should all walk single file then, yes?

37. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:04 am [Reply]

    A3G — Isn’t it kind of creepy that Margo is talking so loudly to herself that strangers are goggling and giggling at her? Or is this the prelude to a startling but ultimately satisfying scene of fiery death and destruction involving Margo’s powerful laser eyebeams?

38. Maggie the Cat
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:07 am [Reply]

    A3G- Ha…. it appears that prankster Greg attached a “kick me” sign to Margo’s back.

39. XenaFan
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:07 am [Reply]

    MOMMA: They belong to a cult, you say? After they bypass beer and go for the Kool Aide, they’ll ironically be wearing much the same costumes. For eternity.

40. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:08 am [Reply]

    ZIGGY — There is also a Paris, Iowa. I’ve never been there, but it was once a real town and is now an unincorporated community, which tells me that the population has fallen over the years and is probably just large enough now to beat Ziggy up.

41. Francisco Arrowroot
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:17 am [Reply]

    I’m kind of concerned about the millipede forming the C in the Keane Kids’ vision. Is that the obligatory trick part that has mostly disappeared from Halloween traditions? Or, more disturbingly, is there some neighbor who hands out lovingly-bred Diplopodae and the Kids’ twisted upbringing makes crunching them in half and feeling the legs prickle their throats as they swallow them seem like a treat?

42. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:21 am [Reply]

    @Francisco Arrowroot (#41): Interesting. I just assumed that “C” was some new incarnation of black licorice, the candy that only one of my sibs could stand. It took a lot of black licorice to get chocolate in a trade. Now I hope that’s a fake candy millipede of some kind, because I like the real ones. They deserve better than death by melonhead.

43. Anonymous
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:27 am [Reply]

    MT: Ah, yes, it those evil, invasive tiger shrimp that are spoiling things for mega-corporate commercial fishing enterprises that are depleting our oceans of wild fish, catching and killing dolphins in huge nets while trawling for tuna and countless other crimes against nature.

    MW: And, Jim, make sure that Dawn orders Merry’s favorite flavor of ice cream.

44. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:28 am [Reply]

    MW — Dawn is so very dim that she doesn’t even know how to hold a mixing spoon. Her name should be Murk.

45. tallyHO
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:30 am [Reply]

    Momma:

    Nothing says party like a sign that says “PARTY”. Whoot Whoot!

    While I have no good idea why the word balloons needed to by typeset, I’m gonna hazard a guess here. Based upon the similar, barely inspired costuming choice by Francis and his chums, the fact that some of them seem to be wearing bananas for shoes and based on the aspect that some of them thought enough to ensure their sheets have both sleeves and mouth holes (how else would they breath, right?) the only logical conclusion about the state of those fellows* must be they are already eight sheets to the wind.

    *surely, they are all guys. For too many reasons that must be true. (though the second one from the lead has no mouth hole. so that could be a g-g-g-ghost!)

46. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:30 am [Reply]

    @Anonymous (#43): Unfortunately, the invasive tiger shrimp are going to mess up entire ecosystems, not just the shrimping industry.

47. Raghead the Fiendly Neighbourhood Terrorist
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:40 am [Reply]

    Easy to tell, at least, that they aren’t Afghan or Pakistani kids, because they would all have dressed up as drones.

48. bbofun
    October 29th, 2012 at 1:48 am [Reply]

    @Aitherion (#19): Thank you for identifying who Dolly was dressed as. I was going through every female character I could think of who uses a bow. After Katniss and Athena (or Diana)(and a few reeeeeeeeallly obscure comic book characters), I was stuck.

    @Droopy Says (#32): Re: Spidey- I think you’re giving WAY too much credit to whoever actually writes this (Stan Lee? Yeah, right.) The author is just remembering every “Las Vegas” trope he can think of, and combining them- “There are women who hang around guys who win big in casinos! There are showgirls!THIS’LL BE GREAT!” Other than her abruptly leaving JJJ when he loses his airfare home at the roulette wheel, she will serve no other function.

