Throwaway Sunday
Panels from Beetle Bailey, 11/8/09
Here you are, ladies and gentlemen: the most throwawayable thowaway panels in the history of the comics. Carefully designed to occupy space in newspapers that run three rows of Sunday Beetle Bailey panels, but not impart any information that would make the comic less enjoyable in those papers that run only two, these panels masterfully tread water, featuring recognizable words and pictures and yet not advancing the narrative a single iota. This particularly specialized artform has now reached its apex; were any panels to be more throwaway than this, they might make the rest of the comic start running backwards or something.
Panels from Mary Worth, 11/8/09
The throwaway panels in today’s Mary Worth, meanwhile, offer a special subliminal treat: the mention of Willa Cather in the first panel made me briefly wonder if one of the tubes that Adrian was fiddling with was Scott’s catheter. “Okay, now, this line seems fine. How does it feel if I jerk on it like this?”
My Cage, 11/8/09
Man, I usually like My Cage, but it’s all preachy and self-referential today. How lame!
November 8th, 2009 at 11:44 am
With that headband Adrian, I mean, Scott is looking even more like Ozymandias from Watchmen.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Beetle Bailey is a lot more interesting if you imagine it is being sung as an opera. “Open the WINdow… SARGE..” “..it ISSSSS OPEAAN!”
November 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Is it really ethical for Adrian to be treating Scott? (Not mention safe)
November 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Oh, hey, My Cage. That’s the one where redneck furries send in their jokes, right?
November 8th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
You know what I bugs me today? Lazy comics that think I wont notice if they recycle the same drawing for a couple of panels.
Sunday’s Herb & Jamal flaunts it’s recycled art like the image of Herb in thoughtful repose is the comic Mona Lisa. Hey Bentley, shifting the frame up and down slightly doesn’t fool anyone.
Seriously, seven out of nine panels? I thought comic artists actually liked to draw.
….and yeah, I recycled this comment, which I had impatiently posted in the Saturday replies only moments ago. All I did was add this paragraph. Irony, satire, or hypocrisy? You decide, mudges.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Nah, it could get worse for Beetle and Sarge. At least panel 2 has a window and a background, and they haven’t quite started reciting lines from Waiting for Godot.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Was the “Open a window” line a Sarge-has-gas joke?
November 8th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
#62 Muffaroo (re; Crankshaft) – But everyone knew her as Nancy?
I love you, Ed and Melissa! To (again) quote the fabulous Lola Heatherton, “I want to bear your children!”
November 8th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
“The inexorable facts closed in on him like prison-warders handcuffing a convict. There was no way out – none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished.” – Edith Wharton
November 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Willa Catheter is the one who wrote that depressing masterpiece, “O Peyronies!”
November 8th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
MW: Let’s hope that Willa Cather quote means that this strip will soon be “Death Comes for the Arch-boring”.
Phantom (weekdays): Seventeen months to wrap up this story? Did the terrorists capture Diana in the aftermath of the explosion, and she’s now being held captive in Wally Winkerbean prison? Not that she’d notice any difference from the cave she normally lives in, of course.
PV: If you weren’t following the storyline and read only the splash panel today, which one of those four guys would you think is named “Trollenberg”?
JP: “Ethics? I don’t need no stinkin’ ethics! I’m in tight with a judge, and my wife’s loaded!!!”
Brenda Starr: Brenda shot and killed a tiger this week, in just a few days. Take note, Dick Tracy.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Melissa needs to stay in that cage until her eyes stop crossing like an anime escapee
November 8th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I always think it’s funny when comic writers/artists put invariably attractive versions themselves in strips (well, I guess Stephen Pastis’ comppleganger isn’t that good looking, but whatever). Just look at Penny Arcade, in which two hideous pustules depict themselves as thin, angular adonises with impeccably teased and styled hair. At first I concluded that My Cage today is a PBS-esque exception to the rule, but then I checked out Ed Porker a little more. That is a cute pig. That’s the kind of pig that you want to take home from the state fair even though you live in a second floor apartment and have no accomodations for the pig beyond a bathtub full of oatmeal that you never eat because who really has time in the morning? Anyhow, I forgot what I was talking about.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
To be honest, between work, some health issues, and the instinctive gag reflex upon reading the last two weeks worth of Mary Worth, I let that Scott’s Drug Bust Pool spreadsheet slide.
Had to wait it out, anyway, because the next bet was how many strips it would take for Adrian to express her shame and self-loathing and, Lord, did that take forever (it is over, isn’t it?).
Started updating it. Using color coding and strikeouts to indicate winners and losers. So far:
1. I’m counting the “shame and self-loathing” period starting from the 10/13 MW (”I was going to surprise him!”) through 11/2 MW (”Oh, my love…”). That adds up to 21 strips. Some may count the start earlier (”OH, NO!”) and the end later (”Scott!”) and not all of the strips featured Adrian, but
please don’t make me go through them againI’m counting the first depicted mope through the last.2. The storyline is refusing to quit, but, to get this over with, I’m going to make calls on the Final Outcome anyway. We still have no idea whether Scott is quadriplegic or at least wheelchair-bound (Has he moved any limb besides his head in the past week?), but I don’t care. If the prediction has enough things correct (Scott lives, they marry, future storyline featuring birth of a Scott clone), I’m counting it as a win, whether he is paralyzed or not.
3. Lord help me, I actually counted how many narration boxes actually appeared between 9/21 and 10/5: 12. However, 9/29 MW featured two exposition-filled word balloons that may as well have been a narration box, so I’m counting it as 13.
Have
had enoughto give it a break for now, but will try to have it fully updated by Monday morning.If nothing else, this makes me aware of the terrible, terrible price those who read the comics (so we don’t have to) have to pay every day. Okay, maybe I will add something to that tip jar.
Note: A lot of funny stuff on the spreadsheet. So it won’t go to waste, will send Josh the final copy. Somewhere down the line, when there’s a fully indexed, searchable archive here, should be in there, somewhere. Thanks, everyone.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Adrian goes down the path of any engaged woman. “This line seems LOOKATMYRING fine.”
November 8th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Since the creators of “My Cage” have now drawn themselves as attractive talking animals, does that make it officially a furry comic? : p
I bet somebody on furaffinity has already drawn pr0n of poor Melissa. >_>
November 8th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I actually demand that those “Beetle Bailey” throw-away panels be thrown away. And then burned for good measure. As if it’s not bad enough that we’re treated to an exceedingly half-hearted attempt at humor, we also see Sarge and Beetle magnified to an extent that’s unhealthy for the viewer.
The quote in “Mary Worth” today is actually a little risky for that strip, as there have NEVER been any genuine miracles at Charterstone. I can only assume this suggests there is also precious little love there, but plenty of meddling.
Wow. First his attacks on “Masky McDeath,” then today’s little gem that writes its own snarky commentary… It’s almost like Ed Power has stopped writing comics for the comics page and is exclusively writing them for the “Comics Curmudgeon” crowd. Thank you, Mr. Power; it’s nice to be appreciated. On the other hand, the amount of meta-referencing threatens to tear a hole in reality. An exceedingly funny and awesome hole.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Note to Ed Powers: Ok, since you are shamelessly suggesting that we call or write or text our local comic provider I have a shameless suggestion as well. I will write the Chicago Sun-Times and let them know that I will cancel my subscription if they ever consider taking My Cage off of their comics page – if you introduce a new character. I don’t know, something like maybe the oldest breed of dog known to man. You can call him Sal Uki.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
weekday-Phantom-o-rama: the article said they started the 20-month story in August, so we may have 18 months left. Anyhow, it’s clearly much more than “Diana is presumed dead”. It must have started with saving Chatu (wherein they seemed to mix up the prognosis / disease pattern of rabies with Ebola…) and is now continuing with stripey-butt contemplating that mercy might not have been so merciful to the future victims of his enemies. This could be a repositioning or reaffirmation / validation of the Phantom’s methods and code of conduct. I want to see him face the fact that the jungle medicine he uses could bring relief to thousands or millions – if they’d share it. That does seem tangential right now, though.
I think I’ll sit back and watch a bit before snarking on the overall story arc. This actually could be good. Or it could completely fall on its face. But one thing I already know: it’s not the hideous “Lizthony love arc of inevitability”
November 8th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Hey, check out Pluggers today. I’d say it’s the most depressing Pluggers I’ve ever seen, but really, how depressing is it when a Plugger dies?
November 8th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”
Aldo Kelrast believed in that quote at one time, but fat lot of good it did him.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Locher and Brozman, you *&$#*#&%(. WTF is going on with this rehashing of the week’s events. I mentioned this in the last thread with MW, and now it’s happening in DT. It’s boring when routinely done in A3G — and it doesn’t help DT or MW either.
Thank gawd MT uses its Sunday space for a completely different turn with the nature studies (heck, even The Phantom manages a whole independent story). If you guys don’t want to think of a twice as long plot progression, why don’t you ask your syndicate to just have you do a Mon-Sat strip, and leave the colored comics to someone who’d love to have some print space.
GAH!
November 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Chyron HR @ #4: Nah, My Cage is the Dilbert ripoff strip where redneck furries send in their jokes.
Meanwhile, Melissa is left-handed? That’s just bizarre.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Mary Worth: Dickless Dr. Cory, 1954 called and wants its glass IV drip bottle back. By “dickless” I mean physically, not figuratively, though I’m not quite sure about her brother.
My Cage: Everyone seems to think there’s a shoutout to this board. I don’t see it. I just don’t see it.
By the way, has that clown in Dick Tracy assumed room temperature yet? Just for the record, I wouldn’t mind tiger temperature, either.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Gloria @ #16: I don’t know about that, but I did see Plugger fanart in there recently. Since I’m still alive, you can correctly assume that it fortunately wasn’t sexual in nature.
