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Prediction: punching

Mark Trail, 2/6/10

I may have missed this earlier, but it appears that the hilariously surnamed Parker brothers are hilariously named Moe and Joe. What whimsical parents they must have had, to give them rhyming names! Clearly the only way they had to rebel against their twee upbringing was to grow facial hair and generally dick it up out on the lake, with their big motors. Still, we can see a bit of their wacky heritage out on display in the rapid-fire shirt exchange they made between panels one and two, just for absurdist fun. Mark and Senator Hatcher just stand there with their hands manfully on their hips, their low-key masculinity offering a counterpoint to their desperate antics

In panel three, Joe, or possibly Moe, shows that he’s well acquainted with the most up-to-date way to effect political change, which is to buttonhole one of your elected officials and scream at him.

For Better For Worse, 2/6/10

FBOFW reruns are like comics methadone: not as good as the real thing, and yet I still can’t seem to taper off. I do enjoy them for their sociological insight into late ’70s/early ’80s Canada, anyway. Today we learn what the main characteristic of a dark, seedy Montreal jazz club of the era was: omnipresent menacing mustaches.

Marmaduke, 2/6/10

Come now, Marmaduke’s lovingly curated collection of human femurs is a work of art, not a mere job. I mean, I at least hope that nobody’s paying him for it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 01:56 pm and is filed under For Better or for Worse, Mark Trail, Marmaduke. |

145 responses to “Prediction: punching”

Albert Camus
February 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm [Reply]

For those interested in even more obscure Mark Trail-via, the Parkers’ given names are “Joseph” and “Moseph.”
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 2:04 pm [Reply]

And I suppose all those moustaches are salty. Oh, how I wish I hadn’t thought of that.
Dingo, the Essence of Purity and Virtue Incarnate™
February 6th, 2010 at 2:05 pm [Reply]

Mmm… briny Canadaian mustaches. Could give a boy palpatations.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 2:06 pm [Reply]

MT — I’m mildly fascinated by Joe’s nose. You don’t see noses like that very often.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 2:09 pm [Reply]

@Poteet (#3):

You don’t see noses like that very often.

At least, not in nature.
treedweller
February 6th, 2010 at 2:10 pm [Reply]

I haven’t really paid attention to MT for a couple of weeks. This appears to be a close-up version of the last strip I read, but with the lines spoken by people instead of giant birds.

@Josh, I am sure there are many things that make you and me different, but today you pinpointed maybe the biggest one ever: I happily quit FBOFW cold turkey and never looked back. I think I am a happier, better adjusted person for it.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 2:12 pm [Reply]

@treedweller (#5): Yeah, that’s right, gloat. Go ahead and gloat over us weaker souls who can’t pull ourselves away. I’m not speaking of Pope Josh, of course — reading comics so others won’t have to read them is his job. I have no such excuse. *sob*
Dingo, the Essence of Purity and Virtue Incarnate™
February 6th, 2010 at 2:13 pm [Reply]

Sorry that I don’t have a song for which you can sing this to but you get the drift. Think “light and bouncy.”

We’re Moe! And Joe!
Don’t we remind you of Jake and Snake?
When we take footsteps the earth will quake!
Take off our shirts and you’ll palpitate.
We’re Moe! And Joe!

Got ourselves a spot out on the water. Hitch-ah!
Bring your son, your wife, your comely daughter. Ooh-ah!
Whether you’re skinny or Mama Cass
We’re gonna catch you the right-size bass!
We’re Moe! And Joe!

We don’t take too kindly to nosy strangers. No, sir!
Those warnings you’re Mama gave you? We’re the dangers! Concur!
If you’re annoyed by mosquito bites
Best stay away ‘cuz we’re sodomites!
We’re Moe! And Joe!
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pm [Reply]

Y171 — Your Incredible Unearthly Excellentness, your song is AWESOME. Purely and totally awesome. You already know this, of course, but I felt I should say it anyway. I am not only offering all the potatoes in my house, but I’m going to go buy more to offer you.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 2:16 pm [Reply]

@Dingo, the Essence of Purity and Virtue Incarnate™ (#7): Dingo, glad you survived your bad week and are back with such elan!
Baka Gaijin
February 6th, 2010 at 2:18 pm [Reply]

@Dingo, the Essence of Purity and Virtue Incarnate™ (#2): Huh? You like guys who’ve been drinking olive juice straight from the jar?

Disturbing sighting: I’m visiting Italy and saw a “Love is…” used in a barber shop ad. If I find it again and get a picture and figure out how to upload it, I’ll share that international abomination.
Steve S
February 6th, 2010 at 2:22 pm [Reply]

Mark Trail’s Rule 1 when confronted by a pair of unsavory toughs out in the wilderness: make sure to let them know your companion is a Senator so if anything bad goes down, they’ll get him first.
Red Greenback
February 6th, 2010 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

Joe’s nose looks like Moe’s toes.
KenM
February 6th, 2010 at 2:26 pm [Reply]

Exactly how sure are we it’s a quick-fire shirt change, and not a rapid beard hand-off?
Calico
February 6th, 2010 at 2:27 pm [Reply]

#209 YT – Wow – my pea-brain never thought that would be the joke.
Haha, Michelle, the joke (and the Sea-Bond) is on you!

#211 YT – I didn’t mind the Twin Sons album, but they played it to death.
I always have had a little soft spot for Dan F. – sad he passed so soon.
He was a very good pencil artist, too. Nice work.

Re: Rocky’s hand, he just needs to work it like a claw. And don’t call Sam randy.
Calico
February 6th, 2010 at 2:28 pm [Reply]

And Moe and Joe’s heads look like a Janus in panels 2 and 3.
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 2:31 pm [Reply]

9CWL I looked up “C” by Francis Poulenc. Could not find it. However, I did find Dir en grey’s song by the same title, from about the year 2008. As for Francis Poulenc, The Story of Babar the Elephant for Piano and Narrator (1940) might not be what POWs would sit for. Or maybe they would.

