The Comics Curmudgeon

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Friday quickies

Mary Worth, 10/23/09

My goodness, is Mary actually admitting that (a) she once didn’t know everything and (b) she once had the capacity for love? This is like hearing Satan mention that he once attended junior high school. Anyway, this anecdote seems to be going to some kind of “and then he died” place that can’t possibly make Adrian feel any better. “So during one of these periods when I was punishing him with my silence for his transgressions, he was killed in a shootout when his police unit was raiding an opium den. I felt terrible about it, for a week or so, but then it passed! What I’m trying to say, dear, is that if you make your heart an icy stone, nothing can hurt you.”

My Cage, 10/23/09

My goodness, I have to admit that when Jeff’s son mentioned yesterday that he’d be playing a character from a comic strip in his school play, Masky McDeath never once occurred to me as a possible candidate. Well played, Ed Power, writer of My Cage! Let us know what it’s like waking up tomorrow with Lisa’s tumor-ridden head in your bed.

Pluggers, 10/23/09

Having already absorbed hipsters and hippies into their collective, pluggers have settled on their next target: preppies. It’s pretty clear now that nobody is safe, and those of us who refuse to settle for life as folksy, semi-literate furries need to start preparing for the final, apocalyptic war for survival.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/23/09

Can’t you just hear the little metaphorical lightbulb switching on over Earrings O’Punk’s shaved, off-screen noggin in the final panel in this strip? I certainly hope the denouement of this plot finds him at the crooked old folks home, feigning dementia to score free meals. He deserves a happy ending, as he’s by far the most sympathetic character in this storyline.

Marmaduke, 10/23/09

Marmaduke’s owner was hoping that he would “take care” of the town’s homelessness problem by going down to the shelter and devouring all the hapless hobos. Instead, he’s assembled a pack of stray dogs who will urinate on every single piece of furniture that his owners possess.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 at 09:01 am and is filed under Marmaduke, Mary Worth, My Cage, Pluggers, Rex Morgan, M.D.. |

337 responses to “Friday quickies”

gleeb
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:09 am [Reply]

I think Earrrings “Baldy” O’Punk is sympathetic only because of his situation; we don’t really know anything else about him. I’ll say this, though: if I ever surprise a burglar, I now know the thing to do is to demand money from him, like Baldy did. At the very least, it’ll give me time to think.
Comcis Fan
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:20 am [Reply]

I’m not sure they make Astrodome-sized Izods. (There’s a Plugger term: Astrodome.) Anyway, perhaps Messrs. Lyman and Brookins are unaware that Izods are once again on the market, ridiculously overpriced at that. This must be a circa 1975 Izod, because no Plugger is going to pay $88 for a short-sleeved Lacoste T-shirt.

http://tinyurl.com/yhq3ctx
Zamboni_Rodeo
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:21 am [Reply]

Lyman Morris of Earlysville, VA and his grandkids must not get out much if they haven’t seen alligator shirts in the last, oh, six or seven years. They’re still quite prevalent around where I live, particularly among the college crowd (to further corroborate Josh’s comment).

A better observation might have been: “You’re a Plugger if your grandkids want to know what club you belong to when you wear your Members Only jacket.”
Matthew
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am [Reply]

I’m pretty sure Satan attended MY junior high school.
Daveh
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 am [Reply]

Zamboni,
Plugger submissions have to submitted via the email address on aol, not here. ‘Though it would be interesting to see if the writers of Pluggers ever leave the aol fold and search the intertubes for new material.
TheCasey
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 am [Reply]

Re: 3 – “You’re a Plugger if your grandkids are trying to find the parachute in your parachute pants.”?
Terry in Silver Spring
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am [Reply]

MW: …meanwhile, it’s been a good week since anyone has wondered how old Scott is doing since he inconsiderately got himself shot and hurt everyone around him.
The Modesto Kid
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:35 am [Reply]

You’re a plugger if your grandchildren wonder why your web pages are HTML instead of PHP. (Sorry, weak — I had a good start but couldn’t figure out how to end it.)
Jimmy
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 am [Reply]

I referenced that Masky McDeath strip when Josh linked to it, and I got misty all over again. Thank God Mary’s strip was there to bungee me back to reality.
MolyBendum
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:44 am [Reply]

Under Pluggers I thought it said “apoplectic war for survival” and I thought that pretty well summed up how I felt slogging through the volunteerism-strewn comics wasteland this morning. It was so off-putting I closed the comics and refreshed my humor levels with the headlines…..Dead and missing children? Still funnier than today’s comics. Bombs going off in Pakistan? Still funnier. Drugs, swine flu, Britney Spears…all infinitely more amusing.

Except My Cage and the Jumble.
Dingo
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am [Reply]

Ed Power, I want to make violent sweet love to you, the type where tomorrow morning you leave the house in a Joan Collins-style wide-brimmed hat to hide your shame from the neighbors. I really should have read My Cage at home today instead of work. Cow orkers* are giving me strange looks now based on the laugh.

* – Whatever happened to Gadge Cubic, Mole Preener?
Professor Fate
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 am [Reply]

All hail Ed Power and My Cage! Now this, this is writing.

MW: While it is suprising to learn that Mary wasn’t always well Mary – it’s not suprising that the conversation has turned to being about her.
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 am [Reply]

MW: “…Life can turn on a dime.”

By contrast, death is what turns Mary on.
Les of the Jungle Patrol
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:51 am [Reply]

You know, when I don’t want to hear about the emotional troubles of people around me, I launch into tangentially related stories from my own life. It creates the impression of caring about their problems, sometimes makes them feel better and, at the very least, changes the topic away from their present distress. I realize this makes me kind of an asshole, but if I actually went out and sought out people to silence in this way, it would make me a sociopath. So I might be an asshole, but at least I’m not Mary Worth.
Comcis Fan
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 am [Reply]

S4th: What are Sally’s eyes doing in panel 2? Is she making circles with her irises at the same time she raises her eyebrows when she says,with a pregnant pause, “romantically?’

Blondie: “Never let the pimiento touch the pastrami.” It’s a wonder Dagwood and Blondie were able to procreate.’
bats :[
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 am [Reply]

Hmmm, bad guy D’Vito has a wife, a former model by the name of Stella. Very likely she’s a trophy wife (ohpleaseohpleaseohplease).
BUT…what if he’s been married faithfully for 45 years, and Stella was a hottie back in the 50’s and 60’s (or 40’s)?
AND…what if, in the course of Mary Worth Confesses All ™ she reveals a longtime secret marriage, full of passion, both good and bad, and that in her veiled life — a former career — she was known as Stella?
Yes. I’m talking about Mary in a fur coat. And nothing else.
Uncle Ritzy Fritz
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 am [Reply]

MW: “I say turn on a dime, but of course, dimes hadn’t been invented yet when I was young. Our economy at the time was still based on the trading of animal pelts and lengths of beaded ropes. And the occasional clamshell. But I digress…”
Mela
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 am [Reply]

My Cage gave us the best description of Masky McDeath ever! Well played, guys! You managed to make fun of Batiuk’s “creative triumph” AND his ham-fisted defense of it in one go.

As for the rest of the stuff:

Baldo: Okay, this crossover’s getting creepy. Someone call Dateline.

‘Shaft: An old man contemplates his uselessness & impending death. Hilarity ensues!

Curtis: Even with the punchline ending, this was actually pretty sweet. Good job, Billingsley.

ReFOOB: “And others write to try and reshape the shattered remains of their lives into a dull yet tranquil ideal. Want to learn how?”

FW: You’d think by now Becky would learn how to taylor her clothes so that there’s not always that one rolled-up sleeve. But then how would she be able to lord her dismemberment over the youth of Westview?

Garfield: This is BEGGING for the “Garfield Minus Garfield” treatment.

GA: Today we learn that Byrd is petty. It’s probably supposed to be charming.

Luann: The brainwashing continues, but at least we don’t have the girls acting all smug about politically-prompted charity. Is this week over yet?

PBS: This story thread is awesome. That is all.

Zits: “Yep. It’s a step up from the Pils.”
True Fable
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 am [Reply]

Sam Driver’s Pretty People Posse! We are about to get a reprieve from Boring White Guy Sitting Around Talking, by unleashing Barreto to draw a hot naked model. God, I love this comic strip.

Mary, Bringer of Meddle With just a push of her hand, Mary was able to alter the shape of her face until she resembled Bogey.

Rex Morgan, MIA Touched by their innocence and trust, Baldy McChromedome vowed from that day forward, to go out and drag Rex and June back to star in their own damn strip, even if it meant them kicking and screaming the whole way back.

Apartment of Doom If the makeover people will just take away the beads and bright pink hairbows from Ruby, they will have done a public service for all of humanity.

I, Platypus This should get an extra-special mention at the Bee-Grinding Awards, possibly for Best Comic Snark of Another Comic! Brilliant!
Patrick
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:01 am [Reply]

Given the anthropomorphic nature of Pluggers, I suspect that the alligators are the Pluggers’ grandkids’ cousins.
mkilby
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 am [Reply]

My Cage: my first impression was that he was costumed as Sherman in Sherman’s Lagoon. The “escorting into the afterlife” presumably includes ~~burial~~ disposal services as well.
Amateur
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 am [Reply]

MW: Uh-oh, the having-to-hold-your-head-on thing is contagious.
The Eric
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 am [Reply]

Would the play in My Cage happen to be ‘Wit’?
LUJBEM FEJF
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 am [Reply]

Wearing alligators on my shirt does not make me a Plugger damn it! The outlet store is practically giving those shirts away.
Damn it! I bet Pluggers shop at outlet malls don’t they?
Oh my god! It looks like Pluggers don’t volunteer either. How did I become a Plugger? I didn’t even see it coming. Please God let the embodiment of death visit me and get it all over with.
PS-I didn’t get the memo on the whole volunteerism/death thingy going on.
Calvin's Cardboard Box
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 am [Reply]

Curtis – Cute and sweet, but still avoiding the critical issue of the apartment being covered in bird shit. The Camden Aquarium had a hippo exhibit with birds incorporated into the habitat. A sign under one tree reads: “A bird population of this size will result in a bird relieving itself every 30 seconds, on average. How long have you been standing under this tree?”

FW – Why must she roll up the sleeves at all? Tailor them, or leave them hanging. And if you must roll them up, why roll on the outside and then pin them? Wouldn’t that maximize the visibility of the empty sleeve, thus resulting in the maximum number of people noticing the – ok, nevermind, just answered my own question there.

It seems it is always more popular to snark than to point out, for example, how great PBS and My Cage are today. Also, Get Fuzzy is recalling its glory days with the recent Ferret TV story line. “Satchel, I want you to take a nap in front of this closet door.” “CAN DO!!”
Snowshoecat1
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 am [Reply]

MW No, no, adrian. You still have a chance. Run!
NoahSnark
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 am [Reply]

Back when Mary Worth was capable of feeling love, that dime life turns on could buy a dinner for two and a movie, with change left over.
Anonymous
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:29 am [Reply]

Re: yesterday’s terrific Jumble again-
I hope that Plugger juror didn’t fart too many times during Josh’s sentencing.
Mary Worth looks downright pissed too, most likely because SHE wants to be in the judge’s chair.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am [Reply]

Oooooh, we lost power last night (Snow! In October! With ice!) and I lost my (urp) cookies. #28 ’twas myself, the tricolor.
Jacob
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am [Reply]

MW: “Life can turn on a dime… It’s a funny world we live in. Speaking of which, do you know how I got these scars?”

RMMD is depressing in its depiction of senility. “People give us food! Do you have our dinner? Give it back!” *throws a cat*.

In Garfield, we see that Jon is performing public service in recompense for some crime he committed, and the fact that he’s excited about getting to visit the playground again may be a clue as to what kind. Also, his shirt doesn’t fit; I guess there’s no one who cares enough to tell him.
spike
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 am [Reply]

bats :[ @ 16: Ewwwwww! OTOH that would be an awesome mashup!

MW: I see Picasso is the inspiration for today’s second panel. Nicely done!
Anonamuse
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:34 am [Reply]

An Ode to
Sublety in a Name

Oh, Cherry, Cherry,
so sweet, not contrary.
Sorry to tell you,
but that man you did marry?
That great big hunk’s
an airy fairy.
(I don’t understand why
he doesn’t like hairy.)
He wants not you,
but would much prefer
a Gary, Harry or even a Larry.

So you can forget any lovin’,
or a bun in the oven.
You oughta think twice
about becomin’ a nun ‘n
gettin’ yourself some
female funnin’.

I have for now just one query.
Why were you
not more wary?
Oh, sad for you, girl,
I feel so very.
All because of Mark,
you’ve still got your cherry!
Peripheral Visionary
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 am [Reply]

PBS – Awesome. Nobody does surreal quite like Pearls.

Pluggers – “You’re a plugger if you’re blissfully unaware that your clothes have gone so far out of fashion that they’ve come back into fashion again.”
Anselm
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:42 am [Reply]

I had forgotten about the Funky Winkerbean depiction of death. I thought it wasn’t every day that one sees a reference to Everyman in the comics.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 am [Reply]

MC – FW/Hell’s Kitchen WIN! Hahahahahha!

Curtis, Baby Blues, and Snuffy today are all really sweet.
Baby Tater Tot is my new favorite character in the comics, along with Trumpet Man from Curtis.
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 am [Reply]

@15 Comcis Fan says — “Blondie: ‘Never let the pimiento touch the pastrami.’ It’s a wonder Dagwood and Blondie were able to procreate.”

Hmm, are you sure she isn’t just saying she doesn’t like getting shockers?
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:51 am [Reply]

#25 – The annoying rolled-up sleeve is a very ham-handed sympathy ploy. It pisses me off every time I see it.
Clamps
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 am [Reply]

That Pluggers comic is obviously an elaborate pranks. Here’s the proof:

All pluggers shop at Walmart
All pluggers pay $20

Therefore, pluggers don’t buy/wear Lacoste.
tb4000
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 am [Reply]

You’re a Lil’ Plugger if your speech pattern is so fucked up, your questions sound like declarations.
buckyswife
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 am [Reply]

JP: So, Barreto God of TaTas has finally heard the desperate prayers of his followers. He had led them into a barren, legalistic desert of square-jawed men in Mad-Men-wear, where the Barretoites wandered lost and forlorn, wailing in their agony. But lo, now He will take them to the Promised Land of the Trophy Wife, She Who Wears Naught But Dead Animal and Her Various “Assets.” And it was good.

A3G: Tommie’s not perplexed by the question itself; she’s stumped by the three-syllable word in it.

MT: “Or, with any luck, we’ll just be eaten by bears.”

BB: I don’t know, Walker. What’s the word for a comic strip that no matter how many ways you look at it, just isn’t funny? Oh wait, I know: Beetle Bailey.

Cul de Sac: I love this strip.
bats :[
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 am [Reply]

One! singular sensation…
Anonamuse
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 am [Reply]

To illustrate just how far gone I am:

As of yesterday, my eighth-grade son has a new girlfriend. Her name is…Kayla (I’m assuming that’s how she spells it)!