Anyhow, I demand to see an anthroed Josh in My Cage next.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
#7, that’s exactly what I thought. How miserable.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Pluggers belong to Christian sects with suicide-cult leanings. For example, those folks shot up in Waco: pluggers. Jonestown: pluggers. Marshal Applewhite was a plugger.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Yeah, well, let’s just say you’re lucky that the mention of Willa Cather’s name put you in mind of a body fluid drainage pipe, rather than one actually thinking of Willa Cather’s books. At least a catheter is gross, and therefore more stimulating than the soul-numbing My Ántonia, which was about Bohemian immigrants and dirt.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
JP: Yet more evidence that Sam learned everything he knows about law from watching old episodes of Ally McBeal.
SM: Before “Actually Pretty Diminutive Shot” arrived at the bank, was he drawn that tiny? Or is his tragic secret that he’s slowly shrinking, and he wants to steal all the money he can before he becomes a teensy, shouting, arm-flailing, stripey-suit-wearing micro-villain and even his own moronic henchmen can’t do anything except chortle when they see him?
Meanwhile, the last panel is Exhibit #4,592 that Spiderman is the most irrelevant superhero ever.
SFox: Today’s terrific artist presents us with the raccoon world’s version of Rusty Trail.
And, emboldened by a power failure, Max makes his move: “Yes, let’s just take a little nap, and it’s chilly without any heat, so we can cuddl—I mean, keep warm with our body heat…” Good luck, brave and lovelorn little mouse!
MW: Scott smiles, believing that they’re about to repeat that little episode on the park bench.
A3G: “Settle for second best”? “I deserve better”? It’s a chilling feeling to realize that you almost had become Tommie Thompson, let me tell you. I dodged a big old bullet there.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Alan’s Addiction @ 17:
RE: “It’s almost like Ed Power has stopped writing comics for the comics page and is exclusively writing them for the “Comics Curmudgeon” crowd. ”
I am a little worried about that now. :D Sunday strips and weekday strips are handed in at different time frames (Sundays must be in much earlier) so I didn’t realize how close these would run to the play strips. Oops! Aw well, it’s the last meta strip for a while.
Also, is the pig really cute? I have to admit I have trouble telling when a cartoon character is ‘attractive’. I mean, I know he’s ‘cute’ like a teddy bear or baby, but does that translate to attractive in Funny Animals? In that case isn’t eveyone in the strip attractive? Sorry. I just don’t get it. As a superhero fan I don’t get when people think superheroines are attractive either. No offense to anyone who does, that brain cell just isn’t there in me.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
BB: I can’t help but wonder if these throwaway panels are meant to bring upon a deep philosophical debate. But what could it be?
Also: EXTREME CLOSE-UP! Whoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
November 8th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
#10 – Comment of the week nom. Nice.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
#13: Gabriel and Tycho’s RL counterparts aren’t exactly amazing to look at, but I wouldn’t call their animated counterparts Adonis’es either. Just accept that people with less glaring physical flaws are easier to draw and be done with it. xD
November 8th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
#25 – What would Josh’s name be in that case?
Josh Furrylinger?
November 8th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I must admit that I didn’t notice the nuances in the MW throw-away panels until Josh mentioned him (that’s why he’s the Pope). I stand corrected.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
#3 – Seeing as all Adrian can do is gawk, touch her face constantly, yak about the Herkimer diamond ring, and sit in the cafeteria, I’m not so sure.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
MC: Normally, like any decent American, I am singularly grossed out by furries. But looking at this My Cage, I can sort of understand the attraction. Lavender-haired bunny-woman? Yes, please!
BB: These panels aren’t mere throwaways. There is actually a very subtle little narrative going on here. First, we have Beetle boldly giving orders to Sarge, his supposed superior. Sarge, instead of getting angry, is merely baffled and perhaps a bit saddened by this. He wants to comply but cannot. The orders are unfollowable. But Beetle likely knew the window was already open. The point is that he said jump and Sarge said how high. This little five-second exchange speaks volumes about the relationship between Beetle and Sarge. There’s no need for us to guess who’ll be top and who’ll be bottom tonight. I would have gone even further with this idea. I’d repeat these same exact panels four times in a row, then end with a silent sequence of Sarge dutifully closing the window just so he can open it.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Bats, what’s that in Scott’s drip bottle? Listerine, brake fluid, or maybe actual pee?
November 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
There are places in the world where those throw away panels in Beetle Bailey were met by uproarious laughter. Most of those places offer excellent Alzheimers treatment programs.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Josh Fruhlemur?
One of those keen ones with the bright russet-red fur!
November 8th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
38 Calico: Potato-ade cocktail. Having hit his morphine limit, Scott needs all the mind- / body-numbing substances he can get to make it through this cuddle-bunny ordeal with Adrian. You thought drug raids were tough on a guy? Try goo-goo-eyed romance with Adrian Cory!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I may be in the minority, but My Cage just shouldn’t have gone there. And by there, I mean introducing the strip’s creators as “real” characters begging for assistance.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
#30 Ed –
This cell you speak of — it is not in the brain!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
A3G – It’s no less hilarious in the recap, although I have to wonder by what set of Bizarro World standards the gaunt, trembling pillhead Bobbie is “quite attractive.”
BrS – COULD THIS PLOT PLEASE MAKE UP ITS FREAKING MIND!?
Crankshaft – “AAAHHH!!! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING YOU’RE AN OLD MAN YOU CAN’T POSSIBLY TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!! GET IN A HOME NOW!!!”
Curtis – Curtis is apparently doing better at political commentary than a lot of political comics. Huh.
JP – So remember, kids: when you’re out to prove someone is innocent against all evidence and the fact that you aren’t actually their lawyer, lying to obtain information is just another little offense on the list. In for a penny, amirite?
MT – Is it me, or does “Did you ever wonder where turtles go during the cold winter months?” sound like the weirdest pickup line ever?
MW – Hmm, he seems to be alive. Now Mary’s going to have to sneak in at night and fiddle with his IV. Gotta keep the drama flowing, after all.
Phantom – Wow. The coloring in the Sunday Phantom has moved from its usual slightly garish gradient-fest to expressive but restrained. It’s almost as good as Baretto’s this week.
PV – Cue Rick Wakeman!
RMMD – Hey Woody, when your Designated Villain is talking more sense than anybody else, you may want to rethink things just a tad.
SF – Sorry, Alice, but there are very, very few people who can measure up to Mr. Carl Palmer.
SM – Something exciting? In this strip? Hah, that’s a good one, Peter.
Edison Lee – We can only hope that, while in orbit around Jupiter, he’ll encounter the Monolith and be mysteriously transfigured into an actually funny character.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Nosh Furburger
November 8th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Monday Comics:
ReFoob: Tomorrow, we have to contend with a new-ruin that depicts Elly trying to be a serious, big-time writer; prepare for leaden prose that depicts defrosting the freezer as a cosmic tragedy. Ah, well; at least it’s not as bad as the real cesspool.
Wally Guerrebean: That’s because we have to celebrate Veteran’s Day week with a bleak look at the miserable life of forgotten veteran Wally “Fricking God-damned Miracle Man” Winkerbean. I needn’t remind anyone on this board how nuts that is; after all, a man in his shoes wouldn’t exactly be suffering from inattention, would he?
November 8th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
How can you possibly say that those two throw away panels from Beetle Bailey are the most throwawayable panels in history?! Clearly, the rich subtext of these two simple, close-up panels is remarkable, and truly a stunning achievement and advancement in newspaper comics history! Just observe, carefully, the might and passion Beetle and Sarge throb towards each other as they finally embrace a forbidden love that only now, with a rapidly changing social perspective, is becoming publicly embraced.
Also, I can’t be the only one who saw “window” as a family-friendly, metaphorical stand-in for “sphincter.”
November 8th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
42. Rusty: I did say last week that I really wasn’t sure about that aspect of My Cage; the treatment today was funny, but only because I am part of CC; to others, it might be a little too much, using it as a punchline which is only funny if you know what CC is… as opposed to a background reference. So I share your apprehension.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Also, who else saw that second throwaway Beetle panel and had Beetle’s voice saying “IT IS RUSTY”? I can’t be the only one…
November 8th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
49. Niall: no, you’re not.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
# 28 Anonymoose — I really like MY ANTONIA, partly because it contains some wonderful descriptions of the prairie landscape. But that’s why it’s wonderful that there are millions of books in this world. There’s something for everyone.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
#40 – I thought I had responded, but it looks like the internets ate my last post.
What I had said was, nice one! And, I love lemurs.
I was thinkg of Josh Furetlinger, (furet is French for ferret), but it just doesn’t have the ring that your suggestion does. : )
November 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
# 47 Some Guy Here — BWAHAHA!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Isn’t it obvious? The cap covering his eyes, the inability to tell whether or not a window is open, his confidence with the way-out-of-his-league Miss Buxley, the strong possibility that he doesn’t even know he’s in the Army…. It all makes sense now. Beetle is blind!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
# 14 8th Man Fan — Thank you! Your post not only reflected your profound MW heroism, but was really, really funny, especially that cross-out.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
#9: Well played!
November 8th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I’m getting a real Ozu vibe from Beetle Bailey’s throwaway panel. Maybe the strip is getting artistic?
November 8th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Fully two-thirds of Adrian’s relationship with Scott has been spent with one of them in a mindless state. And the other one recovering from gunshot wounds in a hospital.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
20:
One of the more depressing Pluggers I’ve ever seen, simply because you KNOW most of them were run over in the middle of the road, and were thus rendered inedible by the denizens of Plugger-Land. Hence the tombstones.
I imagine the typical Plugger funeral has the guest of honor as the main course at the post-funeral dinner.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
@OKStan #59: Plugger: The other other white meat.
Plugger: It’s what’s for dinner.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Plugger!