    RMMD- Great. Who reminded Woody Wilson that Rex was a doctor, and this strip had to have something to do with medicine? I prefer NOT to think about breast cancer when I’m ogling half-naked women, thank you VERY much. (Plus- “Phoenix Reising?” Actually- that’s pretty damn great.)

    A3G (Monday)- “As Margo walks to work…” the denizens of the Phantom Zone snicker at her pain. (Where’s General Zod?)

    DT (Sunday)- so, let me get this straight. Sparkle Plenty, who named her daughter after herself, and whose adopted daughter’s name is Honeymoon, is telling her mother, Gravel Gertie, who is married to B.O.Plenty, with whom she had )in addition to Sparkle) a son named Attitude, is telling her mother that the pusher she met had a “very strange name.”

    Okay. just making sure.

    MW (Monday)- Honestly CAN NOT WAIT to find out what half-baked “cure” Mary is going to suggest for Jim’s fear of the pier (as opposed to the “fear at the pier”, their annual Halloween celebration).

49. Poteet
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:06 am [Reply]

    FC — All I ever wanted for treats as a child was chocolate. For a few years, however, I trick-or-treated for UNICEF, and I thought it was my duty, when people gave me small change, to refuse to take any treats, since it seemed unfair to me to ask for both. I think I was the only little sap who had that policy, however, because I saw other children collecting coins for UNICEF and then taking candy as well. Now that I’m a grownup, I can buy my own chocolate but have to be rational about how much I eat. Life is brutal.

50. He Brought Queenie Baby Jesus
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:11 am [Reply]

    Have the BC cavemen from yesterday kissed yet?

51. Brent
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:11 am [Reply]

    It could have been worse… Ziggy could have won a stay at the Paris Hilton.

52. Baka Gaijin
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:21 am [Reply]

    @Dr. Weird (#30): I knew there was something seriously wrong with Jeffy, dreaming of being an EVILSCARYCLOWN.

    @Brent (#51): Paris Hilton would turn into a nunnery after an “encounter” with Ziggy.

53. Baka Gaijin
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:45 am [Reply]

    I laughed the laugh of the unironic at Pickles.

    Count Weirdly can make a time machine, a one-person submarine that can withstand the pressure at the Marianas Trench but can’t make an anatomically-correct decoy of a nemesis. Geez, what an evil genius. [/sarcasm]

54. Droopy Says
    October 29th, 2012 at 3:00 am [Reply]

    @bbofun (#48): Re: Chekhov’s showgirl in Spiderbrick. I’d like to think she was planted by KravenTheHunter, but you’re probably right that she won’t do anything except dump Jameson. Just the same it’s going to take this story five months to lurch toward its conclusion, and if that’s her only function, she’ll be as forgotten as the diamond tiara by then. So whoever is writing this will have to give her some other function, if they want to hold the reader’s interest . . . oh. Yeah, you’re right.

55. Mr. O'Malley
    October 29th, 2012 at 3:13 am [Reply]

    What is that thing the Keane kids are walking next to? It looks like a two-foot high rough concrete wall unbroken by any entryway.

    A gated community for children?
    The border with the People’s Republic of East Melonville?
    The forbidden lands of the heathen who hand out the best candy because they celebrate SATAN?
    Time boundary where you can see into the 21st century, but never go there?

56. BigTed
    October 29th, 2012 at 3:23 am [Reply]

    By the lack of bulges in their form-fitting hooded white Snuggies, it’s obvious that nobody has brought any beer. Francis on Halloween night with no sweet, sweet alcohol… that’s how slasher movies start, right?

57. Avenida
    October 29th, 2012 at 4:31 am [Reply]

    You’ll notice the sign specifically says “Welcome to Paris, Illinois” instead of just “Welcome to Paris” as one would expect.

    Clearly this means the city’s department of public works is in on the prank. I imagine they’ve installed hidden cameras so they can take sadistic glee in Ziggy’s disappointment upon learning he’s still in the US.

