Sunday panels edition
Panel from Sally Forth, 8/24/08
If you squint very hard at this panel, you will see that Ted has in fact spent the better part of the afternoon reading this very site, and I must give a huge thanks to faithful reader and Sally Forth scribe Ces Marciuliano for the shout-out! This is the most explicit mention of this blog in a mainstream newspaper comic since Rick Detorie had me killed.
Ted’s sang-froid after spending many hours perusing this blog (and, presumably, the comments) proves that he doesn’t care a bit about all of the slurs on his masculinity. I’m not surprised he’s a fan, since my target demographic has always been the pop-culture-obsessed emotionally arrested man-child.
Panels from For Better Or For Worse, 8/24/08
The rest of today’s FBOFW was a nauseating vortex of schmaltz and teal, but, God help me, I actually laughed at this. John apparently has no interest in actually forming a personal relationship with Anthony (and really, who can blame him), but will be exploiting the marital tie to get services for free. If all the stuff that folks gave out of the goodness of their hearts for this wedding is any indication, this is actually the driving principle behind all Patterson social interaction.
Panels from Mary Worth, 8/24/08
“What’s the matter with me? I miss Ian already!” is perhaps the most cogent question that has ever been asked in this strip. And the second panel, in which our poor heroine realizes that she has betrayed the trophy wife code, and that her heart is being inexorably pulled down into her husband’s emotional gravity well, is definitely among this feature’s most harrowing moments.
Panel from the Phantom, 8/24/08
Criminals in Mawitaan had better watch out — when Black Orville Redenbacher is on the case!
Rusty
August 24th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
If Ted Forth actually read all the comments about his girly hands, he would have at least started lifting weights or something.
Rusty
August 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Oh, and sorry about that comment I made about you manipulating your wife with your reed-like wrists, Ted.
Tabby Lavalamp
August 24th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I’ve never commented on Sally Forth because I find Ted to be super, super sexy. But that could just be the lesbian in me talking.
Steve the Pocket
August 24th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
What, no snarky comments about finally seeing the wedding outfits in full, vivid, puke-wrenching color? But then, I guess they pretty much speak for themselves.
Patrick, Interlibrary Loan Lending Division
August 24th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Sally Forth:But on the other hand, Ted is very secure with his masculinity so he doesn’t have to care if other people think he has girly hands.
Foobomination: Guess it doesn’t matter now what the old dress looks like. Too bad Liz is so self absorbed that she still hasn’t noticed that Gwampa Chinnuts isn’t there.
If either of my parents or my grandparents were in the hospital I wouldn’t be going to the wedding, not even if I were the one getting married. And if I got married, and wasn’t told about the parent or grandparent in the hospital, I would be in a total fury because I could postpone a wedding, but would never forgive myself if a loved one crossed over and I wasn’t there to say goodbye.
elyse
August 24th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
FOOB: Josh, does anyone have an interest in having a personal relationship with Anthony? Liz just needs a beard (or maybe I should say ’stache?) to stave off Wild Warren and Too Ethnic For Pattersons Paul.
commodorejohn
August 24th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
#49(Y) Hank – Oh, I don’t doubt you’re right; in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I imagine their relationship to have been something like the gracious professional athlete who gives a smile and small talk to an awed fan he runs into at a coffee shop, who then proceeds to run around billing herself as “a friend of x” for the rest of her days.
Miss Emily
August 24th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
So Ted reads the “Comics Curmudgeon,” eh? That’s cool.
Now if only we could spot a panel of Jeffy doing the same and I may just have to start liking “The Family Circus.”
Rusty
August 24th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
FOOB: Now I’m actually wondering why Lynn bothered hitting Chinnuts with a heart attack if he was going to be ignored until after the wedding. Maybe she didn’t want to draw him in a wheelchair or using a walker at the ceremony, it would mess up the sightlines.
Rusty
August 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
#7: I will pull out my post in response to the last thread:#49: According to that recent Schulz bio, he and Lynn toasted each other as the best in their field. (I’ve got a feeling that anecdote was supplied by Johnson). And Schulz took pleasure in pointing out the shortcomings of up-and-coming strips by other artists.
Rainbird
August 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I liked it that Ted said he spent 4 hours reading the site. It is true that reading comments is a great time-chewer. I find that if I have a couple of hours, there is nothing I like more then to spend it reading all 200 plus comments that have usually been put up on a daily basis.
Josh, you should be proud. Too bad Ces didn’t put the url, but I’m sure smart people can Google it.
You may be inundated soon.
Rainbird
August 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
It’s sort of sad in Foob that Elly and John are thinking that they promise in the final panel. Is Lynn just taking more spot shots at her ex.
