One-panel tweakage
Pluggers and The Lockhorns, 5/4/09
Some might say I’m being inconsistent for constantly complaining about comics but then complaining when they change anything. But I only complain when those changes are pointless, or actively make things worse. Take today’s Pluggers, for instance. I generally assume that most comics artists have by this point taken advantage of services that will turn your handwriting into a perfectly good font that you can drop into your word balloons with Photoshop or whatever; and though you may assume that Pluggers would shun this modern trend, I’m guessing they’ve been doing it for quite some time — check out the lower-case Gs in the caption, for instance, and you’ll notice they’re all identical. In today’s Pluggers, however, something appears to have gone awry, with the dialogue balloon lettering being all boldy and in a different typeface from the usual (and quite pleasant) font that the other lettering in the panel uses. Either it’s a misguided experiment, or someone hit a wrong button and put the wrong font in, then said “Aw, it’s Pluggers, who cares” and sent it off to the publisher. At least it’s not Comic Sans.
Meanwhile, the Lockhorns has moved on from it usual caption underneath the panel and caption just along the bottom edge of the panel techniques to experiment with a radical “caption inside a box inside the panel” system. I’m not sure if this is just an attempt to cover up the yawning empty space underneath Leroy’s chair or a fumbling evolution towards true word balloons. I’d actually like to believe that this isn’t what Loretta is saying, but rather is information given to us by some omniscient narrator; Loretta is actually busy explaining to some dead-eyed paid assassin how much she’ll pay to have Leroy murdered, or perhaps is sticking her thumb down her throat to induce vomiting, just so she can briefly feel something.
Blondie, 5/4/09
I look forward to seeing Dagwood devolve into wholly justified paranoia as he comes to learn that everything that happens in his universe revolves around him, and that there are always millions upon millions of eyes on him at all times, watching and judging, even in his most private, secret moments (i.e., bath time).
Shoe, 5/4/09
It is a convention in Shoe that relatively mild punchlines are met with expressions of goggle-eyed horror by whatever character is unfortunate enough to be present when the daily pun or joke-like final sentence is delivered; still, I like to imagine that something has happened that truly justifies these terrified reactions. For instance, perhaps Skyler here thinks that by “notes” his uncle is referring to Lotus Notes, the worst Internet communications suite ever created.
Dennis the Menace, 5/4/09
I’m not sure what Henry’s expression of thoughtful chewing is supposed to denote. Perhaps he thinks that America ought to listen to its wise elders and get back to the common-sense economic principles that made it great. On the other hand, he may just be concerned that his elderly neighbor is talking to his son about not wearing pants.
IN OTHER NEWS: I have tried to be nice, and reason with you all, but I am done with that. Discussing Mallard Fillmore in the comments only pisses everyone off and contributes nothing. Anyone doing so will be banned on the first offense I catch, starting now.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Luann: So. Toni’s masquerading as Mrs. Brad DeGroot. This is borderline creepy, as in Alyssa Milano as the bad babysitter creepy.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Hello? Anybody home?
I have tried and tried to catch up, but to no avail and I miss you all too much.
I’ve decided to get current starting now and then read old threads and I see I’ve missed some kind of dust-up.
But anyway, I’m back, baby!
Let the Mary Worth hate rage on!
May 4th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
The Mitchells appear to be eating cat barf and drinking urine. That might account for Henry’s expression also.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Since when has Dagwood’s bathtime ever been private?
May 4th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
The newfound banishment strikes horror and sadness into the comments on The CC. In attempt to avoid mention of The Comic Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered, I will heretofore comment on Shoe and Doonesbury, in that order. Because the politics found in Doonsebury are opposite to those found in The Comic Whose Name Shall Not Be Uttered, I will read Doonesbury backwards.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
# 2 Mountain Mama — Welcome back!!
(And I think the problem was repeated offenses rather than one big dust-up. Let’s hope it’s all over now. C’mon, I’ve got some great pumpkin bread and cookies in the next room. Good to see ya!)
