The Comics Curmudgeon

86 responses to “Metapost: Late night comments of the week”

1. Shalomi
   May 20th, 2008 at 4:27 am [Reply]

   it’s the middle of the night. What the hell.

2. Mr. O'Malley
   May 20th, 2008 at 4:30 am [Reply]

   Phooey, I’m posting again. But with closed tags this time.

   Poetry mashup in RWO was funny. Just like one of those (ahem ) contests.

   But never mind that, literary criticism awaits…

   Blood Cargo by Michael Patterson

   Based on an inspiring true story, this roman a clef explores the soul of a noble helicopter pilot. Warren has a date with the most exquisite and charming single woman in the entire GTA. Perhaps his entire wasted and chronicled in detail life can finally be redeemed by the love of a woman.

   But then fate intervenes in the form of an sudden telephone call. In remote Mtigwaki, a First Nations village in Northern Ontario, a child suffering from hemophilia lies close to death. All local blood supplies have been exhausted. The little girl’s only hope of survival rests on an emergency flight of blood into the town. Without an airstrip in Mtigwaki, only a helicopter can bring the livesaving blood supply.

   Will Warren break his date with the capricious charmer, and risk his future happiness, to save the life of an innocent child? Warren must explore the depths of his soul before he can resolve this dilemma.

   Preview and miss the number one slot. What a life!

3. PattyCake
   May 20th, 2008 at 4:38 am [Reply]

   Nice job, Dingo. Well done, all.

4. Mr. O'Malley
   May 20th, 2008 at 5:12 am [Reply]

   “lifesaving” I wish I could type.

5. PattyCake
   May 20th, 2008 at 5:23 am [Reply]

   Mr. O’Malley: Preview and miss the typo!

6. Mr. O'Malley
   May 20th, 2008 at 5:47 am [Reply]

   On a philosophical note, I just watched the second half of the PBS show about FDR, and it caused me to think what comics are still running from FDR’s time.

   Popeye, Blondie and Gasoline Alley are the only ones that come to mind. I think a few others may be lurking around?

   On the other hand, plenty of strips from JFK’s time are still going. But JFK was only 14 years after FDR, and JFK is now 45 years in the past, come next November

   Some of it has to do with the old concept that the strip dies with the artist. Most of us remember the late Al Scaduto and TDIET, although he wasn’t the originator of the strip.

   Some more of it has to do with the reduction of the size of the strips that started during WWII and continued since, causing a revolution in drawing style.

   People have mentioned the various versions of OBH that are lurking around. I believe we had this discussion before. Some of them are labelled OBH Classics.

   I’ve noticed that the Peanuts strips online at the Houston Chronicle do not match my local paper. So far I prefer the online versions. They reach back into the classic days of the strip.

   I wonder, though, if newspapers should really be printing comic strips dating back to the Eisenhower years? As a historical period it is interesting. But newspapers are complaining about losing their audience?

   Why not starting reprints of Krazy Kat? There was a classic if ever there was.

   Having just looked back at some KK online, it seems to me that PBS comes the closest to containing the anarchy.

7. Big Sims
   May 20th, 2008 at 6:10 am [Reply]

   Congrats Dingo! Yea all you runners-up! Throw me something mister!

8. gleeb
   May 20th, 2008 at 6:44 am [Reply]

   Brenda: “Basil?” “Basil!” “Basil.” Eh, it’s only a model.

   FBoFW: How much space can it take to write “Putz”?

   Fuzzy: I assume the mob-cat’s name is a reference to James “Whitey” Bulger, Boston racketeer and murderer, a fugitive for years now. Fun fact: his brother was head of the Massachusetts Senate.

   Ziggy: That’s not actually bad, which means for Ziggy, it’s a masterpiece.

9. Alfred E. Neuman
   May 20th, 2008 at 6:56 am [Reply]

   Congrats to Dingo and all of the other COTW winners—great job all! I’m especially pleased that my nominee, Trilobite, made the cut.

   BB— Very meta and actually amusing. Can we look forward to a CC reference in the future?

   DT— She may claim to be “Shirl Locke Holmes”, but judging by her appearance, my guess is that that’s a pseudonym. I think that Dab Stract has sent her to Dick as another “gift.” She’s actually Francoise Gilot. Or possibly Dora Maar.

   FOOB— Weed’s last-panel expression says all we need to know about Mikey.

   Garfield— Liz is honoring Charlie Brown today.

   JP— I’ve never followed JP very closely in the past, but is it a policy of Barreto to make changes in Abbey’s appearance every so often? She looks different today. Maybe it’s because she’s not in one of her usual exotic/erotic poses. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure that her subsequent arrest and strip search will be just as entertaining regardless of which Abbey it is.