November 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Niall; No Niall, you’re not alone.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
You really owe Ed a blowjob. I’ll videotape. Make you a bigger star than Carrie Prejean.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
16,et al. If you’ve seen Melissa’s page, she really is that cute in non-furry form. Ed, I don’t remember seeing a picture of.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
You totally misinterpret today’s Beetle Bailey. This is existential angst par excellence, with a little bit of absurdist Ubu thrown in. Beetle, like Estragon in Waiting for Godot, hopes for the symbolic savior, the window that will show there is meaning on the other side of the dreary surreal existence of Camp Swampy (or…is it purgatory?) Sarge, on the other hand, embraces the abyss, and sees the already open window as his own personal invitation to the oblivious of suicide.Or it’s homo subtext.
Either way, good clean Sunday family fun!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
My Cage: I have a bad habit sometimes of reading Josh’s comments before I read the actual strip. The difference is often that between a sick and cynical sneer and a LOL moment.
I have learned my lesson, o great one!!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Monday Spoilers
ReFoob — In which we get a break from the usual John-is-awful by seeing again that Michael is also awful.
Luann — In which we are reminded that the best kind of volunteering includes the potential for meeting hot young guys.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Re: homoerotic subtext of BB: I like the way the artist depicted Beetle looking away from Sarge, even as he cries out his plea to him. He cannot bear to look upon the object of his desire!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
As a public service, could someone please provide a list of websites where one might find the latest daily comics, including Sundays? This site has already alterted me to the existence of the marvelous Houston Chronicle comics page. But even they don’t carry everything.
I’m guessing the strips generally used on this site are culled from a number of different sites. Does anyone know which sites those are? The official sites for most comics — the ones that come up first in search engines — are pretty useless, as the strips are out of date. To find this Sunday Beetle Bailey, for instance, I eventually wound up at a site called Arcamax, but it presented the strip in a shrunk-down format — not the full-sized panels represented here.
Thanks in advance.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
MC: Ed, just for the record, I hate preachy strips, but I love self-referential ones. Including today’s, naturally. Meta’s one of my favorite things.
MW: I initially thought it said “Willa Catheter”, too, and was extremely hopeful that the strip wouldn’t quote Emma Enema next!
November 8th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
#68-Joe: I go to the (Chron site for example) and punch in the day number. Example:
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20091108&name=Beetle_Bailey
The original one read “date=20091107″ etc. just hit erase the “7″ and type an “8″ in.
Here is one that I set the way-back machine for 2006:
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20061108&name=Beetle_Bailey
November 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
S-M – so, if Peter Parker is so hard pressed for money, how about some Page 3 shots of MJ? I’ sure JJJ would pay tons for those…
November 8th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
#68 Joe –
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a nice, clean interface with links to 101 comics.
The Albany Times-Union offers a “zoom” feature and covers some oddball comics (Mandrake!), but has a maddening interface.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is good for a few comics that don’t appear elsewhere, and for Sunday versions of strips that are hard to find elsewhere.
And of course the inestimable Dean Booth offers an extremely helpful set of navigating tools for a variety of lookup problems.
November 8th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
=v= Curtis (Uncle Lumpy): Combining the two themes for today, the throwaway panels for today’s Curtis are preachily self-referenctial!
November 8th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Josh, this is twice in a month that you’ve shown up in comics.
Does this mean that we have to genuflect and kiss your WWMD bracelet if we ever see you in person??
November 8th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Self-referencing comic referencing self-referencing blo–
*head asplodes*
November 8th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
bats :[ @40: I like your “Josh Fruhlemur” suggestion so much I made it 12 hours earlier (@Y47).
11/8 My Cage: Hey, a shout out from our pal Ed Power! Here’s hoping a future strip introduces a new
snarkywise blogger character named Josh Fruhlemur.November 8th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
#14 Thanks! You’re a martyr to the cause!
November 8th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Oh, and Hey! That’s a “Plugger Classic”: meaning that we’ve enjoyed it before.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
ReFoob — This warped view of nature definitely helps to explain STONE SEASON.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Just FYI–the reason throwaways are the way they are, is because many papers (like my own) only allow space for two rows of panels, and the throwaways are often not printed at all.
So the strip can’t have any information in the throwaway that is necessary to the strip’s daily gag (or plotline).
Admittedly, as I’m sure the curmudgeon will point out, there are strips where all three rows of panels don’t contribute to gag or plot!
November 8th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
If I were a more cultured fella, I’d paint that Beetle Bailey throwaway as an homage to Roy Lichtenstein. CORRECTION: If I were a bitter asshole who hates Roy Lichtenstein, I would do that.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Oh, My Cage. I see what you did there.
And now it’s our job to fulfill the prophecy. See, that’s what is supposed to make the comic funny.
It’s not the self-referential preachiness that totally expects us to do what we would do anyway, thereby somehow “getting” us that grinds my gears.
It’s the fact that here’s yet another manga/anime-wannabe comic drawn/written by furfag Americans with the skill and style of a deviantArt fangirl who makes her self-insert Mary Sue the hero of a 31-chapter (and growing) Harry Potter yaoi.
And ya know, they were doing so well redeeming themselves from all that with the Funky Cancercancer shots.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
#27: I don’t know about Waco, but Jonestown was an atheist socialist mass suicide. Jim Jones only got associated with Christianity after he died and took hundreds of followers with him. Why the media and other commentators took that decision is one you can cheerfully debate at some other time. I’m not even sure this comment, or the one that provoked it, is appropriate for this blog.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
So, just to be clear, Luann’s ideal version of herself is a morose looking woman sitting alone at a bar. Nice legs though.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
76. Ed Dravecky: great minds think alike! (Well, no…is my face red…)
OTOH, does this make it a Mandate of the People?
November 8th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
DtM: Okay, so i’m guessing this is one of Mr. Wilson’s post office buddies, Mailman Bad-Touch?
Hi and Lois: Okay, I know these….um, Jethro Tull, The Beatles, Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin again, John F Kennedy, Jesus, and some dude from Shakespeare who everyone thinks is smart, but is really kinda dumb.
My Cage: Where I , in turn, will show my support for My Cage by having stories where Ashley Bengal and Maureen Fox make out in a wading pool wearing bikinis.
BC: Damn. Best. Final Panel. In BC. Ever.
Luann: It sounds like someone’s been reading my stuff. One can only hope.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Mary Worth:
This line
Seems fine.
Remain supine
And don’t whine
If the brine
Should misalign
Your spine.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Red Greenback @ 70 and Uncle Lumpy @ 72, thank you thank you thank you for solving my problems with finding the Sunday versions of some favorites.
Now back to lurking, until the day I come up with some clever snark that hasn’t already been snarked.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Also, speaking of Funky Cancercancer: Even a high school football game is nothing but a dreary happenstance for the Funkyverse residents… hell, I half expected the punchline to be “our team is so bad, I think it’s giving me cancer.”
November 8th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
MW – How about going straight to a quote about catheters? Maybe it could portend the next plot twist in this unbelievably drawn out story line: “(It) could come from a catheter, it could come from a health-care worker not washing the hands, not cleaning the rooms up good. Hospitals are bug factories.” — Howard Stark
November 8th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Re 70/72: Red Greenback & Uncle Lumpy
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
MW – When it says that Scott wakes up in an improved state it makes m,e wonder what hallucinogen Adrian slipped into the IV line. Maybe it was heroin from the bust. Its the only explanation for his remark that he finally has something to live for.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Another Willa Cather quote is: “The condition every art requires is, not so much freedom from restriction, as freedom from adulteration and from the intrusion of foreign matter. ”
I think what she meant by that, vis a vis Adrain is “Don’t pull on that. You don’t know what it’s attached to.”
November 8th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I hate to point this out, but the top panels in Beetle Bailey (and many other strips) are meant to be disposable. Many newspapers cut them off so they can’t contain anything of any importance to the rest of the strip. Not that the rest of Beetle Bailey has anything of importance either, of course.
I don’t know why they still do this, but it’s been common practice since the 20s to have some optional panels, or even another side comic strip on top that editors can choose to run or not.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I think Beetle Bailey actually came close to the apex of throwawayability two Sundays ago, when all but the final double-wide panel could be discarded without removing any “information” (in the technical sense) from the comic:
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20091025&name=Beetle_Bailey
November 8th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Emily K @ 82:
“It’s the fact that here’s yet another manga/anime-wannabe comic drawn/written by furfag Americans with the skill and style of a deviantArt fangirl who makes her self-insert Mary Sue the hero of a 31-chapter (and growing) Harry Potter yaoi.”
Heh. Yeah. I didn’t understand a single par tof that.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Mibbitmaker @ 69:
“MC: Ed, just for the record, I hate preachy strips, but I love self-referential ones. Including today’s, naturally. Meta’s one of my favorite things.”
Me too! :D
November 8th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Hey! Mallard Fillmore was funny today!
Made you look.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
@82: Seriously? Seriously? No offense, but with all the irrational hate, you’re starting to sound like a 14 year-old /b/tard or something.
First of all, My Cage isn’t a furry comic any more then Pogo or Krazy Kat is. Having anthropomorphic animal characters doesn’t make it a “furfag” comic, as you so delicately put it.
Secondly, “manga/anime-wannabe comic”? I’m really not sure where you got that one. From what I’ve seen of the comic, the only remotely manga-looking thing in it is the exaggerated expressions (sweatdrops, angry mushroom things, etc). It certainly doesn’t look like something a deviantArt fangirl would churn out.
Finally…look, to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the comic (or the furry subculture, for that matter) myself. I’ve read it a few times, and it seems fairly well-made, but it’s not my type of humor. But if you’re going to criticize it, seriously, don’t be so immature about it. This is one of the few messageboards that I can go to with the assurance that people won’t be hurling stupid labels at each other, and I’d like to keep it that way.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Does anybody know how to obtain information about comic strip circulation?