May 4th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I predict that as the recession continues, Pluggers will approach Funky Winkerbean levels of dismal, not-even-trying-to-tell-a-joke relentlessness. If America can’t “tighten it’s belt” (a Menacian counter to the Keynesians) it’s just going to be an unflagging hit parade of rhino men hocking various things before hitchhiking to “the plant” and learning that “Plugger benefits” have been cut down to aspirin and gauze from the office first aid kit.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I’m pretty sure Henry’s expression of thoughtful chewing is supposed to denote “I have food in my mouth”. It succeeds at this. It succeeds, in fact, to an extent that probably sets the artistic high water mark for Dennis the Menace in 2009. If you are not already applauding, perhaps you should be.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Oooh! Pumpkin bread! Thanks.
Actually, last weekend I made a recipe I found on Pillsbury.com–chocolate chip cheesecake bars. They’re wonderful.
Poteet, how are you? Is Dick Tracy as insane as ever?
May 4th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Maybe Henry is wondering if Dennis will start wearing high heels like Amos from 9CL does. Why not? Joey wears precious little lavender-colored crop tops with spandex shorts, and evidently Mr. Wilson’s thinking about going pantless.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
# 9 Mountain Mama — Not only is DT still insane, but now the insanity is set in Iowa, per a “Peosta, Iowa” sign. I am so, um, honored. And how are you? However you are, those chocochip cheesecake bars have got to help.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Henry, pumping coffee with dinner to fuel his all night internet porn romps, eyes Dennis suspiciously to see if he’s on to him.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
One wonders if Blondie anticipated Dagwood’s need for dinner out and dressed accordingly, or if she’s just in from the sale at Tudbury’s, or if the pepto-bismol-suit-and-matching-flats is her everyday attire. Whatever the reason, we’re gratified to see that the Bumsteads think it’s acceptable to wear nice clothes out to dinner.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
DtM: Henry appears to be drinking grain alcohol punch cooled by a chunk of dry ice. Well, I used to back in college when my chemistry-major friends would steal said items from the lab. Rock on, Henry!
May 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
A3G: everyone in the room look out, Margo needs a new umbrella and she’s likely to take it out of your asses. Her eyes will turn red, she’ll start talking like the backwards message on “Stairway To Heaven”, and the ceiling will rain blood. Someone get her an umbrella stat!
May 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
#11–Still in Iowa? Are they still doing that Ethan Noll stuff? Wasn’t that in Iowa?
I see you, TF! How are you, darlin’?
May 4th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
#7 JohnsonDelegate – The next Pluggers will feature the caption “Pluggers can’t afford medical care” and Kangaroo wife will die of cancer. Following that, Bear widower will attempt to write a book about her, with the caption “Pluggers are functionally illiterate.”
May 4th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I love in DtM how they’re eating orangeish chunks and washing it down with piss. Thanks colorist!
May 4th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I think the problems with the Pluggers typeface is just a natural consequence of converting hand lettering into a font. Seems the closer a font gets to natural hand-lettering, the weirder it looks — the best “comic” fonts are either really slick (most comic books) or really stylized (The Boondocks), and the worst ones are… well, the ones made from handwriting-to-font services (when Dana Simpson switched to one for Ozy and Millie, it was really noticeable and, coincidentally, also too thick).
Think of it as the Uncanny Valley effect applied to text.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I miss those days when I too sipped black liquid while my parents dined on orange jello. If I was good that day I would get a straw for my glass while my mother horded the pitcher of yellow to herself, forcing my father to drink steam. Then they would quietly stare while I informed them of our neighbor’s current activities. Yes, those were good times.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
No wonder the Lockhorns fight so much. They positioned their couch 4.5″ away from the TV, even though their living room is a wall-less, floor-less empty space, 178 miles long.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I’m actually amazed by the incredible optimism expressed in today’s edition of the usually dreary “Pluggers.” To wit: A. “The plant” is still operating. B. Mr. Plugger still has his job there. C. He can even still get overtime. If the Plugger economy is actually on the rise, can good times for the likes of bankers, newspaper reporters and other upper-middle-class anthropomorphic bears be far behind?