My brother, who doesn’t read this site, said he thought the wedding was wonderful and that Anthony and Liz went well together, and had no idea why I was so upset about the forced wedding. He didn’t see that at all, so perhaps that is the way the rest of the world is looking at it too.
Gaining an accountant. Blech.
Mooncattie
August 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
MW – Toby’s internal monologue about doing what one needs to has inspired the artist in me! Now I’m off to create a bowel movement.
Themarc
August 24th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
In today’s Prince Valiant, the titular character and his crew encounter a giant crab. Predictably, they defeat it by flipping it over and attacking its underside (for massive damage).
Meanwhile, in Hagar the Horrible, we see that Hagar’s orders have already been carried by the final panel. This means that either Hagar’s crew is capable of moving at mach speeds, or that Hagar is an incompetent lout who doesn’t even pay attention to what his crew is doing. I’m betting it’s the latter.
Calvin
August 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
FOOB: Liz isn’t smiling. She actually looks kind of depressed.
Who could blame her?
Sunny Paris
August 24th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
If a comic strip character is reading about other comic strip characters, is it because he is aware he is a comic strip character or in denial that he is a comic strip character? I hope this strip explores this paradox further.
In other news, these closing ceremonies are messing with my mind man. One side of their outfits is red, and the other is silver. Dude.
yellojkt
August 24th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Four hours reading Comics Curmudgeon is not enough time to get through the comments. In the mangled words of Yogi Berra: Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.
Islamorada Girl
August 24th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
14: PV: I want to see that crab steamed and picked and made into the world’s largest crabcake. Pass the Old Bay!
More information on the proper way to pick a crab can be found
on the internet.
Tracer Bullet
August 24th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
FOOB: It’s cruel the way they’ve abused a kindly old man in this strip. Why did Lynn make Walter Cronkite officiate this abomination?
Cedar
August 24th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Liz looks like that gymnast Shawn Johnson during those split seconds that the camera would catch her being sad. As soon as she realizes people are looking at her, it’s going to be a big smile and wave.
I get that today’s FOOB is supposed to be about John and Elly promising to each other to love and honor and etc, but upon first reading, I thought that they were completing Liz and Anthony’s vows mentally, finally revealing how deeply emotionally invested in the relationship they are.
yeff
August 24th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I am inpressed that the Patterson clan was able to get retired newscaster Walter Cronkite to perform the ceremony.
I assume he’s a friend of the family, like every other sucker providing a service to the wedding.
- yeff
iedit
August 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
FOOB: “(Marriage) is a promise made … and a lasting, successful caring marriage is a promise kept … again and again and again.”
Unless it’s to Terese, then the hell with it.
Angry Kem
August 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
#16 Sunny Paris: More intriguingly, if a comic-strip character is reading about himself as a comic-strip character, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
…wait…
Bookworm
August 24th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Bizarro – almost forgot today was Ces’s Sunday guest strip. (I have to look the Sunday Bizarro’s up special.) Great job again! I always love your take on literary classics.
Foolkiller
August 24th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Now we know why Ted was unemployed for so long, he is a borderline illiterate. Four hours to read this website? Stick to See Spot Run!
Who was the wedding planner at the FOOB wedding? Dr. Bruce Banner? Purple and green mean Hulk smash! And why is Walter Cronkite officiating?
The best part of Family Circus vacations is the pennant the just has the name of the city on it, in case you didn’t recognize the Washington Monument or know what city it was in. Thanks, PJ!
Steeple333
August 24th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I was on vacation with only dialup, so I spazzed alone when I saw Mark Trail’s picture in Slylock Fox, the Giant Enemy Crab in Prince Valiant.
But I’m glad to be here in time for the Sally Forth plug and the Foobcolypse. =3
Churchy
August 24th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Notice how FOOB skimmed over the gay marriage issue? Michael’s gay friend (whose name escapes me at the moment) says he and his partner don’t need to get married but they’re glad they have the right? What is this nonsense? They don’t want the legal and tax advantages of marriage? Johnston thinks she can come across as liberal while not offending the bigots out there with the prospect of an actual gay wedding? Of course after the coming out crisis years ago that character has basically faded into the woodwork.
And you’re right, it’s boring that Elizabeth married Anthony, high school sweetheart or not. If we’re lucky she’ll be widowed. Or is that too much drama?