I mean, how many papers each one runs in.
I didn’t mean whether they were still breathing. Many are dead.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I will ask that question another two times or so, then give up.
Then I will taunt Rick Detorie again. At last, that got a response.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I just wanted to say that a lot of times, on Sunday, my newspaper won’t even have the throwaway panels. Then I see the same strip on line and I’m like, Whoa! I didn’t see that earlier. I think they do it to save space or something.
Ed Power @ 96 – Yeah, me either. Anyway, you all won me over over the course of the last few months. Nothing in particular (although I dig the meta and self-aware humor too), just the general tone/likeability of the characters, art and personality-wise.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Flip the second throwaway in BB and it looks unspeakably dirty. Though wouldn’t you want to close the window, and the shades, in that situation?
November 8th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
[binary] #s 100/101:
This may tide you over until the real thing comes along.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Sorry, didn’t mean to omit your moniker, LITTLE A. OF THE GRAND CONCOURSE JUNGLE PATROL.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
#13: Gabe and Tycho have admitted that when they started Penny Arcade, the featured characters were *not* supposed to be their alter egos. As the strip developed, though, each of the two main characters ended up corresponding roughly to one of the two authors. They kept the characters’ appearances the same, however. That is the reason for the difference in appearance.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
PoeWar@#84: It looks like Luann’s ideal version of herself (and I cannot compare to Fashion Police as a proper judge of young ladies’ office attire, so this is just me) is a Publicity Assistant having a drink in a bar after a long day in the office. Whoa-ho, THAT is depressing.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Why the Sunday Comics Are Not – And Never Have Been- Funny, an article from 1997 that still speaks the truth in 2009.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
# 98 Stu — Psst! Any mention of The Duck is now completely forbidden on CC. Seriously. That rule was instituted awhile back.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
96 Ed Power: Is a “cage writer” anything like a “cage fighter”? Because I’m intrigued by that concept.
100 Little A: You might have tried this, but did you email someone at the two major comics syndicates? I don’t know if they guard that info closely or not.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
# 98 Stu — Sorry, just wanted to offer a friendly word of caution. *tiptoes away*
November 8th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
@98/111
plus, I do not believe the duck was funny, and I did not / will not look.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I’m hearing the Twilight Zone theme playing against those BB panels. Like the window wasn’t supposed to be open. Who opened it…. and why?!
November 8th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
My Cage: When a strip becomes preachy, self-referential, whiny, defensive, and eyeclawingly boring, I usually don’t do anything other than delete it from my bookmarks. Oh, wait, that reminds me… (click! click!) There!
@99: Aside from a brief moment of nasty namecalling, and mistaking the strip for “furry,” Emily’s post is pretty much on the mark.
@109: But of course the rule is nowhere to be seen after its last posting, so noobs will wander innocently into the almighty banhammer. It’s almost as if that were deliberate.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
OH NOES people got offended including the MC writer— ‘k.
“/b/tard?” ouch. I think visiting 4chan even once would cause what’s left of my brain to explode.
OK, I take back the “furfag American” thing. There is a difference between bugs bunny and a furry comic, however. bugs bunny looks like an cartoonish anthropomorphic rabbit; furries have human anatomy that happens to be covered in fur with an animal head instead of a human head. Sort of like an ancient Egyptian god. And MC looks furry. Even if it’s not supposed to be.
But I do not take back my opinion of the style. I get genuinely tired of the manga/anime rip-off style that seems to have pilfered every comic under the age of 5 (i said SEEMS TO so everyone save yourself the trouble of finding me billions of examples to refute this *opinion*).
And of course, if this means an influx of people telling ME how much *I* suck, well, yawn. Happens every day. I get angry and say angry, oftentimes stupid, shit. All the time. Every day. But for the most part, life is pretty good, so it’s ok for whatever will happen to happen.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
OH and yes name-calling is bad. i DO apologise for name-calling.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Huh. I never realized that Beetle Bailey is shaped like a chess piece.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
#5 Brad – If you value your sanity, do not ever read through a week of Brenda Starr.
Pluggers – Those stained glass windows reperesent the very pinnacle of Plugger artistic ambition. What is this, the Church of St. Rubik? Also, that throwaway panel may be the most puzzling of them all.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Hmm, so the duck-that-will-not-be-named* was banned?
[Johnny Carson]I didn’t know that![/Johnny Carson]
Not that it would affect me, because I never read *it*, but it’s good to know that, to avert an inadvertent error.
I was wondering why *it* hadn’t showed up here lately.
* In the Bangor, Maine, tongue
PS: For extra fun, count the cultural references in this post!
November 8th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
#114 CM –
#119 Lou –
The Duck Codicil is in the Posting and Discussion Policies, linked up top.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
From the policies:
“4. Don’t be an insufferable prick.”
Blast. I’m out, then.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
#121 Lou –
You’re not the least bit insufferable!
November 8th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Blast. Need to try harder then! :)
Meanwhile, here’s a note to Sam Driver: If you’re going to lie in order to get information in a way that will leave you facing the state bar for ethics violations, it would be a really, really neat idea a) to send someone in your place instead (that’s why Perry Mason had Paul Drake on retainer), or b) at least don’t use your friggin’ NAME!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:01 am
# 119 Lou — On a few occasions, Mudges who didn’t know about the Duck Codicil have innocently mentioned The Duck, were told about the Codicil, and as far as I know, never mentioned The Duck again and were not banned. I suspect it’s because they were not being insufferable pricks.
And now I’ll quickly change the subject. I like your reference to the Bangor, Maine tongue. I spent two weeks there years ago, and the accent was wonderful. Of course I seldom hear an accent I don’t like. I grew up in the part of the Great Lakes region which has the bland Midwestern accent to which national broadcasters aspire, so other accents are fun to hear.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:10 am
118-Joe B: No, it’s the Rolly Church of Crete.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:16 am
123: insert Ozzy’s “Perry Mason” riff here.
124: insert Walter Cronkite reciting Dingo posts here.
;-)
November 9th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Diana’s dead? Who will change Kit and Heloise’s diapers?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:30 am
#118–Joe Btfsplk:
That’s the standard Pluggers Sunday throwaway panel, seen every week, somewhat like Crankshaft’s weekly throwaway ugly mug which Batiuk/Ayers have thankGodfully retired.
The Pluggers panel serves as a warning to all that follows, as did Crank’s.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:42 am
The last panel in Sunday’s Brenda Starr is the best Jack Elrod parody in a long time.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Adding another vote for Josh Fruhlemur. He wouldn’t have to actually be worked into the strip itself; I’d personally just like to see the character as rendered by Ms. DeJesus. In regards to the strip itself, though… I dunno. I’d kind of like to know if this was meant to be played straight and then the lampshade was hung to quell those who would (rightfully) call shark-jumpery, or if the whole thing was meant to mock this kind of storyline.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Oh, and.
@#16, Gloria: I checked, just now. No results yet.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:14 am
11/9
RMMD — I’d immediately call the police, myself. But that’s so boring.
S-M — I would have explained the kidnapped-daughter dilemma to Spider-Man, myself. But that’s so boring.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Beetle: “Open the window.”
Sarge: “It is open.”
Killer: “That was fast!”
Plato: “If you open a window faster than the speed of light, is it still dark?”
Zero: “Should I open it on the other side, too?.’
Chaplain: “To open an open window, one much first open a window to your closed mind, close yourself to the world, and open yourself to openness.”
General: “I’ll drink to that.”
Throw-away Beetle Bailey is Zen. Always read the first two panels, and then throw away the rest of the strip.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:50 am
random off-topic question:
Has Zits jumped the shark? If so, when?
November 9th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Today’s (Okay, yesterday’s) My Cage brings to mind the time that BC met a thinly veiled Johnny Hart. He was just called “John” but gushed about how good it was to meet people who had been touched by his work. BC then stood back and smiled beatifically as John flagellated himself until he passed out.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:58 am
That’s it seismic-2! That’s what the Beetle panels reminds me of. It’s the end of this sequence from “Catch-22″:
Beetle: Open it! Open it!
Sarge: Open what?
Beetle: Open the window!
Sarge: It is open.
Beetle: Then open IT, open IT!
Admittedly, Sarge is no Yossarian, but then Zombie Mort Walker is no Zombie Joseph Heller, either.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Emily K @ 115,
“OH NOES people got offended including the MC writer— ‘k.”
I’m not offended. Not sure where you got that from. Everyone is welcome to their opinion and I’m not offended by any of them.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Hey, all,
Thanks for the info on the Duck Codicil! Lazy me for not reading the fine print. This forum shows good taste in banning it.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:40 am
I got this email from my representative (Tammy Baldwin, (D-WI)) and couldn’t help but think that maybe Jack Elrod was hired to write copy for her:
The health of Americans and reform of our health care system are the focus of intense negotiations this week as we move toward a vote in the House on what I believe will be the most significant piece of federal legislation in generations.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:49 am
Scenes from Suburban Hell I’m sure you know what Ditto’s doing if not homework, Hi. You used to do it at that age, too. Sometimes two or three times a day.
Sam Driver, Inexplicable Chick Magnet Step One: Get her to equate the sound of your voice with the mention of ‘in bed’. Step Two: Keep telling her it’s Colossal, even when it’s plain that it’s not.
Sweet and Shallow Does Delta ever do anything just for grins? I mean, besides polishing her self-appointed halo.
Fist O Justice theater Everybody together: Sassy can’t understand the hostility against her AND being chained to a log! Now all we need is Mark to show up kicking over a tree with his tiny foot while yelling “Surprise!”, and we’ll have us a trifecta.
Master Poopypants Just when I don’t think Armstrong can make Marvin any more gross, he proves me wrong.
