Thursday quickies
Mary Worth, 4/2/09
Always working on self-improvement, Mary has managed to upgrade the contents of her thought balloons from simple text-based information to a full multimedia experience. I was going to say that she really needs a hobby, but then I realized that figuring out better ways to obsess over other people’s problems so as to help her forget her otherwise empty life is her hobby.
Luann, 4/2/09
Does anyone else remember how, years ago, Greg Evans had his readers vote on whether Luann was going to go to some dance with either Gunther or Aaron Hill? I seem to recall that either Aaron won the vote, or Gunther won the vote but then Luann went with Aaron to the dance anyway. My point is that in panel three Gunther is right: he is unloved either by the majority of the people who read about his life or by his creator.
Marmaduke, 4/2/09
It’s natural that Marmaduke’s owner is confused. For most of us, being transported by our demonic pet through a mystical portal into some kind of hell-dimension of eternal torment would be an unfamiliar experience, and we wouldn’t have any idea what was happening until too late.
Marvin, 4/2/09
It’s been a painful experience for Marvin’s grandparents to have lost all their money and move due to financial necessity in with their daughter and her family; the worst part is that they have to live with Marvin, obviously. But still, multigenerational homes are traditional in much of the world, and there’s opportunities for real wisdom to be passed on. For instance, today Marvin is learning that human vanity does not fade with age, but rather only becomes more ridiculous.
Spider-Man, 4/2/09
Ha ha, Spider-Man told a “not” joke! These were very popular twenty years ago or so.
Mark Trail, 4/2/09
“But first, we’ve got $500 to spend! That will sure buy a lot of khaki and neckerchiefs!”
Mike P
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Spider-Man’s not joke proves that this strip takes place in the past.
anaceofkidneys
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I don’t get the daily paper, have they discussed why Luann is wearing a mushroom-cloud tiara?
M
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Spidey would’ve been much hipper if he’d said “Psych!”
As for Gunther, I liked him until that very last panel. He’s crossed the line from subtly pining into blatant baiting.
SenorTaco
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Marmaduke looks freaking terrifying in that panel…
Mr.Death
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
“This suit is red and blue………………………….NOT!”
Josh
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
re: everyone’s discussion yesterthread of (presumably pre-Vatican II?) Catholic headgear — do you mean to tell me that girls sometimes wore yarmulkes to mass? Wild!
AhClem
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
MT – Judging from Rusty’s nightmare-inducing visage in the 2nd panel, I’m guessing that “memory card in my pocket” really means “venomous reptile in my pants.”
Lisa
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
They were little lace doilies, I think… I wasn’t raised Catholic, but I have seen pictures.
Re Mark Trail, the expression on the kid’s face in the middle panel is much more suggestive of his having been molested than having had money thrown at him.
One-eyed Wolfdog
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I downloaded a copy of that Marmaduke so I could erase the whole thing bit-by-bit with a medium-sized ‘erase’ tool in my paint program. It was cathartic.
Paul and Brad Anderson: I don’t know what you’re doing, but knock it off.
blueberrygrrrl
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Oooh, looks like they’ve upgraded to the MWDGMU*-6000! Now with GUI.
*Mary Worth Drama-Generating Meddle Unit
One-eyed Wolfdog
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Also, I wish to share this shining example of communist-era comic genius, which I unearthed because something in one of yellojkt’s polls reminded me of it and I had to look high and low to find it. (Lest anyone get the wrong impression, there are any number of strips, certainly including but not at all limited to Cathy and Shoe, that I would evict from the papers to make room for reruns of this.)
Rusty
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
That $500 in Mark Trail could set up an awesome after school special involving Rusty and his meth addiction.
Chief Instigation Officer
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
2029: Spiderman makes an “Oh, Snap!” joke. Count on it.
Dragon of Life
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Gunter is an impressive man with incredible powers of persuasion. Thus far he’s gotten Luann to wear a sexy witch outfit, an alarming pig outfit, and a horrible amalgamation of the Burger King crown and an atomic explosion.
Captain Thunder
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
In keeping with his “lifestyle” of loafing all day watching television (the proportional television-watching ability of a spider!), Spider-Man was apparently tuned in to a Comedy Central early-90s-era SNL marathon before venturing out to fight crime.
One-eyed Wolfdog
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
(If we could even arranged for those two crappy strips to be merged into a single crappy strip called Cathy and Shoe, that would be one less thing I need to forcibly ignore each day, and that would be progress. Who knows, it might even breathe new life into them. Of course, Cathy and Shoe Locked in a Room with an Axe Murderer would be even better, but I suppose you can’t always get what you want.)