Bobdog
August 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I assume that the remaining panels of Mary Worth having Toby plunging to her doom at Aldo Curve as the emotional impact of this revelation sinks in with the crippling impact equivalent to a bottle of “Johnny” — the details of which you spared us because of not only the gore from the crash itself but also the face melting emotional torpor of a Stepford wife like Toby going into conniptions upon the realization that she has “feelings.”
dyslexic dog
August 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
#23 AK
We are all comic-strip characters.
commodorejohn
August 24th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Huh, everyone’s seeing the poor condemned pastor as Walter Cronkite; I took him for Walt Disney.
The Wild Sow
August 24th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
19) — Not only is it Walter Cronkite — but sometime between panel 4 & panel 7, he’s grown a ’stache!!!!
Something occurred to me about all the freebies at the Patterfoob/Cain’t nuptials — at least about those “6 limos from Gordo.” Isn’t John still Gordon’s silent partner in the garage/car lot/cafe/whateverthehellitisnow business??? If so — maybe he actually was paying for something! I mean — if the drivers’ pay, etc., came out of his share of the profits!
But somehow, I doubt it worked that way!
On GoComics comments, one astute person (one!) made the point of wondering whether Assthony will be any better at keeping his promises this time around.
ScienceGiant
August 24th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Mary Worth – Oh, I get it now. The bank will have to cancel their credit card, which because Ian is traveling will lead to…
… actually, it won’t lead to anything, will it? This isn’t some sitcom where hilarious hi-jinks ensue. It’s “Mary bleeding Worth.” Oh. Mary, the song is gone but the meddling lingers on…
JP (not Judge Parker)
August 24th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
28: Aw darn, you beat me to that Aldo reference. I did think the surroundings in the first panel looked vaguely like where Aldo drove off the road. I’m guessing Toby’s drinking something like a wine cooler though.
maryc
August 24th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
This may have been said already, but I just have to ask: PURPLE AND TEAL?! WTF?! What kind of psychotic color scheme is THAT for a wedding?!
Wendy
August 24th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Where is all this sudden outpouring of “love” from Toby for her behemoth husband coming from? I’ve been reading this train wreck for years and it’s never seemed like anything other than a marriage of convenience to me. I must have missed the memo, or she’s going through the change of life and isn’t in control of her hormones.
Wendy
August 24th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Re: Sally Forth – did you Photoshop that in there, or is that the real thing? My paper doesn’t consider the Forths to have redeeming comic strip value (or perhaps its readership doesn’t; they’re constantly polling us for which comics to keep and which to shitcan).
Ell
August 24th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Better read by Ted than dead.
The Spectacular Spider-Brick
August 24th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Bookworm @ 24: Thanks for the reminder! That’s a great strip, Ces.
Who recognizes all the references? I got five. From left to right:
1) Quisp
2) a Space Invader
3) The Death Star
4) The Planet Express ship from Futurama
5) Interplanet Janet, the Galaxy Girl, from Schoolhouse Rock
I don’t recognize the red planet with the X on it, though I feel I should… anyone have a clue?
The only thing that would complete this tableau for me is a moon with the letters “CHA” carved on it. 5 trivia points for the first to get that reference.
John Hewitt
August 24th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Under “indifferance” in the dictionary you can find the “wedding guests” panel of FOOB.
Themarc
August 24th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I completely forgot to mention in my post (#14) the fact that in today’s Foob, the pastor spontaneously sprouts a mustache between panels 4 and 7. That simply shouldn’t go unmentioned.
Carly
August 24th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I thought Hilary was the one reading CC for a moment. That either says something about Ted or says I need new glasses.*
*I do, but not for this reason.
Themarc
August 24th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Dammit The Wild Sow (#31), you beat me to the mustache mentioning!
Axelay
August 24th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Ted Forth:
Henpecked Husband
Girly Man
Sexual Dynamo (Passive/Aggressive)
Children’s Book Author?
Man-Child
Find the one description that hasn’t been in a previous CC post! (and have more fun than this weeks Slylock Fox!)
Ron Rogers McPhee
August 24th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
In the second foob panel, zombie wedding guest prepares to eat delicious brain while John takes Liz off to be sacrificed to the goat-legged L.Ron Hubbard statue he built beside his outdoor train set. Wedding bliss indeed.
Tom W
August 24th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Slylock Fox: Did nobody catch the C.W. + C.C. in Count Weirdly’s lab today? I thought I’d see it mentioned somewhere here today.
The Sparrow
August 24th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
FOOB: Ugh, the teal and purple, eet buurrrrrns ussss…. seriously though, wtf? Teal carnations don’t exist in nature for a reason, y’know. I skipped most of the wall ‘o text in this one, simply because I couldn’t be bothered to take in the multitude o’ platitudes (hey, you think Mary Worth had a hand in this ceremony??)