So rounding up the usual questions: Why would the people running the camp allow her to sing whatever without running it through the censors, why are her visits unsupervised and unescorted, and as the whatever Nazi has been wearing his uniform the whole time (why!), would it stand by itself if he took it off?
Ukulele Ike
February 6th, 2010 at 2:31 pm [Reply]

MT: I wonder whether Joe drinks Moose Juice, and Moe drinks Goose Juice.
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 2:34 pm [Reply]

Dir en grey’s “C” was actually 2006 or a bit earlier, but not last century. Sorry to all the fans out there.
Calico
February 6th, 2010 at 2:35 pm [Reply]

Or, Mark has met a pretty angry reincarnated Billy Mays.

Josh – In Montréal there used to be this awesome Chinese place on St. Catherine St. – they had a buffet in the early 80’s that cost something like $4.95 CA per head.
All you could eat sodium (was quite good, actually), and then we could walk right down St. Catherine St. to Le Forum, where the Habs played and where they had numerous awesome rock shows.
Good times for us, apparently not for Connie.
Beatrice
February 6th, 2010 at 2:35 pm [Reply]

Gee, and I was wondering whatever became of the country singing duo, Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley, and the comic genius of such songs as “Hey Moe, Hey Joe”, “Honky Tonk Queen”, and “Here I Am Drunk Again”. It’s a shame that they turned to poaching.
Red Greenback
February 6th, 2010 at 2:40 pm [Reply]

ReFOOB: “I’d duck under the table, but it probably smells like legs down there.”
Malethoth K
February 6th, 2010 at 2:45 pm [Reply]

Spider-Man has been incredibly great lately. Day after day, we’ve been treated to the glorious spectacle of the Fantastic Four belittling Spider-Man, and pointing out (completely correctly!) that Spidey faces pathetic wussy villains that they could handle with their eyes closed. In any other comic strip, I’d say this was clumsy foreshadowing, a setup for the F4 to be unprepared to handle a Spider-Man villain, so as to emphasize Parker’s heroicness when he saves them. Since this is Spider-Man, I know that they don’t go in for any of that fancy narrative stuff like foreshadowing, irony, resolution, or coherence: They’re just going to insult Peter Parker for a week, then never show up again.
Lorne
February 6th, 2010 at 2:46 pm [Reply]

I suspect “Moe” is short for “Moses” and “Joe” is short for “Josiah”, and that would be about as whimsical as the Parker Family would get… out there… at their end of the lake.

HEY!!! ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT OUR END OF THE LAKE ON THE INTERNET??? STOP WRITING ABOUT OUR END OF THE LAKE!!!!
Baka Gaijin
February 6th, 2010 at 2:49 pm [Reply]

Cow and Boy: Yeah, like Irving doesn’t keep a crowbar in the nightstand for when Cathy’s woken up with her ass stuck in a toilet seat. I’m sure he wincingly says, “No more moon!” on a regular basis, too.
GarrisonSkunk
February 6th, 2010 at 2:56 pm [Reply]

Wow…. Who knew Beetle Bailey sounds like Jughead and Cosmo sounds like Sam the Butcher?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG9mEluy5Es
Ukulele Ike
February 6th, 2010 at 2:57 pm [Reply]

@Malethoth K (#22): Heh. Just had me a mental image of the Thing yanking Doc Ock’s arms out of his torso, one by one, chanting “She loves me, she loves me not….” and not stopping at four.
Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball
February 6th, 2010 at 2:59 pm [Reply]

Apropos of fights and clashes in the comics: does anybody remember, in Nancy and SLuggo comics, that whenever Sluggo got involved in a fight with Butch, his eternal nemisis, he pushed his cap sideways before he waded into battle (and sometimes pushed up his sleeves)? I believe that Ernie Bushmiller, may he rest in peace in Comic Heaven, was reproducing some street behavior from The Bronx of about 80 years ago. It seems to me that pyshing your hat sideways was some sort of singal, that you were ready to fite.

Just mentioning this.
Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball
February 6th, 2010 at 3:00 pm [Reply]

Pushing, PUSHING, not PYSHING!

Pyshing, that’s something you did in your pants, if you were afraid to fight!
Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball
February 6th, 2010 at 3:01 pm [Reply]

Sorry about the spelling mistakes.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 3:02 pm [Reply]

@Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball (#29): Grammatica forgives you.
Poor Thompson
February 6th, 2010 at 3:03 pm [Reply]

I think Senator Hatcher looks like astronaut Buzz Aldrin in panel three:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BuzzAldrinByPhilKonstantin.jpg
Anonymous
February 6th, 2010 at 3:04 pm [Reply]

@ElkMeadow (#16):

It seems the full title is “2 Poemes de Louis Aragon” the first one being “C”.

http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/40962.html
http://www.amazon.com/Deux-Po%C3%A8mes-Louis-Aragon-1/dp/B000V6TX9W
wossname
February 6th, 2010 at 3:06 pm [Reply]

@Calico (#19): I don’t remember the Chinese place on Ste. Catherine, but I left Montréal for good in the early 70s, so that may be the reason. But I sure do remember when Le Forum was at Ste. Catherine and Atwater, and the Habs were great, and there were six teams in the NHL!
I also remember a couple of jazz clubs – one was the Esquire Showbar, where I saw Thelonius Monk and I don’t remember who else. I think it was kind of a throwback to the wild old Montréal that I guess existed before Jean Drapeau was elected as a “reformist” mayor. Connie wouldn’t have liked it.
bats :[
February 6th, 2010 at 3:08 pm [Reply]

@Lorne (#23): I thought it was more Joseph and Moseph Parker.
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 3:09 pm [Reply]

@Anonymous (#32):

Thanks! regnad_kcin at calvinsdad got me the performance link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vujUXHbzrlE
Mars
February 6th, 2010 at 3:09 pm [Reply]

I like the older FBOFW much better; it was more true to life than the extremely fake later years. I like this strip too, because it’s true. You spend all day dreading something, and then somehow get disappointed when it DOESN’T happen — which sounds bonkers, yet everyone’s done it. Man, I miss 80’s Lynn — her observation powers were second to none.
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 3:13 pm [Reply]

@Poor Thompson (#31):

And here’s what Buzz could do to poachers and such:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU
seismic-2
February 6th, 2010 at 3:19 pm [Reply]

@Beatrice (#20): Yep, they just don’t make ‘em like that any more. Except at that end of the lake, of course.