Alan's Addiction
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Mary Worth isn’t thinking about who Ted could be talking to – she’s thinking of potential kindapping and ransom/extortion victims. Or, at the very least, she’s hoping to expand her “meddling pool.”
Luann has an interesting way of making her point: “Gunther, everyone loves you! In fact, suggesting otherwise makes me angry at you!”
Marmaduke has become so lame that it’s now recycling jokes from the Jetsons, which was a particularly boring cartoon (“Jane! How do you stop this crazy thing?!”)
Marvin continues along the general theme of “Stuff I never, ever wanted to see in newspapers, much less think about” with this week’s installment, “Our Grandparents’ Necks.”
The police in Spider-man are even more incompetent than he is, which has to be some sort of paradox. If I had to pick between logically explaining “This statement is a lie,” “Middle East peace process,” or “Police that are dumber than Spider-man,” I wouldn’t choose the latter.
I also hope that Godzilla comes along to save Mark from that horrible, giant deer that’s about to crush his house.
Captain Thunder
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
16. Wolfdog: Wouldn’t that last one be Cathy and Shoe and Jeffy from Family Circus?
The Spectacular Spider-Brick
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Late-night didn’t-have-time-to-snark-this-morning snark!
9CL: “Oh, Lord, throw me a bone!”? That’s what he said!
A3G: Later… “I didn’t let him steal your babies, Mrs. Vicki! But he did take your 8- and 5-year-old children!”
Archie: What’s Veronica practicing for? The day Eduardo Barretto takes over art duties, of course.
Blondie: You know it’s a lame punchline when even Daisy doesn’t open an eye.
(WT)DT: You know you’ve been snarking too long when you can’t even muster the willpower to make a joke about the disembodied hand holding the phone with its fingertips.
EC: Um, yeah. That’s how it works. Follow the directions, get approval. This is a punchline how?
GA: I hope this is a last touching and heartwarming storyline for Walt before he kicks the bucket. Seriously, there are Albanian mountain villagers reading this and saying “Fuck, he’s old.”
thorps.Aha, so now we know! Shep Trumbo is the one who’s been putting saltpeter in the salt shakers! Then again, what do you expect from a guy whose name is an anagram for “Throbs Me Up”?Ghost-Who-Coulda-Tapped-Dat: I thought this ship’s only crew was a brown-haired, modestly endowed Indian woman. So who’s this DD-cupped blonde? And where are her clothes?
RMMD: Hey, that ship captain in Phantom has stolen June’s breasts!
SL: “Eight-legged love machine” doesn’t come to my mind, either. Especially since crabs got 10 legs.
tAS: This may be one of the lamest jokes I’ve seen since this strip started, but for some reason I can’t get past the fact that the farmer’s wife wears Crocs.
LaSalle
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I can believe many things about Mark Trail, but I refuse to accept that Rusty knows what a memory card is.
Paleoperdon
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Not only can Mary think in pictures now, she uses proper punctuation. Or were the quotation marks a clue that the blue-haired gentleman isn’t actually floating there in a cloud?
Johnny Cat
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 pm
The FWIPP move is strange, and unrealistic until you realize that, as evidenced in panel one, at least one of those guns is made of wood.
Captain Thunder
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
A.3G: “Tommie, Tommie, why so formal? You helped my ex-husband abscond with our children. Heck, we’re practically sisters! Call me Vicki!
“Or don’t actually, because you bore me.”
Cedar
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I can’t swear to it, but I think that Aaron won the reader vote to be Luann’s date, and Evans made her go with Gunther anyway, using that same gross avatar logic that seems to guide all male cartoonists. The usually frightenly detailed Luann Wikipedia entry has nothing on this.
ring around the collar
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
“I have the used one in my pocket”? The used one? Nobody refers to full memory cards in their pockets as “used”, as though they were soiled hankies. Even Rusty is grimacing in disbelief at having to read such a stilted construction off the cue cards (alhough maybe his expression is due merely to his inherent gruesomeness, hell I don’t know).
But you know what, Elrod may not actually be as up-to-date with modern technological gizmos and the associated lingo as I have always maintained.
Roto13
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Spider-Man has to start saying “Not!” after everything.
“While I tell the mayor what a great job you’re doing! Not!”
“She’ll be able to go home in the morning.” “Oh, man! That’s great! Not!”