Prince Valiant: Mmmmm-mmmmm, crab chowdah. While I have been very pleased with the crustacean-ly exploits of the past few weeks, I have to ask… why did the crab’s claws change shape? In the first appearance of this dangerous decapod, its claws were slenderer and vaguely like a blue crab’s, and in the past two comics, it’s clearly a stone crab of some kind. Oh well. I suppose I should know better than to ask this kind of question. Remember kids, whenever you ever see anything like that, a wizard did it.
Mibbitmaker
August 24th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Listening to the Underground Garage, Little Steven did a set honoring the book version of “The Godfather”. In the intro monologue to the set, it was revealed that Don Corleone, the gangland leader, was actually based on Mario Puzo’s mother.
Now that’s how Michael Patterson should write!
wicked-witch
August 24th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
FOOB: Boy, nothing like a teal, lavender, and gray palette for the wedding. Proof positive that Lynn’s been planning this storyline for about 20 years. I would have stopped before the teal roses, though.
survivor
August 24th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
FOOB – Who the hell starts a thought bubble with “Sniff: ” Is ‘Sniff’ a name he uses for one of the many personalites that is having a dialogue within his head?
bats :[
August 24th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
While I think it is tres cool that Ces and Bob Weber, Jr., and several other cartoonists hang out here, and even chat with us (insert small squealy sound here!), I think Josh will really have arrived when Mary Worth, Elly Patterson, June Morgan or Abbey Spencer one day break that fourth wall and threaten him with bodily and/or psychological harm (that’d be Mary and Elly) or promise him the hottest monkey sex he could possibly imagine (that’s be June and Abbey).
Josh would laugh uproariously at the first and refuse the second in a very gentlemanly fashion.
Artist formerly known as Ben
August 24th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
No, no, Josh. That’s Black Old Pepperidge Farms Coot.
Dingo
August 24th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Ooooh! I have a COTW with a snark about Ted Forth’s hands. Hope it caused a tizzy.
So, I’ve been remiss in not reporting something to the curmudgeonistas. Last Friday, I moved into my new apartment before starting my new job. What was on the door waiting for me? An invitation. An invitation to the Osprey Lake freakin’ Sunday afternoon pool party!!! Yes, I have moved into Charterstone! I went this afternoon. They had a grill with brats, hot dogs, and burgers. There were condiments, chips, and iced soft drinks. Children were in the pool and the adults hovered around holding their plastic plates. I swore if someone asked my name I was going to answer, “I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”
I have yet to meet my Mary Worth but the woman with the perpetually crying baby across the hallway looks exactly like Aretha Franklin in The Blues Brothers but with a deeper scowl. And a cigar.
Poteet
August 24th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
# 31 The Wild Sow — I went to the Foobsite to check out the miraculous moustache, and of course you are right. While there, I was hit with a soul-searing view of Liz’s large mutant bouquet on the homepage (gaaah!) Plus I was able to confirm again that Liz’s Cluster O’ Curls does change sizes on her head. It’s a lot smaller in the last panel than the second panel.
Dingo
August 24th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
bats :[ ,
Personally, I think Josh should be offered hot monkey sex from Mary and Elly and bodily and/or psychological harm from June or Abbey. It would just be far more interesting. And realistic.
Poteet
August 24th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Prince Valient — Dang, I wish PV could be found online somewhere. I also haven’t been able to locate a site where I can see FW on Sundays, but I’ve decided to accept that as a gift from above.
Carly
August 24th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Oh yeah: in before Sally Forth readers! ^_~
Anson Pants
August 24th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
MW: Cogent ? Wasn’t he that bald police detective who ate lollipops ?
commodorejohn
August 24th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
#54 Poteet – Happy unbirthday!
Nekrotzar
August 24th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I couldn’t be bothered to read all of the yakking in todays FOOB, but that didn’t stop me from creating my own (fairly silly) version of it.
Stroker Ace
August 24th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Sally Foob ~ Gawd willin’ both John & Ted will be busted on “To Catch A Predator”… & absolved when the juries meet Sally & Elly.
Jana C.H.
August 24th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
#56 commodorejohn– I tried your link, and got no Prince Val. Does one have to pay for GoComics to see it? For the Prince, I’d be willing.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Fridtjof Nansen: Fram!
commodorejohn
August 25th, 2008 at 12:01 am
#59 Jana C.H. – Ah, I forgot to mention: the server my stuff is on rolls over to “tomorrow” sooner than goComics does; here is today’s strip.
Quantum Mechanic
August 25th, 2008 at 12:03 am
B.C. — boy, Mason’s really getting into the meta. (Note — you’ll only get that if your paper/online source shows the throwaway panels in the Sunday strips).