May 4th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I think Pluggers got hastily re-dialogued by the syndicate, after they read the original cartoon:
She: “Ask me for another damn ‘bailout’ and I’ll stick this pen in your neck.”
He: “…”
We need to find this “Larry Dillard” to get the full story…
May 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Have to take issue with you, Pope Josh–Lotus Notes Sametime Connect is actually an excellent Internet communications suite.
In other news, Spiderman is almost psychotically stupid.
Well, that’s not really news.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
#16 Mountain Mama – Sweet Mama, where ya been so long? I’m glad you’re back!
I’ve been snarkin’ my little heart out and getting nifty letters and seeing a lot of GOAT! references. Ah yes, my little corner of paradise.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
By the way, I looked back at the past couple Pluggers panels before I jumped to this conclusion; the speech balloons do appear to have been hand-lettered prior to today. So I don’t know how the caption font turned out so much better, unless perhaps it’s a commercial one. If any typography geeks out there recognize it, feel free to call it out.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
# 16 MM — Yep, Ethan Noll was from “Iowa University,” but it was never clear (to me, anyway) where the story itself was taking place. But the current nuttiness is definitely in northeast Iowa. Turns out Locher is from Dubuque.
SHOE — Today’s strip actually makes me feel a little better about my life in that even though I have numerous paper piles in my house, I don’t actually have my computer set up on top of one of them.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Here’s a fun, Pluggers-inspired experiment, consisting of two steps: First, refer to your wife/girlfriend as “Treasury Secretary,” secondly, survive. If you do, in fact, survive, it’s probably indicative that all the passion has long since been drained from the relationship.
Maybe the restaurant in “Blondie” isn’t secretly spying on Dagwood at all times; perhaps they just monitor the hourly stock reports and, on days when the market performs abysmally, they just put the sign out. I predict a time when, in addition to the “S&P 500″ and the “Dow-Jones Industrial Average,” we’ll have that other great indicator of America’s financial prowess; “The Dagwood-Steak Index.”
For some reason, the twisted metaphor spouted by Dennis has brought to mind some sort of prison shower scene. Ugh. That’s truly menacing; when a character starts breaking the fourth wall to actively menace his audience’s minds.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
MW – Adrian will have to go home first and fix that darn leak around her cranial seam but then she can hardly wait to go out with the detective and steal his soul too! Mmmmmm….brains….
May 4th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I don’t see what the problem would be with DtM being pantsless. I mean, how often do we see his ass now?
May 4th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Today marks the first time in many years that I’ve actually laughed out loud at Blondie! Hooray for Schadenfreud!
May 4th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
He’s not chewing; Henry’s just about to spit-take his steaming coffee into Alice’s face.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Croc: Wow. The artists are so lazy that they color a rock the same color as the sand. Either that or that’s the largest hunk of sulfur I’ve ever seen, real or fictional.
DtM: Mr. Wilson is obviously pulling the greatest prank of all time in the near future. Tighten your belts, America, or our cheeks will turn red (with Communism).
Family Circus: After his mother was finished with him, she politely reminded Billy that he now had something-itis. Is the prefix “hepa” really that hard to remember?
Gil Thorp: Things associated with devious little children: Skulls, crossbones, Iggy Pop, Ramones, Apple computers.
Heathcliff: Heath and his friends are going to poop. A lot.
Luann: Greg Evans is rapidly running out of “comical” situations for his young characters to run into, so he brings in something that couldn’t fail: domestic violence.
Marmaduke: I’m scared.