My first thought upon hearing this was to think of Funky Winkerbean. Aaah!
Naked Bunny with a Whip
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:59 am [Reply]

those of us who refuse to settle for life as folksy, semi-literate furries

Oh, c’mon. It’s not that bad. Trust me!

need to start preparing for the final, apocalyptic war for survival.

Ah, crap! They’re onto us! Everybody into the escape pods!

…What do you mean you hocked the escape pods to pay for your heart pills?!
Digger
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am [Reply]

God help me, I read the Pluggers cartoon before the caption, and I thought the mini-Plugger was pointing at his Grandpa’s crotch and asking “what is that?” Sometimes these strips are funnier when you put your own spin on them.

Rex Morgan is teaching seniors how to deal with punk criminals – by talking them to death.

MW: I suppose Mary’s plan here is to make Adrian realize that the pain of losing Scott is nothing compared to the pain of sitting through yet another of Mary’s drawn-out anecdotes. Way to cushion the blow, Mary.
One-eyed Wolfdog
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 am [Reply]

#41 – …every little step she takes…
commodorejohn
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:09 am [Reply]

A3G – It’s like the beginning of the blandest “female empowerment” movie ever. I envision an ending where Tommie and Ruby link hands as they drive off a cliff, only it turns out to be about a three-foot drop.

AS – Gee, this doesn’t remind me of a certain other work by a certain other artist in any way whatsoever.

Blondie – is, like Curtis, rising head and shoulders above the other “VOLUNTEER YOU SCUM” strips simply by (get this) being funny.

BrS – Um, could you guys pick a plot and stick with it? Please?

Curtis – kicks relative ass all the way to the finish line.

DT – Nope. Still not as grossly inhuman as the “normal” characters.

Dilbert – It is so very nice to have someone in the funny pages calling out this whole stupid event.

Garfield – Okay, when a multi-comic event results in Garfield being one of the funniest participants, you know something’s not quite right.

GT – *insert joke about “needing release” here*

HTH – gets points with me just for being snarky.

H&L – reiterates that it’s perfectly okay and in no way assholish to volunteer other people’s time.

Luann – GO TO HELL, GUNTHER.

MT – Coincidentally, “try not to think about it, honey…things will be fine!” is also the phrase that preceded the conception of little Cindy.

MW – “Especially for those who cross me. Capisce?”

MC – Sometimes you just need to lay off the subtlety, take off the kid gloves, and go right for the jugular. This is already a hit, but if it turns out to be a one-two punch of insulting Funky Winkerbean and parodying its “making the students participate in a play about death and cancer is totally okay” storyline, that will be all kinds of awesome. Bravo, Ed and Melissa!

PBS – Haha, nice.

Pluggers – You’re a Plugger if the people around have stopped expecting meaningful reponses so long ago that what would normally be questions are now mere dry observations, as indicated by their punctuation.

SFx – Kevin Anderson of Silver Spring, MD knows how the oldschool vampires roll. None of this sparkly bullshit; give him a slicked-back widow’s peak and a black cape any ~~day~~ night.

SM – Sandy? Sandy? Uh. Hrm. Anyway, do you think maybe Big Shot might have waited to notify Sandman until he was out of range?
Shlomo
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 am [Reply]

Is Mary admitting to murdering her old boyfriend by making him ingest dimes? Cruel Mary.
Shlomo
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 am [Reply]

44- Digger, your first thought is natural. After all, grandpa is not looking anywhere near the alligator on his shirt.
Steve the Pocket
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:18 am [Reply]

I’m not sure how the subject of “One” came up, but it’s frightening that I correctly identified the song based on one lyric and the fact that it was parodied on an episode of The Simpsons that I only saw once. Unless it was also in a recent Macy’s Parade pre-show, or parodied on Sesame Street (likely, given the name).

Hmm, was it parodied on Sesame Street?
AeroSquid
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:18 am [Reply]

MC: Holy crap, Ed ! You brought my ‘Masky’ to life ! With dolphins !

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2566/3914737982_e36e4f8c63_o.jpg
Jackuul
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am [Reply]

Marmaduke: That pretentious bitch deserved it too! How dare she order the Great Marmathulhu to take care of a homeless problem instead of a pre-school! Let this be a warning fleshbag, your life is dependent upon your service to He Who Devours Them All On The Last Day.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am [Reply]

3G – Maybe this will turn into the antithesis of “Sex and the City”, when fun lovin’ Rootin’ Tootin’ Ruby and boring Tommie run into and befriend Bobbie the pill-head.
Learning Tommie is a nurse, Bobbie coaxes Tommie to rip off a bottle of Oxy and a bottle of Valium from the hospital on her behalf. Hilarity ensues when she once again crosses paths with a bus.

(Fun and important fact-did you know that valium stimulates appetite in cats? My older cat Renoir got panleukopenia over the weekend and he’s all holed up at the Vet’s-he wasn’t eating, so they stimulated his palate with a valium injection, and they e-mailed me a few little videos of him chowing down like crazy in his cage. Who woulda thunk it?)
Pozzo
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am [Reply]

Thank God this week’s “volunteerism” theme didn’t catch on in Mary Worth — that would be more self-righteousness than I could stand. Surprised that Beetle Bailey didn’t pick up on it, though, since it’s an all-volunteer army.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:32 am [Reply]

#53 – It’s actually odd they didn’t address this, as Mary is a ~~meddler~~ volunteer at Santa Royale Hospital. She also encourages people to plant random trees from time to time.
Larry Fine
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:32 am [Reply]

DT — He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, that old fascist cop on the flying trapeze….
Little Guy
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:37 am [Reply]

MC: I don’t care if I already commented yesterthread. I willing to wetnurse Violet’s next litter in appreciation.

JP: Please let the Sunday edition be a shot of the cover….. or her ‘posing’.
Little Guy
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:38 am [Reply]

56: Well, maybe not *that* emphatically…. (close tags and use preview….)
Perky Bird
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am [Reply]

Today’s Pluggers should have read, “You’re a Plugger if you leave that ketchup stain on your shirt because it vaguely resembles an alligator, and you’re hoping people will think you shelled out alot of money for a shirt that you actually got from the lost-and-found at the bus station.”
Calvin's Cardboard Box
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am [Reply]

@ Calico

I had a four-year old kitty who refused to eat, likely due to a snit over having a new kitten in the house. She got progressively sicker and weaker until the vet, as a last resort, prescribed valium. Several severely bitten fingers but less than one day later, she began eating again and made a full recovery, granting me six more years of her sleeping on my head at night.
Larry Fine
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am [Reply]

MT — If I were Bob, I’d be less worried about money and more concerned about that gigantic bear lurking outside by the giant sequoia.
Hank
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am [Reply]

Let me join the growing chorus: Ed Power, writer of My Cage, is now officially a MAN-GOD!!!
Hank
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am [Reply]

RE: Spider-man. Just a thought but isn’t kidnapping the daughter of an ex-con with superpowers a good way to get said ex-con to kill everyone in your gang? After all, unlike the titular hero, the Sandman has no real code against killing and, seem to be able to tear himself away from a TV for more than a few minutes.
Larry Fine
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am [Reply]

Pluggers — “What is that, Gramps?” “It’s called a beer gut, child, and chances are you’ll have one of your own someday.”
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 am [Reply]

@45 One-eyed Wolfdog says: “…every little step she takes…”

That dog richly deserves his blue ribbon for most numerous and tightest crotch-orbits in a three-minute span.
Amateur
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:54 am [Reply]

#10 — Go check out “Dilbert’s” take on volunteering. I promise you’ll feel much better. ;-)
Alan's Addiction
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am [Reply]

Today’s “Mary Worth” has many entertaining points. First of all, that dialogue. “Whenever we disagreed, I wouldn’t speak to him for weeks… It wasn’t until much later I figured out this wasn’t as much a punishment as I’d hoped.” Also, it’s weird how Mary goes from “joyful memory” to “crippling depression” in the space of a single sentence. Perhaps she has bipolar disorder.
Wow. It’s disquieting to see my dislike of all thinks Funky channeled into another comic, but I do like the result. I like it so much, in fact, that I hope some comics committee revokes whatever awards Tom Batiuk has earned over his career and gives all of them to Ed Power.
My father actually used to have an extensive collection of shirts with little alligators on them; none have survived to the present day as far as I know. Admittedly, my dad’s pretty good about cleaning out his closets on a nearly-annual basis and discarding the stuff he no longer wears or can fit into. I can only assume that real pluggers, in comparison, are hoarding pack-rats
I like that “Rex Morgan” is extolling the virtues of letting senile, demented people out for lengthy strolls over terrain they’ve never seen before. It has no risks associated, and all the harmful, creepy people they might meet secretly have hearts of gold. That’s what I’m taking away from this current storyline.
Apparently, Marmaduke’s assembling some sort of dog army, not content with merely terrorizing his own neighborhood and devouring its children, he plans to conquer the world. Then no one will keep him off the good couch in the living room.
TheDiva
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm [Reply]

DT: How did she save them with those infant hands?

reFOOB: I don’t understand Elly’s reaction here. Is she shocked to discover people learn things just for the joy of learning them? Or is she simply surprised by the simple idea of pursuing happiness, rather than living in a permanent state of self-pity and martyrdom?

HotC: These two are WAY too young to be getting involved in role reversal play.

Luann: Say what you will about this week’s sermonizing, at least we had a few days’ respite from the Luann-Elwood-Gunther clusterfuck.

Marvin confirms the prevalent theory that he is not an actual toddler, but some sort of mutant demonspawn.

MW: Adrian distracts herself from Mary’s tedious personal anecdotes by contemplating the purple man eating lunch behind them.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm [Reply]

#63 – “Plus, too many meals at Popeye’s, Chuck E. Cheese, and Cracker Barrel.”

#59 – Glad your kitty was ok. This is, in all seriousness, very good info to know.
Mary Worth Discussion Group
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 pm [Reply]

MW: When I look at the second panel … our dear Mary appears to be about to vomit! I can only imagine her depositing her regurgitated cream corn and manwich into Adiran’s willing mouth! Forgive me…
Doctor Handsome
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 pm [Reply]

Once again, “Marmaduke” offers up a relatable slice of life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told my dog to go off on his own and do charity work, only to have him slightly misinterpret my instructions, with hilarious results.
Marthas Rolling Pin
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm [Reply]

#66 AA: That Plugger has one of your Dad’s old shirts that he picked up at the thrift shop.
Jesse C
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:32 pm [Reply]

I always wondered who actually bought the counterfeit Lacoste shirts they sell at the Lutherville Amish Market. I guess the Pluggers are keeping them in business.
Dingo
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm [Reply]

So, did Mary put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up? Did he ask her to call him in the morning?
Sequitur
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm [Reply]

Something True Fable might enjoy.
Muffaroo
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm [Reply]

AD – Can you provide an example that might bolster this patently absurd comparison?

Mark – “Oh, Bob, how did we ever get in this situation?” You guys don’t need Mark Trail. You need Mr. A to show up and explain that your situation is the result of poor choices made because of cultural relativism, and that you’re sinking into a morass of evil from which you can never escape, and it’s your own fault. Perhaps under that inexpressive mask, Mr. A is really Mark Trail!

Mary – Holy origin story! “That’s when I realized, with great nosiness comes great satisfaction, and I swore over his still-warm body that I would never again miss the opportunity (is it still that week? okay) to volunteer to interfere in the lives of those around… wake up, stupid! I’m talking to you.”

My Cage – Whatever they’re paying you guys, it isn’t enough! (Ha! It’s called cartooning!)

Phantom – We’ll just call you Ghost-Who-Blows-His-Foot-Off now.

Pluggers are unstuck in time, unable to decide on any particular past era to cling tenaciously to, eventually going for a crazed scattershot approach not unlike a 30th century SCA member wearing a stovepipe hat, down jacket, and two-tones.

Spidey – Her… name… is… Sandy? Okay, I’m now reconsidering my notion that Sandman was sane and well-adjusted after all.
Muffaroo
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm [Reply]

Joe Blevins @y137 – See y11 for the answer.

KarMann @y165 – Thel’s making a ’special’ dinner for Grandma, requiring ingredients commonly found under the sink.

Comcis Fan @2 – Twenty-odd years ago, my wife and I lived on the block next to the Astrodome. Granted, it was a big block, but we weren’t at the far end. All summer, they would have three fireworks displays a night there, so I’d take a walk and enjoy. On the 4th of July, I lay on the slope under a bridge and let the pyrotechnic excess just wash over me. (That can be literal. I once walked into their parking lot when the wind was the wrong way and it felt like I’d stepped into the world’s largest barbecue grill.)

Calvin’s Cardboard Box @25 – I hear that. Whenever I’m out and I see that I’m going through a spot that’s liberally salted with bird droppings, I walk a little faster and linger not. In my long and exciting life, I’ve found out how nasty and greasy bird crap in the hair really is.

Larry Fine @55 – Haw! Muffaroo like!
Spunky N. Tadpole
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm [Reply]

FC – Can anyone enlighten me as to WTF Thel and the melonheads are supposed to be doing in today’s FC? At first glance, it looks like they’re clearing out the cabinet under a leaky sink, but then, on further examination (“Why, Spunky?”, “Oh, never mind…”) they seem to be merely removing chinaware from a typically awkward storage place. Which is leaking, nevertheless. And whatever Thel is holding under that rag is remarkably disturbing.
Professor Fate
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm [Reply]

Offer Burnt Sacrfices of Meat and Meat by-products to Ed Power!
frostee
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm [Reply]

@MolyBendum

I just got off the phone with Stephan Pastis a few minutes ago, he is safely back in the US and he mentioned meeting you on his trip.

