The Comics Curmudgeon

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I make my little rule, and I break my little rule

Longtime readers know that I am very strict about my commenting-on-one-comic-from-each-day policy. Except, you know, when I’m not. But Sunday’s pickings were pretty slim (except for the appalling Family Circus that was well covered in the previous post’s comments section), and there were two comics on Monday that screamed out for attention, so here they are.

Curtis, 3/7/05

In its continuing efforts to offer a positive image for today’s black teens, Curtis has taken some interesting steps. First it portrayed its tweenage hero as a leering, bug-eyed misogynist (I still can’t get the phrase “nothing more to him than a sexual playtoy” out of my head). Today, we see that he’s so hypersexualized that even his relationship with his bed is layered with lust. Now I have as hard a time getting out of a warm bed as the next guy, but the blandishments (which we can only hope are happening inside Curtis’ cap-adorned noggin) used here are way too smooth-jazz-style flirty for my taste. For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, I find the term “hunny-pot” particularly vile.

The ass-scratching in panel two is a nice touch as well.

So that’s what’s going on in Harlem. Meanwhile, down in Midtown:

Apartment 3-G, 3/7/05

Why don’t you relax and enjoy your “Cereal”-brand cereal, Margo? Every night that Mim spends in some sex-crazed 19-year-old’s filthy Bed-Stuy walk-up is a night that she doesn’t sleep on your couch, which as of two weeks ago was your primary concern in life. For her part, Tommie here shows us that, thanks to her roommates’ longstanding policy of ignoring her, she’s quite good at holding conversations with herself. She’s her own best friend!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 02:55 pm and is filed under Apartment 3-G, Curtis.

46 responses to “I make my little rule, and I break my little rule”

Winston Smith
March 8th, 2005 at 3:03 pm [Reply]

So, what exactly IS Curtis’ Mom holding in panel 1, anyway? A spatula? A toothbrush? A fly swatter? A clothing brush?
King Of All Paperboys
March 8th, 2005 at 3:16 pm [Reply]

Must. Have. Margo. Must. Have. Tommie.

I’m so aroused right now… I wonder if Curtis would loan me his bed for half an hour?
Moesy
March 8th, 2005 at 3:19 pm [Reply]

Margo’s not concerned (that’s way beyond any feeling she could ever have) she’s hoping the date went well so Mim will move in with her Baby Daddy and out of her living room.
Mibbitmaker
March 8th, 2005 at 3:33 pm [Reply]

Curtis:
Hey, at least, unlike Mark Trail, talking balloons are *supposed to* come out of inanimate objects! However, when the kid grows up and goes to bed with a woman, things are going to get verrrrrry awkward.

3G:
Tommie finally found a way to get dialogue in this strip! How’s THIS for post-modern: Maybe Tommie reads this blog, and it’s a deliberate shout-out.
dalton
March 8th, 2005 at 3:47 pm [Reply]

I marvel at the coincidence. My bed said the same thing this morning.
Bill D
March 8th, 2005 at 4:08 pm [Reply]

Tommie in panel 3 = Ann Romano/Bonnie Franklin in One Day at a Time
Yuck.
Aardvarkm
March 8th, 2005 at 4:14 pm [Reply]

Okay, this has been bothering me. Is that Joel Hodgson from MST3K hawking the coffee mugs in the ad on the left? If not, he’s a dead ringer!
Hippolyta
March 8th, 2005 at 4:27 pm [Reply]

Can we get a Saint Chree-style rendition of the Curtis/bed dialogue?

The challenge would of course be turning the red heart into speech or sound.
RememberByronFrost
March 8th, 2005 at 4:33 pm [Reply]

Let’s get up a betting pool on when we’ll finally meet ol’ Chucky…
I’ll guess March 20. And did you catch it when Tommie or Luann told Margo she might not approve of him for more reasons than one? Intriguing…..
Jason
March 8th, 2005 at 4:38 pm [Reply]

I’m gonna guess March 15.
Casey
March 8th, 2005 at 4:45 pm [Reply]

Maybe that’s not Tommie talking. We had a talking bed in this post. Maybe that’s how Tommie’s managed to make it all these years. Talking cabinetry!
JohnnyC
March 8th, 2005 at 5:00 pm [Reply]

What will be the “something else” about Chuck?
–too old?
–too young?
–a prominent politician?
–too black?
–too married?
–a married older black musician who is big in the “go-go” genre?
The possibilities are endless and so tantalizing!
tina
March 8th, 2005 at 5:14 pm [Reply]

back to the curtis-talking-bed issue:
when i read the bed saying “honey pot” my jaw hit the floor!!!! i am in the high school sex ed business and “honey pot” is a slang term i hear used for a woman’s certain sex-related area (is the v-word allowed in the comments section? :D ). is this not a universal term? could the person who writes curtis not have known this? for me it gives the strip quite the icky slant. yeek.
David C. Matthews
March 8th, 2005 at 5:29 pm [Reply]