Mary Worth: “Lean on me anytime” is simultaneously the lamest and most absurd pick up line that I have ever heard.
Ziggy: I don’t understand.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Best DtM evar!!1!
Seriously, do you see what I see going on here? Henry is about to spout off some casual obscenities about his geriatric senex of a neighbor, and Alice takes quick action by doing something unspeakable to him under the table. Dennis may or may not be a menace, but there’s no need to expose him to the necessary vocabulary this early, she must be reasoning.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Good to see you, Sweet Mama :)
May 4th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
The assassin Loretta’s hiring shouldn’t have trouble finishing Leroy off, given that, from the way he’s hunched over two inches from the screen even though the title is in 100-point font, there’s no way he’ll ever see her coming.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Hmm. Kinda sad that it had to come to this, but I guess this gives me a good excuse to get the Avian Unmentionable off my reading list.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
The riddle of the changed Pluggers font is obvious: apparently something that at first glance is innocuous but on deeper thought is too naughty to be printed in syndicated strips had orginally been written in those speech bubbles, and was replaced at the last minute by somebody who didn’t have the custom font available.
Speculate what the original text might have been; extra points for keeping as close to the original as possible!
May 4th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
There is a lot of variance in the letters in the dialogue balloons there. If that’s a computer-rendered font then it’s a baffling mix of sophistication (alternate forms for some letters and random variations in others) and crudity (the crossbars on those G’s are something that should not occur in any font not designed by small children with rudimentary bitmap tools and a carefully cultivated hatred of letters.)
I’m going to go with the theory that something was messed up (possibly the original submission from Brookins just had two balloons full of “oh god kill me now” and “end the misery” over and over) and someone else had to reletter today’s panel at the last minute.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Henry Mitchell should be paying less attention to his doltish child, and more attention to the Moebius tapeworm from beyond furling itself into his coffee cup.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I found your pants!
May 4th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Note to Shoe: You can’t just repeat the phrase in the penultimate panel with a different font on one word as a punchline. Well, you can. Clearly.
Sigh. Why am I even bothering? None of these comics are even TRYING to be funny. It’s like “In lieu of jokes, we’ll just say stuff. It won’t be funny stuff, but it’ll sure be stuff.”
I patiently await the day when the caption under pluggers simply reads “Pluggers are fat, old and depressed,” The Lockhorns’ caption is just “Leroy hates me and I hate him,” and the bird-people of Shoe stare at each other blankly for three panels. In fact, much like Garfield minus Garfield, I think a good argument could be made that Shoe would be funnier without dialogue.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Mimic 3: Sentinel wasn’t as bad as I had been expecting. Yes, I’m drunk, so what?
I remember a Doonesbury from a couple of weeks ago when Alex Doonesbury had been wooing that guy with the PTSD whose name I can’t remember (Zapper, Hacker, Plugger, Conker? something like that) and I thought, “I wonder if Alex Doonesbury is considered attractive in the Doonesbury universe?” That oblong nose would throw me off, but I have no idea what I would look like in the Dooniverse. I’d probably have the big round Mark Slackmeyer nose.
Anyway, the very next strip, the guy mentions thinking she’s hot and she says something like, “What, with this nose?” Cracked me up. And that’s why I still go out of my way to read Doonesbury, thirty years later, even though it’s internal politics are opposite of mine and how you-know-who barely manages a second glance and a rolled-eye “Whatever.”
And now you know…the rest of the story! Good day!
PS: I am kind of bummed that Brad in Luann didn’t turn out to be paralyzed from the neck down.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Jamus! Good to see you!
TF, that was the sweetest little goat ever!
I did see some of the current MW storyline. So, did Mary call the cops on that guy or did the cops just happen to show up?
May 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Rabbit: “I told you what would happen if you called me your treasury secretary again.”
Bear: “I’ll try to get some at the plant.”
May 4th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
#37. commodorejohn -
You’re talking about Shoe, right?