Pluggers: the text and the picture don’t match up as the finger is pointing (and the eyes of the pointee are looking) at the 200lb abdominal tumor so poorly concealed by the prep attire.
Red Greenback
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm [Reply]

Doctor Handsome @70: FWIW, you got my vote for COTW.
PeteMoss
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm [Reply]

Red Greenback@80 is a fine judge of snark and I second the nomination of Doctor Handsome@70…at least it should be COTTSF (Comment Of the Thread So Far)….Now I’m off to volunteer to assist June Morgan with the laundry.
blammers66
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm [Reply]

Hard to know what to feel better about in the Batuikiverse: the hundreds of drowning band members who couldn’t “tread water” as commanded because the weight of their instruments and their waterlogged wool uniforms pulled them to their agonizing death, or Ed’s melancholy over the fact that something has been done for him and he either feels a) sad that someon thinks he can’t rake leaves anymore, or b) sad that he’s a helpless pawn in the Batuikiverse.
Comcis Fan
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm [Reply]

Muffaroo: I didn’t know there were residences that close to the Astrodome, just a Marriott and some odd businesses. Did you ever go to happy hour at Dome Shadows?
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

MT: These folks should follow the lead of Chickenfarm Elvira in last year’s Judge Parker: When business goes to seed, plant weed. I’d think “Elrod Emerald” would have solid name recognition and consumer appeal.
Baka Gaijin
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pm [Reply]

Pluggers: The caption implies that the plugger should be looking at his left ~~dog~~manboob but he’s clearly not. Puppyboy is really asking grandad plugger what his belt buckle says, giving rise to grandad’s look of puzzlement, since his enormous belly hides his belt and everything below. EVERYTHING. BELOW. Much to his chicken or kangaroo or deer wife’s relief.
Gyro Captain
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm [Reply]

As one of the only people mad/foolish enough to continue reading Ballard Street, I must point out that one of the most perverse ‘volunteerism’ strips of the week occurred today.
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:25 pm [Reply]

PLUGGERS — Apparently I wasn’t the only one to assume at first that Plugger Grandchild was enquiring about Gramps’ enormous gut. Look out, child, or Gramps will fall over on you.
Nekrotzar
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm [Reply]

“Whenever we would argue about my opium use, I wouldn’t talk to him for weeks while I spent my time in the opium den. He was killed when his unit raided that opium den. I always blamed myself for his death, since I fired the fatal bullet into his brain. Listen to me going on about myself, when I should be congratulating you on your impending betrothal and/or widowhood.”
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm [Reply]

# 67 TheDiva — Re ReFoob, I had the same reaction. But don’t worry, Elly — you’ve already given birth to a child who will grow up to show us the true purpose of creative writing, which is to torture your readers with the most incredibly putrid prose you can possibly grind out. Already Michael, back at home, is musing “’season’…’stone’…what interesting words…”
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm [Reply]

# 88 Nekrotzar — Bwahahaha!
teenchy
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm [Reply]

RMMD, panel 1: At first glance I thought Earrings O’Punk had his head tattooed to resemble a San Diego Chargers helmet.
Sparky AKA Able Bodied Seaman Craggy Fjord
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 pm [Reply]

Isn’t the plugger grandkid asking if Grandpa is preggers?
Rarebit Fiend
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:45 pm [Reply]

In Pluggerville, first they came for the hipsters,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a hipster.

Then they came for the hippies,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a hippie.

Then they came for the preppies,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a preppie.

Then they came for me —
and there was nothing left but anthropomorphic blue-collar beasts who wouldn’t speak up because their show was on TV.
Nekrotzar
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm [Reply]

Why is the alligator so far down on the shirt? Is it making a last desperate attempt to escape pluggerdom?

#92 – my first thought was that the kid was asking why gramps was so damn fat.
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm [Reply]

PBS — Marvelous.

GA — “When you said you wouldn’t marry me after our first date, I figured you must loathe me. That’s only logical, right? Haha! Hey, what did you do with your real hair?”
BigTed
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:16 pm [Reply]

A real plugger would never shell out for a genuine, alligator-adorned Izod shirt — not when off-brand polos featuring tigers, penguins or the Target logo are “every bit as good.”
True Fable
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:21 pm [Reply]

#74 Sequitur – GOAT! Goat baby-sitter! lol, that’s great!
mollificent
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

I know I’m late, but I have to chime in on the props for yesterday’s JUMBLE and the accompanying courtroom scene. Awesome, awesome awesome.

And of course, today’s magnificent My Cage as well. This is apparently the week for Mudgeon comic strip artists to strut their stuff! (Ummm…not that they don’t always. Oh, forget it. ;))

#41 bats: Hahahahahaha!!
Crankenstank
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm [Reply]

Having gone to school during the worst of the preppie/Izod days, and having been a dweeb/nerd/spazz/punk/slob/whatever myself, this brings back the memories of when my buddy and I got a couple of remnant Izods and artfully did a little modification so the alligator got a friend on his back, humping him. It took almost all of one school day before a teacher noticed and sent me to the vice principal’s office, where I told him earnestly I was just trying to fit in, like he had urged me to do on several previous visits to his office. Now, my vice principal, he was a %$#()@)ing plugger, the kind who thought he was being cool and fitting in by wearing his own pink lacoste shirt to school every now and then. So I fully endorse the hellish depiction of the former tormentors, now turned outcasts to society themselves, that is today’s Pluggers.
Batman Beatles
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm [Reply]

RMMD – Annnnnd we’re back to “I’m hungry! I’m a golf instructor! I’m hungry! What are you doing in my crib? I’m hungry!”
mvg
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm [Reply]

Calico (54): “She also encourages people to plant random trees from time to time.”

Nothing random about it. They’re all planted to aid in camouflaging the shallow graves of Mary’s meddle victims, all the joy & life sucked from their desiccated husks.

Larry Fine (63): ‘Pluggers — “What is that, Gramps?” “It’s called a beer gut, child, and chances are you’ll have one of your own someday.” ‘

Yep, that was my take on it, too.

A3G: Good god, Ruby looks like Raymond Burr in a wig in panel 2. Not an image to keep lunch in its appointed place.

GT: “Not excatly. I told him to make a gay pass at his two hulking idiot friends & then work off his pent-up anger defending himself against either a) their “gay panic” attack, or b) their enthusiastic acceptance.

S4th: “With each other?” Looks like Ted was reeeeeally hoping she was going to propose an open marriage.

RMMD: Does the volunteerism thing include recycling? Because this strip’s 3rd panel is identical to the 3rd panel in its Oct. 16 strip — only a minor change to the dialogue, but teh exact same art.
Gal Friday
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:43 pm [Reply]

MC: We are not worthy! We are not worthy!

Pluggers: I thought the kid was pointing to grampa’s gut, actually.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm [Reply]

#100 – It’s rather like “Who’s on First”, but with golf.
Al of the Christian Singles Jungle Patrol
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm [Reply]

“This is like hearing Satan mention that he once attended junior high school.”

Josh, I’m afraid that Satan does attend junior high school, and Mary Worth is the school counselor. That’s why my kids go to private schools.
Al of the Christian Singles Jungle Patrol
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm [Reply]

25 re FW: Becky does have an artificial arm, that she uses when Comic John is “in the mood”.
Josh
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm [Reply]

Why on Earth are there so many volunteerism comics this week? I had to gag my way through no fewer than EIGHT this morning.

Even Dilbert pitched in on this sickly-sweet theme. That’s just wrong.

Notable exceptions that I salute were Cul de Sac and Pearls Before Swine. Frazz did mention it, but snarkily.

Seriously though. This crap does not belong on the comics page. It isn’t the job of the comics to motivate social actions like volunteering.

Even if you’re okay with that, EVERY SINGLE COMIC doesn’t have to prod us at the same time. It’s overwhelming, and not welcome in the least.
Comcis Fan
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm [Reply]

Crankenstank: They must have been chuckling about you in the teacher’s lounge.
walty
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:06 pm [Reply]

Do I smell a flashback to when Mary used to meddle on the streets coming on, or is that just the salmon-mango-lilac-scented lysol they’e pumping through the hospital vents?
Mibbitmaker
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm [Reply]

MY CAGE: The first published comic strip to become the CC Comment of the Week!

Encore! Encore! Speech! Speech!….
Dr. Weird
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:13 pm [Reply]

106 Josh-

There’s a long history of comic creators coordinating their strips to promote a cause. This is just the latest iteration, though the cause isn’t attracting as much attention as, say, end world hunger does.
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm [Reply]

# 41 bats:[ — I’ve seen Edda’s final expression in 9CL before, of course, but I think this is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed it.
Farley's Revenge
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm [Reply]

I’m with #106Josh. All the strips harping on being a volunteer annoyed. I did, however, volunteer the entire newspaper to the recycle bin so I did my part.

MW: I never thought a coma could be such a handy thing. While Mary and Adrian blather endlessly-and I mean that literally, not figuratively-and Daddy Jeff continues to sob disconsolately as he sits in vigil at the bedside, Det. BF is off touring his future afterlife where all is fluffy love and warmth. The only ones suffering right now are us, the readers.

It occurs to me that if Scott dies, he’s free of Adrian, her family, and the baggage they carry. If he lives, he can claim amnesia, and he’s free. It’s win/win for him. The rest of us, however, will continue to suffer the ongoing tragedy that is Adrian, Certified Loon of Santa Royale.
SF_Reader
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:29 pm [Reply]

So pluggers are increasing their demographics by including hipsters, hippies, and preppies. I can’t wait to they start with gay pluggers:
- You know you’re a plugger if you sniff poppers and listen to Donna Summers while having sex.
- Only a plugger still has the original 8 Track ‘Color Me Barbra’
- You’re a plugger if you think Dorothy from ‘Golden Girls’ is TOO FABULOUS!
Farley's Revenge
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm [Reply]

#45: I’ll bet the dog choreographed that routine…and it had to compensate for the lack of dancing skills of the human.
odinthor
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm [Reply]

Ballard Street — Ironically, usually bizarre Ballard Street’s contribution to the ~~volunterrorism~~ volunteerism effort is the one that best homes in on reality.

MW. — How do you know when you’ve turned on a dime? Does Roosevelt grin?
Dr. Krude&Rude
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm [Reply]

Pluggers eat shit for breakfast.
It’s true. Really.
I know this because in med school I dissected a Plugger. The intestine was full of it.
Uncle Lumpy
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:55 pm [Reply]

I guess comics gotta Make A Difference when being funny gets too damn hard.
Johnny Knuckles
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm [Reply]

RMMD: Not following along the storyline outside Curmudgeonville, I’m confused about the old people. Are they supposed to be caricatures of entitled social-security leeches who give a rat’s ass for future generations?

That said, I’d enjoy seeing them in different situations.
At the bank during a robbery:
“Are you robbing the bank? Could you deposit money into my account?”
At the car jacking.
“You’re stealing our car? Could you wash it and trade it in for a nicer one? And don’t speed!”
At the fatal injection.
“You killed all those waitresses? Could you get me more cream for my coffee?”
It writes itself.
Uncle Lumpy
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:03 pm [Reply]

See also:

Wee Pals‘ “Soul Circle”
Mutts‘ shelter strips
Funky Winkerbean’s cancercancercancer
Edge City: The Unending Sermonette

. . . and on and on and on. Is it so much to ask that comic strip writers just do the job they get paid for?
One-eyed Wolfdog
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:12 pm [Reply]

I’m pretty sure Edge City was in fact started because the author found that being funny was too damn hard and he wanted to try something different.
kkarenb
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm [Reply]

# 92 Sparky: Pruggers?
One-eyed Wolfdog
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm [Reply]

Popeye seems to have arrived in Ankh-Morpork, or at least somewhere downriver from there.
ogg ogglesby
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm [Reply]

MW: Life can turn on a dime, but Aldo’s car couldn’t.
NotThatGuy
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm [Reply]

Josh, ironically I asked just that very question vis this week in comics and overweening volunteerism, and was told that President Obama proclaimed this National Volunteer Week.
Farley's Revenge
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

#122One-eyed Wolfdog: Considering the condition of the river that flows through Ankh-Morpork, Popeye must have walked.
SF_Reader
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

Obama, comics, and volunteerism:
http://comics.com/rip_haywire/
bluepencil
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:31 pm [Reply]

re Zamboni Rodeo’s comment (#3): Lyman Morris of Earlysville, VA and his grandkids must not get out much if they haven’t seen alligator shirts in the last, oh, six or seven years. They’re still quite prevalent around where I live, particularly among the college crowd (to further corroborate Josh’s comment).:

Especially since Earlysville is just outside Charlottesville, home of the oh-so-preppy University of Virginia, where many of the male students still don coat and tie to attend football games.
Cyranetta
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:36 pm [Reply]

MW: I’m wondering if perhaps Adrian threw a bucket of water on Mary in between panels one and two, since in panel two Mary bears a strong resemblance to Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West saying, “I’m melting; I’m melting!”
Dr. Krude&Rude
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:36 pm [Reply]

I once cut into a volunteer and yellow blood poured out. Immediately I yelled, “This can not be!” And then Dr. Looperhiney said “You hit his bladder, you idiot!” Boy, that was not one of my better days. I forget to close the incision.
One-eyed Wolfdog
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:40 pm [Reply]

#125 – Farley’s Revenge – Precisely! They’re even cutting chunks out of it, for goodness sakes.
Howabominable (aka Lindsey ^_^)
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm [Reply]

My Cage: I have to admit, Jeff’s son looks so cute in that costume. I totally wouldn’t mind him escorting me into the afterlife, I’d be giggling the whole time.
Dr. Krude&Rude
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:43 pm [Reply]

One time I had this balding penguin in my waiting room. He kind of looked like Norm the Platypus in My Cage. Anyway, I said to him, “Hey, I don’t treat animals.” To which he replied, “That’s okay, I’m not sick.”
Penguins are weird.
KarMann
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm [Reply]

FW: For myself and others wondering why Lisa couldn’t just trim off and sew up the damned rolled-up sleeves, it occurred to me that yeah, given, the whole sewing thing probably isn’t very easy to do one-handed. But that’s why she shouldn’t have hooked up with either Wally or Comic Store John. She should’ve been seeing Gunther all along.
Gal Friday
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm [Reply]

Josh: According to Chase’s Calendar of Events, National Volunteer Week (per presidential proclamation) was this past April–not October, but Make a Difference Day is October 24 (tomorrow).
Twinkles the Elf
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm [Reply]

I thought that Plugger child was pointing at his grandfather’s enormous gut. “What IS that, Gramps? A pregnancy? A tumor? Alien? Whatever it is, it sure looks like shit on ya.”
Niall
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm [Reply]

I haven’t had time to actually read snark for two days until now. Posting my own is all I could do…

First of all, happy belated birthday, True Fable! I’d give you goat pics, but from work, I can’t access the art archives I’d peruse for them, and perhaps that’s for the best. :) :)

YY219 Lucky, on how creepy My Cage’s sharks are from the waist down: it’s pretty much a silly handwaving of cartoon conventions. You’re not supposed to think seriously about how they walk in air and gravity. Similarly, there’s a semi-hard SF (or at least in the tech sense) anthro comic in which several upright horse anthros are depicted – with hooves. The question came up fairly quickly: How do they manipulate objects with said hooves, a valid question since it’s a fairly hard setting where realism is attempted? The creator’s answer: “Off-panel”. Which settled that once and for all. :)

YY224 Bryan must win some sort of prize for being the first to compare My Cage’s play to Wit in FW, which is absolutely the reference being made (lead time is about right).

Y26. queek: Yow! I’d say that image is “rather naughty”, what with that merlot-licking raccoon. Or is it a racoon?