   MW— “She was at peace in the end.”?? I think Mary means, “She was at peace at the end.” Being “at peace in the end” implies that she was not suffering from any, er, digestive problems. But who knows, Mary probably meddles with them, too.

10. Jamus The Bartender
    May 20th, 2008 at 7:10 am [Reply]

    Awright Dingo. Mudge Midwest Meet-Up Ought Seven Represent.

11. The Spectacular Spider-Brick
    May 20th, 2008 at 7:29 am [Reply]

    WOOT! Good on ya, Dingo! Bonzer joke, mate! Toss a shrimp on the barbie for me! And other Australianisms as inappropriate as they are offensive.

    And I’m back on the float! Woohoo! Life is sweet! Congrats, fellow floaters!

12. Jamus The Bartender
    May 20th, 2008 at 7:29 am [Reply]

    FOOB: “I don’t want this success to go to my head” Well, Mikey, that Bloody Cargo ship has sailed, i’m afraid. Soon your books will enter the dollar bin, you’ll be caught schtupping a Lit. undergrad while Dee takes care of your kids, and an angry God will have His vengeance as you have to move back in with Elly. Just down the block. Then you’ll have to listen to Liz’ stories of men whose hearts she’s broken and left in the dirt. For hours and hours. Hey, maybe you can get a book out of that.
    Dick Tracy: Yeah, he’s right here, ordering one prune juice and alcohol after another. Just shaking his head and muttering “Shirl Locke Holmes…” and shaking his head. Yeah, he says she’ll probably be a great cop…but there’s that name, you know…
    Luann: Actually, if Luann and Bernice joined a gang, that would make things more interesting. And went out spreading diseases…..damn, what’s Evans thinking of?
    Mary Worth: I seem to remember an episode of Scrubs where JD had funeral sex with his girlfriend whose father had passed. Don’t know why I thought of that…
    Judge Parker: Whu-oh. I once read a dirty story similar to this, and there was only one way the naughty housewife could get the sherriff to rip up the speeding ticket….

13. man behind the curtain
    May 20th, 2008 at 7:49 am [Reply]

    A snark and an obsevation:

    A3G — At least Haley understands that the best way to view LuAnn’s paintings is to be totally stoned.

    FBOW — Lynn Johnston is a very successful femaile cartoonist in what is probably a man’s world. yt she seems to make all of her female characters secondary to the men. Once agsin, today, carleen is just Weed’s assistant. Liz can’t be allowed to carve out a successful life. Instead she must define herself by marrying some loser. April’s dreams will be dashed while her friend Eva is made to look selfish because she wants a career based on her talent. Despite all of Elly’s accomplishments she seems to believe she is still not the equal to Dr. john. What is Lynn trying to tell us?

14. Weaselboy
    May 20th, 2008 at 8:50 am [Reply]

    Yay, Dingo. I didn’t even notice Ted’s posing till I clicked on the link just now. Maybe I could get a COTW if I paid more attention.

15. benro
    May 20th, 2008 at 8:51 am [Reply]

    A3G – From the look of the ‘pipe’ in Alan’s hand, it appears the artist has never seen a real pipe before, and just looked it up on the internet to see what it looks like so he could draw it properly. And I suppose this means that they’re smoking pipe dope.

16. The Spectacular Spider-Brick
    May 20th, 2008 at 8:53 am [Reply]

    A3G: When, in the history of addictive substances, has any drug user ever uttered the words, “Wow. This dope is super — I feel great!”? And its awkwardness is compounded by perhaps the first use in A3G history of a period following an interjection. If Haley doesn’t turn out to be Marie Osmond, Undercover Narc, doing her best to fake being high, I will be sorely disappointed.

    Archie: Dogs’ limbs don’t bend that way! The sad truth is revealed: “Hot Dog” is actually a retarded kid Jughead pays to wear a fur suit and be his friend. I don’t know which one to feel sorry for.

    BF: Or maybe he’s a glaucoma patient and it’s California medicinal herb.

    Curtis: If Curtis thinks it’s embarassing now, wait until it starts magically cataloging his future ailments. “Curtis Wilkins, age 15, will contract chlamydia from that skank Chutney.” “Curtis Wilkins, age 19, will have to have a beer bottle extracted from his rectum.” “Curtis Wilkins will die at age 23 from autoerotic asphyxiation while watching ‘Two Girls One Cup: The Syrup Chapter’.”

