The alien on the right is EXTREMELY high
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Slylock Fox, 9/18/23
I love how the narrator (reflecting official Forest Kingdom Regime propaganda) just has Slylock “overhearing” this conversation, like it’s a conincidence or something, as if he hasn’t very obviously broken into the Count’s castle without a warrant to snoop on his private interplanetary conversations. You could’ve been the first sapient Earth creature to make contact with extraterrestrial life, Sly, but now you’ve spoiled it and probably started our planet’s first space war in the process, so congrats.
Curtis, 9/18/23
Curtis, I honestly think you should be less shocked by “My teacher got a new haircut over the summer” and more shocked by “I have had the same teacher every year for as long as I can remember, and every year I neither advance to the next grade nor get any older.” Anyway, remember a few years back, when you still stayed the same age but got a new hat? This is like that, pretty much.
Dennis the Menace, 9/18/23
OK, Dennis telling grinning and updating some unknown third party about his mom’s sleepiness status … I don’t know what’s going on here but the vibe is very menacing.
181 replies to “The alien on the right is EXTREMELY high”
Pluggers: Andy Bear’s not fooling anyone with that cheesy clip-on moustache. I don’t know what deviltry he’s up to but he won’t get away with it much like his idol, Rene Beluso/Dr. Mirakle.
You could call Weirdly a traitor of his planet, but I wouldn’t. Sapient animals might be as alien as extra-terrestrials and they destroyed human civilisation and reduced humans to second class citizens. Maybe playing one powerful factions against the other might bring destruction, but this is basically how every national liberation movement succeeded.
DtM: With a sly smile playing on his befreckled face, Dennis holds the phone close and whispers to his new friend, Rhoda Penmark, and tiptoes quietly past his sleeping mother. “I’ll be out to play in just a few minutes, Rhoda. I just have to wash out the teacup. Did you get the matches? I think Mr. Wilson is in his basement now.”
I’m surprised Curtis didn’t take the opportunity to draw attention to his designer Cubist hat. There are very few elementary students who can afford anything from Picasso’s “One Point Perspective” line! Meanwhile his friend is stuck wearing an old scuffed-up bowler hat her parents found in a Hollywood studio’s dumpster.
Curtis: Odd his teacher makes fun of his stutter. Not cool Mrs. Nelson.
Slylock: Would alien visitors know where “North” was on earth? Is there universal acceptance of “up” and “down”?
MW: Without seeing whether there is a computer desk, how would you know Mary? Hmmm?
Pluggers: But this guy wears a vest so his arms aren’t restricted when he falls onto his back and flails about like a turtle trying to turn over.
DtM: “Her eyes are closing softly and her dress is creeping up over her knees….” Dennis doesn’t quite understand why Wilson calls about this time everyday but is grateful for the company.
Wrong, Dennis! After years of dealing with you, your mom has had an aneurysm and will be dead in minutes!
MW: Mary frowns as the new resident’s furniture is unloaded. “No antimacassars…!” she notes grimly. “This man is going to spell trouble.”
SFx: Weirdly finally has a fool-proof way to get rid of his nemesis and he decides to hinge his whole plan on luring said nemesis to one of the most inaccessible points of the entire earth. Sometimes I think he wants to fail.
Curtis: So did Mrs Nelson actually change her appearance (don’t answer, I don’t care), or is Curtis so stupid that he couldn’t parse what was going on with that sheet in from of her face? “Hey, we got a new teacher and her face is made of paper! Ha, don’t go out in the rain, Mrs Paperface, cuz you — OH NO IT’S MRS NELSON!”
DtM: Whoops, looks like Alice mixed up her pills again, and Dennis is going to have another day or growing up fast.
FC: Bil checks yesterday’s paper; “Hmm, just what I thought, paper plates.” Grabs eraser.
Family Circlejerk alternate caption – “Jeffy took a shit in the yard again.”
Maybe Curtis should be more concerned that Chutney has desecrated Charlie Chaplin’s grave and stolen his hat.
Are Weirdly and Mini-Grimace(?)… holding hands? Earth wasn’t ready for a human-monster relationship, but in front of the open-minded aliens, Weirdly has no need to hide his love.
FC: One word to Daddy Keane–Plastics! (They keep Dolly and Billy from “doing” the dishes!)
At a young age, Dennis learned how to cover for his mom’s alcoholism. More sad than menacing.
DtM: “All’s clear for the break-in, Lefty. Remember, we split 50-50.”
Sex Organ V.D.: “Hello,Room Service? Send up a room.” “Hey! I said NO funny stuff!”
SlyF: What a wacky scenario for such a simple question, and Slylock’s answer is still wrong; up is a direction and does not point south from the North Pole. The correct answer is that Weirdly was speaking of the metaphorical south, by which he means he’s sending the foolish foxman to hell, courtesy of a fatal mauling by his diminutive purple lover. The aliens are just helping dispose of the corpse.
MW: Surprise, surprise, the open apartment is immediately filled with another white person. I usually don’t like to get into the race stuff, but for crying out loud, there are KKK chapters with more diversity than Charterstone. At least it keeps Mary happy.