Y122 Poteet: Écureuil Écumant’s name is also strangely alliterative as well as alluring. It definitely rolls off the French tongue nicely, even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Y138 buckyswife: unless you tell, I doubt anyone is going to find out about your tattoo…

Y140 AhClem: actually, of the many older married couples on the comics page, the Dithers are the ones I’d most see able to still Do It; they have both demonstrated a certain amount of muscular fitness and strength (see Dithers jump while berating Dagwood – those are strong legs that can push when he wants) and they’re not completely execrable like Mary Worth or unlikeable like the Lockhorns. If a little vestimentary roleplay is what it takes to rekindle things, I say go ahead. One day I’ll be older (I hope) and may have someone with me (I wish) and I’d like that I would still be regarded well enough that no one would cringe at the thought of me satisfying my companion’s libido.
Dr. Krude&Rude
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm [Reply]

Mark Trail once wandered into my office.
I said, “Hey! Mark Trail! How’s Andy the Dog?”
He replied, “I’m NOT Mark Trail. I’m Rip Haywire!”
That Mark. He’s such a kidder. I got his autograph. He even signed it “Rip Haywire.” He’s such a joker.
I cut off his balls.
P
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm [Reply]

106 Josh: The majority of the strips are controlled by King Features, which has a long time habit of shoving things down comic strips throats. (USA For Africa, 9/11, Blondie’s anniversary, Earth Day, etc.) The only good thing they did was the Sparky Tribute back when he died.

Next week’s comics are up now on Comics Kingdom, and I’ve got some opinions.

SPOILER ALERT: SPOILER ALERT:

Rerun Place 10/26: So I see that we update a 40 year comic by slapping on a website on the chalk board & add some African-American’s in under corporate diversity policy.

Rerun Place 10/31: Billy knows who the woman voted for last year & it’s not going to be pretty. (Also a 5 year old rerun)

Mary Worth: Who gave Adrian the LSD? Mary or Jeff?

Funky Winkerbean: WHY DOES CORY GET AWAY WITH IT EVERY FRIKIN’ TIME? Stealing the money, cheating on his test, throwing a crazy party, backtalking teachers, & now vandalising the school. Why doesn’t he get in trouble for this?
Dr. Krude&Rude
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:35 pm [Reply]

I was performing surgery in an operating theater when suddenly, for no apparent reason, a stinkbug sauntered into the room. Summing up my penchant for cleaver, eh, clever phrases, I exclaimed, “Hey! Someone get rid of that stinkin’ stinkbug!”
Wouldn’t you know it. At that exact moment a raccoon came in and ate the damn bug.
Not wanting furry animals in my clean and sterile surgery, I then exclaimed with my silver tongue, “Get that raccoon out of this room!”
It was an unnecessary announcement. The raccoon apologized and quickly left the room.
It was strange. The next day there was a case of merlot in my office.
TooMuchInformation
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm [Reply]

I’m a little ashamed to remember this so well, but I can explain Elly’s odd reaction in the last panel in today’s FBOFW. The original comic had different words in the last panel (you can see there’s alot of extra word balloon space). While I don’t know if I have the exact words right because I don’t have time to look it up, it’s something along the lines of, “Of course there are always a few housewives looking for a change.” The word ‘housewives’ was definitely in the original.
Calico
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm [Reply]

#138 – In FW 10/20, she’s actually speaking the name “Cody.”

If Cory W. were in that situation, he’d eventually end up incarcerated.
SandyH
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm [Reply]

#2 Comics Fan: You are so right. As a lifelong Houstonian it is totally possible that I will ask if the football game (or whatever) is at the Dome (meaning to say, Reliant Stadium, of course.) So far, I have corrected myself; but it’s just a matter of time.

God help me.
bats :[
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm [Reply]

112. Farley’s Revenge: huh. I thought Dawn Weston was the Certified Loon of Santa Royale. OTOH, there may be so many of them there’s an annual competition (“Miss Certified Loon”) for them.
zerowolf
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm [Reply]

On the bright side the current Zits story line has confirmed that there are some body parts Pierce isn’t sporting metal in. On the scarier side the current Zits story line has confirmed that there are some body parts Pierce isn’t sporting metal in.
Saluki
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:17 pm [Reply]

So Mary Worth is going to tell a story? Well I guess it’ll kill some time until the NFL ~~playdowns~~ playoffs start.
zerowolf
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:36 pm [Reply]

122. I hope so. I’d love to see Lord Ventinari put Popeye in the scorpion pit.
Jamus the Bartender
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm [Reply]

Judge Parker: And we’re gonna see said Stella in her fur coat and nothing else on Sunday, right, Ed? Right, Ed? Ed??
My Cage: You The Man, Ed, You The Man :)
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 pm [Reply]

Time for a trial submission for today’s “FEJF Doggerel”? This one, to honor the proud owner of one of our favorite chocolate-chip-cookie-dough doggerels.

“BEHOLD our Rusty — let us join
To toast our little fisher, HIKER.
If that bear bites him in the GROIN
We’ve GAINED another Tour de France biker.”
Rusty
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:06 pm [Reply]

I can’t read 148 posts to see if anyone made the obvious joke, but if not: Les woke up every morning with Lisa’s cancer ridden head in his bed. And liked it.
cheech wizard
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:09 pm [Reply]

RM – “People give us food! Do you have our dinner?”

So, the old folks aren’t really Alzheimer’s patients, but a couple of enchanted dogs? This is turning out better than I dared hope. That might also explain why the dweeby son has been trying to sniff Becka’s ass these past three weeks.
kallista
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm [Reply]

Because I don’t trust Internet translators, but I trust you: how do I say this in Latin: However, our Latin instructor was not amused. This refers to a female high school Latin teacher. A vignette about the time we students wrote a parody of the Pax Romana called the Pax Tampona. I merely contributed the title; the boys did the rest. It was terribly inaccurate and painfully funny. However, our instructor was not amused. But I think that line needs to be in Latin. Can someone help?
cheech wizard
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm [Reply]

MT – “Oh Bob, how did we ever get in this situation?”

“I didn’t have any condoms and you said it would probably be ok just this one time, remember? That’s why neither of us ever went to college. That and the 420 SAT scores.”
LUJBEM FEJF
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm [Reply]

#148 Écureuil Écumant- Nicely done! You should volunteer to do more of those.
Charterstoned
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm [Reply]

MW – Today’s strip is all about lips: first Adrian’s, slightly parted and willing, and then Mary’s, with her pouty thing going on. I think they’re about to kiss!
Some Guy Here
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm [Reply]

I just want it to be known that I have never seen a Lacotse shirt in my whole friggin’ life.
Jamus the Bartender
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:32 pm [Reply]

The Cat And The Curmudgeon
A Visit To Mother, Part 2

( Part One right here> http://joshreads.com/?p=4091#comment-726684 )

The good ship Arlene finally made it’s way out of the Florida Keys, headed for the island of Felonia, with Slylock, Max, their respective significant others, Tiffany and Melody, Dr. Oliver Jones, his very irritated patient Cassandra Cat, your humble narrator, and the ship’s owner, Mr. Arbuckle, all in tow.
Oh, and there was a captain, complete with crew. Talk about sweet.
After a couple of days at sea, Cassandra and I were relaxed enough that I finally got the guts to tell her that Santa Prisca, Felonia was where one Sister Arlene, currently doing her service at the abbey of the same name, was located, and that it would be good to visit her, and wasn’t it all just wonderful…
” We’re going to visit who?” She asked.
” Your mother, isn’t that swell?”
The rest of the trip sort of passed with a fair amount of tension, mostly because i’ve never ridden in a lifeboat being towed by a yacht at one hundred knots in a rainstorm before. The lifeboat Cassandra threw me in and jettisoned when I told her the good news.
Luckily, I wasn’t alone on this trip. I was told that after Cassandra had thrown me overboard, Mr. Arbuckle tried to explain that the trip was his idea, and the whole awards ceremony involving Slylock and Max was on the up and up, and would it be all right if the captain stopped the boat so I could get back on?
I’m pretty sure Cassandra said no, because about a half hour’s ride in the lifeboat, I saw a huge feline tabby wearing a smoking jacket, a life preserver, and very little else sailing through the air, off the side of the boat.
Jeez, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s gonna leave her out of his will, I remember thinking.
Anyway, after I hauled a soaking G. Arbuckle onboard the lifeboat, he told me what had happened, and suggested that perhaps the lifeboat was the safest place to be, considering Cassandra’s state of mind at the moment.
“Ah, what the hell, ” I said, with a certain amount of false courage, ” It’s looking to be a nice evening anyway..” It wasn’t. The winds were whipping up, lightning was flashing in the north, and the whole scene reminded me of the movie Titanic, which i’d heard of secondhand, but never seen, so…..
Luckily, Arbuckle produced a flask of brandy to keep us warm.
” Goddamn, sir, how long have you been hiding that?” I asked.
” One never knows when a flask will come in handy, remember that, my boy.”
” Amen and hallelujah, ” I answered.
********************************************************
It was a day later when the captain slowed the boat to a crawl, so Arbuckle and I could slink on board, our tails between our legs….you know, I used to think that was a joke, but Arbuckle’s tail was really between his legs as he begged Cassandra to accept his apology, which she did.
When it was my turn to apologize, she threw a blanket in my face, and told me I could sleep with the fishes again for all she cared, but at least she didn’t throw me overboard, which was progress.
*******************************************************
It was another day before she let me back into our room. She was still mad at me, but the angry sex was fantastic….yes, she was still able to do that….and she had forgotten that she likes her feets rubbed in that way only your humble narrator can do, and besides, the crew was scared to death of her, and no way in hell was Slylock gonna do it with Tiffany….who looks great in a swimsuit by the way…at his side every minute. At one point, Max Mouse felt sorry for Cassandra and offered to rub her shoulders. With tears in her eyes and a story about what a jerk I was for not going to lamaze, Max gratefully obliged.
Until Melody Mouse saw what he was doing.
Okay, at this point, i’ve gotta ask, not being a sailor…what are those things sailors use to hit the captain on the head with during a mutiny? A belaying pin? Yeah, that sounds right. Anyway, Melody had picked up one of those and threatened to bean Cassandra with one if she didn’t stay away from her man right damn now.
Cass had never been so scared of a mouse in her life.
It was an hour or so after that she let me back into our room.
As seagulls were calling over the water, indicating getting closer to land, we were cuddling as the wind hit the bow…
” I’m sorry I got mad at you, baby.” Cass said.
” It’s okay, honey.”
” And i’m sorry I threw you and Uncle G over the side when you told me about visiting my mother.”
” Well, I kinda had it coming…”
” But…” I don’t have to tell you there’s always a but.
” If you EVER pull a stunt like this again, I mean, not telling me things like this, and plotting shit behind my back….we are through.”
” I understand” I said, not wanting to break the nice mood.
” NO, I mean it, ” She argued. ” Listen, we’re gonna have a baby. That means WE. And we can’t go doing bad shit behind each other’s back if we’re gonna raise a nice daughter…”
” I know, I know…it was wrong…..wait, what did you say?”
Cass smiled and produced an ultrasound Dr. Jones had done only a few days before. ” I wanted to suprise you….okay, she’s got slightly pointed ears, she gets that from me, and there’s the tail….”
I barely heard the rest. It seems our night of passion had developed into the most important person of my life.
We spent the night crying in each other’s arms.
The next morning we docked in Santa Prisca Bay.
Cass showed me a sundress she packed for the royal presentation. “Do you think Mom will like this?”
I smiled. ” So, you really want to see her?”
” No, I dont want to see her, but i’ve got to see her. There’s medical histories and all that to deal with…..”
I took her in my arms, ” Dr. Oliver has most of that from your father…it’s okay to want to see your mom, honey.”
Cass murmured, ” And I want to see my mom.”
To Be Continued.
Alfred E. Neuman
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:37 pm [Reply]

#24 LUJBEM FEJF wrote: “I didn’t get the memo on the whole volunteerism/death thingy going on.”

Then, @ #106 Josh wrote: “Why on Earth are there so many volunteerism comics this week? I had to gag my way through no fewer than EIGHT this morning.”

Well, I warned everyone three days ago when I wrote (@ #78, Oct 20):
“Fellow Curmudgeons, here’s a hint for expediting your reading of the comics this week: As soon as you see the word “volunteer” or any variation thereof in a strip, stop reading, and go on to the next strip. You will not have missed anything.”
So far, I haven’t seen much to convince myself that I was wrong. So pay attention out there!
True Fable
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm [Reply]

Mary Worth bears an uncanny resemblance today with George Raft.
Écureuil Écumant
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm [Reply]

#151 kallista: can’t help with the translation per se — but here’s a highly unorthodox refresher from
Latin 101 and 102 for anyone who enjoys wordslinging.
Farley's Revenge
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 pm [Reply]

#143bats:[: Crap. I forgot about Dawn’s certifiable looniness. See, the problem is there’s such a glut of certifiable loons in Santa Royale that it’s hard to remember which one is currently holding the Solid Gold Silver Tin Cup trophy.

Yay! A Jamus the Bartender story!

#146zerowolf: I’d like to see Lord Vetinari go up against some of the other comics’ characters. Dealing with Ankh-Morpork miscreants would be a cakewalk compared to facing down a pissed Margo Magee.
mr 12 oz can
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 pm [Reply]

mary looks like cherry wears the same clothes as her but she has no saint bernard like ANDY . makes you wonder why when mark had dinner there he didnt PUMP HER THROUGH OF LOVE
Farley's Revenge
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:51 pm [Reply]

Hmmm…seems we’re both in agreement about the state of looniness in SR, bats:[.
mr 12 oz can
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:52 pm [Reply]

why hasnt egghead kicked the old bastards out of the trailer yet . whats the odds of creepy tim asking becka if she likes MUSTACHE RIDES !!!
DamienBixlan
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:13 pm [Reply]

In panel two Mary Worth will be played by award-winning actor Mickey Rourke.
kris
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm [Reply]

this rex morgan plot makes mary worth seem like it’s on speed. will these old people never be found???
KarMann
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm [Reply]

@kallista #151: Tamen, nostra magistra Latina non oblectata erat. (Word order could be switched around a bit, depending on what’s being emphasized.)
cheech wizard
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:49 pm [Reply]

Wait – so Archie and Jughead are getting out of a full week’s detention by painting the room? When I grew up, repeated, lengthy detentions were reserved for penitentiary fodder that refused to live by the rules of decent society. Which I guess explains why Archie ends up marrying both Betty and Veronica in the upcoming comic books.
Bash the Balrog
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:59 pm [Reply]

MW: I can see it coming at me from next Monday… it’s a flaaaashbaaack, and like a deer in the headlights, I am doomed to stare in horror until it finally is all over.

Jumble: My spouse thought I was insane when I pointed to the Jumble and shouted “It’s Josh!”
Married Agnostic Woman
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm [Reply]

Pluggers buy 30 year old shirts at the Goodwill. Tomorrow, Mini-Plugger will ask what “Spirit of ‘76″ means.
LUJBEM FEJF
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm [Reply]

#155 Some Little Guy – “I have never seen a Lacotse shirt in my whole friggin’ life.”
You must be Lacotse intolerant.
Emily K [Riff Chick]
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:36 pm [Reply]

“My Cage,” you are my new hero. Please let me bow down in front of you. *clap clap clap clap*
Poteet
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm [Reply]

# 140 TooMuchInformation — I really appreciate that tidbit. It says so much about the attempts to make these old Foobs look less dated. Taking a night class is no big deal anymore, and no amount of doctoring can turn back that clock.
Uncle Lumpy
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm [Reply]

#170 LUJBEM FEJF –

You must be Lacotse intolerant.