58. Cloudbuster
    October 29th, 2012 at 4:35 am [Reply]

    A3G: With the proper voice-over narration, this story arc could be presented as a documentary about workplace ethics violations and sexual harassment. Also, I call BS: in NYC, people walking around talking emphatically to themselves are assumed to either be using a bluetooth headset or be insane. In either case, people aggressively refuse to notice them.

    FW: As a father who’s dropped off a couple kids at the MEPS in the past decade, I can tell you that this just isn’t the way they do things. Nobody ever accused the government of extreme efficiency, but they don’t send two guys to personally pick up each recruit at home. The kid is told when to show up at the MEPS and, by God, he or she better be there on time.

    MW: Does wise old Mary have any advice about co-dependent women who latch on to broken men and think they can “fix” them?

59. Liam
    October 29th, 2012 at 5:29 am [Reply]

    Momma-Apparently they all sound alike too.

60. Honey Badger, Does not give a shit
    October 29th, 2012 at 5:51 am [Reply]

    MW: Dawn actually died on that Italian cruise ship. The reincarnation gods just really screwed up and sent the “Life is Brutal” girl back to be Merry.

61. Mr. O'Malley
    October 29th, 2012 at 5:56 am [Reply]

    If Pluggers clean their glasses with a paper towel, then Pluggers must go around with severely scratched lenses. Don’t Pluggers have old well-worn cotton T-shirts? Do Pluggers just perform unnecessarily stupid actions just to emphasize their Pluggerness?

    Maybe I should send a few in.
    Pluggers wait until the dipstick is completely dry before they put more oil in their car.
    Pluggers like to play golf in thunderstorms.
    Pluggers drive around railroad crossing gates to beat the train.
    Pluggers use a propane torch on ants that invade their kitchen.

62. The Ridger
    October 29th, 2012 at 5:58 am [Reply]

    @Mr. O’Malley (#61): Pluggers have glasses, dammit, not those stupid new-fangled plastic-or-whatever lenses Kids These Days wear.

63. Owen
    October 29th, 2012 at 6:05 am [Reply]

    Just when you thought Momma couldn’t get any worse… it succumbs to inexplicably powerful lure of Comic Sans!

64. Owen
    October 29th, 2012 at 6:10 am [Reply]

    I thought PJ was dressed as Marsupilami, and was about to give the Family Circus props for the somewhat obscure reference, but then Dr. Weird (#30) proved that PJ simply aspires to be an actual leopard. Given the human role models in the Keane house, who can blame him?

65. John C Fremont
    October 29th, 2012 at 6:18 am [Reply]

    @Lael (#25): When I was a kid, that one schoolyard song went, “There’s a place in France where the girls don’t wear no pants.” We had no concept of a pantsless character named Ziggy back then. We were just forward thinking, I guess.

    In fairness to my old school, grammar was taken very seriously by the time we got to junior high. Until then, it was every kid for himself.

    @Droopy Says (#32): “My showgirl has a first name, it’s F-I-O-N-A.
    My showgirl has a second name, it’s C-H-E-K-H-O-V.”

    GA – Goshers, I wonder where they’ll find his jacket! It’s pins and needles that I am on!

66. Mr. O'Malley
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:12 am [Reply]

    @The Ridger (#62): I wouldn’t clean the lens of my Canonet QL17 with a paper towel either.

67. LP2004
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:18 am [Reply]

    @Cloudbuster (#58): FW: I think what’s happening here is that the Army did a background check on Cory and figured it be more efficient to just escort him directly to Ft. Leavenworth. He’s going to end up there anyway, so why waste all that time and effort on Basic Training and AIT?

68. XenaFan
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:22 am [Reply]

    FAMILY CIRCUS: What if there was a ‘Family Circus’ horror spin-off called ‘Circus Freaks’? Never mind. That would redundant.