    (WT)DT: “My father the traffic cop was run down in the street by Mr. Hitten Runn. We took him to Dr. Stich M. Upp, who…” You know what? No. I can’t do this. No more stupid pun names. I’m sick of ‘em. Hear that, Locher? Unless Dick Tracy quits the Force and goes to work as a draftsman for the design department of a sex-toy manufacturer (get it?), you don’t get to make any more stupid pun names. Or you’ll get a visit from my friend Beet Joorass. Got it?

    FC: I think this strip has a problem. I think it’s afraid of humor.

    Garfield: Jon is grinning because he’s imagining Liz saying exactly the same thing at his place later tonight.

    HotC: Nice job, Tatulli, at having at least one character look at this situation realistically (panel 2). I was saying that from the start.

    H&J: Most people would simply say “forever.” But then, most people aren’t characters in Herb & Jamaal.

    JP: Bokka-chikka-w… Oops, not yet? Sorry. I’ll wait. Carry on.

    MT: Take it easy, fella. Mark is probably still standing in the motel parking lot with his fist clenched, staring off in the wrong direction and muttering to himself about vans.

    Phantom: Ghost-Who-Plans-To-Fail probably wishes he had his dog with him right now. Good ol’ Devil would know how to clear a blocked fuel line, you betcha.

    RMMRSA: “Shows how much you know! MRSA can be spread by sharing whistles!”

    tAS: Um… what the friggity hell?! …Ohhhh. Candies. Wow, that’s a long fwinkin’ way to go for a weak, obscure joke. I have to revise my Chron page to drop PreTeena, and I think this strip’s test run is over.

17. Weaselboy
    May 20th, 2008 at 8:59 am [Reply]

    MT: Panel three: There’s something about that bad guy’s jaw. It looks so…I don’t know…punchable.

18. Tracer Bullet
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:01 am [Reply]

    FOOB: No need to change, Mike. We dislike you just the way you are.

    FW: Ha-ha! Betty is being forced out because of budget cuts. Soon she’ll be living under a bridge, eating cat food and hording old socks. A group of fourth-graders will eventually find her rotting corpse buried under a pile of leaves weeks after she was raped and murdered by a 15-year-old junkie. Then the comedy will really get started.

    JP: “But I can’t go to jail officer! Isn’t there someway we can work this out?” Bonk-chicka-wow-wow

    MW: Later. “What do you want to talk about, Ron?”
    “I don’t want to talk at all.” Bonk-chicka-wow-wow

    SM: That’s the spirit, MJ! When the going gets tough, the . . . weak give up and cry like little girls. Clearly you and Pete are made for each other.

19. AtomicDog
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:10 am [Reply]

    Fast Track – Someone has never heard of scanners.

20. Funky smelling crankshafted corpse
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:11 am [Reply]

    Cranky: The Old lady doesn’t want to leave. We get it.

    Luann: My respect for Luann and Bernice just went up a notch. Its not often that lazy self-centered white middle class girls admit to it.

21. Whippersnapper
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:11 am [Reply]

    Congrats to all the float riders!

    Foob: I can hardly stand the suspense, as Weed’s potato nose and bulbous chin battle it out for dominance of his face.

    RMMD: Panel 2- MRSA does thrive in athletic settings. It’s lettered in 3 sports, it always gets picked first at recess, and no one ever gives it a wedgie after phys ed. Unlike me.

22. Patrick, FOOB Abominator Division
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am [Reply]

    Yesterthread FOOB: It’s not an empty picture frame, Weed is adjusting a light reflector. He probably intends to bounce his flash off the reflector instead of directly into the Delicate One’s face lest it cause irreparable harm.

23. AtomicDog
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:21 am [Reply]

    Marmaduke – Someday I’m going to start collecting lame “cat scan” cartoons.

    Not today.

24. Artist formerly known as Ben
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:29 am [Reply]

    5/20 (With all due congratulations to the rockin’ COTWers)

    MW: Ron? Ron! Stay with us, man! Obviously it’s tempting to fall asleep on your feet when Mary’s around, but if you tip over and wreck the bar supllies, It’s an extra $500.

    JP: Just how serious can it be if the state troopers sent Bill Dauterive from “King of the Hill?”

    DtM: No Dennis, she’s just heard all your jokes before.

    DT: Shit, some people really hate parking tickets.

    Marvin: Why, Tom, why?

    Baldo: I think we can all agree that the visual for “You can’t mop less if you want to go topless” could have been more fun.

    A3G: Haley’s “This dope is super. I feel great! Let’s go look at the art,” is a line for the ages. The Mills Gallery can try a new slogan: If you don’t like our art, you’re obviously sober.