Mary, Bringer of Meddle Even if she loses her job at the hospital because she’s ignoring her own patients so she can spend time with you, she’s going to marry you, Scott! Hope you cann support a wife AND recover at the same time!
I, Platypus I bet she can syphon gas really well, though!
Ruthie speaks I’d have the same reaction.
Kit Walker, Mr. Advantageous Ranger “That’s why I’m going to rent you guys out as labor – so you can not be sad for 16 hours at a stretch a day!”
November 9th, 2009 at 2:52 am
In regards to Sunday’s My Cage: I hate to be counted among the naysayers, but this is kind of exemplary of one of the strip’s bigger weaknesses – it engages in meta-humor purely for meta-humor’s sake. This is not a bad thing in limited quantities, but it seems like recently it’s become more and more dominant.
The problem is that meta-humor for its own sake only works the first few times you tap on the glass; after that, it tends to get old. Keep going with the “ha ha, we know we’re in a comic strip” material and eventually you wind up looking like some sort of obnoxious hipster, and that’s the first step on the road to becoming (dare I speak its name) Zippy The Pinhead.
Meta-humor is a lot like salt; it’s a good seasoning for an existing joke, (see: the terrific bit last week with the demise of Sam the Sacrifical Lamb,) and a little self-awareness can keep things bearable in a more serious storyline, but by itself it just doesn’t hold up, once the novelty wears off. Worse yet, since it doesn’t hold up as a joke, strips that rely too heavily on it can wind up with vast expanses of attempted meta-humor in between real, solid material like some kind of filler desert. Not cool.
Again, this is not to say that meta-humor is necessarily bad; it has plenty of uses, but moderation is the key, and it should never substitute for actual humor, only complement it.
As for the charges of self-aggrandizement, I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt and say that this was unintentional, because we’ve seen Ed outside of his author context and he’s not some sort of blimp-egoed megalomaniac like Batiuk or McEldowney, but…yeah, it does kind of come off that way. I’ll agree that My Cage is indeed a fairly fresh and energetic new strip, even well into its second year, but I’m not sure why we need to be reminded of that, nor why the characters should be vocally restating that assertion; the reader is driven to wonder if the author thinks the comic can’t stand up on its own, or if he just doesn’t think the praises are being sung loud enough. There’s a reason that author inserts are generally considered a risky proposition, and why the best ones are almost all incredibly self-deprecating.
Yes, it’s a sucky market for a comic to be getting into, but exhorting at people isn’t going to do a lot to change that. Trying to mobilize the comic’s readership using the comic itself is preaching to the choir; until the newspaper industry pulls its collective head out of its collective ass and starts trying to win back the readers who won’t be dead in another decade, the ones who’ve given up buying the paper because they don’t want to spend money on something that keeps cutting the material they want to keep the material they don’t, there’s not a lot that turning a perfectly good comic strip into an author tract can do to help. The problem isn’t that readers of newer strips don’t care, it’s that, on the rare occasions the over-70 demographic isn’t drowning them out, the editors just don’t give a damn about what they think.
So…is My Cage ruined forever because a couple strips turned out poorly? Hell no. But I hope that Valuable Lessons were learned, and that the next time something like this is done, it turns out better. Because I like this strip, and the last thing I want to see is for it to collapse into a singularity of self-reference.
…good God, can I ever be long-winded.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:13 am
I’m days late with this (okay, the strip in question ran Saturday), but when did Big Tobacco buy Ray Billingsley’s ass?
Irony (from Billingsley’s profile at KingFeatures.com):
November 9th, 2009 at 3:14 am
#141 cj –
Yeahbut:
Labeling the metacontent “Meet your Maker” and making it Sunday-only is a fair way to cordon off the “in the know” material from the primary narrative and have some fun. And in the “benefit of the doubt” department, maybe Porker’s belligerence and DeHaresus’s evangelism are parodies of the creators’ voices, not the real deal? (Although I can see I’m going to need my 5-0 pencil to draw this fine a line.)
Butyeah:
I read Edgar Pangborn’s Company of Glory in grad school. Deep in the book, the author addresses the audience directly, and says, basically, “Yeah, I know this is a rambling incoherent mess but I’m the author and I can do what I want.”
Now, I have never not finished a book — it’s a kink with me; just can’t do it. So I finished it before tearing it to pieces and flushing parts of it, accompanied, down the toilet.
So at least for me, authors do need to be careful about the implied contract with their readers. Sure, postmodernism plays with that a lot, but making insider/outsider and especially me/you distinctions is risky.
Thatsaid:
I got a kick out of Sunday’s My Cage.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:21 am
#143 Uncle Lumpy – That’s possible, I suppose; my Tongue-In-Cheek Detector is not 100% accurate…
I stand by my points about the consequences of meta-humor over-use, though.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:29 am
You’re both right.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:31 am
RE: commadorejohn
“the last thing I want to see is for it to collapse into a singularity of self-reference.”
I think you guys are panicking a little. This is a single story line running for 3 strips. The characters of “Ed” and “Mel” aren’t going to show up again that I can see (we aren’t going to be ‘Stephan Patis’ since our format doesn’t fit it like PBS’s does)
This wasn’t done for meta-humor’s sake. And it wasn’t done to be self congradulating. It was done for one reason: desperation. :D
We get a good amount of positive feedback. Mostly from people 13 to 33. (Why? I dunno. That’s just the ages of those who contact us positively) Anyway, when we ask those people to write in support of us, they say ‘Why? I can just read you somewhere else?’.
I wanted to remind people why it was important to write in support of new strips you like (specifically mine, since it’s…well…mine :D ).
Is that ‘wrong’? Maybe, but if you’re fighting for the life of your childhood dream, you might try something like it too.
And that’s basically the gist of it. I don’t NEED the money. I have a day job and it pays well, it’s just I’ve wanted to do a comic strip since my Grandpa used to read me ‘Peanuts’ when I was a kid.
No matter how these strips go over, if we do fail it won’t be over 3 strips and I’ll feel better having run them since at least I took a shot.
In the end, taking a shot is what got me the strip, and it’s all you can do, right?
November 9th, 2009 at 3:36 am
I hate Hipper Than Thou, but love feeling Hip. I love those moments with my morning coffee and the funnies – when I hear the collective CC right-out-loud exclamation as the same comes out of me. But…
Oh, but…
November 9th, 2009 at 3:52 am
And, in the midst of all this discussion of meta, there’s today’s Mother Goose & Grimm.
Myself, I like the Tex Avery feel to it.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:04 am
#148 (me): “Today” meaning 11/9.
Speaking of which…
9CL: Some cartoonists can draw exagerated facial expressions well, and others…. are Brooke.
Archie: The 1st panel should be the joke.
DT: Gould would’ve had the falling and the ensuing unseen violence done by now, and without the excess, repetitious commentary in order to clue the reader in.
Marvin: That’s not cream…..
H&J: She’ll be quoted in Mary Worth some day.
Dilbert: Monty Python, they ain’t.
Edge City: Yeah, Len, stop snoring when you’re asleep (when people snore) and too unconscious to know that you’re snoring and control it somehow!
ReFOOB: Look who’s talking! … futuristically speaking.
FW: Even the mundane is soul-crushingly depressing (esp. with Wally).
JP: The promise of sex got Sam inside…
MT: This Johnny Quest clip was banned on YouTube for bad taste.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I agree that inside jokes can be effective, but due to the nature of the medium, a meet-your-maker episode in a comic strip or book can be dangerously contrived (or extremely weird, as was Grant Morrison’s wrap-up of his run on Animal Man). My favorite meta-cartoon that pulled this concept off perfectly, though, was one that appeared in the “Self-Indulgence” issue of National Lampoon (where most of the NL editors appeared in parodies of popular comic strips). In that issue’s episode of NL’s monthly Cheech Wizard comic, cartoonist Vaugh Bode appeared in the lizards-and-wizards realm he had created, selling the inhabitants “worship posters” of himself. The poster was truly a work of art, and upon seeing it, Cheech of course vomited into his wizard hat and kicked Bode in the crotch. This cartoon worked because the “worship poster” was so over the top that any cartoonist who could create it really does deserve one. R.I.P., Mr. Bode.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Er, that should of course be Vaughn Bode’ (with the accent that I didn’t bother to add in HTML), not “Vaugh”, which isn’t even a name. Note to self – never post without proofreading after 3:00 A.M.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:16 am
#143 Uncle Lumpy, Re: Edgar Pangborn’s statement, “…but I’m the author and I can do what I want.” That sounds remarkably similar to “It’s called writing.”
My suggestion: Follow the work of the much more amusing Franklin Pangborn.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:52 am
MW: Speaking of Scott’s Drug Bust Pool, did we ever find out what happened to Officer Comrade?
#152 Alfred is right. Franklin Pangborn is like unto a god.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Monday 11-9
Beetle Bailey— OK, Walkers, I can accept the fact that Sarge is gay, but when you have him impersonating the late, lovely, Carmen Miranda, you’ve gone too far. I don’t want to see this disparagement of her spread to other comics, so please stop it now!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:05 am
152, 153. Indeed, Franklin Pangborn was one of the masters.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:30 am
DT: Look at panel three. It looks like they hired Miss Beazly to feed the animals. Smart move.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:43 am
LUANN: My Hardly Ever Magic Ball predicts: if these three young ladies decide to visit soldiers in the hospital — Bernice’s brother will be a patient even though she never knew he was wounded! As we used to say in The Bronx, wanna bet on it?
November 9th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Where is everyone? Still asleep? Wake up! There’s a whole morning of snarking to be done!
November 9th, 2009 at 7:34 am
I meta humor, but I can’t recall his name.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:58 am
MW: I see Scott’s Kool-Aid pitcher is empty. Better refill it quick and make him drink some, before it wears off and he hurls himself headlong out the window.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:10 am
B.C. – If that wolf starts killing off other characters, he has officially become my favourite character in B.C..