“Thanks for letting me crash here while they’re redoing my apartment. Not! I’m staying forever! Suck it, bitch!”
“The smell of your coffee is worth waking up for. Not! It smells like a bowel movement, and so do you.”
Kermit the Forg
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 pm
anaceofkidneys, apparently her topical costumes are all related to whatever book she’s reading to the kiddies that week.
Jackuul
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I thought Jon looked rather creepy today. So I decided to improve Mary Worth’s experience. Or make it worse. Whichever.
@#3 M
Spiderman would be hipper if he had a hip replacement and started using phrases from the 20’s – like “bees knees” and “flapper” along with “Bearcat” for his aunt. In fact using anything from this page would make him “hipper.” It would at least give him something to defferintiate him from total idiocy, mediocrity, and failure.
Captain Thunder
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
27. Kermit: Which I guess means they’re reading The Little A-Bomb That Could this week.
Or Sadako and the Thousand Cranes. It could go either way.
Echo
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Luann: Actually, I believe Aaron won the vote by a sizable margin, but Evans responded by shipping Aaron overseas and foisting the pitiful, unattractive loser Gunther onto Luann.
“Guess that makes me a mistake too” is a mating cry of a Nice Guy. Gunther is a Nice Guy. He just hangs around, whining that he’s unloved, never actually saying what he wants, hoping he can score pity sex. He remoras himself onto a pretty girl like Luann, then he gripes that women are shallow and will only go after guys who will treat them “badly”. It’s not that other guys are actually interesting, hot, fun, or even that they have the guts to say what they want: no, it’s all women’s fault for not wanting a Nice Guy.
Now that Assthony is gone from the comics, Gunther is angling to take over his position as head repellent Nice Guy, and with this strip he vaults over the competition.
Facebones
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Coming up on Luann, readers get to vote: Pity fuck or “I’ll show them all” asphyxiation in a closed garage… or both! At the same time!
Gilligan
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Are Adrian and Mary Worth having dinner with Master’s champion Trevor Immelman?
Captain Thunder
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 pm
31. Facebones: C, Gunther and Brad. After the joint funeral, Tiffany, Luann and Toni move into an apartment together in New York City. Luann becomes a nurse, Toni moves from firefighting to teaching, and Tiffany enters PR. Hilarity ensues.
Chris
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 pm
LaSalle: I can believe many things about Mark Trail, but I refuse to accept that Rusty knows what a memory card is.
He obviously doesn’t, because he seems to be laboring under the misapprehension that once a memory card is filled, you have to take it to the camera store where they will presumably print out the pictures from the old card and sell you a new one.
The industry used to employ this business model; the product it sold was called “film.”
Black Drazon
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Time to play a game! What comic is to the right of Marmaduke in YOUR local paper? Because given the context, he just warped into it and is about to start his rampage. Lock up the children!
Speaking of crossovers, something about his grandfather’s flabby, dangling neck skin has given Marvin the Winkerbeaniest smirk I’ve ever seen. This can only end in laryngeal cancer.
Izzy
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
“I Dream of Genie…Ted.”
commodorejohn
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
#11 One-Eyed Wolfdog – Wow. I have never seen a comics lady so simplistic and yet so sexy.
#16 One-Eyed Wolfdog – Cathy and Shoe, sample strip:
Smokehouse
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
The cops aren’t webbed up in that last panel, they’ve just been completely immobilized by Spiderman’s amazing wit.
Charterstoned
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 pm
MW – At first glance, Mary’s vision looks like a really funky piece of artwork on the restaurant wall–and that didn’t surprise me because the Mary and her pals usually dine in hideous venues. But now that I see it’s actually something in Mary’s head, I’m thinking, shouldn’t Margo be in Mary’s thought balloon giving us the finger quotes? Because I think that would add another level of meaning to “I love you.” Also, did anyone else notice that the chairs in that whacky restaurant went from having open backs (that made them look suspiciously like folded walkers) to having fully padded backs, all in the few minutes it took Mary to spy on Adrian? So, the restaurant menu also offers upholstery…?
MT – I thought that in panel 2, Rusty looked like he had accidentally jammed his finger into an electrical socket–until I remembered that LoFo probably doesn’t have electrical service.
sugarpie
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 pm
#6 Josh Yeah, the girls at Saint Andrew the Apostle wore red yurmulkas with SAA embroidered on them. Unless they forgot them, and then the nuns had silent furious spasms and made them pin, yes unused, kleenex on their heads. This was in New Orleans and the school had no A/C and the girls wore grey flannel skirts with bibs and white shirts, and we wore khaki shirts and pants. It really fucked up my fashion sense as an adult. The nuns all wore full habits of black wool.