    BB: Beetle’s meta-savvy is blowing Gizmo’s mind.

    GT: “Every time I try to talk to the lawyer, he ducks out by saying ‘Time to make the donuts.’”

    BC: Have to admit, I don’t remember Johnny doing this kind of eco-humor.

    SFx: Never has the digging of a roadside grave been so festive.

    Popeye: Sea Hag’s island is only for mean people. And judging from panel one, people with nasty hemorrhoids.

    Luann: Why do you like them? Because, Delta, the sex is just that good.

    S-M: We were promised “Spider-Man vs the Vulture.” It wasn’t much of a promise, but it was something we could hold onto. Instead, we get “Spidey vs. Way Too Much Couple Time.”

    FW: “Ah, you’re suffering, and that makes me wryly happy.”

    SSmith: Okay, we’re all thinking it. “That’s not how my Maw makles sweet, sweet love to me.”

25. AtomicDog
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:34 am [Reply]

    Real Life Adventures – Hmm. Is he an old ladies’ man, an old ladies’ man, or an old lady’s man?

26. AtomicDog
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:40 am [Reply]

    SFx – “The sun is a mass of incandescent gas…”

27. John C Fremont
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am [Reply]

    Funny stuff, people! Yay for Dingo!

    # 17 – Also very funny!

    A3G – Such believably dialogue!

    Foob – Such pretentious crap!

    MW – Also at the funeral is Dr. Drew, seen here sharing a moment with Dabney Coleman.

    GT – That’s no lawyer. That’s TV’s Detective Frank Cannon.

28. man behind the curtain
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am [Reply]

    LuAnn — Why do you like them? Because, when you get past all of your santimonious BS, you realize you’re just like them.

29. SFMarcus
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am [Reply]

    Go Dingo, go Dingo!

    It really is a funny comment. Several days after it was originally posted, I was puttering around my room, doing something totally random (-no, not THAT) – when I suddenly remembered “pearls, manicure, decolletage…” and started cracking up. It’s quite possible that I even mimicked Ted Forth’s fey, affected gesture myself, right then and there because it [ital]felt so right[/ital](I’m not telling if I did, however).

    In related news: I’m so proud to be a floater! This site cracks me up, and so does everyone’s comments. Choosing COTW of the week must be hard!

30. monsieurjohn
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:52 am [Reply]

    Popeye: *You’re* potential? I trust Popeye enough to think that it shouldn’t have glaring grammatical errors, but that sure looks like one. You HAVE potential would make a lot more sense, as would “your potential”. Bah!

31. Hank
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:55 am [Reply]

    RE: Mr. O’Malley on Old Strips and why they last. I think the reason that most of the older strips only date to the post-WWII era may have a lot to do with the fact that they are strips that the baby boomers grew up on and remember most fondly.

32. Gabacho
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am [Reply]

    COTW – I missed a lot since Wednesday last as I was traveling. The sheer pleasure of seeing the Comments of the Week was doubled this time since I hadn’t seen any of them before. Good work! Throw me some beads.

    One Big Happy – I know how late I am to this party from the other threads but I want to add my two centavos worth.

    On the face of it, it’s a good joke – Mom inflicts a punishment she thinks will be effective because it will be so terrible and it turns out the kid likes it. Like many ‘mudges I am sure, I never minded being “punished” by being restricted from TV. I liked to read and the parents never figured that out. So it’s funny on that level.

    It’s brilliant on another level in that it is the first time I have ever seen a “trans” anyone in a comic. Not only that, he was not the joke! I love the sequence and think it was great.

    I am delighted and not surprised to see that there a number of transmudgeons here. The transqueers I know are remarkable self realized people and almost all have a great sense of ironic humor. Just another reason to love this place.

    Okay, I had to get that out.

    Mary Worth – Ron, you’re just asking for it. I normally have some sympathy for Mary’s victims but you’re volunteering here.

    Talking to Mary is like saying to Linda Tripp “Can you keep a secret?”

33. Darkefang
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:07 am [Reply]

    A3G: The writer of Apartment 3-G has made some really gutsy choices in this current storyline. Rarely do we see drug addiction depicted in such a gritty and hyper-realistic manner.

    Archie: I always thought the Archie-Veronica-Betty threesome was the kinkiest thing on the comics page. I was wrong. After seeing panel three of today’s strip, it’s clear that the Archie gang is so hardcore that it’s moved beyond leather, forcing their gimp to wear a furry dog suit.

    DT: If I know anything about genetics – and I don’t – I’d say that her father was killed in the line of duty because he couldn’t reach his holster with his tiny arms.