For some reason, you make that joke work better than most folks could.
Brave Little Toaster
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 pm [Reply]

RMMD It is the mark of a great artist, by which I mean hack, to recycle his own work without shame. Panel Three in today’s strip bears an uncanny resemblance to, by which I mean is exactly the same as, Panel Three of a week ago. Now that’s efficiency!
MrGuy
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 pm [Reply]

Marmaduke: The whole volunteering thing has definitely worn on this week, but Marmaduke takes the cake for the most confusing and ham-handed use of it. May those poor hobos rest in peace.

Pluggers: Good god, they’re evolving. Soon they’ll be quoting Wayne’s World and listening to punk rock, which means it’s only a matter of time before they become omnipotent beings that know the trends of the future.
Brave Little Toaster
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:44 pm [Reply]

TooMuchInformation # 140 Thanks for the deep background on today’s FBOFW. I hate to admit it but I was bothered that I couldn’t understand Elly’s over-the-top reaction to such a remarkably bland statement. I feel much better now! And your username made your post all the more delicious.
kallista
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm [Reply]

159 EE: Thank you. My favorite is Cogito sumere potum alterum.

166 KM: Thank you as well. I suppose I’m trying to capture the tone of Queen Victoria’s We are not amused.. I’m not sure non oblectata erat expresses that quiet disappoinment and implied threat, but it seems close enough.
Sheila Sternwell
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm [Reply]

Speaking of Masky McDeath, I watched the movie “Mr Sardonicus” the other night and the creepy villain guy goes around in a tux and mask JUST LIKE Masky. It really highlighted the fact that Batiuk’s was unable to realize how completely fucked up Masky McDeath was.
Phil
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm [Reply]

The Maitre D’eath- done first(?) and best(unquestionably) by The One Good Doctor.

http://drmcninja.com/

(CENSORED): Awaken! If you wish to reunite with your body, you must answer me only one question! What have you found that awaits us after true death?

(CENSORED): A restaurant with poor service.

BEAT

The worst.

I love that webcomic.
KarMann
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm [Reply]

@kallista: Don’t forget Semper ubi sub ubi!
Sheila Sternwell
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:58 pm [Reply]

Okay, this is weird. I came back to mention that I didn’t mean “Batiuk’s” but rather “Batiuk” in my previous post, then the page refreshed on me for no reason! Spooky! Is my browser haunted? Does the power of HTML compel me?
zerowolf
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 pm [Reply]

#160 Farley’s Revenge Hmmm Interesting idea some Disc-World Comic-World match ups I’d love to see:

Margo vs. Granny Weatherwax

Mary Worth vs. Mrs. Cake in meddle-mania gone wild.

Marmaduke vs. Sgt. Angua

Dick Tracy vs. Sam Vimes

DEATH vs. the entire cast of Funky Winkerbean and Crankshaft

Dr. Mosey Lawn vs. Rex Morgan MD
Jumper
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:06 pm [Reply]

After the Pluggers, Borg-like, absorb the preppies –
http://jumpersbloghouse.blogspot.com/2009/10/those-pluggers.html
kallista
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:07 pm [Reply]

KM: I love that one :-)
Carly
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 pm [Reply]

Mary’s mood is shifting rather quickly between panel one and panel two. I wonder if manic depression would explain her personality.
kallista
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm [Reply]

185 Carly: Why not? In her depressed state, she disappears, misses obvious opportunities to meddle, just generally doesn’t give a shit, sits on the commode for days reading post cards, and lazily lets Jeff take her from behind while muttering “What fresh hell is this?” (or maybe Jeff mutters that as he sees with gin-soaked clarity that this is not at all like taking Scott’s dad from behind, plus it smells bad). In her manic phases, she shoots across rooms, slaps people, wrestles over gas pedals, projects her image into other dimensions, and makes Jeff fill every orifice for hours because it all feels so real and urgent.

Also, it looks like the top half of her face is caving in, and the bottom half of her face is falling off. I don’t know what to make of that.
odinthor
October 24th, 2009 at 12:09 am [Reply]

#173. Uncle Lumpy. —

#170 LUJBEM FEJF –
You must be Lacotse intolerant.
For some reason, you make that joke work better than most folks could.

He is a professional. Don’t try this at home.
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 12:34 am [Reply]

Comcis Fan @83 – Dome Shadows doesn’t ring a bell. We were there around ‘84. The Intercontinental was around the block from us (if memory is giving me the right name) — George H.W. Bush’s Houston residence of record when he was running for office. I understand some Democrats threw a fundraiser in his nominal suite one time. Anyway, just do a Google ’street view’ of Westridge, and you’ll see our old apartment complex, mildly depressing as it ever was, a couple of complexes (complices?) away from the corner near the Whatevertheycallitnowdome. They put that security gate in while we were living there, but it didn’t stop someone from breaking into our apartment and stealing the TV.

Pluggers – “Grandpa, why is your belt buckle made of mistletoe?”

Confession – I went to a library book sale today, and there, neatly defining the dividing line between books on sports and books on humor was a collection of comic strips from the Yellow Kid to whenever the book came out that dealt with golf. I feel a little guilty. No, actually I feel a lot guilty. And kind of queasy.
True Fable
October 24th, 2009 at 12:59 am [Reply]

Sam Driver, Inexplicable Chick Magnet Oh boy! Now all we need is for Foxy Model Wife to develop the usual crush on Sam, which will make for an even more awkward but infinitely more entertaining storyline!

Apartment of Doom She’s a Black Widow! You read it here first; Bobbie Merrill doesn’t give a shit about Prof P except that he’s got a bank account and she needs to relieve him of it! I’m calling it right now!

Mary, Bringer of Meddle Ahhh. Soak in it. Soak in the meddle. Revel in the magic of Pure Biddiness in all its intrusive, boring, piercing glory. Bleed it. Endure it. This is why we read Mary Worth: she’ll be breaking out the platitudes any day now, and our lives will be complete.
/Sarcasm

Children of the Circle SQUICK. If that’s how your mommy kisses you to make it all better, you need to come away with us, Jeffy, while Mommy seeks intense counseling.

C’haft yeah, I hate it when my hunches are right. I saw this one coming.

Scenes from Suburban Hell Yeah, because wind ONLY blows in one direction. /sarcasm
Niall
October 24th, 2009 at 1:23 am [Reply]

Still haven’t had a chance to read this thread yet, but let’s Snark Before Bed!

Saturday Oct 24

Archie: But.. it was involuntary at school too!

BC: Okay, I give up, WTF was this “Peter is scared” thing? It made no sense.

Beetle: OW, my eye! I don’t need to be Fashion Police to want to burn that outfit on general principles alone, much less because it could be violating the Geneva Convention on weapons of mass ocular destruction. And no, the half-meta bit won’t work.

Curtis: pretty much blows the goodwill of the last week. Still, compared to the rest, it ocunts as “subtle”.

FC: Ooooh. I’m leaving this one to the experts. Fable, bats :[, Poteet, have at it.

Thorp: In panel 2, we see the Return of the Disembodied Claw! It’s forming a fist to punch the two idiots, or else it’s about to tear Little Brother’s face. As for panel 3, all I can think of is a half-hearted and pathetic attempt to mimic the prison cafeteria scene from Watchmen; except that here, Danny Daley will be pelted with lukewarm brussel sprouts. Though it may still get him to the infirmary if he actually ingests any.

Mary Worth is in Full Platitude Mode! Run for cover!! (At least it’s not an actual flashback, only a story!)

Phantom: I saw this coming yesterday, and I have to admit, it’s a very good twist – not to mention something that can happen to some people who have done a great deed yet found out later it led to random deaths. On the other hand, can they realy pull off a complex serious psychological dilemma in this strip?

Sally Forth: Sorry Ted, there’s no way anyone will back you up on this one.

And now, sleep.
Old School Allie Cat
October 24th, 2009 at 1:36 am [Reply]

MW So, I spent a week traveling the Natchez Trace, no internet access. My first move when we got back was to check Mary Worth. My husband said, “But you HATE Mary Worth.” I explained that while I hate Mary the person, I needed to check the strip to see if they had offed Scott or not.

I should not have been surprised to find that Mary had somehow wrangled the conversation to the ground and made it all about her.
Red Greenback
October 24th, 2009 at 1:43 am [Reply]

Pluggers:
“What is that on your shirt, Gramps?”
“I dunno… it kinda looks like a dachshund. What’s on yours?”
“A crucifix.”
spazmodeas
October 24th, 2009 at 1:56 am [Reply]

Mary Worth: “…I realized only later how life can turn on a dime…and punch you right in the face, which is why mine looks so flat now.”
Spiderman Defense League
October 24th, 2009 at 1:59 am [Reply]

Holy crap, today’s Jumble (punctuation notwithstanding) includes my full name! I’m sure it refers to strip creators Jeff Knurek and Mike Argirion, but still.

Actually, those last names look like Jumble clues, don’t they?
Mibbitmaker
October 24th, 2009 at 2:01 am [Reply]

24th:

BC: I’m not smiling.

Blondie: “Mrs. B likes it neat” sounds like a double-meaning about favorite alcoholic drinks — buuuuuuuut it’s sex.

NS: Again, that can go both ways, Wiley.

MC: More stereotyping an entire medium as sad gender-exclusive nerdbait superhero crap (garanteed it’s superheroes). And to think, I cheered this feature upthread! (10/23 MC was cool, though)

FC: He hurt his tongue? EWW, Jeffy!

HotC: Dean’s psychiatrist bills are going to be murder someday!

MW: It won’t be so bad — Mary’s going to bore me to sleep long before she gets to the actual flashbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
(later, when the Mibbit awakes…)

DtM:
“And can you lift your dress, too? Mom says you have a stick up–”
“DENNIS!”
Danny Lilithborne
October 24th, 2009 at 2:10 am [Reply]

Wow, just wow.

To break into someone’s home, then demand food from them is just… wow.
Poteet
October 24th, 2009 at 2:10 am [Reply]

# 190 Niall — Thanks, but I’m bowing out too (and dragging my dropped jaw with me).

C’shaft — This is the lowest point I’ve seen in C’shaft so far, but I’ve only been reading it for a year or so. Does it get worse?

DT — As opposed to all the other characters in this storyline named “Mr. Pops.”

MW — And so Adrian’s Really Terrible Entirely Awful No-Good Rotten Day continues.
Poteet
October 24th, 2009 at 2:17 am [Reply]

S-M — And to think that for one wild moment earlier this week, I thought this storyline might have an original twist in store.
Baka Gaijin
October 24th, 2009 at 4:22 am [Reply]

Dennis the Menace: Notice Alice nonchalantly sipping her tea instead of doing a spit-take. She’s obviously passive-aggressively trying to rid herself of a “friend.” You know the saying,* “When life gives you ~~a lemonheaded son~~ lemons, you must throw it them at people you want to prune from your Christmas Card list.”

*In the Bandar tongue
athena
October 24th, 2009 at 4:44 am [Reply]

Today’s FC pretty much indicates that Child Protection Services need to be called out to the Keane Kompound.
Baka Gaijin
October 24th, 2009 at 4:44 am [Reply]

#189 True Fable: “This is why we read Mary Worth: she’ll be breaking out the platitudes any day now, and our lives will be complete.” No, our lives will be complete when Mary breaks out the questionably digestible seafood, whether geometric, orange, or with fish on the wall.

#195 Mibbitmaker on Blondie: I first read that as “buuuuuuuut sex.” The extra u’s make it extra funny.
Hobbes Fan
October 24th, 2009 at 5:32 am [Reply]

I applaud “Rex Morgan” on their interpretation of the controversial Broadway play/low-budget movie “Extremities.”
Carrie ForthWorth
October 24th, 2009 at 8:37 am [Reply]

RMMD: Are the newspapers accidentally printing the same strips over and over? Has this story moved on at all these last weeks? Tim and Becka drive around in the rain and Skinhead asks old people for money, old buffer offers golf lessons, old lady asks for food. The entire strip is a broken record.

Speaking of broken records, Mary Worth is about the same as yesterday too.

And don’t get me started on the volunteer thing.
AeroSquid
October 24th, 2009 at 9:05 am [Reply]

BB: Whoa ! Fuzz is tweaking bigger than Carrie Fisher at the ‘Star Wars’ post-production party.

Blondie: Elmo has pointed out that Dag is Bottom-bitch.

Curtis: And they took his hat !

HtH: Heh. ‘Tossed salad’. Heh. ‘Ham Sandwich.’ Heh.

MT: Agent Tik-Tik has given up on the story arc and has decided to hunt for yummy stinkbugs.

MW: “See these, Adrian ? These are my meddle hands.”

MC: Be careful, Norm. That type of wrong-thinking could force Bridget into the waiting embrace of Ashley….who would happily show the iPhone viddys to Maureen.
Ukulele Ike
October 24th, 2009 at 9:05 am [Reply]

MC: Looks like Shark Kid landed the Cedric Hardwicke role in On Borrowed Time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031754/
Josh
October 24th, 2009 at 9:14 am [Reply]

Gah. Obama is behind all of this volunteerism crap? Next thing you know, it’ll come out that he suggested the NFL wear pink gloves and slippers this month for Breast Cancer Awareness.

I declare shenanigans!

*Shakes fist impotently*
AeroSquid
October 24th, 2009 at 9:18 am [Reply]

206. Josh:

Here’s the link:

http://www.dailycomicsreview.com/
mr 12 oz can
October 24th, 2009 at 9:18 am [Reply]

the artwork in saturdays apartment 3g is amazing harriet goes from looking 60 to looking 28 in one panal. rex morgan is pure torture to read but i gotta find out if it stops raining and if the old crow gets her dishwater soup for dinner.
AeroSquid
October 24th, 2009 at 9:23 am [Reply]

Better link on Comics Volunteerism:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2009/10/riffs_picks_from_comics_volunt.html
Brick Bradford
October 24th, 2009 at 10:21 am [Reply]

MW: Does it seem to anyone else that Mary is just rubbing it in? “Let me just just tell a story that will cast your emotional failings in an even harsher and more unforgiving light, dearie.”
arby
October 24th, 2009 at 10:24 am [Reply]

MW 10/24 Two theories about today’s comic: One, Mary is actually confessing to have dated Jesus. Or two, Mary Worth is actually Mary Magdalene. Discuss…
odinthor
October 24th, 2009 at 10:54 am [Reply]

RMMD. — He’s calling his friends the cannibals. Good move.

At Cribby McBald’s, the dinner serves you!
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 11:02 am [Reply]

True Fable @189 – When we lived in Massachusetts, the back yard had a six-foot board fence all around it. I raked out all the leaves (we had no trees, but we got plenty of leaves from adjacent yards) and a day or so later, the back was full again. Then a day after that, they were all gone! Hey, thanks, wind!
dreadedcandiru2
October 24th, 2009 at 11:04 am [Reply]

Sunday ReFoob Advisory: In today’s slice-of-depressing-life strip, we see Elly faced with a common-place hazard that faces mothers of young children when they buy groceries: the need the offsprings and short ones have to get Mommy to buy them sugary treats. Instead of being irritated by having to give in like regular people, she stands there with her face frozen in the Bug-Eyed Glare of Existential Horror as she buys Mike’s package of Goo Balls and Lizzie’s Yummie-yums.