Citric
August 25th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Slylock Fox has a big plank that says:
C.W.
L
C.C.
I suppose you could read something into that if you reeeeeally want to, though I’m not sure if it’s directed to you or Candice Cameron of Full House fame.
Poteet
August 25th, 2008 at 12:15 am
# 60 commodorejohn — *curtseys* *raises clasped hands in deep gratitude* *decides to have crab for dinner sometime soon*
commodorejohn
August 25th, 2008 at 12:15 am
#59 Jana C.H. – P.S. Having gotten tired of explaining that, I finally got off my lazy ass and fixed the script so that it shows the most recent strip by default. Shoulda done that weeks ago.
Mibbitmaker
August 25th, 2008 at 12:18 am
8/25 FOOBLECCH!: In more irony, this time provided inadvertantly by my local classic rock station, we see Blandie’s big moment to the tune of — I’m not kidding — “I’m a Man” by Chicago! Well, I hope at least Ted Forth’ll get a laugh out of that.
And, God help me, but Liz looks positively Toby Cameron-y today. Blandie…. Chinbeard….. that fits, sadly.
THE MARRIAGE OF LIZTHONY:
And so, with Monday’s FBOFW, it is done.
….Oh, sorry, I mistyped….
And so, with Monday’s FBOFW, it is dumb.
Edgy DC
August 25th, 2008 at 12:24 am
There have been a lot of clues that Ted Forth is a Comics Curmudgeon reader. But I’d have to say his underemployment has been the big tip-off.
Mibbitmaker
August 25th, 2008 at 12:30 am
8/25 FW:
Hey, Batiuk! Stop making Mopey Pete the creator of Superman!
MOPEY PETE DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!
– And, for God’s sake, give the man some sleaves!!
mumbles
August 25th, 2008 at 12:30 am
FOOB: The last panel looks like the publicity photos of Ellen Degeneres and Portia DiRossi’s wedding.
Mibbitmaker
August 25th, 2008 at 12:33 am
#67 (me):
…or some sleeves!!
(Note to self: check dictionary before clicking “post”.)
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
August 25th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Obviously, the plank in Slylock means that Carl Weathers loves Carol Channing.
commodorejohn
August 25th, 2008 at 12:36 am
#63 Poteet – Think nothing of it, my good lady!
blackgoat
August 25th, 2008 at 12:41 am
FOOB: Who or what are those faceless purple figures lurking in every panel ? Is this some kind of Canadian version of a banshee, and they’re all out looking for Grandpa ?
bats :[
August 25th, 2008 at 12:43 am
57. Nekrotzar: I’d call yours pretty darn surreal — nicely so!
And here’s my entry (with a lot of snarky goodness provided by fellow Curminions):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/2795529850/
Red Greenback
August 25th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Poteet, and anyone else who may be interested: here’s a Steve Canyon-related item I spotted for sale on eBay: Story Synopsis: Poteet coaches the Stumphill School’s boys basketball team and gets support from Calhoon Industries because of Summer Olson’s intervention. Feeling tricked, Copper flies to Big Thunder Air Force Base with her secretary (Summer) so that she can see Steve and Summer being miserable together. Poteet’s team loses the championship, but the girl exacts a little revenge on Calhoon.
Jana C.H.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Thanks, commorore! Val is now bookmarked to my “Comics” folder. I need not mention that it’s a long list.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Nora Maloy : The irregularities and variations are characteristics that add texture and uniqueness to this human and should not be considered defects or flaws.
Desert Ghost
August 25th, 2008 at 12:51 am
#57 Nekrotzar: Ha ha ha!!!! It is totally awesome that the FOOB wedding would be conducted in Roman Latin and no one would understand anything! Just like when I went to church when I was a kid!
Also, Ces, you are so awesome…love Medium Large BTW.
Thanks…will go back to lurking now. Love you-all!!!
bats :[
August 25th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Monday, Monday, can’t trust those comics…
MW: Toby, the purple houndstooth shorts are not a good look, on you or anyone else.
Phantom: YOWZA!
RMMD: okay, we get it, Lenore (apparently Rex IS a little slow on the uptake). Can we just have you explain things to him in the 23 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds we don’t see of his daily life, and keep the plot moving along? Thank you.
PBS: The more you know…
FOOB: is Liz keeping her own name? I’m stunned.