RMMD: “I have no idea… her nails looked nice! Of course, mine look nicer, particularly these two. See? Aren’t they great?” I think, though, that Becka’s beauty salon needs a lot more help than just a new manicurist, since its clientele comes out looking so much like Rod Steiger.
wossname
February 6th, 2010 at 3:21 pm [Reply]

Wasn’t Becka the one who was riding around in the rain with Tim, the stalky nature writer, looking for the geezers who were in Cue’s crib (thereby implicating her in the heinous injustice against Cue)? Are there two Beckas in RMMD?
Thomas B.
February 6th, 2010 at 3:23 pm [Reply]

That was funny
skullcrusherjones
February 6th, 2010 at 3:26 pm [Reply]

Marmaduke’s business is deboning slow children and business, unfortunately, is good.
These Strange Worlds
February 6th, 2010 at 3:29 pm [Reply]

MT Punching

Spoiler alert…

Based on the 199 parallel universe Mark trail, get set for a surprusing punch fest. But it is the senator who does the punching, as Mark is subdued and restrained by bearded thug. As Mark breaks free and prepares to join the fight, there’s a surprising conclusion. I can’t wait to see if this plays out in 2010.

I posted a link to my 1979 versus 2010 blog on Wikipedia and am curious what, if anything happens. It only took about a week (last year) for the link to Joshreads to get axed.

I realie that the most likely outcome of all this will be “nothing whatsoever” and also that ther’s a tiny chance that some papers could find out and decide not to carry MT anymore. I’m enoough of a treehugger to regret this, especially since the Sunday strips are still useful.

Best outcome would be syndicate remorse and hiring a new artist to revitalize the franchise and make it a new force for environment excellence.
Thomas B.
February 6th, 2010 at 3:43 pm [Reply]

ReFBOFW

Look around Connie, you are the only woman in a seedy jazz club located in Montreal’s—I’m not sure how you say this in French—Le Distrique de Bath House. That horn he’s blowing, it aint a coincidence it’s a metaphor.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 3:54 pm [Reply]

ReFoob — I can’t help wondering why Connie doesn’t head home to care for and comfort her broken-legged kid. But I don’t have kids and don’t know good-parenting standards.
mollificent
February 6th, 2010 at 3:59 pm [Reply]

Komics Ketchup:

@GalacticEmperorChennux®™© (y#171): All hail the return of the Emperor! Glad to see you back, your MagmaCannonness. And thanks for the laugh…I shall be plucking my magic twanger shortly!

@Dingo, the Essence of Purity and Virtue Incarnate™ (#8): Yay Dingo!

A3G: Gosh, I’m really starting to come around to this “Bobbie = Roberta” idea, despite all continuity obstacles. Now that the idea is in my head, everything seems to point to it. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. (Damn you, Margaret Shulock!…well played.)

FOOB: Today’s new-run art really bothers me. I feel like I’ve fallen into a bad Jules Feiffer ripoff universe. Is the Humbug going to appear any minute? (oh, wait…he’s up on stage.)

JP: I was reading the comics at breakfast in a cafe by my house, on my tiny iPod screen, and consequently I misread Sam’s first speech bubble as “I take it you and Godiva worked it out last night!”, causing me to emit rather an embarrassing squawk of laughter. Bow chicka bow bow, etc. I was slightly disappointed to get home, look at it full size on my computer, and realize my mistake.

MT: At last–the intersection of Mark and the Beardy McSideburns Boys! Fists O’ Justice, start a-punchin’!

PBS: Awwww. That elf better buy some serious longjohns, because he’s gonna be spending a lot of time out in the snow.

Phantom: “Some enchanted evening…when you see your stalker…”
Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball
February 6th, 2010 at 3:59 pm [Reply]

And what I forgot to mention although many of us know this, Ernie Bushmiller grew up in The Bronx.
Hibbleton
February 6th, 2010 at 4:03 pm [Reply]

MW: Anyone know where I can buy a hundred character keyboard like the one Dawn is using?

MT: You’d be angry too if you’d just dragged that boat to the top of that little hill only to find two guys in your “spot.”
Rusty
February 6th, 2010 at 4:10 pm [Reply]

Foob: Lynn’s early attempts at creating the Blandthony soup strainer. These guys look pretty intense for Canadians.
wossname
February 6th, 2010 at 4:16 pm [Reply]

@Poteet (#45): Connie has already proven she’s a total dud as a parent (which some would say is because Lynn wants to show that single moms are bad moms). But I think there was some fig leaf a few days ago about how she couldn’t leave for home until the morning, so she might as well go to the jazz club tonight.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 4:17 pm [Reply]

@mollificent (#46): I was always fond of the Horrible Hopping Hindsight.

On a completely different note, today was the finale of Anders Loves Maria, a wonderful web comic despite the intermittent nature of its updates. I’ll miss it.
Black Drazon
February 6th, 2010 at 4:22 pm [Reply]

Later that evening, Marmaduke brings the bones a few houses over, where he receives a pat on the head and a fresh set of terror-frozen poodles as payment. The purchaser rubs his hands in delight, the remains of his enemies warming his evil, decayed heart, and reflects upon his carefully prepared alibi: he was at his neighbour’s house, nosily flushing his cigars down the toilet. Elsewhere in his home, his caregivers chat pleasantly over tea. “Dear, do you remember when Dennis used to be such a handful?” “You know, after all this time, I really don’t!” And he winks a hideous wink.
commodorejohn
February 6th, 2010 at 4:25 pm [Reply]

@These Strange Worlds (#43): Best outcome would be syndicate remorse and hiring a new artist to revitalize the franchise and make it a new force for environment excellence.