Luann: Plot pivot time! That past week with Gunther being a whiny twerp was even more pointless than usual, so now it’s back to Luann and Tara, who are taking the same college course they took last year and rehashing the same “Luann has a weakly-pursued crush on Piro” arc from last year. Hey, if it ain’t
brokeeven removed from its packaging, don’t fix it.Slylock Fox – Count Weirdly is holding hands with a baby Grimace. Is the Grimace a creation of Weirdly that he treats as a child? Did Weirdly adopt? Were they rejected by the Slylock society and left to the fringes, where maligned freedom fighter Count Weirdly is a caretaker of such rejected monsters?
Curtis – Given how closely she needs to look to read that paper, Mrs. Nelson needs new glasses more than she needs a new haircut.
Dennis the Menace – Alice tried to slip something into Dennis chocolate milk again, but unfortunately for her Dennis swapped those sleepy pills for some placebos, and dosed her midday wine.
Wary Morth:
New Tenant is either a champion heavyweight boxer or a Mafia enforcer. Expect ‘roid rages, or maybe protection rackets targeting the local karaoke dive.
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“To muffins, Worth! The Meddle is afoot!”
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The entire UN is being punished by being forced to move in next to Mary.
Murky Tail:
I checked on on this strip after maybe a year.
I’ll check in on it again in a year more.
Marvin: Clawfull’s obsession with Bitsy’s eye would eventually lead to its death, dismemberment, and burial in the crawlspace. Still, she could not get the sound of Bitsy’s beating heart out of her ears.
Beat up Bailey: Miss Buxley and the General work out their sleeping arrangements. “No,Martha,I wasn’t sleeping with her, she’s the Nap Supervisor!”
Wrecks Moregone:
So if Mud now keeps going on and on and on about money, Rene is going to tell him to keep it too?
Traced Dick:
The murder was committed by a villain called Teapot.
Why does the bottom of Dennis’s phone have the same shading lines Ruff always has. DID YOU MAKE RUFF INTO A PHONE
MW:
That new neighbor sure has an aura
As he stands there, next to the flora
But I’m in a spin —
How can he move in
Without getting Mr. Allora?
Beaten Daily:
This might have made sense if Beetle had used the extra mattresses as anti-Sarge padding.
@jroggs:
SlyF: What a wacky scenario for such a simple question,
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…and they didn’t even touch the hot ‘Are there penguins at the North Pole’ question.
Pluggers: If you’ve wondered why Pluggers may have trouble hearing you, it’s because they carry their hearing aids in their vest pockets.
I’m waiting for someone to tell me that there may be expensive, hi-tech hearing devices you don’t wear in the ear, but that transmit sound from elsewhere on the body. Pluggers would definitely have these.
@Arabella: I wonder if the original submission was “hearing aid batteries.”
H&L: Dot is fronting her Teddy Bear in hopes of scoring some Oxycontin. “He says it hurts, mommy. A lot.”
Slylock: In a Shyamalan-like twist, it will turn out the aliens are allergic to cold and they’ll die.
DtM: This remake of Bates Motel is absolutely unnecessary.
Mary Worth’s new tenant plays guitar and rents from low-end U-Move instead of U-Haul. Obviously a sleazy no-goodnik. Which tenant will he try to scam for money?
Frazz: “Let me tell you how I have zero respect for you. I know, I know. I’m awesome that way.”
Luann: “I thought you said, sit on an old familiar face.”
CS: Batiuk is here trying to make us forget about Loathsome Lillian by having Grandma committing vehicular manslaughter of her granddaughter Amy Johnson’s daughter Cindy.
9CL: And then they yelled at Amos to leave the women’s locker room.
SFx – Weirdly’s bong sitting atop the computer tower actually explains a lot about today’s strip.
MW – Today’s strip would be more accurate if Mary were salivating in panel two.
Zits: Points for Jeremy not asking Walt what it was like to fight in the Civil War.
FC: It could be worse. It could be Dolly carrying a shovel and saying, “Billy and I are playing with Jeffy.”
MW: Damn! This has to be the next day, right? Otherwise, we would have been treated to more exciting and not at all interminable “dogs are good” talk.
DtM: Dennis’ cheeks are all aglow. His mother’s been knocked out and we are even seeing traces of her slip. Yes, it’s nap time, alright. Kidnap time. Human trafficking is the stuff of nightmares and Dennis is clearly selling his mother into a lifetime of slavery. Menacing indeed.
Curtis: I know public school budgets can be tight, but it really speaks volumes that one teacher has to teach students of multiple grade levels.
Dustin: …okay, “Dustin transitions his sexuality just to spite his father” was NOT the route I was thinking this strip would go.
@31 Arabella: He’s a progressive Plugger: he’s moved beyond the ear trumpet.
@taig:
Crankshaft : Why is this strip doing the “Mrs Johnson is resorting to increasingly cartoonish schtick to lure Crankshaft into actually stopping to pick up her granddaughter” when he’s picked her up twice without incident already? Heck, on the first time, they established Crankshaft stops because little Cindy is the only kid left on his route who bothers to wait instead of going by car.