(Yeah, it won’t last…)
Foolster41
August 25th, 2008 at 12:59 am
SF: Oh you kidder you! You almost had me fooled. Here is today’s comic: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/comics/sforth.html
Also, yesterday’s was pretty funny in a “gosh Ted is a moron” sort of way. I can’t tell if that’s intended. http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20080823&name=Sally_Forth
FBOFW: It’s weird, but my family has a similar story. It was my uncle’s wedding and my grandpa had a heart attack and died that morning. (At least, I think that’ what happened, it was either before I was born, or while I was still a baby.)
Poteet
August 25th, 2008 at 1:05 am
# 74 Red — Hey, I’ve got that story! It’s part of my extremely small SC collection (three items). Thanks for the reminder!
Desert Ghost
August 25th, 2008 at 1:07 am
#73: Bats :[ OMG….once again, you’ve got me snorting with laughter! You are incredibly talented and funny – as are so many Mudges! Just like Ted Forth (but with ham-hands), I can spend hours and hours here at CC….hence the 7 vacancies I have at the apartments I manage….*sigh*
Poteet
August 25th, 2008 at 1:12 am
GA — The characters in the current storyline look kind of like escaped Precious Moments figurines, only with far less intelligence.
Dr. Shrinker
August 25th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Spider-Brick@38:
I think it’s a reference to the classic “Duck Dodgers” cartoon in which Daffy must get to Planet X.
Mibbitmaker
August 25th, 2008 at 1:37 am
8/25:
A3G: You said it, Margo, I didn’t! (It’s true, though)
Curtis: …And now, the Wilkins patriarch is going to militarily invade Georgia. The state.
DT: Dick Locher’s credentials, I hope.
MT: “THAT’S MOSS! And over there, THAT’S A PILE OF DIRT! AND YOU’VE SEEN THE LIONESS AND HER CUBS! Oh, look…COBWEBS!!….”
MW: Toby, STOP BEING STUPID!!! (while I’m on the boldface type…)
Phantom: Ghost-Who-Opens-His-Own-Nude-Beach.
Popeye: Osama wishes it could be so simple!
RMMD: There’s an allegory for Grampa FOOB in there somewhere.
BMRR
August 25th, 2008 at 1:42 am
#38 Spiderbrick – The planet with the red X is the infamous “Planet X”, home of the “immodium shaving cream molecues”, from the Warner Bros cartoon “Duck Dodgers in the 23 1/2 Century”.
lovetoykilljoy
August 25th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Two out of three bridesmaids chose a sunless tan. And a third is a non descript minority.
MaggieMarvel
August 25th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Speaking of taking unnecessarily long breaks to read Comics Curmudgeon, I just spent the last four days reading every entry in the archives. I’m addicted. And I think I need a job again soon, because otherwise I’ll be doing nothing but reading webcomics and comic-mocking pages and morphing into Jabba the Hutt at this rate.
MaggieMarvel
August 25th, 2008 at 1:49 am
P.S. I’d rather like to know where they found teal and lavender roses.
P.P.S. Teal and lavender bridesmaid/flower-girl dresses look rather awful. Fashion sense! Get some, Ms Patterson!
Anonymous
August 25th, 2008 at 1:50 am
So, who wants to bet that Anthony, unhappy with women he’s married to, now turns to April?
38, The Spectacular Spider-Brick–
Ah, good ol’ Chairface.
Sheila Sternwell
August 25th, 2008 at 1:55 am
So this is where I register my glee over Sally Forth? I never would have read the strip if it hadn’t been for Josh, and I’ve really grown to love it. I don’t care if Ted has freakish girly hands, helmet hair and wears a winter scarf inside in August.
my target demographic has always been the pop-culture-obsessed emotionally arrested man-child.
This is more true than you’ll ever know, Josh. I shan’t say more.
BenG
August 25th, 2008 at 1:58 am
In today’s Archie, Jughead shits his pants and flees from the room in shame. Archie makes an attempt at changing the subject from the palpable humiliation but Veronica remains in a state of stunned silence..
Mibbitmaker
August 25th, 2008 at 2:06 am
I know why the Toby/phishing stuff in MW has been so aggravating. Just figured it out!:
This is the same kind of thing “Funky Winkerbean” was doing during the summer of 1994!
1994: Everytime it looks like Les and Lisa might finally get together at long last, Batiuk contrives some near-miss while one, the other, or both are in Europe. IT NEVER STOPS!!!
2008: Everytime it looks like Toby might finally discover she’s being horribly scammed at long last, Moy contrives some near-miss — based on her idiocy — while Chinbeard is in Europe. IT NEVER STOPS!!!
We got a taste of that kind of crap in FW when Darren was/wasn’t going to discover his birth mother (Lisa). That time, the misery was short lived, but in ‘94, it lasted ALL SUMMER!