Maybe I lead a sheltered life, but this is the first I’ve heard that “honey-pot” has a sexual connotation. “Yeek”, indeed!
Dub Not Dubya
March 8th, 2005 at 6:18 pm [Reply]

Margo is way too interested in Mim’s whereabouts and what Mim thinks of her. It’s pretty clear that Margo will be coming out of the closet soon. More lesbians, mule!
Matt
March 8th, 2005 at 6:51 pm [Reply]

To #13 and 14: not “honey pot,” but “hunny-pot.” Which is, for reasons not altogether clear to me, *way* ickier.
Charles
March 8th, 2005 at 6:58 pm [Reply]

I believe the movie The Shawshank Redemption features the term “honey pot” in a sexual sense.
stone
March 8th, 2005 at 7:09 pm [Reply]

That’s the way Winnie the Pooh spelled it. “hunny”
Yaakov
March 8th, 2005 at 7:34 pm [Reply]

NOOO! Leave Pooh out of this! thats just wrong! Is nothing sacred?? IS NOTHING SAAAACRED?????
islamorada girl
March 8th, 2005 at 8:10 pm [Reply]

Here’s an interesting thought; what if Chuckie turns out to be an imaginary boyfriend and Mim made the whole pregnancy thing up to get free hots and a cot? Considering the gene- pool- meets- the- ce-ment- pond genes she inherited from her van- loving mom, anything is possible.
Margo
March 9th, 2005 at 12:33 am [Reply]

Has anyone seen Mim?
Tommie
March 9th, 2005 at 12:46 am [Reply]

I think she said she was going to the world-reknowned New York Public Library, Margo. Why do you ask?
Sting
March 9th, 2005 at 6:01 am [Reply]

Tommie, did you just say something?
Erin
March 9th, 2005 at 8:46 am [Reply]

I particularly enjoy the Cereal brand cereal. Mmmm…delicious.
And what’s up with Tommie: “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
AmI the only one who thinks that Tommie should just SHUT UP?!
Monkeys Uncle
March 9th, 2005 at 8:49 am [Reply]

I thought Curtis shared a bed with his Brother? This bed seems much smaller. Is it possible this bed loves Curtis and hates Barry? Do you think the bed will start telling Curtis to commit unspeakable acts ala Stephan King’s Christine? Now thats a storyline with some moxie!

I dont know what Tommie puts in her turn of the century coffe pot but it seems to make everyone happy, really happy… Time for some delicious Cereal(tm) brand cereal mmm.
Skip Tracer
March 9th, 2005 at 8:52 am [Reply]

What will be the â€œsomething elseâ€ about Chuck?

‘He’ is actually a woman. (He might not have started out that way…)

Ah, the wonders of science.
Semi
March 9th, 2005 at 9:51 am [Reply]

tina, Honey Pot is a term I’ve heard applied to female genitalia as well.

Very often actually.
RememberByronFrost
March 9th, 2005 at 10:13 am [Reply]

I think that’s what she meant by the “v” word.
RememberByronFrost
March 9th, 2005 at 10:30 am [Reply]
Apt. 3G Facts:
- Mim scored 1500 on her SAT’s, indicating she’s a near genius.
- Yet she had to visit the world-renowned NYC Pub. Library to find out how she got knocked up.
- She’s sponging off 3 strangers she’s known for less than a month (though 1 is her long-lost aunt.) But instead of getting a job to pay her keep, she does volunteer work.
Conclusion: Since Mim’s a naive intellectual, and since opposites attract, Chuck is a worldly moron.
ranwulf
March 9th, 2005 at 10:47 am [Reply]

Gross! Aside from Pooh (sorry, Yaakov) the only time I’ve ever seen “hunny pot” was in reference to a female’s umm…”special place.” It’s wildly out of place here. Curtis is a lame strip to begin with – now it’s weird as well. Ick.
Moesy
March 9th, 2005 at 10:48 am [Reply]

Mim’s not a niave intellectual, she’s a brilliant con artist. She gets to live for free! How do we know she’s really volunteering. As far as that goes, how do we know she’s really pregnant. She could be a huge mooch!
Monkeys Uncle
March 9th, 2005 at 11:30 am [Reply]