You can’t do that! It’d destroy everything that Mark Trail is!
ruddigore1@excite.com
February 6th, 2010 at 4:26 pm [Reply]

FBOFW: This jazz club needs more Mark Trail. (Yeah, I know, I’ll scroll up later and find out someone already said it. C’est la vie.)

M-Dawg: “Take them to the rendering plant, like we talked about.”

Marvin: Sorry, groundhog man. Interspecies romance only works out in My Cage.

S-M: Okay, dullness has sort of faded my memory here, but isn’t Sandman sort of reformed now? I thought the whole point of that last storyline was how the ridiculous Big Shot was just coercing him back to a life of crime by kidnapping his daughter, and that ultimately Sandman turned on him anyway. So how’d he get top billing on Spidey’s “crooks to watch for” list?

H&L: “It makes me feel old. I actually remember when this joke hadn’t been in several million email forwards.”

DtM: Oh, Dennis. You were there, and you got your share of cake after Alice had eaten a piece. Of course your eyes hadn’t really formed yet, so you couldn’t see her dad’s shotgun pointed at Henry.

FW: Since this shows a Westview resident actually trying to turn his life around, I’m suspending judgment for now.

Blondie: Kind of tangential, but I’ve always found those “Worst Beach Bodies” features a little unfair. I mean, these people are out for a relaxing swim. Was it their idea to have paparazzi follow them and snap pictures of their cellulite?

Crock: “And on top of that, I’m a ghost. Couldn’t you guess from the way the table is visible through my elbow?”

SSmith: Jughaid knows what’s coming next. Lo’weezy only scoops Snuffy up like that on her way to the bedroom, if they make it that far. That’s why he’s starting to vomit up this morning’s roadkill.
Digger
February 6th, 2010 at 4:34 pm [Reply]

Looks like it’s time for Mark to get his punching Moe-Joe going.
Artist formerly known as Ben
February 6th, 2010 at 4:37 pm [Reply]

Damit. #54 is me. Ignore the email address, which I’m in the process of abandoning anyway.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 4:42 pm [Reply]

@wossname (#50): Thank you — I must have missed the fig leaf. And as long as Connie is being set up as an illustration of the utter horribleness of single motherhood anyway, I think she might as well get drunk.
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 4:52 pm [Reply]

@These Strange Worlds (#43): You’re probably right about “nothing whatsoever.” If syndicates actually cared about blatantly recycled material, FAMILY CIRCUS would have disappeared yoinks ago.
These Strange Worlds
February 6th, 2010 at 5:02 pm [Reply]

@Poteet (#58):

If only they could update just a little. Have Mark punch out glaciers or saving orphams from cracked coal ash dams or something. He could stay clueless.

Alternatively, embrance reality and explicitly make it “Mark trail Seventies” self parody or something. Or run strips from the 40s and 50s, when they were really strange.
Missing Dortmunder
February 6th, 2010 at 5:03 pm [Reply]

@ElkMeadow (#17): This may help: http://www.answers.com/topic/c-j-ai-travers-les-ponts-de-c-song-for-voice-piano-po-mes-d-aragon-fp-122-1

9CL manages to be opaque and pretentious at the same time. His other strip, Pibgorn, manages to be just plain opaque. Brooke seems to be adding a vampire story line to Pibgorn. Hey, we haven’t had enough vampires recently! Someone should alert the publishing industry…
seismic-2
February 6th, 2010 at 5:10 pm [Reply]

The Parker Brothers (so-called because they seem to enforce a monopoly on their end of the lake?) were in fact identified as “Moe” and “Joe” back on January 20. It is understandable if you didn’t catch that, since that introduction (introducktion?) was made by a goose. Most people don’t pay attention to anything those boring honkers have to say, and even the other goose, Mr. Tuggle, seems uninterested in it. I, however, found it fascinating, and I have been eagerly waiting for Moe and Joe to be joined by Curly or Shemp, so that the punch-fest can morph into a slap-a-thon. Will the geese then all shout out, “Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck!”? Of course they will, and we all know it!
seismic-2
February 6th, 2010 at 5:14 pm [Reply]

Ooops – I meant to say, “Moe and Curly Joe”. Damn disconnect between brain and keyboard…
seismic-2
February 6th, 2010 at 5:17 pm [Reply]

Although I suppose “Joe” would suffice if we include Joe Besser, but of course we wouldn’t, and neither should anyone else.
tb4000
February 6th, 2010 at 5:19 pm [Reply]

The Marmaduke writers are purposely just writing shit now for the sake of us to make fun of. That is the only explanation for today’s gag.
Red Greenback
February 6th, 2010 at 5:30 pm [Reply]

@seismic-2 (#61): If I ever get a pet goose, I will definitely name him Mr. Tuggle.
mr 12 oz can
February 6th, 2010 at 5:43 pm [Reply]

mary worth – no one has mentioned the creepy picture of wilber dawn has next to her computer and is dawn shrinking thats one big chair
mark trail -lets just drive are motorboat up and down the lake all day and make sure no senators and wildlife writers canoe in here .no wonder we have no time to shave
gil thorp- i guess cassie just got tired of rays pepperoni
Joe Blevins
February 6th, 2010 at 5:47 pm [Reply]

Re-FOOB: Notice how the stakes keep getting lowered here. The wildly varying results of being seen include: (1) death, then (2) insanity, and finally (3) leaving a Canadian jazz club in a calm, orderly manner.
Tim
February 6th, 2010 at 5:51 pm [Reply]

lol @ “Lovingly curated collection of human femurs”
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 5:56 pm [Reply]

@Missing Dortmunder (#60):

Thanks! I’m learning more and more about stuff every day. Except for Pibgorn. I loved it ages ago, but when the Hair Fairy got chopped up and stacked up on a table, I lost my appetite for it, even though the story had a hunky-dory “she’s back! All put together!” ending.