69. Cannibal Crustacean
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:29 am [Reply]

    JP: Unflappable in the face of a chainsaw but reduced to gibbering terror at the thought of losing his tricked-out SUV, Avery Blackstone is a complicated man. (No one understands him but his woman.)

    MW: “Dear Piering into the Abyss

    F is for Friendless
    R is for Recluse
    E is for Erratic
    A is for Angry
    K is for Kraken, release the

    Don’t walk, don’t run — SWIM — far, far away from this guy.

    Looking back,
    Wendy”

70. Droopy Says
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:51 am [Reply]

    Sunday’s Momma: Did they glue the sheets to their faces? Because the mouths and eyes (and even eyebrows) show more expression than you’d expect on a bedsheet. Or on a Momma character.

71. Motorposus
    October 29th, 2012 at 8:02 am [Reply]

    I totally want to be Margo Magee for Halloween. I hope I can find three accomplices with early-60s hairdos to tag along as my blueface mimes.

72. LP2004
    October 29th, 2012 at 8:14 am [Reply]

    @LP2004 (#67): “…figured it would be more efficient…”

73. pugfuggly
    October 29th, 2012 at 8:23 am [Reply]

    Momma Given that they’re all dressed as oversized condoms (right?), I would guess that this ‘party’ is some kind of anonymous orgy. So yeah, Francis, lay off the beer. No-one wants to be close to wherever it might be coming out.

    FC Later on, once the candy is sampled and the kids’ blood sugar starts oscillating wildly, I expect an epic Marvel vs DC smack-down in the living room.

74. queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
    October 29th, 2012 at 8:47 am [Reply]

    NAoQV, RwO: *golf clap*

    PBS: seems legit.

    R&R: True Fable, guest editor.

    Retail: mmm, servicey!

75. Nomstrosity
    October 29th, 2012 at 9:52 am [Reply]

    And yet, the Family Circus kids cannot conceptualize branded candy! (“Butterthumb,” etc, in their though bubble.) Somebody parse this for me while I make sure I have enough Oreos to see me through Hurricane Sandy.

76. mightygodking
    October 29th, 2012 at 10:57 am [Reply]

    Jebus, people: PJ is dressed as Tigger. You know, Winnie the Pooh Tigger. He’s even doing as Tiggerish a jump as is possible without an actual prehensile spring-tail.

    Which just goes to show you that the Keane family rigorously stomps out imagination in the new generation. Thirty years ago it was your standard ghosts and witches and the like. Now it’s cartoon characters and superheroes. This is because if a kid wanted to be something original and cool for Halloween, like a Robot Vampire or something, precious Keane stability would be threatened. If PJ dresses up like a princess there will be ANARCHY IN THE STREETS!

77. Nehemiah Scudder
    October 29th, 2012 at 11:11 am [Reply]

    Apt3G: Did Margo forget to put on a dress or some pants before she left the apartment? Why are all the blue people staring and laughing at her?

    // The mistake would be understandable. All the mirrors in Apt 3G are from the waist up, also.

    MT: Everything will be ok, folks. There’s a water tower on the island!

78. SurrealKangaroo
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:19 pm [Reply]

    Francis and his friends are going to a cocktail party. That is why they don’t need beer. I mean who doesn’t go to a cocktail party draped in a bed sheet?

79. Canton
    October 29th, 2012 at 12:27 pm [Reply]

    @Mincemeat (#13): Aww, I miss the popcorn balls one of my elderly neighbors gave out every Halloween. I have since outgrown Trick-or-Treating, and she’s since passed away. She was a sweet, loving woman, and those popcorn balls were homemade. Sweet popcorn was not my thing (It took a while to develop a taste for kettle corn), and I don’t remember really eating them, but they were a tradition, not a disappointment.

    Rural Halloweens were the best.

80. GoemonYae
    October 29th, 2012 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

    That Ziggy strip is just like when a group of Canadians won an all-expenses paid trip to Miami for the winter. There was no fine print saying it was the Miami in Manitoba, the province these people already lived in. The radio host who offered this prize was fired before any lawsuits could occur.