But more importantly, you have a point that disguising yourself as a shrubbery and hiding by standing next to a mailbox is a recipe for GETTING RUN OVER by Crankshaft’s bus, not picked up!
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Luann : I had hoped him stomping off after he found out Bernice was with both Nil AND Jack was the last we ever saw of Piro. Hopefully, it still is; Piro no-shows the Creative Writing class, with no one knowing where he went.
…Hey, then they could give a bit they have leftover from Gunther’s plot to Luann : “dumped loser cyber-stalks and cyber-harasses their supposed lover with endless ‘Hey, are we still together? We’re still dating right? You don’t hate me with the fury of a thousand suns, right?’ messages ”
If Luann needs to learn what Piro’s cellphone number is, she can just ask Bernice. Or Tiffany, if the strip remembers that plot point. Or Tara, if the strip forgot that Piro actively avoided her until she cornered him, and then he said “I’m your cousin. The one who’s been trying to ESCAPE this dumb family. I DON’T want to be with you.”…Overthinking Luann again…
MW: The bolded New Resident and Mary’s side eye are sending us a message: I hope you guys are happy now. Be careful what you wish for.
Dennis the Menace-“The drugs I gave her are finally kicking in. Come on over and bring cash.”
JP-Except for the readers. They can’t follow this story.
MW-“I must pair him up with a woman.”
MW-Please let this be ‘Mary Worth’s first homosexual character.
FC-“Your mother and I had fights like that.”
Slylock: Weber and his editor contemplate the latest “Great Artist” submission: a drawing by Kira, age 9, of Slylock with the two severed Alien heads hanging from his belt. “Not quite what I had in mind,” says Weber, “but let’s run with it.”
@Anonymous: Overthinking Luann leads to TruFannery. You don’t want that.
It’s a cliché because it’s true: working late nights on an intense project together often leads to romantic feelings, as appears to be happening here between Count Weirdly and this sentient terrycloth kidney. Someone really ought to give Wanda Witch a heads-up, so she can electrocute some newts or use eating soup as an alibi, or whatever other random shit she does to make things happen or not happen.
Chix (sic): Less violent residents of the institute are allowed to greet visitors.
Slylock: Would alien visitors know where “North” was on earth? Is there universal acceptance of “up” and “down”?
Brewster Rockit addressed precisely this issue yesterday. (Click back to Sunday).
@Liam:
re ME: I hope so. It is about time Wilbur gets dumped by some dude.
MW: As usual, the new resident looks comfortable in his Duluth Trading Company underwear.
Baby Grimace is my favorite Slylock Fox character. I wish they’d do more with her. Or, him? It?
SF: When your plan to get rid of your enemy involves traveling to the North Pole and calling assistance from aliens, maybe you should just take a page from TvTropes and asks Why Don’t You Just Shoot Him?
MW – Mary’s meddlesense is tingling. We’re off! However, she’ll have her hands full when the new guy storms into the condo office to complain about the piles of dog hair on the floors and the carpet damage from the two ton shrine to Bella, the original dog.
(No, there was no damage from dog poop or pee. Greta’s not an animal.)
(However, don’t look too closely at the floor and wall around the toilet.)
Frazz – Caulfield can’t wait for lunch, when he and Frazz will yuk it up behind Mrs. Olsen’s back.
Why doesn’t the school just place the arrogant little prick in two or three college courses? Maybe spending every waking minute on studying will “challenge” the insufferable little genius.
9CL – Lucille Ball and Harpo Marx did it better. However, that was only 65 years ago, so it’s too recent to be in Brooke’s frame of reference.
However, today’s strip is innocuous. No Edda worship, no pretentious monologue, no meticulously drawn and shaded legs, and no sociopathic twins.
As Count Weirdly shivers at the North Pole, Ireland is in a panic as alien starships descend over Cooneen. “We are here to meet where the compasses point South,” the alien leader intones. “We assume this means where Seán South died in the attack on the RUC barracks. That’s right, we’re aliens and IRA supporters. And what’s up with all these talking animals?”
[Note to reader: This was originally a joke about the aliens landing in Hollywood to visit Jay North’s star on the Walk of Fame after being raised on intercepted broadcasts of Dennis the Menace. Said joke become inoperative after a reread of the comic (compasses pointing south, not north) and due to the injustice of Mr. North not having a star. The management apologies for the lack of humor in either joke.]
Slylock – I’m always amused by Slylock Fox’s juxtapositions of high-stakes threats with low-stakes puzzles. Join us next time when Slylock has a sit-down chat with one of the aliens. “My planetary freeze-ray will extinguish all life on Earth,” the alien snarls. “Your oceans will be frozen as solid as this ice cube at the bottom of my glass of water!” “Aha!” Slylock cries triumphantly. “Ice floats!”
Dustin: Watch it, Dustin. Your dimwit buddy Fitch might ask you out for a date.
Curtis: Why does Curtis’ new hat look even more old fashioned than his old hat? The only thing missing is a little propeller on top.
DtM: “Drugging a parent so you can escape the house” is an act with varying levels of menace. For Dennis, whose mother is apparently kind if old-fashioned, it’s pretty menacing; however, if your last name is, say, “Duggar,” it’s more of a necessary menace.
