Post Content

Gil Thorp, 8/2/23

God, can you imagine being part of an institution so dehumanizing and destructive to your identity that it strips your very name away from you, leaving you nothing but a number for identification? And then also, in a mostly unrelated matter, you were prison? Ha ha, I kid, but seriously, it’s a good thing Marty is sober now because in the old days there is absolutely no chance that he’d be able to keep track of two sets of numbers while doing the play by play.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 8/2/23

I was going to question why Silas’s general store, literally the only retail outlet in town, would even need to advertise, but then I realized that the residents of Hootin’ Holler need occasional reminders that they have access to a place where money can be exchanged for goods; it’s only recently that the community has taken the first tentative steps beyond its traditional subsistence agriculture/chicken theft economy.

Blondie, 8/2/23

Sorry, guys, Marx says that the struggle of class against class is a political struggle, so you are definitely discussing politics.

Post Content

Gil Thorp, 5/12/23

Gil Thorp is notorious for bringing back beloved characters from years past, and so when I recognized Gregg Hamm’s name I was excited to see how far back in my archives my search for him was going to take me, but it turns out that all the Gil Thorp plots have blurred together into one big timeless smear in my mind, because Gregg’s story was from the summer of 2022, when he managed to pitch while tragically blind thanks to a little light cheating on the part of his teammates. And while I joked about his “tragic blindness” a lot I never really got the impression that he had anything other than just bad vision, but now here he is with a white cane and everything! I’m pretty sure I saw new writer Henry Barajas say that there’s supposed to be a time jump of a few years between Neal Rubin’s last storyline and his first one, but I’d like to believe that he’s fully lost his sight in the past year, and now is going to transform the 2023 Mudlark team by teaching them how to “feel the catcher’s signals.”

Rex Morgan, M.D., 5/12/23

OK, we’ve been joking a lot about how Yvonne has been a little fixated on hearing Mud play “Muddy Boots” one last time, just for her sake, but clearly she cannot hold a candle to these two Mud Mountain Murphy superfans who have presumably spent the last 24 hours or however long it’s been since Fergus’ previous concert in a state of deep depression and/or rage. Those facial expressions tell me that they’re in the midst of near-orgasmic ecstacy at the return of their hero, and probably were planning a suicide attack of some sort on him if he hadn’t returned to form tonight.

Marvin, 5/12/23

Obviously I’m never happy to see or think about Marvin, the character, but I kind of like knowing that even when I don’t see him, he’s busy making the lives of the other characters in the strip miserable, because honestly I’m not a big fan of those people either.

Post Content

Folks, do you want to spend seventy-two American dollars for a framed print of the strip where Wilbur Weston may have fallen off a cruise ship to his death? Or, perhaps slightly more likely, do you want to spend ten bucks on a mug with Wilbur’s face on it that says “Where there’s a Wilbur, there a way…bur”? Well, the official Comics Kingdom RIP Wilbur Weston store is for you, my friends!

For the rest of you, there’s this comment of the week:

“Wilbur still reciting his ‘King of the World’ speech is how we should remember him. Unchanging even in the face of the dark and inevitable, generally dense, and most importantly: committed to the bit. The hero we didn’t deserve.” –Black Drazon

And these runners up are also hilarious!

“You either die a Wilbur or you live long enough to see yourself become the Aldo.” –Ettorre

“I just appreciate the quaintness of a world where you can sell expensive blouses from the kind of crude outdoor stand a child might use to sell lemonade.” –Joe Blevins

“[Smacking Max’s hand away] We’ve discussed this, no shirts.” –Dan

“All the ‘why am I getting these calls, I don’t even have a car!’ complaints I’ve heard have been from NYC residents. Snuffy will be so disheartened to learn he’s playing to the city slickers in the audience.” –TheDiva

“Nice to see Dick Tracy pay tribute to Krak, Blam, Bash, and Wham, the long-forgotten mascots of Kellogg’s Rice Kicksies, the only cereal that fought back when you ate it.” –Voshkod

“Wilbur’s head can float but let’s hope his body sinks.” –nescio

“You know who’s really responsible for creating the Doggo twins, Sarah? A Xerox machine. Because there are two of them. And you only drew one. And if there’s only one dog, well then there aren’t twins, duh. Have fun suing a Xerox machine, you adorable little guttersnipe.” –made of wince

“You’re a plugger if you’ve ever experienced a moment of joy. But learning that you’re a plugger guarantees that you’ll never be happy again, so congratulations, you’re no longer a plugger! But that news is likely to make you happy, so bad news, you’re a plugger after all. There is no escape. THERE IS NO ESCAPE.” –Doctor Moreau

“Let’s face it, this Wilbur’s Arc (not a bad name for a comic) has gone on since I think the Love Boat was on television. Why not have this mustachioed version of Captain Steuben whisk Estelle away on a course for adventure and with a mind on a new romance? There’s plenty of fish in the sea — so to speak. Some of them quite large.” –Joe Momma

“While the crew ‘look for Wilbur’ (could he be in this six-inch locker for a flare pistol? Unlock, open, search, close, lock. How about this one?) he is getting steadily further away, both horizontally and (if we’re lucky) vertically. ” –RogerBW

“The only difference that matters between these two panels is the baby’s eyes. Baby #2 is definitely making hard eye contact. He knows what he did.” –pugfuggly

“You might be a plugger if you make terrible wordplay about your bowel movements as you crawl back into bed with Mama Bear at ten of nine.” –pastordan

“That punctuation mark after ‘Well’ needs to accept that it’s a comma, and stop trying to jump up into the apostrophe zone. Learn to love yourself, little comma! You’re beautiful just the way you are!” –Mr. A

“Finally — my 10,000 steps! And now my reward…” –Dennis Jimenez

“What is this guy’s special power, the inability to sense heat? You have a read hot chunk of metal on your wrist and you need Dick to tell you it’s hot? Maybe that explains his limp screaming. Intellectually, he understands he’s burning to death, but to his brain it feels like he’s in a cold shower, so he can’t really get that excited about it.” –jerp+jump

“I know it’s disappointing that they’re turning back for Wilbur while still within a time window that makes a rescue very unlikely, but still dramatically plausible. But cheer up, everybody. Maybe he’ll be run over.” –AndyL

“It’s funny because Wilbur was trying to reenact a scene from a movie that won eleven Oscars.” –Anonymous

Remember: If you want an ad-free version of this site sent to you every day via email, for $3 a month you can become a Comics Curmudgeon newsletter subscriber! And if you never want to see banner ads on this site, and want to get cool comment-editing features to boot, for the same low price you can become a Comics Curmudgeon website subscriber! And if you just want to give me money directly, you can put some scratch in my tip jar, or back me on Patreon! Thanks to all for your support and readership!