Beetle Bailey – Yes, I think we all know what the banana is for.
Crankshaft – Yes, I think we all know that ’shaft is a child abductor.
Dick Tracy – Whoa whoa whoa, slow down! I still haven’t caught on where Pops is falling to.
Funky Winkerbean – Finally someone in Funkyverse does the logical thing and drinks himself to death.
Garfield – Irma? I thought she already died just like Nermal, Arlene and Lyman.
Gasoline Alley – “I have fallen and I can’t get up!”
November 9th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Baldo: That’s always a good attitude for a diabetic to have.
Edge City: Geez, lady, people don’t snore on purpose or just to spite you. And saying, “Stop snoring!” isn’t going to do anything but make that guy feel bad. Some therapist.
Luann: Well, I’m sure the wounded veterans would appreciate a good blowjob.
Mark Trail: I gotta say, the villains in Mark Trail are usually pretty villainous. There were those guys you chained dogs and raccoons to logs and now these shitheels. I hope they get a good punching.
Edison Lee: Actually, Edison, you’re going to be an assistant manager at Best Buy and will be loathed by your employees.
My Cage: OK, so in keeping with Ed’s call to arms, I’m going to e-mail the Houston Chronicle to tell them how awesome My Cage is. But I can’t find a feedback address for them. There’s a snail mail address, but no e-mail address.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Today’s Luann 11/09/09
To Borg-Queen Delta:
I have been ASSIMILATED! I SUBMIT to the Will of Community Service! Your “Visit the Wounded Veterans at the Hospital” is an EXCELLENT idea!
Please forgive, however, my impundence and accept some input from one of your humble drones:
1) Serve them home-cooked OLD FASHIONED meals, and PLEASE, NO Sugar-free Bran Muffins this time.
2) Remember, some of those soldiers will be female. How about taking some of the guys along, like Quill, or even…, (shudder) TJ?
3) AND if Drone #157 is correct, and Ben IS there, TRY to tone down the tiresome jealously, Drone Bernice.
———————————-
I REMAIN a Humble part of the Collective — Mordock999
November 9th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Monday funnies:
A3G: Part of me hopes that the tracking device is shaped like a batarang.
‘Shaft: Batiuk, this may be news to you, but comics are a VISUAL medium. As a result, it might actually help if you illustrated your sight gag.
ReFOOB: I feel so guilty when I can relate to this strip, but that’s been my NaNoWriMo experience this year.
FW: Oh, this is gonna be rich. Batiuk’s going to honor Veterans’ Day by showing us Wally’s lonely descent into alcoholism and thus show us his deep concern & respect for the troops – as a source of melodrama. I’d say that this is heading for everyone surprising him with a nice party on the 11th, but that would actually be heartwarming & good, and as we all know, there’s no room for goodness in Batiuk’s world.
GA: Are we gonna get another month of Gertie stumbling around a cemetary? Lord help me…
Luann: Greg Evans has the right idea! The troops LOVE cheap jailbait! Shame Tiffany is the only one willing to put out…
My Cage: Note to the writers of “The Big Bang Theory” – if you want to write a geek & cute girl romance, this is how you do it.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:59 am
FW: Two 6-packs? Wally must be having a little get-together with friends. How nice…
Oh wait. This is Funky Winkerbean. He’ll drink all the beer, drunk-dial his remarried wife (but she won’t answer, so he’ll leave a cryptic message only heard days later) then kill himself in the cemetery in front of his own tombstone.
Happy Veterans Day!
Sigh.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am
PV – Prince Valiant has picked the previously-unknown Teutonic Sir Trollenberg to join him on his mission to the underworld, and Sir T makes history by being the first to wear what would many years later be known as a “Redshirt”. Meanwhile, fellow Teutonics Count Hofbrau and Sir Spatengrabben are left behind to continue their infinitely more important tasks.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
JP: “You’re in bed with the best at Colossal”? Is Sam bragging, or reminiscing about his misspent youth?
MT: Are Bob Jackson and Mean-to-Puppies Poacher going to duke it out in the “Save Sassy” plot? Will Mark’s fists not be involved at all? I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around a Trail-free resolution here; it would be kind of like, oh, Adrian deciding she loved Scott and then bringing him back to life just by the sheer force of her
lovemind-boggling desperation, without any meaningful Mary meddling…. Oh, wait. I guess the Laws of Nature have already been overturned; carry on.(Actually, I suspect that Rusty will wake up to find Sassy missing, rouse Mark from his khaki dreams, and the two of them will happen upon the brawling poachers, Mark will fling his fists, and order will be restored.)
MW: “And do you promise to please maintain one facial configuration for at least three minutes straight? Because seriously, it’s freaking me out.”
November 9th, 2009 at 9:07 am
“Open the window, Sarge!”
“It is open.”
“Well then, light a match or something. Geez!”
November 9th, 2009 at 9:50 am
dyslexic dog, November 8th, 2009 at 9:58 pm.Why the Sunday Comics Are Not – And Never Have Been- Funny, an article from 1997 that still speaks the truth in 2009.I skimmed the article, saw that the author’s “current” favorite strips included FOOB (already sanctimonious and preachy by then) and immediately discounted anything he or she had to say about comics that weren’t funny.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Today’s BC is going up on the office door. First time ever.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Wearing a salad is kind of passé these days, and a banana behind the ear is a well-known kink signifier which I’d just as soon avoid; but otherwise, yeah – there’s nothing I like better than picking up a melon, some grapes, a tiny muffin, some kind of fucked-up burrito and a large stack of beige from the salad bar.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I’m not sure I understand the solution to today’s SlyFox, or – if I have understood it correctly – that it’s any significant over my answer, which was “First, enlarge the hole.”
November 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
11/9
I done laffeded at Garfield today. Whether there’s something right with it or something wrong with me remainst to be seen. In other news…
BB: Sublimation? What’s that?
H&L: Well, it’s “homework” in that masturbation is something you don’t usually get the chance to do in school.
DT: Of course the cage is now the size of a small desert, so the tiger may starve to death before it reaches Mr. Pops.
JP: So many levels of deception. “In bed with the best”? Not to hear Abbey tell of it.
Marvin: AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
FW: To give credit where credit is due, Batiuk covers an aspect of returning soldier life that Trudeau has generally glossed over. Of course it’s delivered with all the subtlety of a 2×4 across the nose.
M-Dawg: Doggie threesome? Think I’m not gonna picture that one, thanks.
MT: This is hilarious. The struggle of good versus evil literally comes down to those who would torture puppies against those who wouldn’t. There’s no way to embellish this.
MW: “Good thing this sling is just for decoration, or else you would have put me in the pain of a lifetime.”
Luann: Four pieces of foxy jailbait? Hope their first vet isn’t the guy who got shot in the nads, or he’ll be even more depressed.
S4th: One of these days, Faye’s meta-references are going to blow Hil’s mind straight out.
Blondie: Pretty sure getting woken up by that sound would make me think zombies were attacking.
Popeye: The smog prevents Popeye from seeing O. de Smog, proving that there’s an upside to everything.
GA: Pretty sure even Earl Lee Byrd hasn’t seen Gertie from that angle.
Shoe: “I am not trying to change you. I’m trying to escape you. Don’t restraining orders mean anything?”
6C: Um, Isabella? You forgot to put a beak on the Plugger chicken.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Judge Parker: AKA Sam Driver the ethically challenged lawyer. If this grieving widow is like all other women in Parkerville we are about to see some big boobs and long shapely legs.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Monday Marvin: Anything smells better than shit, right Marvin?
November 9th, 2009 at 10:50 am
GT, panel 2: We don’t know who Madison is – a cheerleader? it seems likely – but we still feel the sting of this casual, cruel objectification.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Jumble – tricky pun today!
November 9th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Here’s my take on the Beetle/Sarge dynamic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41785116@N03/4089888288/
November 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am
@116: Okay, fair enough. I do agree with part of what you said – metahumor for metahumor’s sake is never very funny.
As for the furry vs. Bugs Bunny thing: eh, I think it’s kind of a arbitrary distinction. I don’t really mind if a comic is drawn in a “furry” style as long as it doesn’t act all preachy about the furry subculture. (like…well, 90% of the furry comics out there)
And as far as the manga/anime ripoff thing goes: I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that. Personally, I don’t mind the style too much, and I don’t think it’s THAT widely used, but whatever.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:11 am
#146 Ed Power – You’re right, I do tend to jump into Panic Mode a little too quickly. I think it’s a symptom of seeing so many of my favorite webcomics disintegrate (R.I.P., Acid Reflux…) That, and what was meant to be an analysis of Sunday’s strip somehow turned into a long ramble on meta-humor in general…I have a problem with topic drift, I admit it. My apologies for any over-reacting I did.
BC – I have to admit, I’m growing fond of this wolf-thing. The slightly-deranged look reminds me a lot of Scrat from the Ice Age movies (the only consistently good thing about the series after the first installment.)
BlC – I have to wonder, reading through the Bloom County reruns, why I’ve never seen some of these strips in collections. Some of them just aren’t quite as sterling as the others, admittedly, but then there’s strips like today’s, which are hilarious and fully deserving of a spot in the books. I don’t get it.
DT – I like how the cage goes from thirty feet high to twelve in the space of one panel. Did they buy it from Gil Thorp’s props department?
Dilbert – uses a pre-established character in a topical but inappropriate situation to great comedic effect. If only it could still be this clever consistently.
FW – Ha ha! Alchoholism! Ha ha ha!
Garfield – And I honestly laughed out loud at Garfield today. It’s an odd day in the comics.
GT – Oh man, is Duncan going on a bloody revenge quest?