SFx: I was going to ask why Weirdly didn’t direct the aliens to the South Pole, which is at least slightly more accessible due to it being on land. But then I realized that in the wake of the Anamalpocalypse Antarctica is probably now the mighty Penguin Empire, and His Imperial Majesty Spheniscidus is hesitant to treat with the Warmlanders.
MW: I’m surprised Charterstone was able to clean the pee-stained carpet so quickly. I bet it helped that Greta was house-broken.
BB: If you’ve been stationed at a base long enough to be giddy about “finally” getting a new mattress, it might be time to move on with your life.
CS: Last week Mrs. J had to flash some leg to get Crankshaft to stop, and this week she’s showing him bush.
FC: Oh, Lord…
“Mrs. Nelson, I thought you were on the road again.”
@Kevin On Earth: Slylock: “Lots of planets have a North!”
CS: “That’s right, darling. Get out by the street. Soon, all your worries will be over, that mean Mr. Crankshaft will be in prison and Gam Gam will have a nice big insurance settlement to cover her gambling debts… just like after Mommy and Daddy went away to that farm upstate…”
Phantom: What? Is this really the start of a new story?
“I’m calling BS!” — old jungle saying.
RMMD: At week’s end, Rene discovers the Mirakle Method does work.
“I understand now,” he sobs. “I could’ve made something of my life. I could’ve been so much more… A much better criminal! An evil mastermind! I could’ve been Doctor Doom instead of Paste-Pot Pete, which is what I am!”
By Christmas, Rene is the dictator of a South American country and preparing a false flag maneuver that will lead to his gaining control of a neighboring sovereign state by spring. Good job, Fergus.
@Ettorre:
maybe you should just take a page from TvTropes and asks Why Don’t You Just Shoot Him?
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Maybe Sly will see Just Eat Gilligan, and Just Eat Max.
C’shaft: Meanwhile the kid is wondering if they can look up “how to bring a complaint before the school board” on one of the class laptops.
Dustin: Dustin thinks his dad hates him now, wait until he comes out as transgender.
DT: “But there’s tea…and…is that a muffin?”
“I’m afraid so, Sam. It looks like the Mary Worth Killer has struck again.”
GT: “This isn’t about me! This is about the two of you realizing your mutual belligerence hides an intense, undeniable attraction!”
“Um, I’m married, Gil…”
“Then have her seduce your wife! Jesus, do I have to think of everything around here?”
JP: Except the audience, who has no idea what you’re doing.
MT: No, the worst question to hear from your boss is “Can I see you in my office for a moment?” Everyone knows that.
MW: Ah, of course! We’ve been stuck in a holding pattern because Mary needs someone new to meddle and marry off, at least until she finds a woman desperate enough to take Wilbur.
Phantom: It’s Kit, right? Sarvana couldn’t meet him as in Remote Asian Village according to destiny, so we’ve brought the destiny to the Lost Forest!
RMMD: It’s like the ending of The Music Man, only with roots country instead of a marching band.
@taig: #40
“FC: It could be worse. It could be Dolly carrying a shovel and saying, “Billy and I are playing with Jeffy.””
They’re playing “Pet Sematary” with the neighbor’s cat.
Curtis – Curtis’s idea of “buttering up” his teacher is to lie about how great he is? Quite the little narcissist already, isn’t he?
MW: Any bets being taken that this “new resident” (a hunky guitar player) will be Dawn’s “new love interest”?
Slylock Fox: This is actually just a representation of the kind of fluff and nonsense that Slylock puts in his reports because he knows nobody higher up actually cares enough to read them. “Yeah, this time he was, uh, talking to space aliens. And they were gonna totally abduct me. So I was completely justified in breaking into his home and beating him into a coma with my nightstick, y’know?”
Curtis: “That’s right, Mr. Wilkins! I’m an undying, unchanging homunculus just like you! We shall never know the peace of death, just as you shall never know freedom from these personal Hell I call a classroom! By the way, we’re having a pop quiz tomorrow.”
Dennis The Menace: Josh is right, this strip is FRIGHTENINGLY menacing. So much so that I thought up a whole joke of it being about Dennis running a business drugging his mom and then selling her body to the neighbors, but decided to scrap it after my wife agreed it was too dark even by the standards of this blog!
SFx – And…no matter which way he faces, he’s always pissing south! That’s a fun factoid they should have worked into the calculus….
Curtis – Nothing butters the buns like a generous helping of self-serve bullshit….
DtM – Mom’s kind’a spun – expecting a crash any time now….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
No wonder Weirdly and the aliens are in cahoots–they all shop at the same formless white nightshirt store!
@Mike V.: And they both know the secret “thumbs up” hand sign!
@taig:
Frazz: “Let me tell you how I have zero respect for you. I know, I know. I’m awesome that way.”
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“I read it in “The Complete Hagar” while you were teaching something about coffee. Also, did you know Vikings regularly had sex with mermaids?”
CS: Public school buses don’t go door to door! How do you write a whole strip about school buses and not have any idea how they work?