May 4th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
“Loretta is actually busy explaining to some dead-eyed paid assassin how much she’ll pay to have Leroy murdered”
Actually, she does kind of resemble Karen Kim from Kill Bill: Vol. 2
(Take a look at the first picture in the Helen Kim (IV) IMDB page)
May 4th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
#47. spazmodeas -
Actually I think she looks more like Octo-Mom.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Josh, is it still ok to comment on Pluggers’ persistent endorsement of “alternative life-styles” where Kangaroos join with Canines, desecrating the institution of marriage (and all that is sacred) while they steal away our factory jobs by working overtime for milkbones and kibble, when hard-working, moral, homo sapiens are being pink-slipped??? Where’s the outrage!!!
May 4th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Y180 bats :[
Fashion extremists like Edda are currently wearing five- and six-inch heels, although like the Christian Laboutins in the current Saks Fifth Avenue advertisements, they usually have one- to one-and-a-half-inch platform soles. Amos, who has no ballerina training, would be well-advised not to try anything over four inches. In general, however, you are correct: six-inch heels border on the fetish. Five-inch heels, without platforms, are for sitting.
It’s actually rather daring for Amos to go out in heels. There are hardly any men with that much nerve, even though it’s not unprecedented. Fashionable men wore high heels for at least 200 years until the French and Industrial Revolutions and the rise of the merchant class changed fashion forever.
Stilettos aren’t the best choice for Amos though. Something a little more substantial and less obviously girly, like an oxford or an lace-up ankle boot, would work better with a suit-and-tie – and he really should have his trousers lengthened. Heels and too-short trousers do terrible things to the line of the leg.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Speaking of 24/7 Big Brother style monitoring, Skyler has just realized his technologically incompetant uncle, unable to get news from anywhere but the long since cancelled newspapers, is unaware that The Regime has banned making jokes forever on pain of death, and that he is watching the old man’s mercifully short final moments.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
While Skyler’s expression may appear to be the result of his uncle’s terrible pun, he is actually horrified at the Apartment 3-G porn his uncle is watching on the computer.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
So there exists a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra about breast cancer. It just had it’s European premiere, which I had the misfortune of attending. They music and lyrics were as if a hallmark card got cancer. I could feel the composers smirking through their writing. It was, in short, the musical equivalent of Funky Winkerbean from the days when it still tried to hide it’s utter despair through inappropriate facial expressions.
It’s thanks to this blog that I can go to a terrible musical event and then spend my time there thinking of Funky Winkerbean. This does not actually make my life better.
Fortunately, at least, no ghosts smirked at me during the performance, nor participated in me later snogging one of the violinists.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I assume that the goggle-eyed expression of horror in today’s Shoe are flatulence-related based on the look on Skyler’s uncle’s face.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Um, I want to ammend my previous comment to note that the performers of the thing I saw were all very good, I just couldn’t stand the writing.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
But can we talk about Millard Fillmore of the Whig Party? Or how Dagwood is so old, I bet he has a tattoo of the 13th president on his ass (which was the style at the time).
May 4th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
#42 – Small subtractive modifications can also improve Herb & Jamaal to a surprising extent.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Please don’t ban me from the boards, but I’m now DYING to know what the Mallard Fillmore dustup was all about! I know it’s totally petty and catty of me, but throw me a bone, wouldja?!
May 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Credit Where It’s Due Dept: Toni claiming to be Brad’s wife, and thereby implying that both are adults, was completely unexpected.
I’m looking forward to the Mrs. Brad deGroot-Momzilla deGroot smackdown. If Toni doesn’t win, Evans has to go to detention with Batiuk and Lynn Johnston.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
56, you’re brilliant.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
53. Les of the Jungle Patrol: the comics imitate art, or life, or something, huh? mr. bats :[ and I went to a concert by the Tucson Symphony on Friday evening, which included several young people who are quite talented and have a bright future in music as musicians, conductors and composers.