Sunday Funky Winkerbean: Maddie proves herself to be her father’s daughter by not really caring too much what her teachers are saying; since, like Crazy Harry, she’s content to merely be, she’ll avoid the doom Batiuk visits on those who strive.
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am [Reply]

9CL – “Cello Jock”? That’s not a cool kid label. Try “Jello Cock.”

A3G – “Oh, hi, Maytag Man! Just put that stuff on top of the dryer.”

Close 2 – I’m more interested in the apparent flotilla of boats making its way down the side of the road.

Crank – Watch it, Shaft. You’re venturing into plugger territory, and from there, it’s only a couple of steps down to acting like the Gumbos. Next thing you know, you’ll be invading the trailers of hoodlums and demanding food.

Family – “His rivals used to say quite a bit,
That, as a monarch he was most unfit,
But, still and all, they had to admit
That he Loved his Mother!”
–Tom Lehrer, “Oedipus Rex”

Gasoline – And, as many have suggested here already, it’s probably time to unstick Mr. Walt from the seat now and see if CPR will do any good. I’m guessing it will — appearances notwithstanding, he’s one tough old coot.

Gil – “Watch where you’re going, Daley.” “…this isn’t Camp Swampy.”

Hägar – I wish they’d volunteer to get rid of the stupid damn duck. But then I guess I’d just ask for the second dumbest character to be removed. Where would it end? Probably at “Hägar Minus Everybody.”
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am [Reply]

Big Marma – “We were helping at the soup kitchen, but Marmaduke ate all the winos.”

Mary – Good god, every single thing she’s saying is an unadulterated, uncut aphorism! Despite her calm demeanor, her beseeching hands give her away. She’s melting down inside! Somebody better shut her down and reboot her (either with a screwdriver, or simply short across her earrings) or she’ll start babbling source code.
“3010 Platitude GOTO Aphorism X
3015 More Platitudes Mule
3020 ON error GOTO 2020 Temporize
3030 IN ANY event GOTO boring story
3045 Dilute! Dilute! O.K.!
3050 Breakdown imminent STERILIZE STERILIZE TERMINATE ALL
3060 Cleanup after. Use PineSol”

Pluggers – A book of just the Reed Hoover panels would be most enlightening, though I suspect it would tell us way more than we wanted to know.

Orange – Subtle. A gentle head-smack of approval from me.

Shoe – The characters’ expressions make sense if you change Cosmo’s line to “The world will end in five seconds” or “Life is an endless tunnel without light.”

Zippy – Heh, heh, indeed.

Zits – And of course, Jeremy didn’t do that 20-page paper on the computer so that all he has to do is hit “print” again. Because that would be totally in character for him. He must have written it all by hand, with a goose quill pen and ink that he made by grinding rust from old ships’ anchors.
gleeb
October 24th, 2009 at 11:07 am [Reply]

H&J: We already know the cooking isn’t good at Herb & Jamal’s, because they never eat there themselves, but seek out other restaurants. Now we find out that Herb will give you a short pour.

Zippy: Ooh, hard-hitting criticism. Actually, this is pretty good, but still, glass houses and all.
sugarpie
October 24th, 2009 at 11:12 am [Reply]

MWorth “Excuse me Mary, but I’ve already admitted I love him, and I’ve admitted I waited too long to accept his ring. I’ve admitted Scott may die without knowing I’m sorry. It’s not that fine a line between meddlesome biddy and nasty old bitch. Seriously, you’re getting on my nerves. So lets wrap this up so I can get back to gnawing on my hands. “
Will
October 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am [Reply]

215 Muffaroo: That’s how I read 9CL, too. Improved it immensely.
Niall
October 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am [Reply]

204. AeroSquid: Um, you know, I had never even once thought of Bridget and Ashley together. The videos might be just too… sad. Or really, really angry.
Anonamuse
October 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am [Reply]

Muffaroo @ 215 and Will @ 219:

“Jello cock”? For some reason, that doesn’t sound cool to me. Maybe it’s just me, but it just comes across as, well, sort of…flaccid. :)
Mibbitmaker
October 24th, 2009 at 12:23 pm [Reply]

ZtP: From the folks that brought you “Garfield Without Garfield” (well, not really), here’s the NEW metastrip of the day:

“Dilbert Without Dilbert, But With Beavis & Butthead”

You ARE having fun yet!
AirForbes
October 24th, 2009 at 12:23 pm [Reply]

Um, Mary, I seem to remember that the last time you had a disagreement with Doctor Jeff (ie, he didn’t do exactly what you wanted him to), you didn’t speak to him for weeks. You may be old, but I don’t think you’ve matured that much.
mollificent
October 24th, 2009 at 12:31 pm [Reply]

A3G: So…does Dr. Pap only treat hot middle-aged women? Nice work if you can get it!

9CL: Having nipped over to Chron to read 9CL *after* reading Muffaroo’s comment, I actually READ the line as “Jello Cock”. In fact, I think I’m now incapable of hearing it in my head as originally written. However, spoken by Edda, it’s much funnier that way. Thanks, Muffaroo. ;)
Brave Little Toaster
October 24th, 2009 at 12:36 pm [Reply]

GT The ongoing saga of the trouble’s of the Double D’s. Duncan’s brother is inmate number 7117. This probably explains his problems in the cafeteria line – he doesn’t know if he is coming or going.

JP
Gloria: Do you actually think she’ll talk to you?
Sam: No doubt about it. I’m going to show her my subpoena, if you know what I mean.
buckyswife
October 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm [Reply]

A3G: Because nothing says “crush” like a big basket of canned goods.

MT: “Yes! And you suffered a head injury! AND we got to eat with poor people!”

MW: Like any good surgeon, Mary holds up her sterilized hands in panel one so as not to contaminate them before she reaches into Adrian’s torso and, over the course of the next ~~few minutes~~ few weeks, meticulously eviscerates any hope Adrian might have had for a future without despair and unrelenting grief.
John C Fremont
October 24th, 2009 at 12:41 pm [Reply]

I’ve just spent way too much of my morning looking at clips from “Mr. Sardonicus” and “On Borrowed Time.” So, thanks, Sheila and Ike.

A3G – Oh, boy! A basket of CAVIAR, COFF and CHDCOLJE. Yum.

MW – As someone once said, “Love is the greatest gift we can ever be given.”
buckyswife
October 24th, 2009 at 12:42 pm [Reply]

139 Dr. Krude&Rude: Okay, that one was funny. But then, I’m a sucker for stinkbug / racoon humor.

Fairly interesting article in yesterday’s WashPost about humor writing in blogs and comments —not about comics per se, more about writing. It did make me grateful that this site isn’t as cutthroat as those described in the article.
ArtisticPlatypus
October 24th, 2009 at 12:47 pm [Reply]

From this moment on, ‘People give me food, do you have my dinner?’ will be my standard greeting.
B. Racoon
October 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm [Reply]

I hope you all noticed my guest appearance in Mark Trail today. I was in a hurry. Mark and that mutant child of his was getting too close to my secret stash of merlot.

Oh, and Dr. Krude&Rude @139. You know it didn’t happen that way. It was only a couple of bottles, not a whole case. By the way, I must admit that was the very tasty variety of stink bug. I think it’s the same kind AeroSquid has. Unfortunately, the kind which are invading buckyswife’s abode are quite awful tasting. A flame thrower may be the answer.
bats :[
October 24th, 2009 at 12:54 pm [Reply]

Scrolling down on MAD magazine’s blog will reward you with the cartoonist who did the USO tour (Pastis looks good in protective gear!): http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/
buckyswife
October 24th, 2009 at 12:55 pm [Reply]

230 B. Racoon: “A flame thrower may be the answer.”

Yikes. How about more merlot so I don’t worry about them so much? Or perhaps I need to call in the Shrike Force; I’ve heard they have a less discriminating palate.
bats :[
October 24th, 2009 at 1:00 pm [Reply]

190. Niall re FC: oh, no no no….that really pegged my Squickometer (pronounced ’skwik – AH – met – er’).

230. B. Racoon: AeroSquid’s got stinkbugs?!?
Gabby
October 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm [Reply]

Pickles Dear Brian Crane, If you’re going to steal ideas from another strip, why not aim higher than Curtis?
B. Racoon
October 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm [Reply]

buckyswife @232. Shrikes are good.
bats :[ @233. Oh, yes. Big, fat, juicy, ooky, tasty stink bugs.
commodorejohn
October 24th, 2009 at 1:03 pm [Reply]

Archie – Clean the…? …oh GOD.

BrS – WHAT.

Curtis – finishes off an otherwise strong week with the rather odd moral that, while volunteering may be personally rewarding, it is unlikely to result in monetary gain. Huh. Well, that’s okay, it still kicks ass over the rest of the participating strips.

DT – Pops does all the pointless uncertainty of a Bond-villain “leave him to die” execution with none of the actual escaping. Smart fellow.

FC – …um. What.

GT – Ooh, is this going to be like the prison fight in Watchmen?

JP – Look, Mrs. DeVito had better be a Dixie Julep type, okay? Not that I begrudge the female readers a little sausage-fest, but not with the Boring Squad here, for God’s sake.

MT – The sad thing is, I don’t doubt his assertion for a moment.

MW – *cough*bullshit*cough*

MC – Whee, it’s a double double standard!

PC – Bwahaha!

RMMD – Least threatening Designated Villain ever. Tim is creepier than this poor unjustly-maligned fellow.

SM – Wow, a villain with such poor planning that even Spider-Man might stand a chance against him!
Uncle Lumpy
October 24th, 2009 at 1:05 pm [Reply]

#230 B. Racoon wrote –

Unfortunately, the kind which are invading buckyswife’s abode are quite awful tasting.

Well, with Merlot, duh! Try them with a nice little Muscadet, and don’t gorge.
AirForbes
October 24th, 2009 at 1:12 pm [Reply]

#236 Commodorejohn – You’re right, Tim is seriously creeping me out, but this guy just makes me feel sorry for him, stuck with these two lost old people who just showed up in his house one day. Maybe Tim and the old folks would make a better strip, come to think of it.
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm [Reply]

Anonamuse @221 – Did I get something wrong? Do the Kool Kidz in high school assign nicknames that are positive and supportive and aggrandizing to others? It always seemed to me they either chose an attribute that made someone different and emphasized it in ways that made them freakish and subnormal, or lacking that, they made up something that did the same thing.

But Edda wouldn’t have to make anything up, so she’s probably going by experience (assuming a Spoonerism). This explains the looks everybody had watching the Belgian video: amazement at how long Edda has to work to get Amos ready for his close-up.
peabody
October 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm [Reply]

I’ve got to say, the Mary Worth artist really nailed the “oh no did this old person just say ‘many years ago’ and ‘when I was young’ in the same sentence oh god why is this happening how long is this going to take I’ve got to tune this out before I discorporate from boredom” expression on Adrian’s face in the first panel. Well done.
B. Racoon
October 24th, 2009 at 1:21 pm [Reply]

Uncle Lumpy @237. A nice suggestion, sir. However, the Muscadet is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape. For some reason this grape has a tendency to cause serious gastric disturbances in a racoon and even a raccoon. Not very pleasant for the racoon or any living creature near the racoon.
You are quite right about gorging. It’s one of the things we teach against to new racoons at the Institute. It is best to savour.
cheech wizard
October 24th, 2009 at 1:23 pm [Reply]

A3G – Why does the gift basket have a box of Cheerios and a container of oatmeal in it? Does the professor’s secret admirer simply want him to have a healthy breakfast?

Big Dog – “Remember how you always said you’d like to have another baby but felt you should stop at two children? Well, good news….”
Brave Little Toaster
October 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pm [Reply]

MW “I realized only later, after he was gone, that venereal disease is the gift that keeps on giving.”
peabody
October 24th, 2009 at 1:29 pm [Reply]

Whoops, I guess it’s not the same sentence. The exclamation mark followed by ellipsis threw me off.
Brave Little Toaster
October 24th, 2009 at 1:29 pm [Reply]

RMMD And don’t get me started about how Punky McPiercings can keep his bleeping cell phone charged in his “squat”, an apparently abandoned construction trailer.
mr 12 oz can
October 24th, 2009 at 1:43 pm [Reply]

how does rusty know this is sassys best time ever . is he a dog whiper guru too ???
Écureuil Écumant
October 24th, 2009 at 1:59 pm [Reply]

@245 Brave Little Toaster says: “RMMD And don’t get me started about how Punky McPiercings can keep his bleeping cell phone charged in his ’squat’, an apparently abandoned construction trailer.”

Indeed, nothing short of a direct lightning strike will brown his buns.

Invasion Communiqué: It appears that the stinkbug hordes have been rotated home. We are now facing battalions of ladybugs. They’re innocuous enough, but I have to keep reminding them that they’re not gnats, so please knock off all that nattering. It clashes with my tinnitus. However, the tuna tang in the air is highly preferable to the stinkbugs’ phosgene pheromones.
Artist formerly known as Ben
October 24th, 2009 at 2:00 pm [Reply]

10/24

S-M: So Big Shot has started to learn the ropes of supervillainy. He’s starting to acquire resentful employees who wish him dead. He’ll still be a failure, but he’ll be a bona fide failure.

H&J: You know I think I delivered this punchline thirty years ago. I was a fourth grader with glaring Asperger’s tendencies. What’s Herb’s excuse?

Phantom: By the laws of Bangala, the Phantom will now have to get the word “numbnuts” tattooed on his forehead.

MT: So we’re off the poachers, and back to Rusty having the time o’ his life on a fishing trip? This storyline is officially more padded than a twelve-year-old’s bra.

GT: Meanwhile in prison, Dee Dee Ramone lives, as surly as ever.

GA: “Oh by the way, your new gig involves getting beat up every week by thuggish white guys in paramilitary uniforms. You cool with that?”

JP: So DiVito got shot point blank in the head accidentally? If Sam can sell that one, we’ve all misunderestimated him.

9CL: Edda has a moment of clarity.

A3G: When a woman wants to keep her shrink prescribing those sweet, sweet mood enhancers, she of course pulls out all the stops and… sends an out-of-season Easter basket.

DtM: So begins Dennis’ life as a foot fetishist. He will of course grow up to be Quentin Tarantino.

FC: Apparently the next time Jeffy gets a booboo he’ll pop a breath mint and wait for… No, no, I can’t continue.

C-Shaft: Of course that teen who was raking the yard all week is still hanging out on the sidewalk. When he sees Fast Ed spreading the leaves out, his next move will be to beat him down with the rake and set him on fire.

M-Dawg: “… and all the homeless people as well, but that goes without saying.”