MW: A new character! An unknown! We can let our imaginations run wild! (considers) Can we go back to the Sunday butt shot? He looked more promising there.
Dennis – I’m pretty sure the joke is that she’s going to make him take a nap so she can get one too. But why does Dennis look so happy? I shudder to think what he gets up to when Alice is passed out and he’s supposed to be napping.
Don Abundio, translated:
“Uncle, what do you call this place where you live?”
“The Presidential Palace”
“Sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“Sure, that works”
“There’s no need to bother with elections when you have your kind of money”
Weirdly will set up a trap for Sly in Centerville’s Valentine theatre which is showing a revival of Rob Reiner’s “North”. There won’t be any witnesses. Guaranteed!
MW: The new resident at Charterstone sure ain’t Mike Nomad! Another opportunity wasted.
Curtis-Thank god Ms. Nelson is still wearing glasses or Curtis would never recognize her.
DtM – “It’s funny, every time Dad is away on an overnight business trip and Uncle Ralph comes to visit, Mom’s super sleepy the whole next day.”
Flylock Socks:
Is a spider’s spider sense strong enough to get it away from a spider eating snake? Discuss.
Curtis – Yes, it is more than a little weird that it’s the same teacher year after year.
This isn’t a rural one room schoolhouse, but a large school, presumably in the underprivileged section of a large city, complete with the two bullies Derek and Onion, who should have dropped out or graduated or been sent to juvie long ago. Or are they allowed to roam the halls and terrorize the younger students for lunch [money] for no particular reason?
Curtis and his younger brother never grow older in this comic strip, so it’s like the movie, “Groundhog Day.”
At least he’s learned enough this time around to try and butter up the teacher, rather than be a constant thorn in her side.
Crankshaft-Better than disguising her as a mailbox.
Crankshaft-Add another kid outline to Cranky’s bus.
Wizard of ID-“All I want is a shark with a laser beam attached to it’s forehead.”
SFx – Do you think Bob Weber, Jr. is going to get a hostile email from Moy and
GiellaBrigman?“You call that vulpine gumshoe of yours meddling? Please, we have meddling on lock. Go back to drawing your sexualized lady cat whore, Cassandra and leave meddling to Mary.”
SF: Aliens, definitely not (TM) or (C), also known as Not-Kang and Not-Kodos. Also, Slylock is clearly about to shoot Weirdly 83 times while “resisting arrest”. That’s one pissed-off-looking humanoid-fox hybrid right there. Max clearly isn’t sure about this but will commit perjury when the time comes like a good sidekick. Also also, come on, that puzzle would insult the intelligence of a 5 year old. I expect better from you, Slylock fox authors! I expect you to insult the intelligence of, like, a 7 year old.
Curtis: So many questions: Why is this kid called “Chutney”? Why is she wearing a bowler hat? Is she a member of the Orange Order? Ok, 3 questions.
DtM: Extremely menacing, perhaps excessively so. Let’s hope Dennis and his associates are merely intending to burgle the house and not murder his poor mother in order to sell her internal organs on the black market.
MW-“A confirmed bachelor eh? There are plenty of single women around.”
SlyF – I love how the narration box tells us that the “aliens have agreed to capture” Slylock Fox. They didn’t want to, but Weirdly convinced them somehow. Why? What does Weirdly have on them that compels them to enter into this “Ransom of Red Fox” scenario? That’s the real mystery.
The real story is what’s in it for the aliens. Either their society is riddled with minor crimes and they don’t have a constitution so Slylock’s method of assumptions and wildly circumstantial evidence would clean up the streets and actually keep the accused imprisoned, or they’ve developed a taste for fox meat, and you can take that for either meaning.
MW-Wait until The Ass meets the Charterstone Bicycle!
MW: Why it’s former Chicago Bears football brute Dick Butkus.
RMMD: Hah! That Mirakle Method will go right out the window when Rene tries to deny Mud the last slice of pizza.
RMMD: No one will be seated during the pulse-pounding tipping the delivery boy scene.
Zits Spanish to English.
Curtis’s hat looks old-fashioned? Chutney says “hold my soft drink” as she is wearing Stymie’s old hat.
@Sequitur: Disturbingly plausible!
RMMD: I’ve been wondering about the legalities of Rene’s entitled royalties. Did he ever legally change his name to Augustus Mirakle? If not, any legal documents assigning him as co-author are null and void. He would’ve had to sign as Rene Belluso. William Henry Pratt never legally changed his name to his stage name. He would sign all documents William H. Pratt AKA Boris Karloff.
@Voshkod:”the alien leader intones. “We assume this means where Seán South died in the attack on the RUC barracks. That’s right, we’re aliens and IRA supporters.”
I have to congratulate you on the obscurity of that reference. I mean, I’m a Glaswegian, from a Catholic background, with Irish ancestry, left-wing and anti-imperialist politics, and a real interest in history since I was a teenager, and I had to look that name up.
MW – Unseen 0th panel: “Mary, think something only a villain would think!”
@Alter Ego:
And mom really prays all night. All I hear from the master bedroom is “Oh god! Oh god! Oh my fucking god!!!”
