The excitement continues to fail to materialize
Mary Worth, 2/13/05
Now, I know what you’ve been thinking: “Apartment 3-G and Mark Trail are all well and good, but what really packs ‘em in the seats is Mary Worth. So where’s she been, huh?” Well, while Mark’s been battling sharks and drug runners, and Apartment 3-G has been all pregnant high schoolers and white slavery, exactly nothing of any even remote interest has been happening in the excruciating slow-motion romance of Anna and Dr. Brian. After something like ten weeks of cow eyes and Richard Bach quotes, at the beginning of February things finally seemed to be looking up when Brian’s high-powered lawyer ex-wife declared her intention to win his love back by any means necessary. However, her efforts fizzled in less than a week (which in Mary Worth chronology is an increment of time so brief that it can only be measured by the most precise atomic clocks) when Brian reminded her that they got divorced because they didn’t get along and had different interests. I’m glad she’s not my lawyer. (”And isn’t true that you lied about seeing my client at the crime scene?” “Objection, your honor!” “Oh, never mind, he’s guilty anyway.”) Then, as Dr. Brian said his final good-bye to his ex, they engaged in a brief, post-marital hug, which Anna spied; this raised the spectre of that least exciting of romantic complications, the Big Misunderstanding. However, after another brief week, Anna had bought her beau’s explanation, and horrid, treacly bliss was restored. Unless Brian’s ex is lurking back at his place with a gun, it looks like smooth sailing until the wedding, which should take place sometime in 2009.
A couple of artistic notes: We all know about Anna’s chameleon-like nature, but the woman in the rightmost panel in the second row is not the same woman who’s in the other panels of this strip. That version of Anna seems to be thinking: “The collagen injections into my lips didn’t go so well, but I’m not sure how to react.” Meanwhile, “happy” isn’t how I would describe the good doctor’s expression in the leftmost panel of the bottom row. I believe the word that Anna is looking for is “smug.”
Dub Not Dubya
February 14th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
Smug? Maybe he should call up his other ex, Sally Forth. But I don’t know…to me he looks stoned in that panel. Also, the last panel sure enough has that arm hair which you earlier said the artists love to draw more than anything. Go Josh!
pookie
February 14th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
Maybe Dr. Brian is waiting to propose after Anna finally washes that skanky hair of hers.
Hippolyta
February 14th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
My favorite part of Brian is the not-so-subtle furrow of concern that hovers above his eyebrows. Is it true that rock stars slit their foreheads with a razor and then put on bandanas with LSD in them? That’s what Dr. Good’s forehead scar looks like to me. Maybe they got divorced because Elaine wasn’t interested in his “stuff.”
Roadside Gig
February 14th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
Hey, anyone notice that Anna looks like a different person in every panel?
And what’s with the headless body in the pink shirt at the table behind our happy couple? Must be tough to eat a meal without a head.
Don’t even get me started on all that wasted food in panel three… There are people are starving in China, kids!
vjb2
February 15th, 2005 at 1:52 am
“You certainly look good, Dr. Happy!”
The Disembodied Voice
February 15th, 2005 at 2:51 am
Speaking of serial comics…
Did the middle panel depicting two identical LuAnns Monday’s Apt. 3G beaming brightly scare anyone else? The sunniness frightened me enormously. Not to mention LuAnn’s astoundingly idiotic comment at the end. I think Mim’s a bad influence. For once, Margo seems almost sensible in comparison.
chg21
February 15th, 2005 at 7:45 am
I was disappointed there were no comments on the Mary Worth of a couple of days ago, when Anna and the good doctor ordered their breakfasts. Surely it’s significant that Brian, who wants a family, ordered eggs, while Anna, who seems to need a man pretty desperately, ordered sausage?
Troubado
February 15th, 2005 at 9:04 am
The loving couple appears to be dressed pretty casually for such a fancy restaurant. You can tell it’s fancy because the waiter–”Garçon!”–is wearing a tux and is bringing out the food under one of those domed metal serving apparatuses that were all the rage in 1956.
RememberByronFrost
February 15th, 2005 at 10:01 am
What’s with the seemingly disembodied waitress outfit in the first panel, second row? And where did the plant come from which shows up behind Brian’s head in the next panel? Quite a background switch….
Skip Tracer
February 15th, 2005 at 10:27 am
RememberByronFrost, Brian keeps slipping around in the booth, trying to put some breathing room between him and Anna. She’s palmed a steak knife and is getting ready to change personalities.
The Ghost
February 15th, 2005 at 10:57 am
For how many weeks has this comic ended with the good doctor saying “I have quite a question to ask!” or “I have something important to ask you” or “There’s a question… that’s big… that I’m going to pop!” The excitement is killing me. I’m thinking it’s about butt sex.
dalton
February 15th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Hey wait – that’s ME right behind Anna in the second to last panel. How did they know where I go to eat?
Anne Nonymous
February 15th, 2005 at 11:11 am
The speed at which the “plot” of Mary Worth takes place is simply breathtaking – be still my heart! Actually, I think the writer simply has no idea where this is going, and is playing for time. The comments are great, though.
Jiggles
February 15th, 2005 at 11:41 am
we’re probably the only people in the world analyzing Mary Worth comic strips…I hope everyone realizes that.
Not that it’s bad or anything…
Not Really Ernie
February 15th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Jiggles – several of us here in Asheville have been reading, analyzing, and gossiping about the Mary Worth and Rex Morgan comics for an embarrassingly long time. Ten years, maybe?
When we started reading, Rex and June were not yet married. Rex’s ex-business partner Dr. Keith was dating Graciela DiMiro, whose father was, “how shall I say it, an international commodities broker” (read: arms dealer). (The quoted part is an actual quote from the strip. It’s pathetic that I can remember this.)
Keith received a head wound at some point and took to wearing a turban. You could tell he had gone bad because he sported a pointed goatee. Later, he came on to June, told her he’d always loved her, so he was killed while being mugged.
My neighbor stopped by the house that day, and shouted, “I can’t believe Keith’s dead!!” Her daughter was in the car, asking, “Who’s Keith?? Who’s Keith??”
Smitty Smedlap
February 16th, 2005 at 11:17 am
Ok, so on Sunday they were eating at a high-class joint, with waiters in tuxes and food that comes in its own little metal fallout shelter — and now they appear to be in a diner:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mary.asp?date=20050215
What gives?
RememberByronFrost
February 16th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
Not to mention…… they BOTH have changed clothes !!!!!!!
MrPerson
February 17th, 2005 at 8:48 am
Like a lot of comics, this one’s vastly more interesting if you take everything they say as Sarcasm. Especially considering how she actually says “Sigh!”.
Yeah. Then, one panel after the final one here, they both go “WHAA HAA HAA HAAH!”
Renee S.
February 17th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
In reference to the 02/15/05 strip, Smitty, not only have they changed clothes, Anna’s also changed hair color. And how many times is he going to ask her a question?