    GT: “And to make matters worse, long-term exposure to gamma radiation has caused my lawyer’s hands to grow so large that he can no longer type without mashing down nine keys at a time.”

    MW: People say that California is the state with the most beautiful people. That’s probably not really true. It just seems that way because all the ugliest freaks in the state are banished to Santa Royale.

34. Dingo
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:14 am [Reply]

    Thank you! Thank you everyone! I feel warm and tingly inside. Like a Mary Worth cocktail.

35. Harry Worth
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:25 am [Reply]

    Mary Worth with a cocktail is Dr. Jeff’s dream.

36. TheDiva
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:32 am [Reply]

    Woot, everybody!

    FOOB: So instead, Mike’s become someone everyone else will dislike.

37. Randall
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am [Reply]

    In LuAnn today it looks like Delta is not wearing pants! Hoo-yah!

38. Kaitlyn
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:48 am [Reply]

    Will Elder died last week. His NYT obit.

    There has to be a MAD fan here, right?

39. rhymes with puck
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:52 am [Reply]

    FW: No, really, this isn’t smirk-worthy – in 6 months she’ll be eating dog food and watching Walker, Texas Ranger reruns all day. Unless she dies of cancer, of course.

    FBOFW: So Michael is worrying that he’ll become someone he’d ‘normally dislike’? Too bad he hasn’t been worried about becoming someone 95% of the civilized world dislikes.

    BB: I think I’m speaking for all of us when I say you should just put that fourth wall back up and forget it ever existed.

    Phantom: He may be the bestest purple-spandexed Africa-based superhero in the world, but he is one gullible airplane buyer.

    A3G: To think the only reason I’ve been paying attention to this is to see how they planned to draw Alan when she was stoned. Now two people are stoned out of their mind and they look like they are about to go to the library? How disappointing!

    DT: It’s nice to see that Shirl Locke Holmes was able to become a police officer despite being born with her right hand directly attached to her elbow.

    GT: Elmer’s speaking in the rhymes that american won’t speak in!

    Pluggers: You’re a plugger if your college degree provided you with no ability to become successful in life.

    H&J: Eternity is the time between funny Herb & Jamaal strips.

40. Calico
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:17 am [Reply]

    Ha, congrats Dingo! And the rest! : )

    I fully anticipate Ted to show up at our annual Gay Pride fest this summer, in exactly that aforementioned string of pearls. You go, girl.

    Speaking of fisticuffs in Mary Worth, I hope she milks this Ron thing for all it’s worth, and Ron and Jeff end up Jello-wrestling on Mary’s living room floor.

41. Calico
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:22 am [Reply]

    #38 – I loved Bill’s work-though I said in a previous post some of his stuff really put the spook into me at a young age, like “Starchie” and “The Mole.”

    Back when FOOB wasn’t a sad shadow of itself, Lynn used to employ the “Chicken Fat” technique of the snide little background joke or sign. Ray Billingsley, the Curtis artist, does this in the barber shop-just check out all the snarky signs on the wall.

    The recent GA Sturdy storyline tried this out as well, with his college sweatshirt changing names panel to panel.

    And of course, our beloved Alison Bechdel has utilized this technique many times in DTWOF.

    Bill was a great influence on many cartoonists, and he is missed.

42. Calico
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am [Reply]

    #40 – Oh, God, I made a totally inadvertent “pun” on Mary’s name. Therapy Please.

43. Poteet
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:24 am [Reply]

    Yay Dingo! Woot woot! And yay for the excellent float-ridin’ snarks! I bow and applaud.

    Meanwhile, JUDGE PARKER made the letters to the editor in Des Moines. I have no idea if this link attempt will work, and apologies if it doesn’t.
    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/OPINION04/805200378/1038/Opinion

44. Firegoat
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:30 am [Reply]

    JP — What is different about Abbey you ask? Isn’t it obvious? They are tinkering with….. her SHE MULLET!

    note the sides swept up and held with a little barette….. that comes first… by next week she’ll be sporting a shoulder length bob….

45. Maple Syrup
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:42 am [Reply]

    Beetle Baily Today’s BB not only breaks the third wall, it also calls in an artillery strike and a Jericho missile to obliterate it entirely.

46. porky
    May 20th, 2008 at 12:29 pm [Reply]

    Yesterday’s PBS:
    An actual facial expressionTHAT is the real “Surprise” in PBS.

47. Gal Friday
    May 20th, 2008 at 12:42 pm [Reply]

    MT “He’s probably tracking us!” You’d think that, right? What with the collar/transmitter do-hickey–all fancy pants technology? But you’d be wrong, of course.