Vampires are about original as unicorns now. And whatever drugs Gran’s on while she’s spilling this shill should be force-fed into to the suppliers.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pm [Reply]

@69: watching vampyres get turned to sparkles by Dru’s plasma blasts wouldn’t be half a bad thing. TZOT!
John C Fremont
February 6th, 2010 at 6:34 pm [Reply]

@Red Greenback (#13): “It’s gotta be toes, ’cause it rhymes with Moe’s.”
Joe Blevins
February 6th, 2010 at 6:35 pm [Reply]

More about Re-FOOB

Kudos to Lynn Johnston for resisting the urge to get all Spielberg/Lucas-y on us and retcon the cigrarette out of panel one. Nope. It’s there. Yes, people once smoked indoors in public places, and Lynn Johnston isn’t going to rewrite history to pretend that they didn’t. Good for you, Lynn!

BTW, since I don’t actually read zombie FOOB except when it appears here: who are these people? They must’ve gotten the “Chuck Cunningham” one-way ticket to oblivion somewhere during the strip’s run because I don’t remember either of these people (mustachioed 1970s jazzman, worry-faced frumpy lady) showing up at Blandthony and Lizardbreath’s wedding.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 6:40 pm [Reply]

@Joe Blevins (#72): Joe, that’s Hosaphonium Phil (Ellie’s brother) and Connie, mother of Lawrence and the Patterson’s next door neighbor.
Crankenstank
February 6th, 2010 at 6:40 pm [Reply]

Ah, that my friend, is the influence of the beaver on Canadian affairs.
Crankenstank
February 6th, 2010 at 6:45 pm [Reply]

@Calico (#20): wow, I remember this, back when $5CND was not terribly serious scratch in $USD, too. I once spent a drunk weekend in the mid 80s on less than $20 US. Good times. For Better or For Worse Times, apparently. Now a fistful of my American dollars don’t even buy a bag of peanuts on Air Canada, much less a copy The Beaver.
Krazy Kat
February 6th, 2010 at 6:46 pm [Reply]

Perhaps you’re being a little too hard on the Parker Brothers. Sure, they have their political differences with the Senator, but they have legitimate business interests at stake here, and I’m sure the delicate and nuanced issue of lake property rights can be OH MY GOD LOOK AT THOSE SIDEBURNS! PUNCH, MARK, PUNCH!!!
Écureuil Écumant
February 6th, 2010 at 6:52 pm [Reply]

MT: As to Mark’s hands being perched “manfully on his hips”, it’s the backs of his hands that are perched there.* I’m not sure that’s the most manful hand position, but I guess we should be happy he spared us the diva head tilt.

MW: As diminutive as Dawn is, the angle of her monitor would really only be suitable for someone that comes up to, say, her pikus. Augh! Now I’m contemplating Dawn’s navel!

And I’m not the least bit surprised to learn that Wilbur graduated from Tate College. Frankly, he always struck me as a quintessential Tater.

* Like a couple of swallows…
John C Fremont
February 6th, 2010 at 6:59 pm [Reply]

Speaking of Uncle Phil, remember how the Hose-O-Phonium bit took place while June Morgan was standing in line at the DMV? Me neither. But it did.

Think about it, won’t you?
Écureuil Écumant
February 6th, 2010 at 7:18 pm [Reply]

@32 Poor Thompson said:

I think Senator Hatcher looks like astronaut Buzz Aldrin in panel three

Yep, and Buzz is another fella renowned for his punching prowess! Coincidence? I think not.
Carly
February 6th, 2010 at 7:22 pm [Reply]

It seems like Mark Trail dialog is getting larger and bolder by the day. Soon it’ll just be people shouting single words that take up most of the panel, with just enough room for some random talking animal. “Stop!” “What!” “Urdoing!”
Ukulele Ike
February 6th, 2010 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

@Little A and his Verkokte Magic Ball (#47): ….And George McManus, creator of “Bringing Up Father,” is buried in the Bronx! Nifty mausoleum, too.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7505341
Satanicus
February 6th, 2010 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

Perhaps later on we’ll be introduced to the lost brother, “Manny.”
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 7:26 pm [Reply]

@Red Greenback (#65): Mr. Tuggle is a better name for a goose than for…. what was that guy’s role in the story again?

@Écureuil Écumant (#77):

but I guess we should be happy he spared us the diva head tilt.

And the sassy, “Oh no you didn’t!”

Gah—it took me too long to type that; my hands and arms are shaking from too much shoveling….
Thomas B.
February 6th, 2010 at 7:26 pm [Reply]

@seismic-2 (#61): The only Honkers that get my attention are Mary Jane Parker’s. God the strip makes me want to stuff a dollar bill into my computer screen.
The Spectre
February 6th, 2010 at 7:28 pm [Reply]

@Ukulele Ike (#18): Aren’t Joe and Moe the Redzoff brothers (who talk their heads off)?
Mibbitmaker
February 6th, 2010 at 7:31 pm [Reply]

9CL: “You VILL sing iiiiiit!”

A3G: Why can’t you GET ON WITH IT, BOBBIE?!

Archie: Try owning a bar frequented by Norm Peterson!

BC: You mean Jughead.

DT: Uh-oh, I detect a Paul Sr./Paul Jr. moment coming up!

GA: …Defying the laws of physics.

HotC: ‘Toon to be directed by Friz Freleng.

Luann: Nancy’s spell is almost working.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 7:39 pm [Reply]

@bourbon babe, unbuckled (#83):

*sends twin Swedish masseuse, a pint of Absolut, and a funky electric bass player to help bb, u recover.*
Red Greenback
February 6th, 2010 at 7:47 pm [Reply]

@Carly (#80): Kinda like this?
Zla'od
February 6th, 2010 at 7:52 pm [Reply]

Would someone who reads FBOFW kindly tell us what’s going on? Has Lynn run into an old lover who is a musician, or what?
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 8:00 pm [Reply]

@queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#87): It’s probably a bad sign that the best fantasy I can muster for that scenario involves my being in a deep, blissful sleep within minutes.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 8:02 pm [Reply]

@bourbon babe, unbuckled (#90):

*ponders whether you can “bow-chicka-wow” as a lullaby *
Écureuil Écumant
February 6th, 2010 at 8:15 pm [Reply]

@83 bourbon babe, unbuckled said:

@Red Greenback (#65): Mr. Tuggle is a better name for a goose than for…. what was that guy’s role in the story again?