I think its one of the reasons Sister Mary Laurent enjoyed beating us-it released some of the frustration of wearing a black serge, floor length, long sleeved burka in New Orleans in September with no a/c. Yarmulkes? I think the sisters would have converted if it meant no more black wool.
etho
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
@ 30 – Echo
Your theory is absolutely right, except for the idea that Aaron is an appealing alternative to Gunther, which of course he wasn’t/isn’t. Gunther’s character is “Nice Guy,” Aaron’s character is “Attractive Guy.” There is nothing more to them than that, they are both despicable cardboard stereotypes, as is everyone in the entire strip, and I want them all to die in a fire then drown for all eternity in the 5th circle of hell (Sins of Weakness and Sloth).
Hrm. I may be more emotionally involved in this than I should be.
Jeremiah
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
While most people will think that Mary Worth’s question is an effort to delve into a problem that is not her’s and meddle to her heart’s content, Mary actually wants to know. See, if Ted has a family, he can explain the concept to Mary who doesn’t have a family since she sprang middle-aged from the hells of the Aztecs during a particularly grueling human sacrifice. Under Ted’s tutelage, she will be able to stop using those ludicrous stories about her childhood and develop more believable ones.
A3G – Poor Tommie. Everyone around her wants to put on more clothes.
Lord Vetinari
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
9CL: today i saw an incredibly muscled gay dancer in a comic strip use the word “gewgaw.” the fact that he reminded me of my mother did not make this any better.
Crankshaft: the characters in this quagmire of woe today are making jokes about injuries and pain with undertones of mortality, while the ’shaft himself stands there helpless with surpressed rage. this is scary and depressing beyond words, and not funny. you hear me, whatever sadistic creature writes this stuff? not funny!
Gil Thorpe: EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE HELL YOU OPEN A SALT SHAKER LIKE THAT!!!! with magic sticky fingers or something??? maybe you should give tips to spiderman!
oh, well. i’m still snorting over “shep trumbo and rob larue hit the bucket after practice.”
Luann: look, i go to high school. i’m hard to miss; just look for the kid in the full length cloak and the electric blue pants, the one giggling over a book in the back of the class. Luann, who is also in high school, albiet in a comic strip, is trivial, overly dramatic, silly, materialistic, self centered and boy obsessed. and you know what the really sad thing is? i know people JUST LIKE THIS.
druidbros
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
MW – I thought several of the commentators here made snarky remarks about the possibility of there being other members of Ted’s family on the other end of that conversation. How dare they steal plot lines from us without attribution.
sugarpie
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 pm
#40 The girls only wore the kleenex to daily mass at the beginning of the school day. It wasnt mandatory for class. This isn’t very comic oriented, curmudgeonly, or even remotely funny; its just depressing. So, I’m off to find Jamus the Bartender and see if he cant mix up something sort of…lenten. Maybe an JMJ cocktail: Jameson’s, Midori, and Jaegermeister—please be sure to wake me up by Good Friday.
Laconic
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Once again my all purpose Marmaduke caption seems almost disturbingly apt.
“You have been bitter by a Marmaduke, and soon you will become a Marmaduke.”
Anonymous
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
2: reading “Queen of the Cloud Kingdom” for the library kiddies this week, thus explaining the crown and the “clouds” that Luann is wearing courtesy of Gunther the Closet Cosplay Kink.
queek
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 pm
47 was me. forgot which browser I was using.
Vince M
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Marmaduke: Please, WHAT in the name of all that is gracious is happening here? Marmaduke is levitating in a wavering path (and looks pretty upset about it), and Mister Hilter is towed behind and spinning like a propeller? Looks like nightmares for me tonight…
kurt
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
MT: Tune in Tomorrow for “Crime Whiz” where our henchmen examine the CCD’s charge state from the last pic and see what got shot!…. NOT.
(Tip of hat/shake of fist to SM for lame ending).
Chemical Cupcake
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Spiderman is all that and a bag of chips!
Telemachus
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
What happened to Elrod? I refuse to believe that he drew the last panel of Mark Trail; the word balloon is coming from the house, instead of from the deer as we all know it should.
Muffaroo
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
MTrail – It’s time that petty criminals in this country learned that you can’t make a problem go away by throwing money at it.
COTW – To answer Dingo’s question here, I believe she would use a “Joy Buzzer.”