48. cheech wizard
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:08 pm [Reply]

    6- Mr. O’Mally – You missed a couple big ones – Dick Tracy.(1931) – although to say it “continues” is a bit – it has to be the most zombie of zombie strips, lurching stiffly across the page in search of human blood. Also Nancy (begun as Fritzi Ritz in 1922, renamed Nancy in 1938) – one of the few cases in which a strip actually improved following the demise of its creator, particularly insofar as Aunt Fritzi is concerned. Also Brenda Starr (1940).

    Little Orphan Annie sort of continues, having been resurrected as Annie after a few years in reruns.

    Henry (1932) (1924) has been forever silenced, but continued on Sundays until 2005.

49. cheech wizard
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:09 pm [Reply]

    agghhh! That’s supposed to be “to say it ‘continues’ is a bit subjective.”

50. cheech wizard
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm [Reply]

    Plus 1924 is the starting date for Little Orphan Annie. I gotta remember to proof before posting!

51. Laura c
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:24 pm [Reply]

    Never mind JP — who is Barswell and how is he abusing his franking privilege? And in public, no less.

52. Calico
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:39 pm [Reply]

    Curtis – Yeah, dude, you’d better purchase some cheesecloth at the local hardware store, pronto.

53. gh
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm [Reply]

    A3G —

    Poor, innocent Haley. Clearly the “pipe” she and Alan shared is simply a Pixie Stix™ he charged her $20 for. Feeling “super” = “sugar rush.” Alan will cave in to her siren song of “Let’s have fun” by taking her to the park and pushing her in the swing.

54. Reedzilla
    May 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pm [Reply]

    today’s Archie is possibly the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in the funnies.

55. Roscoe
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm [Reply]

    23 – AtomicDog – Your comment was the funniest thing I read today. Thanks!!

56. commodorejohn
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm [Reply]

    9CL – Bleah, do we really have to sit through this? You’re not fooling anyone, Brooke. If you haven’t moved their relationship forward in the couple years I’ve been following this strip, you sure as hell aren’t going to move it backward.

    A3G – Oh no, Haley is trying to take advantage of Alan! She’s just out to get into his pants; next she’ll be trying to unclasp his bra!

    Archie – OW MY BRAIN

    AS – Another day, another loathsomely overwordy Argyle Sweater. Listen, Hillburn, when your jokes are at best moderately amusing to begin with, it’s not a good idea to sink them under quantities of unnecessary wordage that would make H.P. Lovecraft lose track.

    Baldo – Scoff all you want, it’s still a more believable proverb than anything Mary Worth has ever spouted.

    BB – Warping time and universal barriers? Sure, that’s no problem at all!

    Crankshaft – This is the funniest Crankshaft has been in a while.

    Curtis – So this storyline is only going to end when Curtis empties out his GI tract? Joy.

    DT – …nah, I just have no words for this.

    FOOB – *cough*bullshit*cough*

    FW – She doesn’t want to retire, but she’s doing it anyway. Why? Because in Funky Winkerbean, you can never stay happy, so you may as well not try.

    Garfield – I just know there’s some kind of subtext here, but I can’t quite figure out what.

    GA – GEE, I WONDER WHERE THIS COULD BE GOING?

    Luann – It takes a lot to make me sympathize with Luann, but annoying self-important activism does the trick. Piss off, Delta.

    MF – What the hell?

    MW – AHH NO DON’T PLEASE DON’T

    NS – Wow, you mean there’s cameras that can put movies on the Internet? WELCOME TO 2003, WILEY.

    Pluggers – Pluggers could be just about anybody.

    RMMD – “Just the same, I’d better check the locker room for a few hours.”

    SM – Wow, everybody is stupid, failure-prone, and eager to give up in this strip.

    Edison Lee – THIS. IS. NOT. FUNNY.

    Ziggy – Somehow, I expected the intersection of Ziggy and solipsism to be more interesting. Silly me.

57. Perky Bird
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm [Reply]

    A3G– Poor Haley. The only way she can appreciate art is to get high first.

    Come to think of it, that’s the only way I can appreciate modern art, too…

58. Professor Fate
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:38 pm [Reply]

    FW: you know – the jump forward is starting to look more and more like Les had a total psycotic breakdown after his wife died and in his catonic state is living in a dream world where hallucinations take the place of the real world – and everybody else is having worse problems than him.

    FOOB: Speaking of psycotic breakdowns – is there anything more blank than ST Mikes face in pannel three? It looks like all brain activity has stopped.

59. Jonny Quest
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:39 pm [Reply]

    Judge Parker: In panel 2 Abbey’s face looks different, somewhat like Sophie. I don’t like it, but thank goodness the body is still bodacious.