Still, it was tad creepy to have a 17-year-old male cellist playing (yes, I thought of Amos, and so did mr. bats :[ ) — at least he was playing with the full orchestra rather than a feisty female accompanist who can’t seem to remember that he’s the featured artist, not her and her alternately swooning/spastic piano gymnastics.
(The Tucson cellist also had an original orchestral piece played, entitled “Chubasco,” referring to the violent thunderstorms seen during the rainy season in this part of the world. Heaven knows if Amos composes music, or what it might be called…)
May 4th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Don’t forget that Dagwood comes from a wealthy family and we live in the post-Paris-Hilton age where simply being rich automatically makes you a celebrity.
Considering that one of the magazines I saw at the checkout line today featured as its front page story Kim Kardashian’s statement that she’s okay with having a little cellulite, Dagwood being stalked by a restaurant he visits frequently is low key.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Forget talk of typefaces. I’m extremely depressed by today’s Pluggers. Why do people make economic difficulty jokes? Don’t they realize we don’t want to face our problems?!
May 4th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
FW: The Musical?!?!?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8907883915299792880
May 4th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Considering the mismatch of genitals in a Bear/Rabbit relationship, I don’t think the financial budget will be the only tight thing they need worry about. Just saying…
May 4th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
So the bear is working at “the plant” eh? If Pluggers wasn’t so completely devoid of self-awareness I might have thought that was a smirk at how animals would work, y’know in the woods.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
DtM – Henry will swallow and shout “Discussing Mr. Wilson only pisses everyone off and contributes nothing!”
May 4th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
#3 Poteet – Exactly what I thought. This one should be captioned “Mr. Wilson says we should all recycle when we loosen our pants.”
As for the Pluggers, they’re all hard-of-hearing, so this all-caps entry is just a more authentic glimpse into their lives. They’ve got to shout at one another just to hear themselves. Plus, the Bear Plugger was just given some of Mrs. Mitchell’s “lemonade.”
May 4th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
#65, kippetje2000:
Thanks for putting that blasphemous image in my mind. I would write more, but I need to go take my brain out and scour it with a stiff brush and some strong detergent.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
#65 kippetje2000 and #69 heckler123:
Don’t worry; she’s a kangaroo, so her cinnabar cavern is probably adequate to accommodate his yang dragon. It’s still disgusting and I hate you for bringing it up, though.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Skyler just realized that his uncle is looking at Mallard Fillmore naked.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
@kippetje2000 #65: We cope, or perhaps you could say, we plug along. My boyfriend, after all, is a horse. Mwrar!
May 4th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
#2 Mountain Mama: I think I may be back too. I’m not sure. I figure I am still hallucinating from the three solid months of marking. When I read today’s entry, I found myself staring earnestly at the caption beneath the Pluggers comic and thinking, “But…but the ‘g’s are different! Aren’t they? The second ‘g’ has a fatter tail than the first ‘g.’ They’re like a thin twin and a fat twin! This is going to bother me for years.”
Then I had some ice cream and banged my head against the wall for a bit.
Why is that lamp sitting in the “Bills” box? I know it’s meant to be behind the box, but it’s not; it’s inside. By the same token, Big-Semi-Bear-Like Plugger has his arm sticking through the back of Kangaroo Plugger, and Leroy is eight inches tall. Perspective is fun.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Perhaps Dagwood, during one of his sandwich-consuming frenzies, has ingested some kind of reality-altering drug, and is now entering a Philip K. Dick storyline where the facades and props that make up his everyday life start crumbling away, with strangely personal messages appearing to him wherever he looks. Uh-oh.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Josh: Yeah, I caught that Lockhorns thing, too. I got spooked. I didn’t think they would mess purposefully with the void for which they’re famous. That’s why I found your explanations intriguing. Did you notice, the neighbor woman is Asian? When did that ever happen in The Lockhorns, outside of a Chinese restaurant?