JP – “If you know what I mean!”
Lio – OBEY.
Luann – Luann: taking charity and turning it into coercion and sleaze. Hooray!
MT – Best. Mark. Trail. Ever.
MC – Awww.
Popeye – Imagine that: Popeye is actually moving the plot forward.
RMMD – Hey, just think of it as “way the hell less than Tim would be suing you for, you negligent dipshits.”
November 9th, 2009 at 11:13 am
#180 – The new complete Bloom County books have all those strips in their place, and it’s glorious. Gl-o-ri-ous.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Blondie – Bacon goes crunch? How many hours did you cook it for?
Dick – Don’t worry. Tigers don’t eat Pops. They prefer Frosted Flakes.
Smirky Schadenfreude – Soon he’ll give new meaning to “Shop ’til you drop.”
Hi – “Oh… unh… home… uh! uh! …work! Oh, GOD!!”
Mark – Watch for an exciting week of “YES I AM!” “OH NO YOU’RE NOT!” “LOOK! I TOOK A STEP!” “OH NO YOU DIDN’T!!”
Marmaduke thinks all poodles are female.
Ghost-who-has-needs – “…What would you kids think if I brought home a new mommy? Or maybe two?”
Pluggers are shaved animals.
Prickly – Hang in there, Ba… oh, what am I saying? Jump, you bastard! JUMP!
Slylock – Another solution is to mash the teacup into fine-grained powder, as the 900-pound gorilla in the room is doubtless suggesting.
Snuffy – A burst of polychromatic effulgence that somehow makes rainbows look like chunks of lead pipe.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am
# 172 Wolfdog — I strained my neck to try to see that solution. I don’t think I understand what I could read of it either.
But this Slylock holds other mysteries, like why all the students are gazing so appreciatively at Gorilla Guy. Given their expressions, especially the expression on Duck, it’s hard for me not to suspect that Gorilla Guy shared a little wacky weed in the schoolyard before class began. And from the expressions on Slylock and Max, they suspect the same.
That, or Gorilla Guy is giving off some really potent appeals-to-all-species-and-sexual-persuasions pheromones.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:24 am
John C Fremont @8 – Suddenly it all came rushing back! It was “Pig Night” at the Om Mane Padne Sigma house. There we stood, trembling, under the dwarf maples…
Some Guy Here @47 – Ouch. Good one, Guy.
Niall @48 – I think the name “Comics Curmudgeon” is sufficiently descriptive that most readers can get it from context. I imagine there are a number who think it’s something Ed made up for the punch line.
Gump @94 – I can see why you would hate to point out that “throwaway panels” are meant to be disposable, because most here know it, and it’s explained in the first paragraph. I’d hate to point out something that obvious too.
Chronic @114 – Just above the place where you write a post, Josh asks first-time posters to read the rules. It’s a burden to click on a link and read a paragraph before posting on someone’s web site.
Poteet @124 – To combine two words in your post, duck tongue was served at a banquet in our honor when we visited Wuxi, China. It was incredibly long, and took forever to chew, which gave me time to regret putting it in my mouth. But there was a big turntable with lots of other stuff to eat, so I didn’t have to dwell on it. It was a cool occasion; we were on our way to adopt our daughter at the time.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I think we are all reading way to much into the Beetle Bailey panels. It’s just a setup and a punchline, and it is every bit up to the exacting humor standards to which the strip has adhered for many years.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am
FW – Alcoholism – U R doing it wrong.
Seriously, if you set out to drink yourself to death with beer, you will die of old age and/or obesity first. Wall-E is more than old enough to move beyond the starter kit – a six pack with dinner – and step up to the Junior Varsity – mixed drinks. When he is pissing out a six-pack’s worth of alcohol every time he goes to the bathroom, then he will be ready for an adult’s drinking problem!
November 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
SM: Retro-foreshadowing? Is there even such a thing? Sure, both Sandman and Bigshot already dressed in convict garb — from the previous millennium.
Pluggers: Muffaroo @182, today’s Pluggers gets my vote for polychromatic effulgence. And since this is a “classic” Pluggers, it looks like they must’ve reworked it to double the headstone density since the last time they ran it. Quite understandably so. The only thing I really miss is a plaintive “Helllpppp…” emanating from the graveyard.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am
#172 1IWD and #183 poteet,
Weber is playing off the double meaning of “push through.” You assume he means “push the cup so it goes through the hole” when he really means “push the cup, and go through the hole to do it.” It’s tricky, and I had to look at the solution before I knew where he was going with it.
“Lateral thinking” by the way, is something I first heard of because Brian Eno was using it as a tool in composing. So there are a couple of worlds I didn’t know were connected.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Hmm, My Cage. It’s interesting, not being a steady follower of the comic, at first I was a little confused reading the strip Josh posted, and I thought for a moment it was going to be about how comic artists are too lazy to set up websites and sell t-shirts in order to keep their strips alive. Silly me.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:50 am
FW – Hey kids, what’s almost as much fun as cancer? You got it! It’s alcoholism!
November 9th, 2009 at 11:56 am
IT IS SASSY!
Great rubber alligators! The Saints are 8 – 0, and there’s a hurricane in the Gulf heading this way. I may need a great rubber alligator to float home on after work today.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Dick- Let’s recap the last several days of Dick’s insight:
Nov. 4th Dick, “He’s carrying Pops over the hole in the tiger cage.”
Nov. 5th “No”
Nov 6th, “He dropped Mr. Pops…right into the tigers’ cage.”
Nov 7th, “Pops is in the tiger’s cage!!”
Nov 9th “Oh No! Pops is in with the cat.”
I can only wonder what tomorrow will bring. Mmmmm
“Mr Pops is in the tiger’s cage!”
and WTF is going on with this tiger?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19165297@N06/4090042408/
November 9th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’ve noticed that lateral thinking people get tetchy when you come up with a creative solution to the problem (such as crushing the teacup into powder) that isn’t the one they have rigidly fixed in mind. “NO NO YOU’RE WRONG SEE THE MIDGET THOUGHT HE WAS GETTING TALLER.”
November 9th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Pickles: This could be a very dirty strip today, if the word “paint” is code, perhaps for precious bodily fluids.
FC: Jeffy realizes for the first time that Dolly is a twit.
FW: That’s right, Wally, nothing like a frozen dinner identified only as “frozen dinner,’ and several six-packs of generic beer, to go with your heard-earned, abject despair. If it’s not cancer, it’s alcoholism and divorce or being declared deceased in the Funkiverse. Come ON, his kids are ignoring him, too?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
yMC: Website also known as “The Mungeons Who Stare at Goats”.
BTW, Cageified Ed and Melissa are sooooooo cute.
9CL: Okay, I’ll play the “Why So Serious” card.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
“Frozen Dinner” is actually the registered brand name of a frozen foods line spun off from Herb & Jamaal’s restaurant. Their most popular entree is Some Kind of Meat.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
#193 One-Eyed Wolfdog – I used to do that all the time with some friends who loved those kinds of “trick questions.” Bugged the hell out of them, amused me to death.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
FW – I don’t know about you guys but all the supermarkets I go to have their beer in refrigerated shelves. Besides, what’s the big deal with a guy picking up a few brews? He’s probably merely gonna put down a few cold ones while watching the Pittsburgh/Denver game tonight.
Oh, yeah. This is Funkyverse. No one is allowed to live a normal life.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
My, Your, and Our Cage: Isn’t there the danger, in encouraging readers to write newspaper editors in support of comic strips they like, of reminding newspaper editors that there are comic strips they haven’t dropped yet?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hey, I’m suing. Ed Porker is my registered porn name
November 9th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
MC (Sunday) – Norm, strips get torn apart daily on this web site but it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. Funky Winkerbean, Crankshaft, Marvin, Cathy, Pluggers, etc. are still running and seemingly popular (except here). FOOB is gone but it came back (kind of). I don’t think this web site had anything to do with it’s demise, did it?
200. Laocoon
Stand in line.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
MW: Has anybody figured out what Scott’s life-threatening injuries are? We’ve seen him every day for the past, what, eon, and I just can’t figure it out. He has a scuffed cheek, a boo-boo band-aid on his neck, a strip of cloth tied around his well-coiffed head, and as AFKA Ben points out, a decorative sling. Unless the lower half of his body was so riddled with bullets that the doctors had to amputate everything from the waist down (pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease), the only “recovery” I foresee for him will be slipping off the sling, straightening his hair, and screaming like a little boy when the band-aid is yanked off. And the biggest danger to his life is the risk of Adrian smothering him with her sticky schoolgirl love.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
MUBBLE FEJJ @192 – Well, you know artists! The first day or two, Comic Shop Guy was carefully tracing a photo reference he found online. Then he was tracing his drawings. Then he was copying his tracings. Finally, he figured he knew how to draw a tiger and could do it in his sleep. Then he did it in his sleep.
Either that, or it’s morphing into the thing in the last panel of Sunday’s BC.
Wolfdog @193 – You’re confusing tetchiness with superiority. I was being superior. Finding a solution the questioner didn’t have in mind is always the occasion for such feelings.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Tycho and Gabe weren’t, when the strip began, originally intended to be avatars for the creators themselves. They eventually just kind of developed that way.
Anyway, Sunday’s My Cage is trying that whole ironic metaphysical thing the young people today are so into but completely fails at it and instead becomes preachy, irritating, and pathetic. Nice try, though, guys…
November 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
We had sincerely hoped that someone from I Dressed in the Dark would spot Mrs. Merrill and immediately dragoon her into a makeover for the high crime of looking tacky in a Chanel suit. Sadly, she came to her senses and ducked into a convenient phone booth to change out of it on the way to meet her private investigator. We do note, for the record, that Pepto-Bismol is not her color. Or anyone’s.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
#193. O-eW. —
Those people aren’t really using their lats. They’re using their glutes.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I thought the throw-away panels from Beetle Bailey were going to be a setup for a fart joke. Sadly, that would have been an improvement from their usual fare – and I don’t even like fart jokes.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I think Mort Walker (or whoever) is a genius. That’s the best “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” comic commentary ever commited to print.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Maybe this blog has completely corrupted my mind, but looking at Beetle’s and Sarge’s position, it is clear to me that “Window” means “ass”.