60. Anonymous
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:40 pm [Reply]

    From yesterthread, Todd at #99 says:
    

    I personally can’t stand the road FBoFW has gone down, especially the looking back into the past strips fiasco. That said, the distaste for this strip on Josh’s site is really growing stale. Many of the characters aren’t terribly likable, but isn’t that going to be the case in any “realistic” strip? I find myself skipping almost all comments about it, because most of them go out of the way to find fault. Have you looked at the titles of novels, especially thrillers, recently? Blood Cargo is not particularly weird at all.

    Maybe I don’t get the joke about the continual slamming of FBoFW, but not only has the strip long past jumped the shark; so have the comments about it.

    I totally agree. There are some posters who are so vicious and angry that it is painful to read what they write. I find myself automatically skipping their posts. Hate is not funny, but it spends a lot of time masquerading as wit.

    I don’t know Lynn J and don’t care to, but she doesn’t deserve the kind of bile personally directed at her. Slam the comic if you like. If you are slinging death threats or accusing her of vile actions, go look in the mirror before posting.

61. Diamond Joe
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm [Reply]

    Today’s comics snark near the end of yesterthread here.

    #56 commodorejohn:

    Your take on A3-G is the funniest thing I’ve read today.

62. bats :[
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm [Reply]

    34. Dingo: awww, I thought you would’ve felt all warm and tingly like a Mary Worth adult diaper….

    Congratulations to the floaters! I’ve got my baseball mitt out — throw me some beads!

    (41. Calico: why is it called the “Chicken Fat” technique? This is the first I’ve heard of it.)

63. odinthor
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pm [Reply]

    #62. bats :[ –

    I thought you would’ve felt all warm and tingly like a Mary Worth adult diaper….

    Are you sure you don’t mean One Big Happy “girlie satin underpants”? Oh, that’s right, those are cool and tingly. Huh, why’s everybody looking at me funny?

64. Alfred E. Neuman
    May 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm [Reply]

    #38 Kaitlyn— Another legendary MAD artist is gone. I’m sad that the Usual Gang of Idiots is getting smaller every year. Kelly Freas, who painted me so brilliantly in the ’50s died a couple of years ago, and my all-time favorite, the great Don Martin, left us in 2000. At least their wonderful works live on.

    #41 Calico— Back in the ’50s, my favorite MAD experience was to pore over the backgrounds of each panel looking for the sly hidden gems. I’m glad Billinglsey is carrying on that tradition. For ‘Mudges who don’t read the signs in Gunther’s barber shop, you’re missing the funniest part of the strip.

65. Astroboy
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pm [Reply]

    A3G – I want a T-shirt that says “This dope is great…let’s go look at some art!”

    Todd and Anonymous – speaking only for myself, my bile at the FOOBs stems from Liz throwing herself at a married man with the full cooperation and encouragement of her entire family. And the fact that they are all so sanctimoniously thrilled with her success. And Anonymous, if you’ve ever seen a death threat against LJ on this board, I’d sure like to see it. Come up with one or consider that you’re protesting invisible comments.

66. nancois
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:13 pm [Reply]

    A3G: Today’s dialog reminds me of Arrested Development’s “Pier Pressure” episode where nervous son George Michael proclaims that he was going to, “smoke the marijuana like a cigarette.”

67. commodorejohn
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm [Reply]

    #65 Astroboy – That, and the whole knee-jerk anti-feminism thing. I’m nobody’s radical NOW supporter, but the blatant message in FOOB that career women are Evil Selfish Bitches and stay-at-home motherhood is The One True Way pisses me the hell off. As far as death threats go, the only posts to that effect I’ve ever seen are clearly farcical (at least the ones involving LJ; I don’t see the problem with wishing death on fictional characters, particularily not loathsome sanctimonious assholes like the Foobs.)

68. cheech wizard
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:37 pm [Reply]

    If only Craigers was still around to elucidate the symbolic importance of today’s Archie – who knows what horrifying secret messages the cabal of the Moldavian Orthodox Church is communicating to the faithful. No doubt something to do with the approach of the Apocalypse.

    I’m concerned about Craigers disappearance – I’m afraid the cabal may have tried to silence him for casting light into their dark shadows.

    For context, see http://joshreads.com/?p=710, comment #71

69. Nekrotzar
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm [Reply]

    Mike P. is worried that success will change him. So instead of continuing to be a pompous, wimpy, self-absorbed bag of pus, he’s afraid wealth and fame will turn him into a generous, well-respected philanthropist like Warren Buffett? Mike, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

70. Nekrotzar
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:43 pm [Reply]

    No cartoonist were harmed in the typing of the above comment.