May 4th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Being that they’re supposed to be birds, I think the “joke” in Shoe would have made more sense if he said “Carrier pigeons!”
To me, Henry’s thoughtful chewing denotes the old Soupy Sales one-liner: “My wife may not be a good cook, but she sure makes my banana cream!”
May 4th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Hey, didja see today’s Mallard Fi—–
+++CARRIER LOST+++
Better luck next time, Grumph.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
re:Family Circus 05/04- I find myself curious about which -itis the little melon head has come down with…but as -itis things usually denote an inflamation I can only assume it is referring to his terrible case of pumpkinheaditis.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
64 colonial: That’s nothing–there’s musicals out there based on Luann and Doonsbury. I guess it gives the schools that can’t afford the rights to You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown something to do.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Shoe – I find this to be much more entertaining if I imagine it is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where birds have evolved into intelligent beings. Although I keep waiting for Charlton Heston to show up and scream “Get your dirty talons off me you damn dirty bird!” (or words to that effect)
May 4th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
I thought that Mrs. Plugger was a kangaroo.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
contributes nothing
As opposed to what? The vital social importance of the daily discussion of the level of actual menace in Dennis The Menace?
pisses everyone off
Remove “every,” and that’s more accurate. Discussions of Doonesbury remain okay, because not one of its fans flies into a fudge-squirting rage or multi-post NO U defense whenever someone criticizes it.
Change it to “I-I-I can’t c-cope with it” and it’s a lot more accurate.
Yeah, I’ll just show myself out, thanks.
(*points and snickers*)
May 4th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Hey, welcome back, Angry Kem! I was hoping you’d return after the semester was over.
I personally see the lamp as being inside the “Bills” box. This would segue into a joke about how Pluggers don’t understand how paying for electricity actually works, but I keep getting hung up on trying to shoehorn a “plug” play on words in there somewhere, and it kinda collapses under its own weight. Anyone wanna take a swing?
May 4th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Colonial 64 WOW! Combining high school musical theater with Funky WInkerbean. Sort of like Johnson’s comment on the dog dancing on its hind legs. At issue is not whether it’s done well or not, but that it’s done at all.
I cant befreakinglieve I watched five random minutes of Funky Winkerbean, The Musical. Its a good thing that I stopped believing in an afterlife years ago, because that would clearly clinch my place in hell.
Thanks. I guess.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
# 73 Angry Kem — Welcome back to whatever extent you are now/can now be back!!
May 4th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
# 58 JonnyT — See # 6.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Exit Bob Ewell.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Maybe the Pluggers tried to beat the bills senseless with the lamp, then got tired and started playing around with their own fonts.
#85 Poteet: I’m on a sort of break at the moment, so it is possible that I will actually be able to spend some time procrastinating here. Over the past couple of months, I haven’t even really been reading the comics. There has been no time.
I hate marking.
Re. Dennis the Menace: I’m 99% sure Henry just threw up in his mouth.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Millions upon millions of eyes on Dagwood?
Josh, please. He hits 7 figures on a really good day.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Re: Pluggers, I don’t know specifically about the font choice, but i DO work at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia where Gary was based. I say WAS because, like most newspapers, we’ve been faced withmassive layoffs and Gary was one of the most recent victims. Lay-offs article
I would assume that Gary is continuing the comic from home, where he doesn’t have the access to the fonts and “technology” of the RT-D, so expect some changes to this and possibly Shoe.
Also, he’s on Facebook (though I don’t think he uses it very often… and probably less now that he doesn’t have time to waste surfing at work) but you could add him and say hello!
May 4th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Edge City: This is now the third strip to have their parents lose their retirement savings in the market?