Based on my experience with irascible “watchgeese” and their homing-missile M.O., I’ll stick my neck out and suggest “Mr. Tugnuts” might be a tad more accurate.

My preferential usage of geese would be along the lines suggested by Rabelais in “Gargantua and Pantagruel”. And likewise, after four hours of shoveling today (and then a schlub in the parking stall nearest to the just-cleared walkway put his two feet of snow right back on it shortly thereafter), I could use something warm and supple myself. Speaking of geese, of course.
wossname
February 6th, 2010 at 8:15 pm [Reply]

@bourbon babe, unbuckled (#90): All that snow shoveling has turned you into a female Mark Trail (I’m kidding, I’m kidding!), dedicated to admiring nature, exercising briskly, sleeping deeply (or is that deeping sleeply?), and eschewing lecherous thoughts.

But really, I hope you’re on your second glass of Woodford Reserve by now and celebrating lecherous thoughts.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 8:20 pm [Reply]

So the WashPost Sunday Magazine has a “Date Lab” matchmaking feature, and here’s Ellen’s description of her dream date:

Ellen: Peter Parker. He’s got the nerd cred plus the superpower muscles, and if you ever get bored he can take you swinging through the skyscrapers.

Oh, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen…. You choose a Peter Parker, and you choose a life on the couch, with the only “swinging” being the kind that takes you from channel to channel.

@Écureuil Écumant (#92): Well, too bad you’re up in the unreachable MoCo hinterlands, because otherwise we could at least commiserate over a warm, supple bourbon. =-)
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 8:20 pm [Reply]

@wossname (#93): I am definitely NOT eschewing.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 8:21 pm [Reply]

@wossname (#93): ….Oh, but if I could punch the snow out of my yard, I’d do it!
Uncle Lumpy
February 6th, 2010 at 8:44 pm [Reply]

@Zla’od (#89):

Would someone who reads FBOFW kindly tell us what’s going on?

Few read FBOFW anymore, and none kindly. But Connie there has developed an unrequited crush on her friend Elly’s brother Phil, the salty-moustached trumpet player, whom she now ambivalently stalks.
CanuckDownSouth
February 6th, 2010 at 8:47 pm [Reply]

@Zla’od (#89) Poteet:

It’s an old strip in a revamped arc of Connie (single mom of Lawrence) going off on vacation to Montreal to stalk Phil (the musician – Elly’s brother). Originally, this was due to a dumb crush after one night of passion during one visit by Phil. Connie had to ask about his address. New version: they communicate all year, meet up several times on his second Xmas visit, yet they quit communicating and Connie runs off to Montreal without even her original “I’ll visit my cousin” excuse.

Both versions had Connie staying in Montreal after getting the call about Lawrence’s broken leg.

Sadly, there was no fig leaf to say she couldn’t leave that night. A couple threads ago, I wished that there had been
Mibbitmaker
February 6th, 2010 at 8:59 pm [Reply]

MT: Mark: “Sideburns AND a beard. JACKPOT!”

MG&G: A nap app?

Phantom: Right, the two of them, together — just like Kit’s exclamation points!

R&R: Red & Marty. Or is it Marty & Rover?

RMMD: Gee, what are the chances of that happening? And in this economy?

R=R: Quiet, snowman. You didn’t hear Cathy complaining….. about that.

S-M: The ‘Fantastic Four’ are trying for CotW!
Mibbitmaker
February 6th, 2010 at 9:01 pm [Reply]

R&R: …or maybe Marty & Marty.

Nah, that’d make the strip M&M!
ElkMeadow
February 6th, 2010 at 9:31 pm [Reply]

@Crankenstank (#75):

Oh, great. How much longer will the Oregon State Beavers exist? (Duck you! foul University of Oregon!)
Poteet
February 6th, 2010 at 9:35 pm [Reply]

@CanuckDownSouth (#98): Thank you. So this new version makes Phil look worse, Connie look worse, and Lynn look worse. Great. And thanks for restoring my sense of reality — I was wondering why I hadn’t remembered the fig leaf, and why there was a sudden reference to visiting Connie’s family. And if I were on a trip and I found out my cat had broken her leg, I’d want to get home right away, let alone a child.

Please continue to provide your special perspective on this weird, weird trip. I mean strip.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 6th, 2010 at 9:40 pm [Reply]

@Poteet (#102): “what a long, strange strip its been. . . . “
Écureuil Écumant
February 6th, 2010 at 9:43 pm [Reply]

FW: Lemme see if I got this straight: the coffee shop on the corner is circlin’ the bowl, and now Morose Hairtrigger wants a job at what therefore has to be the place he’s most likely to encounter his ex and her replacement hubby. (Although admittedly I could see her as a Toxic Taco type.)

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that scenario?
Muffaroo
February 6th, 2010 at 9:53 pm [Reply]

@mr 12 oz can (#66): mary worth – no one has mentioned the creepy picture of wilber dawn has next to her computer yes they has

@Carly (#80): It seems like Mark Trail dialog is getting larger and bolder by the day. Soon it’ll just be people shouting single words that take up most of the panel… Here’s a little golden oldie you’re sure to enjoy.
Uncle Lumpy
February 6th, 2010 at 9:55 pm [Reply]

If Wally had an ounce of gumption, he’d start a company that goes around boarding up failed businesses: low costs of entry, healthy outdoor work, and the only growth industry in Westview.