I had no idea Mim was a genius. I think Chuck has conned her in to being the brains behind his meth lab. Chuck cant even make his own Cereal(tm) brand cereal but he can move that crystal on the streets of NYC.
RememberByronFrost
March 9th, 2005 at 11:36 am [Reply]

Good point. And he forced her to volunteer at the hospital so she can furnish him with
– supplies for the meth
– anything else narcotic-related

The suspense is killin’ me !
Flasshe
March 9th, 2005 at 12:24 pm [Reply]

As I think someone postulated previously, Chuck is actually Buck from Rex Morgan. Eventually, Mim and June are going to get in a sexy catfight over Chuck/Buck’s hot (infected) graduate student bod. The readers will be the real winners.
DCBirdblaster
March 9th, 2005 at 1:35 pm [Reply]

Alright. Enough of all this speculation of where Mim’s baby came from. It’s all just speculation. For all we know she’s making Chuck up to cover up the embarrassment that she’s actually a Hermaphrodite and she got herself knocked up! (Thank you South Park!)

Personally, I’m leaning toward the con-artist theory, only that her mom put it up to it so she could rip off Luann. (Who must be incredibly rich living in her own apartment with only two roomates.) There’s at least of year’s worth of conflict sustain this zombiesque story line.
DCBirdblaster
March 9th, 2005 at 2:50 pm [Reply]

FFSSHHK!…ACKK!! OHNO!..NO!!..AAAAAAAAAARRRGGH! I’ve been sucked into the Apt3G hole of stale, inept serial comicdom!! I’ve bookmarked the daily Washington Post! I read the archives! I’ve left comments on Josh’s Blog! I’m such a comic slut!!

I hate this strip. It taints the very definition of comics. A travesty in your daily paper. Why then do I read it? Somebody stop me!!
Dub Not Dubya
March 9th, 2005 at 3:45 pm [Reply]

Is that Chuck eavesdropping in the background of Wednesday’s strip? (See http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/comics/archive/showComick.mpl?date=20050309&name=Apartment_3-G ). More statutory rape, mule!
Bill Peschel
March 9th, 2005 at 4:28 pm [Reply]

“Comic slut” Now that’s something I’d like to see on a T-shirt.

Anyone notice Sally Forth’s hair making a cameo appearance in panel 2?
Monkeys Uncle
March 9th, 2005 at 4:57 pm [Reply]

I think that might be Clark Kent evesdropping in the background of wednesdays 3-G. Although with his super hearing I dont know why he would need to evesdrop… Gasp! maybe Mim is carrying Lex Luther’s baby and Chuck is a fake name. This explains alot.
Moesy
March 9th, 2005 at 5:00 pm [Reply]

Clark Kent has black hair not dusty blonde. It does make for an interesting twist though…
Monkeys Uncle
March 9th, 2005 at 5:06 pm [Reply]

Hmm Dont you think Superman would have some kind of super hair that can change colors, grow at an accelerated rate or play Mp3 files?
islamorada girl
March 9th, 2005 at 6:36 pm [Reply]

Maybe the eavesdropping 3G Clark Kent is….gasp. . . Chuck! Horrors! Mim’s baby daddy is a (shudder) yuppie! The horror! The horror! I can’t look!

As a loyal Chatalogical Humor fan, I have to add that if the eavesdropper were the Flash, he could bleach his hair and return before Tommie and Margo noticed he was gone. . .
Anne Nonymous
March 9th, 2005 at 6:39 pm [Reply]

Maybe the eavesdropper in the background is Buck, the grad student from Rex Morgan. He’s gotten cleaned up, new clothes, and a haircut. Oh, yes, and darkened his blond hair a bit. Not hard to do in A3G, since changing hair and clothing color is a constant theme. (Although, Mim has stayed a red-head for awhile now.)
RememberByronFrost
March 9th, 2005 at 8:59 pm [Reply]

I think the 3G Eavesdropping Clark Kent is Margo’s partner in the black-market baby scheme; they’ve never met in person but now that he knows she’s got a fish on the hook, he’s keeping close tabs….
RememberByronFrost
March 9th, 2005 at 9:02 pm [Reply]

Also I have a good acronym for Buck in Rex Morgan. He’s the Pus-Encrusted Reeking Vagrant (PERV) whom June is bring home to meet the napping kiddo……
Saint Chree
March 9th, 2005 at 11:48 pm [Reply]

man, I don’t read Josh for a few days and I am (very indirectly or perhaps not at all) mentioned twice. My ego has shot through the moon, leaving a slacker shaped hole through the center with devestating consequences for anyone near the tide line.

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I make my little rule, and I break my little rule

46 responses to “I make my little rule, and I break my little rule”

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