@Liam:
And Wilbur. Don’t forget he is a switch hitter.
How has nobody mentioned yet that the new meddlee looks exactly like Aldo returned from the grave and got buff?
So rarely do we get a look Weirdly’s emotional state. Even here he has the same smile he always has, but it’s a mask…inside he is excited and nervous at such a momentous event. And his little purple ape-thing can tell, and so takes his hand, as if to say “you got this”. It’s a beautiful touch, even if he turns out he doesn’t got this because Slylock is spying on him 24/7. Gonna save that spider’s life, Slylock, or do you not actually care about helping anyone? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
9CL: This is a fairly underwhelming adaptation of the early Lovecraft story “The Outsider”. Yeah, Amos is some kind of horrifying undead ghoul. Bloody obviously.
MW: “What have we HERE?” Jesus Christ, Mary! Calm the fuck down. I guess we know her type now: moustachioed ginger men in jeans.
RMMD: Poor ol’ Rene, still struggling to get the hang of this whole hostage-taking business, despite his gangster image that he obviously copied from ‘Breaking Bad’. He’s trying.
SFx – Are we going to address the double faux pas? Weirdly and the aliens are wearing the same outfit. How gauche! Insult to injury…white after Labor Day. Tacky. I can’t even.
@Tom T.: Tom T., welcome to the Wild, Wild World of Tom B., where logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead after being run over by Crankshaft’s bus while on a solo car date with a sporto to get a band turkeys from a vendo in front of the local comic book shop.
Arlo and Janis: How honor Buffett through incomprehensible lyrics. Never heard of the song, Google picks up nothing. And why is Arlo calling him “Mr. Buffett and caring that they “stole” music from a multi-millionaire?
GT: “My poor judgment doesn’t change the fact that you’re displaying poor judgment on the field in front of the players.” Oh, Gog, I’m defending Gil Thorpe. Just shoot me now.
Dustin: I can’t imagine his dad hating that idiot more than he already does. At least the dress fits.
Ziggy: It’s not so bad that he got toilet paper stuck to his foot as that’s where he thinks his butt is.
@pachoo: Oh, fuck spiders, they are literally the worst of all living creatures. Why do they need so many legs? They’re clearly up to something, something evil. I hate to judge a book by it’s cover (figuratively; literally, a book’s cover tends to tell you a lot of useful information about the book: title, author, etc…), but come on, they are obviously abominations, that which should not be.
Vintage Hi and Lois – And Chester Crabtree wants his gloves back.
Crank: I realise “Ed doesn’t stop for kids to get on his bus, despite that literally being his job” is one of the go-to “jokes” in this strip, and never mind we’ve just had a week of that not happening in this case (and Batty can’t move the joke to another kid, because there are no other kids, apparently). But even disregarding that, is he really more likely to stop if he thinks there isn’t a kid waiting? Why?
DT: So, in answer to my question yesterday, I guess the storyline that started with Dick being asked to investigate a phone scam did end with “Well, we still don’t know anything about the phone scam, but we’ve got a hospitalised hitman and a burned-out building, and I’m calling that a win!”
JP: That probably explains why it’s all going round in circles.
MT: Wait, since when was Cherry working for the Sunny Soliel Society, rather than occasionally and reluctantly working with them in the hope of mitigating Violet’s cluelessly anti-nature decisions somewhat? The answer to “Cherry, are you mad at me?” should be “Pretty much constantly, which is why I do things like encourage your herbicide-happy lover’s wife to take direct action against the pair of you!”
OTF: According to the conventions of comics iconography as I understand them, if the speech bubbles reach all the way to Mrs Trellis’s window, that means she can actually hear them, no phone tapping necessary.
Phantom: I … I hate to say this in case I jinx it, but I think this is a new story? Even if it turns out the mysterious homecomer is Kit (which he totally is), making it at least thematically connected, the prophecy nonsense is officially over, right? (Oh wait, unless Sarvana is still there and we get weeks of Stripey trying to steer the conversation so that, after everything he’s been through, his idiot son doesn’t just blurt out Jampa’s name anyway.)
@Peanut Gallery:
Funny how in 50 years or so, the phrase “HEY! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO *CRINGE* AT THE SIGHT OF ME WEARING A SUPERHERO COSTUME!” has come to mean something completely different.
I’m not ashamed to admit that when I first noticed the little inset box on the giant monitor in today’s Slylock I read it as “EAT FEED LIVE” which would be a great self-help book title for the undead.
Crock: I guess that was on their bucket list.
HEY, DON”T THROW THAT!
MW: does Brigman have a problem drawing normal male arms? This guy looks like one of those Icelandic guys who lifts gigantic boulders just for kicks.
RMMD: bumbling conman Rene was mildly amusing but murderous kidnapper Rene needs to disappear.
@WEP: “Arlo and Janis: How honor Buffett through incomprehensible lyrics. Never heard of the song, Google picks up nothing. And why is Arlo calling him “Mr. Buffett and caring that they “stole” music from a multi-millionaire?”