Roto13 @26 – Spidey’s building up to not-revealing his secret identity in public. “Oh, by the way, I’m really Peter Parker… NOT!” (“Heh heh! What a bunch of dopes! I totally got away with that.”)
Poteet
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
MT — Thank you, Josh. I did think that $500 deserved a little more attention than the Trail family has given it.
And I wish Rusty would decide once and for all what size his eyes are. Those Stoned Dondi panels are unnerving.
Poteet a.k.a. Anal, Annoying Minor Etc.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I’m not sure what the fourth line under Luann should say, but I think at least one word is missing. That is all.
Sarah
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Beards also allow you to hide your homosexuality from the family.
Monkeyhawk
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
MT — Looks like Rusty’s haircut is headed toward a full-Bumstead.
fluffy
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Why is that deer talking about looking at the pictures? That’s a pretty nosy deer.
Erik A.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Today’s Judge Parker hints at some kind of upcoming steroid scandal. Am I the only one who wants to see Sophie ripped?
Poteet a.k.a. Anal, Annoying Minor Etc.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
And competing in the CC Spring 2009 Sad, Sad Backstory Contest, we have…
Gunther of LUANN, in “Dad Left Because I Grossed Him Out”
TJ, also of LUANN, in “No Family Left, Only Cold Hard Cash”
Lu Ann of A3G, in “South Dakota Dysfunction Junction”
I bet I’m forgetting someone.
Red Greenback
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Spidey don’t play dat.
Stev0
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Next: Spidey listens to this “grunge” music he’s heard so much about lately.
Joe Btfsplk
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 pm
(Thursday)
Dick Tracy – I was all set up to make a plot call here, that Mr. Eyejack’s first name is Juan, but after a bit of review I see that AhClem beat me to it several threads ago. Oh well. I am not as dead-certain about this one as I was about “Ethan Noll,” but I think we can be confident.
Now I’m just wondering whether Eyejack is related in some way to that Queen of Diamonds character who went smokestack-diving a couple of years ago. This could even be a large extended family of playing-card people. Finding creative ways to mow down all fifty-three of them (including the Kerzweild Twins, Joe and Jo) will keep Dick happily occupied for a few decades at least.
Redeye – Yep, strip is still dead. As long as the Chron leaves the link there, I’ll be clicking it a couple of times a year, just to make sure.
Mark Trail – Because, as Rusty knows, when your memory card is full, it’s “used,” and you have to take it out and put a new one in. At least, that’s what the guy down at the Lost Forest General Store has been telling him.
Marmaduke – HOLY CRAP
Dennis The Mmmwhoarewekidding – Putting a toy car on his bed upside-down is the most menace this kid can manage these days.
Peanuts – I have always loved Lucy.
Slylock Fox – A puddle… of what? Only the bird knows.
kelsy
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
It looks like Mary used her last reserve of energy to create this multimedia experience. She’s going to have to go into her pod soon to regenerate her meddling strength.
Soccerhead
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:58 pm
4/2 Spidey: If that second panel had been in yesterday’s strip, he coulda just said, “APRIL FOOL!”
EmmaP
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Ted-in-the-thought-balloon is looking right at me.
Uncle Lumpy
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 am
OK, so Mary’s speech balloon is thinking about Ted talking. What’s Ted’s speech balloon thinking about?
KTrout
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 am
Mark trail is an unholy anachronistic time warp where fashions that might have been commonplace in 1964 at best coincide with digital cameras and memory cards.
Digger
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:26 am
I initially thought Gunther was angling for pity sex, but then I realized he would likely be thrilled with any little bit of physical contact from Luann. A sympathetic pat on the shoulder is probably like third base for Gunther.
MW: Ted was obviously saying “I love you” to the phone sex lady. Come on, you can’t really expect the poor guy to get it on with Adrian.
Nekrotzar
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 am
#3 – followed, of course, by ‘Nopsyche.’ Or maybe he should just stick with ‘Take my secret identity – please.’
Godjesus
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 am
I like how Spider-Man is pumping his arms as he very conspicuously stomps across the lawn to the Mayor’s house. Being threatened and harassed by the police has apparently angered him to the point that he now plans on filing a formal complaint. “HEY MAYOR! THOSE COPS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB! — NOT!!!”
Poteet a.k.a. Anal, Annoying Minor Etc.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 am
A3G — Time for my once-a-month hello to Lu Ann. Hello, Lu Ann! Hope you are still alive out there in South Dakota! And if not, I hope your body will be found intact so you can be given a dignified funeral!