Who knows how long this strip will drag its cruelty out? I feel like I’m on “It’s the Mind-Fuck”!!
Farley's Revenge
August 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am
#59 Nekrotzar K bats:[
OMG! I am so glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read your offerings on the FOOBfest! If I had, I’d be needing a new laptop now!
Here’s an irony: If it weren’t for the awfulness of FOOB and other horrible comics, we’d never get to see the wonderful snark-takes of those same comics. So we must suffer to be able to laugh.
Desert Ghost
August 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am
#88 MaggieMarvel – I know what you mean! I feel like I’m turning into a big pile of blubber sitting here addicted to CC…So what to do? Why, we must start the first chapter of Comics Curmudgeon Anonymous, of course! But how many “Steps” should we have? 12? 10? 2?
I’m sure we aren’t the only ones who feel the CC addiction, so let’s hear what other addicts think?
NotThatGuy
August 25th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Woohoo! Never mind the PastyFoobs, that is a whole lotta nekkid Phantom!
Pepperoni Détournées
August 25th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I’m intrigued by the scenery in Mary Worth. Don’t they live in a quiet suburb somewhere in California, close enough to a city to have scary women’s shelters and airports? So what’s with the desert and country roads? Did Toeby make a wrong turn and end up in New Mexico somewhere? Are we going to see “The Hills Have Eyes III”? Please, oh please, can we? The second one was hideously grotesque, even for a horror movie lover like myself, and I would expect a Charterstone trophy wife oriented sequel to be gut wrenching, even for me. Come on, all it would take is for that gas she pumped a few days ago to suddenly run out…she can’t get more gas because of the credit fraud guys using up her remaining credit limit…she’s stuck at the mercy of the leering, radiation-burned, toothless station attendant who wants to have her for lunch….
Farley's Revenge
August 25th, 2008 at 2:20 am
#97 Pepperoni Détournées :
Perhaps she took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Gojira
August 25th, 2008 at 2:30 am
#38 SSB re: “CHA” moon trivia question: #90 Anonymous beat me to posting the answer, but thanks for giving me an excuse to check out the source. Fourteen years later (that long ago?), still cracks me up.
mollificent
August 25th, 2008 at 2:31 am
38 Spider-Brick: Wow! I had to go back and look again. I was so entranced by the “Little Prince” reference that I totally missed all the other sly ones (I can’t believe I missed the Planet Express and the Death Star!)
50 bats :[, what about Betty and Veronica giving Josh a scolding? Although perhaps the AGJLU 3000 doesn’t feel the same thirst for revenge we humans do…
OK, off to bed…must not read any more comments. I like to wait and read the comics with my morning tea. :)
Donald The Anarchist
August 25th, 2008 at 2:38 am
MW Is there any line in the English language sadder than “Toby drives home alone?” Maybe “The cheese stands alone,” but cheese cannot feel. It doesn’t have a soul. Whereas Toby…well, I’m sure she feels more than cheese does, anyway.
Bookworm
August 25th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Don’t know if this has already been mentioned somewhere else on the site but just in case -
Hot Blogger Calendar is having a “Hottest Male Blogger Contest” here. Scroll down and you can vote for either Josh (as Comics Curmudgeon) or Ces (as Francesco Explains It All). Or for any of the others listed, I guess, if you don’t want to support the Comics Cause :). (I was actually able to vote twice, once for both our guys.)
Bookworm
August 25th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Oh and the girls are here. The only name I recognize is Ces’s girlfriend Sara (Que Sera Sara).
Grant Rogers
August 25th, 2008 at 5:56 am
anyone else think that the redheaded criminal in the phantom bears a striking resemblance to Rorshach from Watchmen?
Lolsworth
August 25th, 2008 at 6:26 am
“Next: Wrong Number” rules on so many levels
Schadenfreude, the unfunny critic
August 25th, 2008 at 9:30 am
For all the ponderous dialog in the Foobian strips, only Lynn Johnston would skip the part of the nuptials that says “For Better or for Worse”. Was it intentional, or is she just a friggin’ idiot?
Astroboy
August 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am
#18- That’s what I was thinking too…who the hell catches a giant crab and makes crab stew? Yecch. Where’s SpongeBob when you need him! Krabby Patties for me and all my men!
Astroboy
August 25th, 2008 at 9:38 am
SFx – I just KNOW that that “CC” refers to Comics Curmudgeon and not Cassandra Cat.
We love ya too Count Weirdly!
Sully
August 25th, 2008 at 10:01 am
What the hell’s up with the padre presiding over the FOOB nuptuals? In profile, he is clean-shaven, then, when shown straight-on a couple of painful panels later, not only has he grown a mustache, he has turned into WALTER Frggin’ CONCRITE!