Looks like it would mean a lot to a Parrothead, but took me some work. Buffett wrote a song about how when he was a broke young musician, he and a buddy would steal from the corner store. The refrain is that he and the buddy vowed that if they got rich, they would “pay the minimart back.” Parrotheads call Jimmy B “the troubadour” so this is a tribute in the form of a callout to that song.
Dustbin – The joke would work a lot better if Dustin’s sister had ever been shown wearing an outfit like that.
Dustin should have replied, “I can’t be like my sister because I don’t have a brother like me. All I have is a sister like her.” That should keep his dad’s tiny little mind busy for a while.
@Anonymous (but not that one): I’ve done a bit too much studying on terrorism for work.
Dustin-Did you see her Halloween outfit last year? She knows all about the value of hard work.
Dustin-“I can see why you don’t wear underwear it’s so liberating.”
@Daisy: “They’re playing “Pet Sematary” with the neighbor’s cat.”
And then with Jeffy.
@Garrison Skunk: And the Valentine is just the sort of theater to attempt to revive “North.”
@Rube: Man, we don’t pay you enough.
@Navigator: Oooh! I hope he’s back to take care of unfinished business with Mary.
It looks like he got rid of the Captain Kangaroo bangs. Maybe this time he’ll stand a better chance.
R.I.P. – I saw an obituary for Colombian artist Fernando Botero. I didn’t recognize the name, but the first line mentioned plump figures, and I knew exactly who he was.
MW: I fully believe that for “Greta” and “Max,” the money was good and the working conditions were excellent. Sid takes good care of his clients. But I’d still bet that G & M are celebrating the end of this dognapping/marriage gig. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again someday, but for now, they don’t have to stare adoringly at Eve and Saul and repeat “Woof!” day after day after day after day. What a relief that must be.
@Rube: Thank you very much. And Ukulele Ike is correct.
@105 Old School Allie Cat: I hate being that guy but…no I do not hate being that guy: The prohibition on wearing white after Labor Day referred only to wearing white shoes. The rationale is that the rainy weather that ensues will cause the shoes to get muddy. With global warming, that’s been less of a problem the past few years.
@Horace Broon: Crank: I realise “Ed doesn’t stop for kids to get on his bus, despite that literally being his job” is one of the go-to “jokes” in this strip, and never mind we’ve just had a week of that not happening in this case (and Batty can’t move the joke to another kid, because there are no other kids, apparently). But even disregarding that, is he really more likely to stop if he thinks there isn’t a kid waiting? Why?
Maybe it’s about this time in his route he stops to look for a bush to piss on —which makes me question Grandma’s strategy (and sanity).
JP: I really wish the grizzly bear had been more thorough.
GA: I really wish this bear would shut the fuck up.
CRANKSHAFT: It has been at least a month since I called for a giant flaming meteorite, so I’m calling for one now, STAT!
@taig:
@Daisy: “They’re playing “Pet Sematary” with the neighbor’s cat.”
And then with Jeffy.
Oh, stop it. Who would want to reanimate Jeffy?
Luann-That was all the self pity from Gunther the writers could handle. Join us this week as we rejoin Luann. Shudder.
@Hibbleton: I’d bet Dolly and Billy would try it, so they could make an utterly brain-dead Jeffy do their chores for them. It’d backfire horribly, of course.
@Liam: (Not-so) oddly, it didn’t stop the TruFans from maligning Bets, including one who speculated she was going to show up with two kids in tow expecting Gunther to care for them all. Get help, TruFan.
@Ettorre:
You could call Weirdly a traitor of his planet,
___
You can call him Weirdly, or you could call him Beardly, or you could call him Count, or you can call him Green Face, but yas don’t havta call him Weirdly (this somehow sold a lot of Lite™ beer in the 70’s).
@Hibbleton:
Oh, stop it. Who would want to reanimate Jeffy?
______________________________________________
Ida Know would, Not Me says she’s very kinky.
@taig: Sigh… not just a kid, but two kids? I can’t even.
@taig: #120
The thought of a reanimated Jeffy would terrify even Stephen King. =:0
@Baja Gaijin:
The rationale is that the rainy weather that ensues will cause the shoes to get muddy.
_________________________
…and Emily Post figured no white shoes, no “Muddy Boots”, no Mud Mountain. In turn, explaining Rene’s next “brilliant” plan for revenge: Go back in time and murder Emily Post politely.
@astroboy: “Baby Grimace” – I used to call him “the purple, um, grape thing,” but then he was front and center in a mystery, and his name was given as “Purple Pete.”
DtM: Umm, that phone. That does not look like a modern cell phone to me. Maybe I’ve missed another tech upgrade. I don’t get out much these days, and Greater Cowplop isn’t on the cutting edge anyway.
@Sequitur: L I S T O, L I S T O, L I S T O, and listo was his name-o
@Liam: It’s irritating to see Luann mooning over Flake Starhead again, but at least she’s not getting back with Gunther, which I suspect is the long-range Evansii plan and would begin the end of the world.
@richardf8:
@astroboy: “Baby Grimace” – I used to call him “the purple, um, grape thing,” but then he was front and center in a mystery, and his name was given as “Purple Pete.”