Poteet
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:39 am
4/3 RMMD — Great. Just when we were getting a really nice view of June in her bikini, Weird Willy shows up. Please let’s follow June to the pool, from several angles, and ignore the kid. Please.
Poteet
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
4/3 MW — Yes, those would be lovely children, what with having Adrian’s hair and Ted’s moustache. *shudder*
Red Greenback
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 am
There, there, Gunther. Ted Confey loves you!
fnord3125
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:57 am
Ugh, Josh! Weren’t you paying attention? The Trail’s don’t have $500 to spend because Rusty is a young Money Eater or Plutophage! He understands, on a deep, cosmic level, that money truly IS the root of evil, and he is determined to consume that source of sin to save not only his family, but the nearby town from it’s evil. On receiving that money he surely ate it on the spot and will now use the mystic energy thereby acquired to MAKE everyone see the terrible corrupting influence that money and the pursuit of its acquisition inflicts upon everyone.
Baikal
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 am
At my protestant church all the women wear mantillas. It’s not a cult or anything, just very traditional. That’s why in old movies the women all wear hats to church. I believe the tradition is also maintained in many black churches.
Violet
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 am
I notice that while in the original panel wherein Mary Worth overheard Ted’s phone call he was saying “I love you too,” in today’s installment her word bubble’s thought bubble’s recollection of his word bubble has him saying just “I love you.” Apparently even Mary can’t be bothered to pay attention to this storyline.
Dr. Weird
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:17 am
Here’s Gunther’s “Nice Guy” approach summed up. http://xkcd.com/513/
mollificent
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 am
#30 Echo: Ah, you’ve been reading xkcd ;)
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/12/05/xkcd-explains-nice-guys-in-comic-format/
Highly cathartic for anyone recovering from a Nice Guy experience. Not that I’m speaking from, er, personal experience or anything. Um.
#43 Lord Vetinari: Love your handle. Don’t let me detain you. ;)
BenG
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 am
Archie: Someone’s been messing with the AJGLU3000’s internal calendar. It thinks that it’s January 1st.
Citric
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am
Either Jack Elrod doesn’t understand digital photography or Rusty has inserted the “used” card in his person.
mollificent
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am
Oops. Here’s a more appropriate link:
http://xkcd.com/513/
/relurk
BenG
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 am
FOOB: …rented? Is this some kind of Canadian prostitution lingo that I’m unfamiliar with? Is this the new “roadside”?
left of the pyle
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 am
Holy Tatas, Batman! It looks like the cruise from hell isn’t the only surprise present June got for Rex. Too bad Rex prefers a whole other type of cruising — the type that takes little notice of what I must say are very nice breasteses.
Captain Thunder
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 am
Next on Apartment 3-G: Six weeks of security guard Charlie trying to fix Dr. Kelly’s security pass! Thrill…as Charlie tries rebooting the passcard reader! Marvel…as Charlie suggests Dr. Kelly try swiping it from the bottom! Swoon…as they wrap the card in Saran-Wrap to see if that works! Wonder…why the writers spend more time with Tedious Tommie than with the far more interesting Lackwit LuAnn or Magnificent Margo!
bats :[
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 am
TGIFunnies! Or just some observations…
MT: wow, it’s pretty exciting how insightful and observant Rusty is. He identified the bald-headed guy as the one who took his camera, even though the guy had changed shirts with his friend! (Compare the 4/3 strip to the one on 3/16…and why I even noticed this is just a sad commentary on MY life..when do I get BIG sad eyes like Rusty?)
Phantom: do all the natives actually believe that Kit is hundreds of years old? Really? REALLY?! Or is it like the Invisible Man piece in “Amazon Women on the Moon,” where Ed Begley, Jr. runs around naked and the local townspeople pretend he’s invisible?
And why doesn’t Kit run around naked?
FOOBlite: and if anyone knows about rented women…
RMMD: !
Captain Thunder
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 am
Damn tags.
The Not-So-Amazing Whitney
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Spider-Man had hoped something more dramatic would have come out of his mouth. Or at least more current.
(Gotta love Arrested Development.)
Donald the Anarchist
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:28 am
MW You know, I think this may be the first time in this strip someone has used the phrase “I love you” in a direct manner. Perhaps Mary is unaware that many cell-phones have plans that actually encourage people to call other people they have emotional attachments to. It’s called, “Friends and Family” I understand, and there could be any number of people one might express that sentiment to, in our world anyway.