Marvin: Marvin leads an all-baby cast in the final production number of Hair. Because you were already going to have nightmares. Now you know what they’ll be about.
Écureuil Écumant
October 24th, 2009 at 2:01 pm [Reply]

@246 mr 12 oz can: Yeah, he has to whisper to Sassy every five seconds to remind him to breathe.
Artist formerly known as Ben
October 24th, 2009 at 2:11 pm [Reply]

#195 mibbitmaker

Blondie: “Mrs. B likes it neat” sounds like a double-meaning about favorite alcoholic drinks — buuuuuuuut it’s sex.

“Mrs. B likes it neat, but I always tell her, ‘Let your blonde garden grow, baby.’”
bats :[
October 24th, 2009 at 2:16 pm [Reply]

Who’s tired of all the yapping? Me, too, and it only took six cans, too!
Spotted HØrse, Jungle Steed
October 24th, 2009 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

MT: I know I’m not the only one here just itching to chain that scampering raccoon to that log.
Uncle Lumpy
October 24th, 2009 at 3:38 pm [Reply]

Be easier if he had a collar of some kind. Damn inconsiderate!
John C Fremont
October 24th, 2009 at 3:48 pm [Reply]

Sshh. There’s an accoon-ray reading the omments-cay. I don’t think he’ll like the references to ains-chay and ogs-lay.
TheDiva
October 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm [Reply]

MW: I’ve got ten bucks says Mary’s old beau threw himself under a train when he realized the only other alternative was life with Mary. Any takers?
SandyH
October 24th, 2009 at 4:02 pm [Reply]

It’s still the Astrodome, just empty, sad, and oddly SMALL againt the behemoth of Reliant Stadium, which sits literally steps away. There is a sidewalk separating them and it’s a cool experience to walk it–

No one can figure out what to do with the ‘Dome. It technically “belongs” (if that’s the right word) to the taxpayers of Harris County, but all of the suggestions are pretty lame. The one I objected to most vehemently was razing it, but now, given the other ideas,I think I am changing my mind.
Écureuil Écumant
October 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm [Reply]

Crank: Watching Crank dump out leaves so he can rake them up again is pretty surreal. His offpanel life must be interesting. I wouldn’t want to peek for fear of catching him eating his turds, just so he could experience the enjoyment of grunting ‘em out again.
Carrie ForthWorth
October 24th, 2009 at 4:10 pm [Reply]

251 bats :[ – Wonderful, but the first panel alone stands out as sheer genius. :)
Baka Gaijin
October 24th, 2009 at 4:13 pm [Reply]

#255 TheDiva: I think it involved someone not making onto the Ark in time.

Methinks he took some enchanted Tylenol for a headache after one of Mary’s meddlegasms. Yeah, Mary tells everyone it was an accident but the only witness no longer can tell his tale.
Écureuil Écumant
October 24th, 2009 at 4:38 pm [Reply]

FEJFoolery comes early today since our band has a gig with an early sound check; so, a Spoiler Alert to anyone still battling today’s Jumble.

Today, a nod o’ the collapsing Charterstone cranium to those two dear folks who should never, ever be out of each other’s sight.

I left in a glaring fausse rime to encourage scoffers to best my feeble effort…

Mary’s STUPID, meddling mug
Is GRAVEN with the lines of age,
While Jeff takes care to CATCH his cum
In LINEN sheets, lest Mary rage!
Thursday Next
October 24th, 2009 at 4:49 pm [Reply]

Is there a weird double Funky Cancerbean going on? I see references to Lisa and sleeves, and Corey getting away with stuff, but all week long it’s been “drown the band” in the pouring rain around here. Not that I care particularly, it’s just that if there’s a parallel universe, there’s hope. Kind of. Or maybe just double the tumors.
bats :[
October 24th, 2009 at 4:52 pm [Reply]

260. Écureuil Écumant: Burmashave.
CanuckDownSouth
October 24th, 2009 at 5:11 pm [Reply]

#261-Thursday Next: a day or two ago, Becky’s rolled-up raincoat sleeve was prominent. I think Corey is up next week – one of the commenters sees stuff early in a print paper.
Écureuil Écumant
October 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm [Reply]

@ 262 bats :[ — or perhaps Mary’s favorite color,

Brash Mauve
Anonamuse
October 24th, 2009 at 6:00 pm [Reply]

Hi, Muffaroo @239:

When I responded to your comment, I hadn’t read today’s 9CL. Therefore, I figured that the phrase “cello jock” was included in the strip because of Amos, but I thought that the “cool kid label” was your invention and took it literally.

I was only making zee leetle joke. :)

But wow, if Edda had really said that to Amos, what an insult that would be! Most likely a relationship-ending one, I would think!
Uncle Lumpy
October 24th, 2009 at 6:07 pm [Reply]

#260 ÉÉ –

But wait — they have to be in order, don’t they? Why do I never get the frickin’ memo any more?

LINEN cloth and crystal flute
That CATCH the light from evening airs
And GRAVEN silver — all struck mute
By Mary’s STUPID salmon squares.
Muffaroo
October 24th, 2009 at 7:03 pm [Reply]

SandyH @256 – Alas, poor Astrodome. I sometimes wish I’d gone over and visited the thing one time. I told a visitor once that the top could be opened up like an iris, but that it blocked the doors, and he actually believed me. I thought it better at that point not to say any more.

Anonamuse @265 – No prob!
Anonamuse
October 24th, 2009 at 7:50 pm [Reply]

tb4000 @ 39 (and any others who may have mentioned this):

I’m really glad I decided to check the comments before writing my own, because you said just what I was planning to, only better!

Reading that Pluggers cartoon is pretty disconcerting. Aaargh! I just want, somehow, to get a question mark inserted in place of the period. (It’s that OCD thing.)

Hard to believe that that mistake wasn’t caught before being printed…
Ukulele Ike
October 24th, 2009 at 7:56 pm [Reply]

9CL: Gotta admit I enjoyed “bun head.”

Meanwhile, over in cyberland, the webcomic Sinfest is coming off a full and delicious week of Fuchsia/Monique/Criminy shenanigans….can’t wait to see what Sunday holds.
Perky Bird
October 24th, 2009 at 9:22 pm [Reply]

Despite spending all week helping an old man, Curtis learns in the third panel that good works alone aren’t enough to ensure his salvation when The Rapture occurs.
Toronto
October 24th, 2009 at 11:01 pm [Reply]

Does anyone remember the “Croc-o-shirt” that featured a tiny upside-down crocodilian with little “X”s over its eyes?

I acquired one at “Frenchies” while they were still being advertised in the National Lampoon, on the page opposite Gaham Wilson’s “Nuts” comic. Wore it with pride.
Nekrotzar
October 24th, 2009 at 11:30 pm [Reply]

#271 – Back in the early 80’s I bought a shirt at a Princeton football game that showed an alligator being speared by a missile, with a mushroom cloud and the words Nuke the Preppies.

A few years later I wore the shirt to high school and a teacher who had just been hired saw it and almost jumped out of his skin — it turned out that he had designed the shirt, and most likely had sold it to me at the football game.

Note to youngsters: CafePress did not exist back then. But we did have indoor plumbing.
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 12:02 am [Reply]

10/25 PV — Happiness is a new PV strip. Somehow, some way, I am going to work “Ig’s nose tells true!” into a conversation this week.
bats :[
October 25th, 2009 at 12:17 am [Reply]

Yay! Ig, Bup and Fart to the rescue!
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 1:45 am [Reply]

10/25 PV — I think “chosen” may have possibilities as a term for one’s significant other. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Sybil. She’s my chosen.” “Barry, I think we’d better send an invitation to Kurt. He’s a crashing bore, but he’s Marsha’s chosen, and she’ll be pissed if he’s not invited.” “That’s it, Andrew. You’ve cheated on me for the last time. Go find another chosen, you asshat.”

Maybe not.
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 2:02 am [Reply]

10/25 MT — Warning, very geeky rant ahead, but what the hey, it’s late at night. Cattails are great where they belong, but they can also be a major problem. In most of the upper Midwest, they behave as an invasive species, partly because a non-native cattail was brought in and interbred with a native cattail, creating a very vigorous invasive hybrid. Now land managers here work to reduce or eliminate cattails. Otherwise, the cattails create conditions that are bad for native plants, but wonderful for more and more cattails. End rant.
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 2:25 am [Reply]

10/25 ReFoob — A textbook case of teaching your kids that if they whine loud enough and often enough, they’ll win in the end.
Uncle Lumpy
October 25th, 2009 at 2:28 am [Reply]

Jubata grass — cattail of the West.
Marion Delgado
October 25th, 2009 at 4:44 am [Reply]

Since Baldo is a whiny, insufferable PC strawman commissioned by Lou Dobbs to sell the border fence, we should welcome the ugly dad shuts out horny son story-line, it’s practically fan-service.

(posted on the right thread this time)
Marion Delgado
October 25th, 2009 at 5:01 am [Reply]

BTW, original Mary was still pretty quirky.

“Okay, Mary, I’ll turn right, I see the convenience store, we’re nearly at the party.”

“We should have gone left a mile ago.”

“No, I got good directions.”

[Silence]

“Hey, guy, how come your gal’s giving you the silent treatment?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told ya, buddy.”

“How long is she gonna keep that up?”

“Weeks, usually”

["She's nuts!" gesture]
Marion Delgado
October 25th, 2009 at 5:08 am [Reply]

“He was in critical-but-stable condition just like your Scott, Adrian, when .. well I never understood exactly what it was but apparently he had so many internal injuries that he just bled out right there in intensive care. He never knew how much I cared. I never got to say goodbye.

Now, now, chin up and pull yourself together, Adrian – you’ll have plenty of endless, lonely years for crying if the worst happens …”
Baka Gaijin
October 25th, 2009 at 5:18 am [Reply]

Sunday’s Strips:

Arlo and Janis: Really, this should be Ted and Sally Forth, with Faye popping out from behind the bush with a wry comment on Ted’s lameness.

Bizarro: I always wondered how the candy got inside the pinatas.

Blondie: Wait, that was funny? Scaring your wife into unconsciousness with a massively lame costume? Go back to tutoring Sandwichmaking 101, Dag.

Drabble: Haw haw! Drabble won’t go near the scale because he’s so fat. Haw haw haw! “Married With Children” did this so much better when Al hid money from Peg in the cobweb-covered laundry basket.

Dilbert: True, so sadly true.
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 6:03 am [Reply]

Can’t sleep, so might as well start the snark early.

Baldo: Looks like the Yenny crossover is finished, so I can start ignoring this awful thing again.

MT: Who’s up for a nice cup of tea and a plate of cattail pollen cookies? AAACHOOOO.

Phantom: No formfitting armor and leather weavework skirts and inexplicably blondie Africans this week? Ain’t readin’ that. In other news, Phantom Junior is still a moron.

MW: I was NOT expecting a Herman Hesse quotation here this morning. I would have thought Mary would be more of a Rudolf Hess fan.

SFx: As usual, I cannot read the fine-print solution, but my guess is that Max followed the directions incorrectly. I like Slick’s slutty new girlfriend, too.

PV: I am loving the new storyline! Not one but TWO brilliant lines today:
Suddenly, a howling beastman jumps into the pit.
“Ig’s nose tells true!”
Squirrelntherain
October 25th, 2009 at 7:39 am [Reply]

Of course Satan went to junior high! What other environment has the capacity to produce that much evil?
Écureuil Écumant
October 25th, 2009 at 7:40 am [Reply]

@283 Ukulele Ike says: “Drabble: Haw haw! Drabble won’t go near the scale because he’s so fat. Haw haw haw!”

In a case of “life imitates art”, I went to put some trash in the dumpster yesterday and someone had thrown away their bathroom scale. It was one of these “extended” scales that reads up to 350 lb (and is longer than a regular scale, no doubt to provide a better sightline). The needle was stuck on 320. Its owner not only wouldn’t go near it, he tossed it right out of his life!
buckyswife
October 25th, 2009 at 8:41 am [Reply]

275 Poteet: Chosen? I like it! I was trying just yesterday to think of the right term for my sister’s…. partner? boyfriend? SO? guy she loves and bought a house with but doesn’t intend to marry? “Chosen” is better than any of those.
Steve the Pocket
October 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am [Reply]

Mother Goose and Grimm: Self-plagiarism alert! Today’s strip is a redraw of an old one I’ve got in a book. The original features Grimmy himself; why this one doesn’t I have no idea.

Buckles: Actually that would be the Gambler’s Fallacy. But it probably would work on the same principle as counting cards in Blackjack.

Hi and Lois: Wait, did he just put “date” in quotes? Do he or the writers think we’ve actually stopped using that term in this day and age?
The Divine OF
October 25th, 2009 at 9:20 am [Reply]

Story-telling advice to the writers of MW from a much-published author: If you promise to tell a story, you tell a story. You don’t string together a bunch of vague repetitive sentences and leave it at that. It would be as if, say, the Bible began “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and then continued for several hundred pages: “After that he did some other stuff. And then some more stuff. That’s basically what he did.” Fortunately, Mary’s totally non-informative cautionary tale only took a week.
Baka Gaijin
October 25th, 2009 at 10:48 am [Reply]

#285 Écureuil Écumant: You live near Cathy?
Écureuil Écumant
October 25th, 2009 at 11:08 am [Reply]

@289 Baka Gaijin: I decline to answer that question on the grounds that I might intimidate myself.
Baka Gaijin
October 25th, 2009 at 11:12 am [Reply]

#290 Écureuil Écumant: Me thinks he doth protest too much! jk
John C Fremont
October 25th, 2009 at 11:32 am [Reply]

MT – Airplane wings are shaped like cattails? Well, that explains it, then.

Huh?

MW – That’s it? No flashback? I – I feel both relieved and, well, cheated.

In the last panel, Mary reminds me of the killer in that “Unlocked Window” episode of Alfred Hitchcock. “You’re such a pretty doctor, Adrian.”
odinthor
October 25th, 2009 at 12:00 pm [Reply]

MW. — Actually, the complete quote from Hesse is: “If I know what love is, it is because of your slutty cousin Gretchen, her mother Marike, and their boyfriend Urich. And their weiner-dog Oscar.”

MC. — Pointy-Haired Boss alert! Wow, this strip is just like . . . heh, just kidding, Ed and Melissa! I just wanted to rattle your, um, well—oh, never mind.

SlFx. — Wait a minute. “Max found…” indeed! Your honor, I should like to point out to the court the vague and airy way in which the accused blithely skips over this important, this—begging the court’s pardon—this damning part of the events of that shocking day. Just exactly what was this person Max, a figure well-known in the criminal underworld, doing rifling through my client the honorable Mr. S. Smitty’s personal belongings, we should like to enquire?
mollificent
October 25th, 2009 at 12:07 pm [Reply]

Wow…I must be even more hung over than I thought. I actually found today’s Mary Worth touching. Go ahead, mock me mercilessly. :)

My Cage: ROFLMAO!!! Ouch, my head hurts. But that’s funny as hell. :D (OK, yes, we know Molly is a sucker for Office Space jokes).