He could line up the coffee shop, Montoni’s, The Toxic Taco, and Comic John’s for starters — and after that, the sky’s the limit!
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 6th, 2010 at 9:56 pm [Reply]

@Muffaroo (#105): I think that’s Elrod’s typographical m.o. in a nutshell.
zerowolf
February 6th, 2010 at 10:17 pm [Reply]

@Écureuil Écumant (#104): What could go wrong with this scenario? If we are lucky, everything!
Miss Othmar
February 6th, 2010 at 11:39 pm [Reply]

I just ran across the perfect vehicle for the Didactic Duo….
Nekrotzar
February 6th, 2010 at 11:55 pm [Reply]

@ElkMeadow (#17): “C” by Poulenc is track 24 of this disc.
Nekrotzar
February 6th, 2010 at 11:59 pm [Reply]

I did an itunes search for “C” (with the quotes) to see if I had any other recordings of this particular Poulenc song. Other than the disc I mentioned above, the only track that turned up was sung by Cookie Monster.
Earthgirl
February 7th, 2010 at 12:01 am [Reply]

@Écureuil Écumant (#77): Wait… Wilbur went to college in Boston? Boston never struck me as a place having a lot of fishing holes.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
February 7th, 2010 at 12:14 am [Reply]

@Earthgirl (#112): Maybe here? Others have wondered, too.

@Miss Othmar (#109): Nice! And pencil-skirt friendly!
bats :[
February 7th, 2010 at 12:14 am [Reply]

@Nekrotzar (#111): dat’s good enough for me!
(COOKIE! COOKIE! COOKIE STARTS WITH “C”!)
It would be an improvement on the storyline.
Stev0
February 7th, 2010 at 12:24 am [Reply]

Don’t go insulting Marmaduke’s art. He’s up for the Turner Prize. Which he’ll get, or else.
Jamus The Bartender
February 7th, 2010 at 1:06 am [Reply]

@Mibbitmaker (#86): Archie: Or Dick Tracy. Gunfire at all hours, and the price of prune juice and grain alcohol has gone up…..
Jamus The Bartender
February 7th, 2010 at 1:13 am [Reply]

FOOB: Now, I don’t wanna go off on a rant here, but I honestly think there’s enough blame to go around. To Elly, who didn’t try all that hard to discourage Connie from driving cross country….to Connie….what, Toronto is surrounded by a wall and she has to have her travelling papers? I don’t think so. The attending medics for tossing Lawrence into the back of a van or station wagon, i’m not sure which, and of course Phil, for not being an accountant or dentist or something responsible. And this is coming from a guy who likes to write dirty stories about having sex with hot cartoon animal women. There, i’m done. No, no, wait, i’m not done. I’m just praying for Rorshach from Watchmen to come into the jazz club, breaking various fingers and asking everyone who killed Edward Blake. * lets out a breath*
Jamus The Bartender
February 7th, 2010 at 1:15 am [Reply]

@Nekrotzar (#111): That could only improve the current 9CL storyline. A young, winsome Gram Burber singing ” Cooky, cooky, cooky starts with CEEEEEEEE” in front of German POWs.
Jamus The Bartender
February 7th, 2010 at 1:19 am [Reply]

@bats :[ (#114): Damn. Great minds think alike , bats :)
zerowolf
February 7th, 2010 at 1:29 am [Reply]

@Earthgirl (#112): I’m from that area. When Wilbur would have went to college in Boston the Charles River would have made the Anhk River look crystal clear.
Mr. O'Malley
February 7th, 2010 at 2:11 am [Reply]

@Jamus The Bartender (#117): Toronto to Montreal is not really “cross-country”. It’s only 300 miles.

@Calico (#20): I went to a decent Vietnamese restaurant on St. Catherine St. last summer, but the funny thing about it was everyone wanted their tea after they finished eating. East of downtown the street was closed to traffic and there were lots of expensive restaurants out in the street. But I didn’t see any bargain Chinese buffet—and we were on the lookout for someplace affordable to eat.
Jamus The Bartender
February 7th, 2010 at 3:10 am [Reply]

@Mr. O’Malley (#121): That’s fair. I’m ashamed to admit my knowledge of geography doesn’t go much beyond the lower 48. And Europe. And Japan. I had to look up where Afghanistan was after 9/11. Still, Connie needs to get a grip.
Poteet
February 7th, 2010 at 3:35 am [Reply]

2/7

MW — Um, wouldn’t it make more sense to do research on Abby? Or Kurt? But come to think of it, they don’t have last names. Scratch that idea — it’s onward and downward with Martin “VilleBoy” Clark.

RMMD — I didn’t realize how badly this strip needed a guy named “Toots” until he showed up. This is sooo great.
EatsShootsAndLeaves
February 7th, 2010 at 3:48 am [Reply]

Foob: Well, Connie appears to have the stalking bit down. Now all she needs to do is grow a hideous mustache and start pushing cinnamon buns.
Mr. O'Malley
February 7th, 2010 at 5:02 am [Reply]

@Poteet (#123): Well, maybe, but Cue would have been way better.
Joe Blevins
February 7th, 2010 at 5:03 am [Reply]

Marmaduke: Personally, I would like to thank the ‘duke for keeping his tail at half-mast, thus sparing us the sight of his anus. It shows that — even though he’s a genoicidal monster whom history will one day regard as the canine equivalent of Pol Pot — he does have some capacity for mercy, however slight.

How’s that Marmaduke movie coming along, by the way? Any reports of eerie, Jonestown-esque mass suicides at test screenings? Genitals bleeding of their own accord on the set? The Father of All Lies refusing to leave his trailer unless the mini-fridge in his trailer is stocked with the entrails of the righteous?
Alfred E. Neuman
February 7th, 2010 at 5:28 am [Reply]

#66 mr 12 oz can said— “mary worth – no one has mentioned the creepy picture of wilber dawn has next to her computer…”

Wilbur’s picture seemed kind of familiar to me. I know that I’ve seen it somewhere…
Kibo
February 7th, 2010 at 5:39 am [Reply]

Note the senator’s pose in the second panel of “Mark Trail”. Either he’s playing pocket pool, or Jack Elrod is one of those many cartoonists who is always looking for an excuse not to draw hands.

I envision a future where Senator Hatcher runs for President, and wins, but never gets sworn into office because he won’t remove his hands from his pockets. This Constitutional crisis will be settled by Vice President Mark Trail cramming a pocket Bible into the President-elect’s pocket. It will be the most exciting thing ever done by a Vice President.