81. anon
    October 29th, 2012 at 6:27 pm [Reply]

    Momma: They are all dressed alike. None of them apparently know who is who (yeah, a real mystery). All ponder this dilemma except ONE of them who is so excited there will be beer to be had shortly that he can’t help but woo-hoo his joy. The only one of this group of ‘friends’ known to get so very excited by the thought of beer is: Francis. By blurting his fixation out, he gives himself away, no longer an anonymous mystery ghost. (none of them frown upon alcohol, but only Francis is such an over-eager lush.)

82. Joe
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:43 pm [Reply]

    Well, Ziggy, it could be worse. At least you didn’t end up in Paris, Kentucky.

83. Jim
    October 29th, 2012 at 7:44 pm [Reply]

    Momma: I think Mell Lazarus may miss his earlier comic strip, “Miss Peach”, a strip featuring a bunch of children who were seen attending school for 9 months of the year, and summer camp (with the same adult authority figures) for the rest. Lazarus would frequently devote “Miss Peach” to a single panel, featuring a four or five-part multi-logue, to be read from left to right. Replace Francis in the “Momma” strip with Ira, the old strip’s resident dumb-but-sweet kid, and the final speaker with Marcia, the cruel, snotty kid, and you have a typical “Miss Peach” daily strip. Oh, and change the gag about beer to something more childlike.

84. giraffe-o
    October 30th, 2012 at 11:36 am [Reply]

    I like how the cabbie has unloaded all of Ziggy’s luggage before delivering the punchline.

85. Mincemeat
    October 30th, 2012 at 12:57 pm [Reply]

    @Canton (#79):
    Oh, a homemade popcorn ball is a lovely thing. You’d just have to be clueless to hand them out to strangers on Halloween, because very few kids would have the nerve to eat them. Those urban legends never die, you know.

    Anyway, the ones I’ve seen in the street on November 1st are the premade, prepackaged kind, indistinguishable from styrofoam packing peanuts. Anybody who hands those things out deserves to find a dead woodchuck in their mailbox. Just spring for Almond Joy, you cheap bastards!

86. Drekal
    October 30th, 2012 at 1:47 pm [Reply]

    I have a different take from this Ziggy. I figure he had to know this hours ago upon noticing (for example) that there was no sign of the French language anywhere around him, the flight was far shorter than it should have been… Little clues like that.

    The expression on his face is not sudden realisation that he has been duped. The real thought hidden within his pale misshapen head is something more along the lines of “gee, thanks for pointing that out. I had absolutely no idea until I saw this sign that I had the wrong idea. Thanks for dropping me off in the middle of nowhere, by the way.”

    The only reason he is not sharing these thoughts should be rather obvious: Ziggy realises that he is all alone with this cab driver, and the only ones that would notice if he went missing would likely celebrate the fact. In fact, a more concerning thought may be creeping in on him right now: “What if this wasn’t a prank? What if they’ve finally decided to pull the trigger? I mean, why else would he have me take my luggage out in the middle of nowhere?”

87. Der Schnärkïnätör mit Ümläüts!
    October 30th, 2012 at 5:00 pm [Reply]

    @beats solo (#87): @about long champ (#88): @outlet michael kors (#89): @about burberry sale (#90):

    Spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam, spam, spam, spam…..

88. Zla\'od
    October 31st, 2012 at 2:08 am [Reply]

    Poteet (# 49), if you only knew where your UNICEF money went, you’d realize that life is corrupt as well as brutal.

89. Zla'od
    October 31st, 2012 at 2:14 am [Reply]

    John C. Fremont (# 65), that song has a fascinating history:

    http://www.shira.net/streets-of-cairo.htm

90. Lisa
    November 14th, 2012 at 12:52 am [Reply]

    Re Ziggy… I live not far from Paris IL and the sign is about all there is to it.

All the cool kids…

…buy Comics Curmudgeon merchandise!

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