Luann Slow, Gunther, it’s too early for the “Nobody loves me” card. Start with blaming yourself for your Dad leaving. Then build up to, “I’ve always felt, if I told someone that I loved or needed them, they’d reject me.” Also, take a tip from David Foster Wallace and get a baby arm. Apparently that works like a charm.
Marm Hitler looked around, puzzled. Where was he? Yes, his satanic bowser had brought him far, far back in the past. It was Egypt, 1371 BCE and he knew his mission, the most daring he’d ever tried. To assassinate Moses!
Marvin “Trimming your pubic hair, on the other hand…”
SM “Oh, you naughty boys, you want a peek do you? Well, I’m just too shy…(teehee)”
MT “That a break.” Mark, have you already decided this is a case? Wait a minute, do amatuer sleuths have cases? When do we get a police chief showing up to tell Mark not to push his nose into department business?
emilochka
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 am
I’m guessing the Mark Trail memory card line was an editor’s last minute change to make MT more relevant to the modern, sophisticated comic reader. Something tells me the original involved rolls of film or photographic plates, given the awkward “used one” phrase. Similarly, I assume the $500 figure was changed from the original “two bits and a Hershey’s bar” bribe.
Mark Trail: Our clothes are from 1962 but our technology is from 1998.
commodorejohn
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:35 am
#30 Echo et al – Yes, this is very off-putting behavior indeed, and Gunther is practically being possessed by the spirit of the Pornstache. But I think a more obvious and concrete reason it would be unwise to date him is that he has all the defining hallmarks of a psychopath, to wit:
* No life outside of an obsessively-narrow window of regular activities that never vary in the slightest (Gunther makes costume. Luann unwittingly makes some quasi-sexual remark while trying it on. Gunther is mortified. Rinse, lather, repeat.)
* Complete and utter sexual psychosis.
* The ability to make even the most innocuous of activities seem creepy and perverted (I mean, how do you turn costume design into a something so horrifying?)
* Beady, soulless eyes from Hell.
He’s like Rorschach without the charm. You just know one of these days there’s going to be a Very Special Luann where the youngest deGroot goes missing. The investigation turns up nothing, and the bereaved family is left wondering what could have happened to their daughter*. Meanwhile, Gunther has a stunningly realistic new mannequin in his basement, and he’s excited because he’ll get to try new costumes on it…forever and ever.
* Except Brad, who is busy staring at a naked, pleadingly aroused Toni and wondering what TJ will be cooking for dinner.
True Fable
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 am
Fist O Justice Theater Didn’t Rusty ask them to look at the camera, or does Mark simply not understand requests? I suppose when Cherry asks Mark to give it to her hard and deep, he hands her Proust and then rolls over to sleep.
Captain Thunder
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:43 am
92 commodorejohn: The only problem with your criteria is that it covers pretty much every comics character. Even Ziggy.
Especially Ziggy.
True Fable
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:43 am
Rex Morgan, Man Whore PAYDAY!!
bats :[
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:43 am
And just to show that patience is a virtue exhibited by a surprising many, the Morgans’ plane landed in Miami on 23 November 2008, and with that many of our hopes and dreams of seeing June bustin’ out all over. Over three freakin’ months…
True Fable
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 am
Sophie Spencer, Hotshot Once again, Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood guest stars as the principal.
I want to see some neckbiting, dammit; at least a little bloodshed and mayhem. Where’s the Hot mad Mama when we need her?
cubicle monkey
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 am
Was anyone else a bit startled by the sudden reference to modern technology in Mark Trail (i.e.: the boy’s camera uses a “memory card”)!? This strip is so old-fashioned that it never occurred to me that it’s supposed to be taking place in modern times!
Jobrill
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:50 am
Regarding Luann: I think the result of that poll, actually, was that the readership voted overwhelmingly for Aaron, but Greg Evans sent Luann off with Gunther anyway, and even shipped Aaron off to Hawaii so he couldn’t get in the way.
So yes, It’s Paul-Liz-Anthony all over again. On the plus side, I guess Gunther doesn’t have a wife to emotionally cheat on while she’s pregnant with a baby she didn’t want but he insisted she have. So uh. That’s a plus.
Folkhero
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 am
Marmaduke is more of a Lovecraftian nightmare every time I look at him. The impossible geometry depicted in this particular comic shake me to the core.
IronMouse
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 am
Gunther’s birth certificate will reveal that his fathers last name was…Winkerbean
Kirk
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
My first posting on this site…
Mark Trail
I am worried about those strange alien fingers reaching out to touch Cherry’s chin in panel 1!