Also, Moe’s neckbeard shows that the Three Stooges just stopped caring after Shemp, Larry, Curly, Curly Joe, Joe Curly, Joe Larry, Shemp-X, and Shemp Squared all died, leaving only three Stooges — Moe, Joe, and a giant squirrel that talks out of its butt.
Alfred E. Neuman
February 7th, 2010 at 5:42 am [Reply]

@EatsShootsAndLeaves (#124): Lynn Johnston has a reason for creating Connie-the-ignorant-slut-who-goes-clubbing-while-ignoring-her-small-child-with-a-broken-leg. And that is to make Elly-the-put-upon-martyr look more saintly than ever.
Mr. O'Malley
February 7th, 2010 at 5:49 am [Reply]

New concept for Mark Trail song parodies:

“I’ve got my Moe Joe workin’”

It’s after 1 o’clock, have I been commenting on blogs about public transit that long?
Anonymous
February 7th, 2010 at 7:08 am [Reply]

Sarge takes his cues on being a gay man from a very old dictionary.
Écureuil Écumant
February 7th, 2010 at 8:06 am [Reply]

@112 Earthgirl said:

Wait… Wilbur went to college in Boston? Boston never struck me as a place having a lot of fishing holes.

Well, he loves that dirty water …
Oh, Boston is his home.
queek, Source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando
February 7th, 2010 at 8:19 am [Reply]

thoughts on the Sunday funnies

NS: Wiley, get help. srsly.

Zits: I’ve known a few girls like that.

PBS: awwwwwwww. :-( (((Pastis)))

reFOOB: ~~Rod~~John is an asshat, take eleventy-dozenth and two. Lynn, just give it up. This is painful to watch.

Blondie: ummm, just wow. I’ll take “Illegal Use of Hands” for $500, Alex.

A&J: there was a famous ad about herding cats one year. Don’t remember any cat food ones though.

RwO: bwaaaa-hahahahahaha!

Foxtrot: Calvin-ball chess? Well played, Mr. Amend.
Baka Gaijin
February 7th, 2010 at 9:10 am [Reply]

Love is… An ad for a clothing shop near Venice.
gleeb
February 7th, 2010 at 9:22 am [Reply]

Baldo: The drugs have hit Baldo’s school in a big way, I see.

Ziggy: Zig’s toeless, slab-like feet disturb me more than usual this morning. I don’t know why.

Pluggers: …are gluttons who lie to themselves and others. Man, Brookins has absolute contempt for his audience.

: More importantly, who in the Egyptian Antiquities Council gave permission to a fox and a mouse to go poking around in this tomb?

Phantom: OK, but you don’t have to be so smug about it.

‘bean: It’s always theft with this kid. There are other kinds of crime, you know. Why not give extortion or assault a try?

’shaft: Like Brookins and his audience, Ed visits to revel in others being worse off than himself.

Dick: “Hee haw”? They hired Sam Wainwright as their bomb-maker?
Charterstoned
February 7th, 2010 at 9:34 am [Reply]

Moe and Joe Parker
Protect their lake. Mark and friend:
Pocket protectors.
Écureuil Écumant
February 7th, 2010 at 10:35 am [Reply]

RMMRSA: “Toots”, indeed! It’s a sad commentary on the state of our economy when we start to see an epidemic of sorry-assed pack-totin’ hobos showing up on the doorsteps of our favorite comic strips.

At least Cue had his own crib! This guy barely edges out Kurt, with two straps on his pack. However, I doubt Rex will have much brief for a young Trotskyite.
John C Fremont
February 7th, 2010 at 10:37 am [Reply]

MW – Dead? I didn’t even know he was sick!

RMMD – Corey Feldman? Nooooooooo!!!

DT – They have a string quartet and a “rock ‘n’ roll combo,” but nobody to play Yakkety Sax in the last panel.

JP – No, you will not take the damned horse to Beverly Hills. You will wait for Neddy and stay put while we have a long-awaited Neddy-centric storyline. (It could have been a Neddy/Cedric storyline if not for that effing Jules guy.)

(Actually, all will be forgiven if that Jules fellow happens to look a lot like me. Yes. Yes, this would please me.)
Revenge of Chesnut
February 7th, 2010 at 4:40 pm [Reply]

ANECDOTE: In college, I took a “physics for poets”-type class wherein our adorable Korean professor would explain the concepts of relativity by using the examples of identical twins Moe and Joe. Sometimes Joe would take a spaceship trip at the speed of light and come back and find that Moe had inexplicably aged several decades. But the best was when they would talk to each other about their relative speeds, “Moe, you are TOO SLOW.” “No, Joe, YOU ARE SLOW.” Sadly, Mark Trail’s only explorations of the laws of physics involves what happens when a fist hits a beard.
Carly
February 8th, 2010 at 2:57 am [Reply]

@Red Greenback (#88): Bravo, nicely done. We should need a translator to read this strip before long.
Carly
February 8th, 2010 at 2:59 am [Reply]

@Red Greenback (#88): Oh good gravy. Please tell me that’s altered in some way. I don’t have enough experience with Photoshop to tell by some of the pixels.
AJ
February 8th, 2010 at 1:46 pm [Reply]

See, this is just the sort of mockery that Joseph Nathaniel Parker, Jr. and Morris Aloysius Parker are sick of.
Colinski
February 8th, 2010 at 1:59 pm [Reply]

@Poor Thompson (#32):

Or Eric Sevareid.
Dagger
February 8th, 2010 at 5:32 pm [Reply]

Perhaps the Parker Bros. are actually about to take part in a political tradition that was very much in vogue in the 19th century: braining politicians with sticks because you disagree with them.
Morndew
February 10th, 2010 at 10:47 pm [Reply]

Am I the only one who thinks they used the SAME spinning Dagwood in each of his spinning pics? xcept for the change of clothes, it’s the EXACT SAME picture. Same lines…same shoes…same ears….dear God…I have NO life.

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