RwO: Lord Vetinari is feeling sentimental today, I wot.
Cambiata
October 25th, 2009 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

Classic comic mashups!

http://ryandartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/comic-strip-mashups.html

I think I like Phantom the Menace best.
Calico
October 25th, 2009 at 1:34 pm [Reply]

#277 – Thus keeping Elly on the top of Canada’s Martyr List for another season at least.
bats :[
October 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pm [Reply]

Yes, I posted this yesterday but didn’t mention it here. With an entire Sunday comic devoted to Mary Worth’s senility- (or Scotch-) induced rehash of her week o’ aphorisms, we need a break!
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 2:10 pm [Reply]

# 288 The Divine OF — In the case of your stories, I’d bet readers really want to know the details of what happened. In the case of MW *shudder*, perhaps vagueness, however annoying, is the better of the bad options:-).
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 2:21 pm [Reply]

9CL — I have farmer friends, and one thing I know about dairy farming is that it ties you to your work. Cows must be fed, milked, and otherwise tended every single day, and one reason many dairy farmers’ children decide to do something else for a living is because they grow up seeing their parents tied to the barn. But Thorax doesn’t seem to have this problem. Have his cows all died, or has Brooke given him several curvaceous assistants who do all the actual labor?
commodorejohn
October 25th, 2009 at 2:36 pm [Reply]

BB – Ah, it’s Beetle Bailey’s periodic “pants-crapping insanity” strip.

Blondie – “Candygram!”

Crankshaft – Why are they so bummed about it? The sooner they die, the sooner the infinite pain of life is ended.

FC – Family Circus joins in on the “go ahead and give away someone else’s free tiime” bandwagon. As if I needed another reason to hate it.

FoxTrot – Amen.

H&L – I thought the ancient mating ritual involved side one of Led Zeppelin IV.

JP – You know, I admit that I’m not a lawyer, but I’m reasonably sure that little splashing sound is Sam pissing all over professional legal ethics.

MT – The world according to Mark Trail: airplane wings can be constructed from cattails.

MW – “As imperfect as I am?” Okay, this is clearly not Mary. I can only assume that she is locked in her condo, deep in the throes of heroin withdrawal, thanks to the SantaRoyMart bust, and this is some sort of robot doppelganger put in place by a mysterious shadowy organization. I eagerly look forward to a strung-out Mary busting down the hospital door for vengeance.

Momma – Francis, if your father was shagging Momma, I don’t think you really want his advice.

OBH – I offer polite applause for this little overview. Kids need to appreciate the past every now and again.

Phantom – Yes, with any luck, this mysterious, isolationist culture will have picked up the long-running superstition held by the neighboring country they never interact with about the man they haven’t seen in 250 years! The plan is flawless!

PV – Prince Valiant continues to be awesome. Further bulletins as events warrant.

RMMD – How very, very ~~perfectly understandable and reasonable~~ sinister of him.

SF – Oh, Hil. You do not diss Godzilla.

SFx – May I just say that I thinks Smitty’s…uh, lady-friend is just great? I do so love all the great incidental characters in this comic.
Calico
October 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm [Reply]

#300 -I believe Mary stated that she WAS imperfect, not IS. Now she sees herself as the epitome of diamond-clear thought and overall perfection
(She meddled herself into this state, or so she thinks, many many blue moons ago.)

It is strange that this story isn’t going on for days and days-maybe she has a slight fever?
Lou Shumaker
October 25th, 2009 at 3:36 pm [Reply]

Awww, Cambiata beat me to it with the comic strip mashups at

http://ryandartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/comic-strip-mashups.html

Seriously, do yourself a favor and check it out, if only for “The Dark Side” and its take on Star Wars. Great geek stuff!
TheDiva
October 25th, 2009 at 4:23 pm [Reply]

Curtis: Said the boy who was recently revealed to have been stalking his crush via insistent text messages. Or has the great god Status Quo already erased all evidence of that particular storyline?

reFOOB: And I’m sure the momentary peace you’ve obtained by caving in will be worth the years of dealing with kids who have learned they can get anything if they whine loud and long enough, Elly.

FW: Maddie has either never heard of the many lyrics sites available on the Internet, or is deliberately dicking with her teacher. Given Batiuk’s increasingly bitter and hostile attitude towards The Kids These Days, I’m banking on the latter.

Marvin: There are few people on whom I’d wish the fate of changing Marvin’s foul diapers, but the babysitter may be one of them.

MW: Did anyone have “Comatose Scott miraculously wakes up thanks to Adrian’s declarations of love” in the death pool? If so, you stand to make a mint.
buckyswife
October 25th, 2009 at 4:36 pm [Reply]

For the Alison Bechdel fans out there: I just attended a day-long colloquium on Fun Home, sponsored by our Literature Department. Most of the day was devoted to papers on and discussion of the text—very scholarly and academic, which I think is a testament to academics taking graphic texts more seriously. And then Alison Bechdel spoke to the group; she gave a fascinating visual demonstration of her process, discussed her relationship to words and pictures, and took questions—all the while being charming, funny, and thoughtful.

It was great!
Anna Nimity of the Jungle Patrol
October 25th, 2009 at 5:02 pm [Reply]

Thanks Buckyswife! Alison actually turned me on to this site – she and Josh are mutual fans. I think she’s a genius! Have you seen her new website?

PS: Is Josh on vacation again? Friday quickies???
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 5:15 pm [Reply]

Very spiffy website! Bechdel is amazing…who else working today has such a brilliant backlog of strips with deep characterizations — folks we know and love — yet manages to create a good punchline every time? Hats off.
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 5:18 pm [Reply]

Anna: Josh usually takes a break between Friday and Sunday afternoons. That’s why the comments here have slowed to a crawl…everyone’s waiting for his post about the Saturday comics.

THEN no one will comment because he’ll follow up in an hour or two with his Sunday critiques.
Emily K [Riff Chick]
October 25th, 2009 at 6:00 pm [Reply]

I’ve seen Bechdel’s work in the gay papers (which i sometimes read cuz i’m, ya know, gay) and I’ve been largely unimpressed. I know since I’m a cartoonist who makes comic books (no I will never ever ever use the term “graphic novel” to describe what I do) I’m “supposed” to like-slash-appreciate her work, and that of “the Watchmen” and any other things, but i kinda just.. don’t. At all. But you all enjoy.
mr 12 oz can
October 25th, 2009 at 6:03 pm [Reply]

who gets more sex mimi from gil thorp or cherry from mark trail??
Calico
October 25th, 2009 at 6:07 pm [Reply]

#304 – I really like Alison’s work.
I’m a bit sad that she is on hiatus from (or has permanently ceased to produce) DTWOF.

I’ll have to order meself a copy of Fun Home soon!

Glad you enjoyed the class/seminar/discussion!
Anna Nimity of the Jungle Patrol
October 25th, 2009 at 6:36 pm [Reply]

Ukulele: You mean Josh takes time off from his unpaid blogging work? On the weekends??? Boy, the nerve of some people. Kidding, of course. Looking forward to the COTW on Monday.
dreadedcandiru2
October 25th, 2009 at 7:13 pm [Reply]

Monday ReFoob: Elly has an existential crisis because Mike wants a store-bought Halloween costume instead of the one she’s sewing him.
TennesseeJed
October 25th, 2009 at 7:13 pm [Reply]

#308
Agreed.
Havn’t read her strip since the whole dissing of local eating. I know it was supposed to be witty commentary, but it was more just intensly annoying.
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pm [Reply]

TJed @ 313: Really? What did she say about locavores?

Bechdel isn’t run in any NYC media anymore since the New York Press dropped her. I haven’t read any of her work since Invasion of Dykes to Watch Out For. I hated the idea of having to purchase a huge hardcover (Essential DTWOF) to check out her most recent strips.
buckyswife
October 25th, 2009 at 7:36 pm [Reply]

310 Calico: She alluded to her hiatus—said she that missed the strip but that it was also a bit of a relief not to have that obligation. She’s working on another memoir now but didn’t say whether she’d resume the strip after it’s completed.

And today’s event was, incidentally, a voluntary gathering of students, faculty, and staff. On a Sunday. Starting at 9 a.m. During mid-semester/mid-terms. And it was well attended—so any issues of personal taste aside, it was very cool to see all these people gathering to talk about a book (at least, I get totally geeked up over that).

308 Emily K: Bechdel actually didn’t use “graphic” for her own work; graphic novel/text/memoir was us. She used “comic book.”
commodorejohn
October 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pm [Reply]

#313 Tennessee Jed – Is there some subcultural connotation to the idea of “local eating” that I am unaware of? Or does it just mean eating in local restaurants?
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 7:41 pm [Reply]

commodorejohn @ 316: I’m assuming he means eating locally-grown food. In my case, apples and spinach from a Hudson Valley farm instead of the stuff shipped in from the West Coast. Steaks from a grass-eating cow in the Catskills instead of something force-fed grain in a feedlot in Omaha.

Eating organic is SOOOO 2007. Eating local is what all the hep cats are doing nowadays.
Jackuul
October 25th, 2009 at 7:56 pm [Reply]

I saw a Pluggers Specific advertisement at the top of the page here. “The ManBoobs Terminator”.

They’re watching you.
druidbros
October 25th, 2009 at 8:03 pm [Reply]

MW – By the time Mary gets done talking about her “younger days’ Adrian will be over 50, Scott will have awakened from his coma and taken a Brazilian model for his wife, and Dr Jeff will still be lost in the hallways of the hospital.
Ed Power, My Cage Writer
October 25th, 2009 at 8:04 pm [Reply]

Hey kids,

I have a question. Recently I saw posted on somethingawful.com the following comment from someone calling himslef “North of Gravity” saying:

“I’ve never seen “My Cage” posted in this thread. I think it’s funnier than most comic strips out there, despite the fact that it’s about furries.”

And the following when I was vanity-googling on a board of list:

“not really into furries but i do like the comic strip “my cage.”

Now I only found out about furries after I pitched the strip and I have a question:

Is anything with anothropomorphic animals considered ‘furry’? Like how about Pogo and Bugs Bunny?

Just curious. It seems odd to me people wouldn’t like ‘My Cage’ because they find something offensive about the so called ‘furry fandom’. Do those people also not like Pogo and Bugs Bunny?
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 8:13 pm [Reply]

Ed @ 320: Albert the Alligator was my dream date, until I met Ashley and Maureen.
Meander
October 25th, 2009 at 8:16 pm [Reply]

Do those people also not like Pogo and Bugs Bunny?

They’re being very, very silly. “Funny animals” have been around for far longer than furries as a “lifestyle”.

Bugs would drop them off a cliff.
~
Uncle Lumpy
October 25th, 2009 at 8:16 pm [Reply]

#320 Ed –

Nah, I think it’s kind of a reverse dynamic — “furries” are (with fat people and smokers) one of the very few minorities it’s broadly considered OK to vilify. So folks with an urge to vilify go looking for targets, and find My Cage.

If it’s any consolation, they also find Pluggers. Hm, I suppose that’s not much consolation.
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 8:19 pm [Reply]

Seriously, don’t get nervous. Funny Animals are Funny Animals. There will always be a place in comics lovers’ hearts (in the platonic sense) for Funny Animals.
Bryan
October 25th, 2009 at 8:20 pm [Reply]

299, Poteet: Have his cows all died, or has Brooke given him several curvaceous assistants who do all the actual labor?

A third possibility is that Brooke doesn’t know jack shit about dairy farming.
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 8:34 pm [Reply]

# 325 Bryan — Sounds plausible to me.
Anna Nimity of the Jungle Patrol
October 25th, 2009 at 8:36 pm [Reply]

313 – TJ – You don’t have to buy her book – the entire archive is on her website. For free. Check it out!
Ukulele Ike
October 25th, 2009 at 8:37 pm [Reply]

Poteet: Hang on….didn’t Thorax sell the farm to Juliette shortly after Edda absconded for the big bad city? There was a short continuity about a lady vet, wasn’t there?

And then Juliette decided to go back to work at the university a few years later…

….but no word on whether Thorax took the farm back, or who’s looking after it…

….so I guess all the cows are dead now.
commodorejohn
October 25th, 2009 at 8:46 pm [Reply]

#320 Ed Power – There are a lot of folks on the Internet who dislike furries as a group; however, there are very few of them who extend that bile to every single thing with anthropomorphic characters in it. And of those, most are pretty much general cranks, anyway.

As for the people who say things like “I don’t like furries, but…,” it’s usually because they’re afraid they might be lumped into the community if they admit to liking something with animal characters without providing a qualifier; it’s like people who say “I’m not gay, but…” or somesuch. They’re mostly just afraid that some troll will jump on them otherwise.

I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you.
KarMann
October 25th, 2009 at 8:47 pm [Reply]

@Uncle Lumpy #323 re. MC & furries: Personally, I would’ve linked thusly: “…broadly considered OK to vilify.”
odinthor
October 25th, 2009 at 8:53 pm [Reply]

Ate lunch out today (hey, it’s, like, my birthday), and a guy sat down at the table just over there . . . no, over there . . . who was the ~~graven~~ spitting image of Gil Thorp—Gil Thorp, I tells ya! I hurriedly checked my hands to make sure they weren’t poorly drawn, as I still had my apple pie to eat, looked around to see if there were perhaps a barky stick within reach, and locked my eyes on one hole—namely, the exit. More frightening yet, he was dispensing advice, possibly of a coachly nature, to two high school age boys.

Still, at least it wasn’t Mary Worth and Adrian.
Écureuil Écumant
October 25th, 2009 at 9:08 pm [Reply]

What’s the big deal about furries? MT would certainly say “live and let live”. After all, when he’s way out in the swamp, all alone amid the rustling bulrushes, a nice fuzzy cattail is a real consolation.
Poteet
October 25th, 2009 at 9:09 pm [Reply]

# 328 Ukelele Ike — Thanks for the recap. As a relative newcomer to 9CL, I wouldn’t have known that Thorax had any profession besides Annoying Pontificator if the fourth panel in today’s strip hadn’t described him as an “overweight dairy farmer.” So Juliette spent some weeks/months dairy farming? Maybe the cows in the Brookiverse somehow take care of themselves.
Écureuil Écumant
October 25th, 2009 at 9:15 pm [Reply]

@333 Poteet: Brooke being Brooke, I’m surprised he didn’t describe Thorax as a “corpulent husbandman” or some-such. However, I’m sure he could do a killer sketch of a ruptured udder.
bats :[
October 25th, 2009 at 9:28 pm [Reply]

I’m still of the opinion that Jack Elrod was ghost-drawing some recent aspects of Dick Tracy.

(And this is what you get when bats :[ is helping mr. bats :[ set up for his “Window 7.0″ rollout party…)
Joe Btfsplk
October 25th, 2009 at 9:30 pm [Reply]

224 mollificent – I also saw “jello cock,” and I hadn’t even read Muffaroo’s comment first. I’m not sure what that means.
bats :[
October 25th, 2009 at 9:35 pm [Reply]

333. Poteet: if they’re smart (the cows), they do (take care of themselves).

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