Mary Worth:
In the first panel Mary appears to be wringing her hands in glee as she makes her first sally in this latest bout of meddling! And that is definately not Adrian’s father’s ‘best side’…
Muffaroo
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Violet @78 – Perhaps we only saw part of the encounter, and Ted said both “I love you” and “I love you too.” In that case, maybe she mis-heard, and Ted actually numbers his utterances when they’re similar. He might have proceeded to “I love you three” and “I love you four” after the strip ended.
commodorejohn @92 – He’s like Rorschach without the charm. Nice!
Junker
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 am
My first posting as well. Prompted by your jab at today’s Marmaduke. One of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time.
Love the site.
Ubiq
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
That look of utter despair on Marmaduke is what truly makes this comic so terrifying. That is because Marmaduke knows that his dance will summon the Elder Gods to eat the souls of all living beings, including himself, but he has no choice in the matter. Performing that dance is his sole purpose in life and all shall come to an end as a result.
ColetteNicole
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Forget about Marmaduke- how terrifying are the tiny, pale fingers reaching out from Rusty’s dialogue bubble to caress Cherry’s face?
Also- The Trail homestead better watch where it’s putting it’s dialogue bubbles. Impaling that poor deer through the head like that!
The Uncola
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:51 am
Don’t you all understand the horror of this? Mary’s meddling nature has become self-aware! Tired of the constraints of Mary’s withering old mind, the meddle has broken off and has developed romantic feelings.
Or else the artists just didn’t know how to make a speech bubble and a thought bubble that use separate paths to connect to Mary’s face.
sinshine
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:43 pm
forget that it messed up the quote, I’m just amazed that the speech bubble has a thought balloon with a speech bubble.
Harold
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
DEER KILLED BY SPEECH BALLOON THROUGH HEAD
(Film at eleven)
At first I though Luann was talking to A.J. Didn’t his father ditch him, too? Gunther and A.J. have so much in common. Have they ever been introduced?
Count Duckula
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Spider-man’s humor is more up-to-date than that – he’s attempting to reference the popular movie of a couple summers ago, Borat… and botching the joke by adding a delay before the word “not”. The correct Borat reference reads: “If you say so, I will unmaskNOT.”
3D
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Wow. My first reaction to the “NOT!” comment was that, yes, it’s an anachronism, but Josh was going a little overboard in saying that it was 20 years ago.
Then I did the math and figured out when Wayne’s World was first on SNL.
I need a drink.
Carly
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Marvin’s “joke”: Ha ha! Old people look gross!
Carly
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Wait, it just clicked with me that one of the MT characters knows how a digital camera works. Impressive from people who mostly appear to be stuck in the middle of last century.
Lord Vetinari
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 pm
#80 mollificent: HAHAHAHAAAA!!!! someone got it!!!! hahahaHA!!!! i am victorious!!!
ahem. sorry about that. very un-lord-vetinari-like behavior. you have made my day!
eddie van halen
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
That Marmaduke is the funniest thing i’ve seen in a long time. I’m convinced it was a put on — the cartoonist drew an incomprehensible picture, added a throw away caption and left it up to figure it out. It would have been funnier if he had said “Marmaduke, what the fuck are you doing?!” Othewise, it was perfect.
Joannah
April 4th, 2009 at 12:05 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Joannah
http://easypowerpaint.com
Mull Again
April 4th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Mary’s face in the second panel seems incongruous, given the meddling she’s about to enact. It reflects a crushing sense of listless depression. All those years of passionate interference have finally taken their toll. The poor girl’s heart just isn’t in it any more. I imagine some of you don’t agree with me on this point and are now asking, “What heart?”
Zaratustra
April 4th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
This Marmaduke is less of a comic and more of some kind of abstract art, possibly trying to convey what it’s like to take six tabs of sunshine in a row.
Sarah
April 6th, 2009 at 2:14 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://wordwhomp.net
Anonymous
November 16th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I dreamed about reading Marvin last night! Except in my dream, it was a full-page format comic book, not just a strip, and everybody was several years older, and Marvin was nowhere to be seen, the story instead focusing on Ming Ming, who had somehow become an interesting character instead of an irritating cypher.
Obviously, it was a big improvement. Unfortunately, although it was no longer about the romantic lives of daiper-soiling babies, it was still about the romantic lives of five-year-olds. Just as bizarre, but at least there was less crap.