And all this time I thought Beetle was the bottom…learn something new every day!
November 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Beer? I thought Wally (well at first I thought it was Funky in a flashback) was picking up some Cokes for the sugar rush.
And I didn’t get the joke, either. No, wait, it’s funny because he picked up the frozen foods first! Hahahaha!!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Monday Comics
I may never do this again, but…
Archie
“Your box on display!” asked ol’ Weatherbee
To his grizzled cook paramour Beazly
But his “input” she knew
Would scar children anew
So she went literal – he’s so sleazy!
B.C.
The perils of writing inane jokes
Whose punchlines require names of some blokes
Is that any reader
Afar of the writer
Can’t get references, so it’s stale, folks!
Beetle Bailey
I can’t get my mind that low in the gutter
Garfield
I think I need my brain looked after
For finding today’s strip has humour!
They brought Irma back
And Garfield’s brass tack;
Is Paws Inc about to turn over?
Hi & Lois
Young Chip settled down to his homework
His parents resigned he would just lurk;
Too sad and despondent,
They just weren’t cognizant
He was hard for Sex Ed, segment “jerk”!
Judge Parker
Writer Wilson promises much
With visions of sultry beds such
That during this theft
Mudgeons are all left
Hoping for Baretto’s sweet touch!
Phantom
Blue diapers just aren’t fit for kids
Whose stripey dad’s flipping his lids
But now that mom’s gone,
By light’s early dawn
Will they sell skull cavern for bids?
Dick Tracy
Die die die die die die die die die
Die die die die die die die die die
Pops Pops Pops Pops Pops
Pops Pops Pops Pops Pops
Die die die die die die die die die!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
#192 Heck we have a few days of interjection and exposition before Pops hits the ground. He’s been hovering near the top of the cage for three days.
Meanwhile, in Camp Swampy the men lament that Sarge tops but never bottoms.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
FW: I think it may be worse than we think… Wall(-to-wall miser)y may’ve forgotten he grabbed the beers the first time. Can’t beat good ol’ brain damage (like the facial non-recognizing thing) for entertainment, eh, Batiuk?
Blondie: So Dagwood’s the one who produces those commercials where amplified food-eating sounds are supposedly reeeeally appetizing in getting consumers hungry for the product in question. I just get annoyed and a bit grossed out.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Quasi-meta (not to be confused with The Hunchback…):
In DT, Pops finally lands. The tiger looks annoyed. Finally, he speaks to the clown: “Hey, you, get outta here! This is…”
Last panel, tiger winks at the reader: “…my cage!”
November 9th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Muffaroo: Those illegally cute baby pictures are just the thing to clean my mind after seeing Marvin. And Dick Tracy.
Garfield: I laughed. Irma has gotten ditzier in her two decade absence.
#213 Mibbitmaker: I’ll bet he does the cat food commercial eating, too. Those commercials that sound as if the cat is eating the microphone. Yucko.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
214. Mibbitmaker
HA! I don’t know why but that made me laugh more then any comic today.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Sherman’s Lagoon: Forced myself to read this for some reason today, and regret doing so. Besides the fact I find this comic the least graphically appealing on my comic’s page, today’s installment was gross, unfunny and not very nice, considering Veteran’s Day is this week.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
186 Calvin’s Cardboard Box
Addiction is addiction. The delivery system is irrelevant. I knew more than one guy at the drunk farm who initially claimed not to have a problem because he only drank beer. Not only that, lots of folks drink beer or wine daily and save the hard stuff for special occasions. It’s a form of denial.
As for Wally, the genetic pre-disposition to alcohol tends to run in families. Chances of him being hard-wired for alcoholism are better than for most.
I’m giving Batiuk credit for this one. Wally having alcohol problems is very plausible. But if it’s called “writing,” there ought to be a little redemption for him down the road.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
MT: It was almost exactly three years ago that Molly, the pet bear, couldn’t understand why she was being treated so badly by poachers.
Not quite a year ago Sneaky the racoon found himself chained to a log. (The narration box doesn’t indicate it, but I’m sure Sneaky lacked the cognitive skills to discern the actions of his captors.)
Now Sassy finds herself in exactly the same predicament.
This is clearly the time of year to tie up stupid pets.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Comcis Fan @217 – Ah, but Batiuk is making a dynamic, relevant, vital, with-it, ‘hip’ commentary about, you know, how society treats its soldiers blah blah so on and like that! He only seems to revel in it because he’s forcing us to face our hypocrisy blah blah blah. Like the guy who farts loudly on the elevator and stands there smiling who just wants to draw much-needed attention to the issue of odoriferous gas emissions.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
…it’s called “venting”!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I have to say, Momma caught me off guard with its reference to a “quasi-military fursuit” as I was quickly scanning past it today.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Where is AeroSquid? I missed the Sunday Lockhorns round-up.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
# 188 artist — Thank you. Now I get it. It would help me, when trying to understand Slylock solutions, if I didn’t have to try to stand on my head:-).
November 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
(written after a few posts read, but before posts 140+ – and deliberately kept in this thread so as to not infect others!)
On the whole My Cage self-reference and art style debate which Emily K touched upon: considering the artist, it is appropriate to put in manga influences (sorry Stij), since Melissa deJesus has published original “American manga” with the publisher TokyoPop; her look in MC incorporates some of those tropes, yes. I believe the point may well be exactly to hook in “younger” adult readers, say in their 20s and 30s, who by now have grown up with the style and conventions and may like seeing something they can recognise more than the older cartooning styles used by most humour strips. Ms. deJesus’ use of the big heads and expressive facial features is definitely different than most of what’s on the funnies page.
But no, it’s no more “furry” than Pearls Before Swine, Sherman’s Lagoon or Over the Hedge (to use more modern and appropriate examples than the perennial Pogo); it’s just that a lot of the (bad and good) furry art which has seeped into some consciousnesses also incorporate many of the same design tricks by a number of the artists, consciously or not, well-integrated or not, as deJesus deliberately does.
I’m still scratching my head at the inclusion, and emphasis, of “furfag American” in post #82. Is it because only Japanese should use the “manga artstyle”? Considering there’s no one manga artstyle, and that a certain number of them are influenced and sometimes even derived from American comic strips and books (twisted and adapted), I see nothing wrong with the full circle going on here. Influence remains influence.
But I still agree with Emily K’s point that the self-reference is bordering on desperation. One strip would have been fine, but belabouring the point over three weeks can definitely wear thin. I had misgivings last week, and I’m one of the big fans of the strip (for its humour and slight difference in going for humour targets actually more than its art style), so I hope no one is seeing me as a sycophant. It’s not easy to self-reference; Pastis has his own unique way, which works within his style.
That it lost some readers even on here is not a good sign. Ed Power, I don’t think even the meta itself was a problem on the heels of the FW references; I think it’s strictly about the self-insertion as centre-stage. It did come off as soapboxing – which it probably was, but is tougher to take in-strip by your direct avatars rather than in blogs or on the strip’s website.
The rest of my thoughts are echoed by 141. commodorejohn, who wasn’t long-winded at all.
137. Ed Power: I can see where Emily K would have “gotten that from”, sadly. On many art archives and innumerable webcomics (bad and good), the badly-adapted manga tropes (rip-offs mentioned) done without rhyme or reason but just seeing “X is popular, so let’s put X in our strip” can really make one worn thin to the whole genre. I’m still impressed your strip was accepted, and that’s not easy in the syndicated strip business at all – which is entirely different than the online world. I personally see more classic cartooning styles than manga ones, which would make sense with Melissa’s background. I doubt she has any contact or interest in “fandom”; being a professional doesn’t leave her the time, I would suspect. :)
146. Ed Power: Yup, I guess I did peg the “desperation” part. And three weeks is a long time, actually, to whack the “choir” as it were. I think one or two weeks max is how long you can pull off something like this. I certainly understand why you did it! But some of us were expecting a little more self-deprecation, and no, Norm didn’t count. :) The payoff may be this coming Sunday; if so, that may soothe things for some, but be too late for others. Oh well.
This said, you still succeeded where so many try and fail – but wanting it to continue and not die so soon must be hard on a level I cannot imagine…
179. Stij: considering the strip is not part of the subculture (neither creators are), and the subculture is not even aware of it… but it takes someone aware of the subculture to say that, doesn’t it? I can’t fault those who aren’t (i.e. most people) think that it is. In fact, I’d say some in teh subculture would not want anything to do with it because it’s not created by anyone within the subculture. I swear, some days, the nearly-incestuous self-referential bent those people have is truly staggering. Blinders of immense proportions (like most of the art… hey, I can say this, I’ve tried. :) But I also failed so I don’t take space on any archive.)
180. commodorejohn: remember that My Cage is a syndicated strip; they don’t die as quickly as webcomics can, or in the same way.
189. Cambiata: again, that would work for webcomics, but syndicated strips live or die by feedback to newspaper editors only. Talent or quality doe not factor in it; see Dinette Set or Chuckle Bros.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
The throwaway panels DID make Beetle Bailey run backwards, and guess what? It’s funnier that way: http://yfrog.com/13bbbackwardsg
November 9th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I decided those two throwaway panels would make a good animated gif. It makes for a great art piece, commenting on the inane, incomprehensible dialogue that Beetle and Sarge are trapped in from now until eternity.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Niall gets what I was trying to say – it pretty much sums it up best.