Stooges Woman
August 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am
FOOB’s remake of Citizen Kane:
Anthony: A toast, Elizabeth: to love on my own terms.
Elizabeth: There’s only one person in the world who’s going to decide what I’m going to do and that’s me.
One caterer to another: That’s a lot of money to pay for a dame without a head.
John: You know, if I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.
April: Mother, are Elizabeth and Anthony married, and/or Grandpa dead, yet?
Elly: Not yet, Junior.
Michael: I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.
Not-quite-ghost Grandpa: Old age. It’s the only disease that you don’t look forward to being cured of.
Lynn Johnston (in a rare attempt to communicate with her characters): What would you like to have been?
Entire cast of FOOB, in unison: Everything you hate.
Readers: Throw that junk in.
Matt
August 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am
MW: Okay, I see it now… a Mary Worth character, driving down a semi-mountainous road, alone and emotionally angsty over their romantic interest in a main character. Dare we hope for a reprise of Captain Kangaroo’s firey death at the base of a mountain?
Probably not. More likely Toby’s death will be a nine-week snoozer beginning with her discovery of credit card fraud and ending with her suicide by sleeping pills and vodka, crying over how she could ever have been so stupid to actually use the internet. *sigh* even her death will suck
llamaface
August 25th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Am I the only one that thinks the FOOB combination of teal and lavender is hideous? One or the other people…!
llamaface
August 25th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Am I the only one that thinks the FOOB combination of teal and lavender is hideous? One or the other people…!
Ohma
August 25th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
What’s with April’s creepy expression in the last panel anyway?
Nekrotzar
August 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
#75, 78, 94: I’m glad you enjoyed my take on FOOB, but I’m surprised no one mentioned April’s wardrobe malfunction.
anonymouse
August 25th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
It’s absolutely impossible to read this FBOFW without seeing it as a Sunday-comic-long attack on her ex husband. Jeez. It almost makes me feel bad for Lynn Johnston, to sink to that depth.
Paul1963
August 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
FOOB Sunday: Christ, the throwaway panels are a “John’s an asshole” joke and then the whole ceremony is all about commitment and trust and lifelong this and forever that and the whole way through I can’t help thinking about how this is the groom’s second marriage and it’s written by a woman whose husband left her for another woman.
And, yes, leaving out the “for better or for worse” part is really tin-eared, even if Spanky Ham is waiting outside the studio to eat Lynn’s brains.
BakNBlack
August 25th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
‘I miss Ian already! Let me turn the car around and try running him down again!’
Tom Knechtel
August 25th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
You know, between the smug self-righteousness of the wedding going on INTERMINABLY in FBOFW, and Margo’s she-devil reaction to receiving her long-awaited marriage proposal on her answering machine in Apartment 3G, marriage is looking less and less attractive. I think as a gay person I’ll just be grateful that we’re not encumbered with an institution which so clearly drives people insane!
Agent 07
August 25th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
#94, You ain’t kiddin’. Heck, I discovered this site while failing miserably to Google up a clinic for the treatment of severe pathological depression brought on by seeing Lisa die of cancer inch by inch (that’s centimeter by centimeter for you Canadians), day by day (metric days are the same), in the stinkin’ comic pages of all places.
Having said that, Foob goes best with a big bowl of Prozacs, no doubt about it.
Flux
August 26th, 2008 at 3:50 am
How did you miss the chance to type “Orville Redenblacker?” Or perhaps “Orville Blackenbocher?” Either answer would have been acceptable. Orville Blackenblacker, not so much.
Jennco
August 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I can’t suppress my schadenfreude that Elly’s husband left her. I have abhorred Elly’s smarmy, politically correct self-righteousness since I started reading FOOB, some time in the eighties. It was evident to me that Elly much preferred Michael and April to Elizabeth and that in the nineties she was forced by family pressure to make Elizabeth prettier in order to avoid a public rupture with her daughter, a la Martha Stewart.
j
August 28th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
About FOOBAR. I think one needs to watch a looping series of clips of Archie Bunker’s faux suicide attempts when reading that installment.
And why do Lynn’s creations look more and more like that comic strip that Robert Crumb and his brother did when they were very young? The one where the dialogue takes-up more and more space while the characters get smaller and smaller.
Maybe that’ll be the end, where you’ll need the Hubble telescope to make-out Liz, Lynn, John, Micheal, and what’s that brat’s name.
Jenny
January 21st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
You may have seen Kate Beaton’s take on FBOFW already, but if not take a look, third down…