May 5th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I find myself, strangely, kind of rooting for the bear/kangaroo Pluggers couple. It’s crazy, but they’ll make it work! *sniffs*
Also, you’re looking forward to anything involving Dagwood in the bath? Because I’m not.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:06 am
GIL T: 2 weeks from now, Shemp and Robb will say, Hey, look, this thing is broken. It still says “00000″.
CATHY: The pets can point their fingers up into the air and talk now?
And how long before the father takes the cue from “Marvin” again, and becomes a greeter at something-MART?
SPIDEY: I’m confused. Didn’t Max just become Electro at the onset of this storyline?
Back to GT: Shlep’s T-shirt seems to say “PUB” on it.
Is that where he’s been hanging out?
FRED B: What is “Watlington Best Bitter” anyway?
I was more confused when I first read it, and thought it was a commercial for butter.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Thank you, Joey, for mentioning Heathcliff’s sleepover poo party.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I like to imagine that the little tyke slowly circled behind his uncle’s back while saying “Then how did you pass notes” in an inappropriately sultry voice. Whether he did this before or during the installation of the window is anyone’s guess.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:40 am
The irony is that I first discovered this site through the serendipitous result of a google search for The Comic Strip That Dare Not Speak Its Name plus “sucks”. Can anyone offer directions to a place where this strip and its extraordinary qualities may be discussed without giving offense?
May 5th, 2009 at 12:43 am
{TF, that was the sweetest little goat ever!}
I couldn’t open the link… it kept timing out…. and I so wanted to see cuty baby goats…. :o(
May 5th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Cool with the rules.
Blondie: Did Dagwood ever reconcile with his parents?
Phantom: Captain Lady aiming for Gandhi points? She needs a man.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:06 am
It’s truly appalling to consider the idea that the whole world is actually “The Truman Show Starring Dagwood Bumstead,” but that’s not the most appalling notion in this little three-panel strip. No, the most appalling notion is that the ultimate comfort Blondie can offer her Dithers-beaten hubby is “a nice juicy steak dinner out.” C’mon now, couldn’t she at least offer a nice juicy little something IN? Nudge nudge, wink wink.
Oh, but I forget. Dagwood and Blondie probably haven’t done “it” since they conceived daughter Cookie back in 1940. Never mind. Enjoy your steak, Dag, you poor SOB.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:13 am
It looks like Mr. Wilson used the economy as an excuse to moon Dennis.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:18 am
I know that look. Dennis just reminded dad that he needs to use the belt more often. Alice is reaching under the table to give Dennis the signal to run like hell.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Phantom, 5/5: “Honey, we live in a cave in the jungle shaped like a skull. I don’t think we should be pointing fingers.”
May 5th, 2009 at 8:10 am
#96 Winky’s Spleen — try “Duck and Cover.”
http://duckcover.blogspot.com/
May 5th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Are comments about the thirteenth President of the United States still ok?
May 5th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Wait, what?
Is He Who Must Not Be Named still in print?
What?
May 5th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I am leaving my first comment ever to express my strong agreement that Lotus Notes is a terrible awful piece of garbage (unlike this site, which manages to take my mind off of sucky Lotus Notes for a few moments each day).
May 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Josh: But we can still have Taft/Teddy Roosevelt slash, right?
May 5th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
The wrinkles in the chubby bear’s pants look like a shark diving toward his wiener. Jesus, I really need to find a job.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
#98 I don’t think so. His father was J. Bolling Bumstead. Dagwood was disowned when he married flapper Blondie Boopadoop.
Here’s a trivia question. What was the name of the secretary/receptionist at the JC Dithers Company in the “Blondie” movies which starred Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake?
May 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Where do I get more background info on “He who shall not be named?”
Sounds intriguing.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I prefer to think that during the delivery of the goggle-eye-inducing Shoe punchlines, such as they are, the deliverer just floats a killer air biscuit.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Judging from the obvious gastrointestinal issues Shoe has and the wholly embarrassed look on his face; I am pretty sure Skyler assumed he meant they communicated through musical flatulence.