____________________________
Not Pile-on Pete?
@Liam: And if Mrs. Nelson takes the glasses off? “Why, Mrs. Nelson! You’re… beautiful!“
@Poteet: Flake Starhead was David Bowie’s worst persona.
@Weaselboy:
@Mike V.: And they both know the secret “thumbs up” hand sign!
_______
Video broadcasts of “Siskel & Ebert” reached their planet.
@Navigator: i noticed.Will Mary?
Because if that’s Also, and if he want revenge, he could rip Mary’s head off her neck with his bare hands.
Weirdly: I’m gonna lure my nemesis to a place where all directions point south. Can you guess where that is? Can you, huh?
Aliens: Well, if your planet is like…every planet in the known universe…
@Navigator: Aldo’s long lost son, seeking revenge? Nah, that might be interesting
@129 Poteet: You want a flaming meteorite hitting Crankshaft? Which one do you prefer?
At this year’s Charterstone Halloween Party, Wilbur meets his soulmate; wearing this. NOTE: No Wilburs or Speedos in linked content.
CS: Maybe the girl is Plantman’s granddaughter and she’ll pull out a gun and shoot Ed.
Pibgorn: She woke up from pretending being dead, kissed Padraig, and now he has a boner.
There, Brooke, you could have saved a lot of words by going with this. Was that so hard?
(Heh, I said hard. That should amuse Brooke.)
Late Thread Cuisine: This is the first recipe I’ve seen that starts with “Scrub the feet well.”
@Daisy: The Ass™ is going to ride her like a motorcycle.
Crankshart: Wasn’t it just two days ago that Grandma was flashing her bush at Ed? And now she’s using it as camouflage for her granddaughter. That’s sweet.
DTM: Voice on the phone: Good work, Dennis! I’ll get you all the Jell-O Pudding you want! But remember, stay in school and don’t use bad language!
MARY WORTH: Am disappointed the guy with the beefy arms didn’t turn out to be Wilbur after a few weeks at Planet Fitness.
@154 Baja Gaijin:
Mutton feet? I guess you can use a the tip of a hoof as a toothpick. Very handy.
@150 Baja Gaijin:
What’s that second one? A flaming ass or maybe a scrotum?
@159 Sequitur: Flaming ass. Oh, you’re talking about the one not inside the bus? Yeah, flaming ass too.
I take it that’s a typo and that you meant Oh, Dog.
@160 Baja Gaijin:
It’s a shame to wreck a perfectly good bus but sacrifices must be made.
@161 Scratchy Scrotum LXIX:
Gog and Magog. Gil Thorpe must be a sign of the end times.
I saw it as a scrotum. I don’t know why I always lean that way.
@164 Scratchy Scrotum LXIX: I am totally surprised. I am totally lying.
@164
ScratchOnScratchOffScratchy Scrotum LXIX :We’re you in the band The Flamin’ Scrotums?
@I Speak Jive Don’t you mean Grouch Marx, not Harpo? Or am I thinking of something else?
rmmd finaly giving into mudd bugging him as he is hauled away in handcuffs at last renee tries his own miracle method in prison . luann come on luann let tara have the seat for after all we all know piro is not going to show unless he wants to talk to tara bout some more family history between them. or maybe wish he was back with bernice
*I mean, of course, Groucho, not Grouch. That’ll teach me to proofread my posts!
@Peanut Gallery: #144: Standard rom-com cliche rules also demand that Mrs. Nelson let her hair down before Curtis can make that comment.
CS: Ed will stop the bus, get out, relieve himself on the little girl, hop back in, and drive off laughing maniacally.
@Baja Gaijin: @Ukranazi Stepan:
Flylock Socks:
Is a spider’s spider sense strong enough to get it away from a spider eating snake? Discuss.
________________________________
Is the spider currently eating the snake it’s trying to get away from?
@Voshkod: Bwahaha!
@Mikey:
*I mean, of course, Groucho, not Grouch. That’ll teach me to proofread my posts!
_________________________
My niece used to call them The Grouch Brothers.
@Baja Gaijin: The Ass! The Ass! *tosses a little confetti*
@richardf8:
@astroboy: “Baby Grimace” – I used to call him “the purple, um, grape thing,” but then he was front and center in a mystery, and his name was given as “Purple Pete.”
_____________________________
“McDonald’s She Wrote”? With Angela Lansbury as Chirpy, the Early Bird?
@175 Poteet: I thought you’d like the Flying Flaming Fanny.
@Baja Gaijin: NOPE.
Food that watches you is bad enough, but it looks like that dish could run away. Considering what that looks like, that’s not a bad thing.
@Mikey: Are you thinking of the mirror scene in Duck Soup? I was referring to the reenactment on I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball and Harpo Marx did it.
I thought of that because (hangs head in shame) I have never seen Duck Soup. I have a videotape of the I Love Lucy episode.
I should have referenced Duck Soup. Brooke would be familiar with 1933 entertainment.
@177 Baja Gaijin:
It gets the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award presented by Freddy Farkle.
Rather late night Family Circus.
@180 Sequitur: I dunno. That seems more like a Jeffy line.