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Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/12/24

As we move inexorably into a post-newspaper world, we do have to ask ourselves: who are the comics, as a genre and as individual strips, for, exactly? Primarily, they are for me, so I can continue to make fun of them on this blog, so I have to thank everyone involved for doing this for me personally and, downstream from that, for you, my faithful readers. But also they are for (and I suppose there is some overlap with the previous answer) weird comic strip obsessives who love the obscure history of this medium. This is a group that Dick Tracy has been pursuing with gusto for some time; Barney Google and Snuffy Smith is the second-oldest newspaper strip running, just a few months behind Gasoline Alley, so why shouldn’t they get in on the game? Why shouldn’t they bring back Bunky, the main character of a BG&SS “topper” strip that ran from 1927 to 1948? Is a new generation ready for the antics of a “strangely erudite newborn,” or at least ready to nod sagely and say “I understood that reference?” Only one way to find out!

Daddy Daze, 11/12/24

Speaking of strangely erudite newborns, I find the Daddy Daze daddy’s little smile in the final panel profoundly sad. Look, man, you know the “ba”s don’t mean anything, right? You only imbue them with semantic content because you spend all your time with a preverbal infant and are desperately lonely and understimulated, and fantasizing that you have bested this imaginary version of your child in a battle of wits is one of the most poignant and pathetic things I’ve ever seen.

Mary Worth, 11/12/24

Speaking of poignant and pathetic things, I’ll never get tired of Dr. Jeff just kind of hinting that he’d like to marry Mary and getting immediately shot down. Mary has it good now, meaning that she is no way legally responsible for the loan and insurance payments on this ridiculous boat, and she’d frankly like to keep it that way.