71. Someone from Texas....
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:45 pm [Reply]

    67. commodorejohn

    Elly, a SAHM for most of her life, wasn’t even very good at motherhood. The very early strip showed the good & the bad–but we’ve been treated to flashbacks that show only the bad. Almost enough to excuse Mike & Liz’s problems in later life.

    (I haven’t seen any death threats either. Although we could use some good MagmaCannon action.)

72. PeteMoss
    May 20th, 2008 at 3:47 pm [Reply]

    Congratulations, Dingo, you baby eatin’ (gettin’) snarkster, you!

    Very funny, people.

73. commodorejohn
    May 20th, 2008 at 4:00 pm [Reply]

    #71 Someone From Texas… – Yeah, Elly is about the least qualified comic character to preach stay-at-home motherhood there ever was. Hell, Sonja Hobbes would be a (barely) better choice.

74. Poteet
    May 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm [Reply]

    Foob — Oh gaaawwwd, is this going to be an entire week of Modest Mike, Portrait of the Author as a Humble Likeable Guy Bewildered By The Well-Deserved Fame Resulting From His Utter Brilliance? I now don my Foobloatharian robes, raise my stick, and cast a chant against overwhelming nausea. Errgh…Errgh…Errgh…

75. Anonymous
    May 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pm [Reply]

    #74 Poteet –

    About that nausea. So that’s not a chalice Foobloatharians carry?

76. gh
    May 20th, 2008 at 4:47 pm [Reply]

    #75 was me. Where did I go?

77. Paul1963
    May 20th, 2008 at 5:00 pm [Reply]

    I like to imagine Mike’s books piled up on the remainder table at Borders, marked down to $2.98, next to the last few remaining copies of The Guy in the Hat by Owen Lift.

    Yes, that’s a reference. A shiny sixpence to the first to identify it!
    Wait, I don’t have a sixpence, shiny or otherwise, being in Maryland in the 21st century…

    GA–I’m just glad that the breakup of Amanda and Sturdivant’s wedding didn’t lead to another eight-week Rufus-and-Joel story.

78. Kate
    May 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

    If you want a FOOBish death threat, here you go: rather than endure a week of Michael doing a Jimmy Stewart aw-shucks act, I will fill my pockets with rocks and walk into the ocean.

79. Outside Food
    May 20th, 2008 at 6:05 pm [Reply]

    Someone must mention Prince Valiant (1937). After seventy years, he still has that black lacquered pageboy. I recently met the currently creative team (artist #3), who said they were thrilled that the young folks are still reading the comic. (Psst–don’t tell anybody, but I am at least half the age of the comic–does still that count as young folks?)

    I can’t believe this is my first post, when I could be talking about crack pipes.

80. Outside Food
    May 20th, 2008 at 6:12 pm [Reply]

    I also wish my first post weren’t full of typos. And that my second post wasn’t an apology for the first one. hrm.

81. Canuckguy
    May 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm [Reply]

    Yay! Woot! I finally made comment of the week! (Well, a runner up). Of course, snarking on FOOB is like shooting fish in a barrel. I suppose if I can do a successful, humourous snark on something like, say, Peanuts, then I got it made.

82. True Fable
    May 20th, 2008 at 7:54 pm [Reply]

    If withholding my Red Hot Fable Love from Lynnie is seen as some sort of death threat, then hot damn, I’m scared of MYSELF. Other than that, then I’ve never seen one.

83. Poteet
    May 20th, 2008 at 9:59 pm [Reply]

    # 76 — Hi, gh, glad you’re back! No, it’s not a chalice, and we Foobloatharians don’t usually “cast a chant” either. Dear lord, how did my brain come up with THAT senseless phrase? This is what comes of reading every word of The Absolutely-No- Redeeming-Social-Value Extremely Lengthy Biography of Warren Blackwood on the Foobsite. Never again will I subject myself to so much Foob prose unless it’s at gunpoint.

84. Sheila Sternwell (the former Mrs. Tuddrussel)
    May 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm [Reply]

    Congratz to all the COTWers!

85. Sheila Sternwell (the former Mrs. Tuddrussel)
    May 20th, 2008 at 11:07 pm [Reply]

    #65 Astroboy (and others), I also recall death threats under the guise of “jokes” before. There are plenty of really disgusting comments that are passed off as snark here, and a quick Googling shows several people have brought up their discomfort with it before. Don’t go clutching your pearls and acting so surprised when people say they find comments here often cross the line. It comes up every other month or so.

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