Yeah, I’m using brand names and generics interchangeably. Deal with it
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Shoe, 4/2/25
You know, I was going to joke here about how the snuggie’s brief moment as a cultural sensation came and went in 2009, which I regret to inform everyone was literally 16 years ago, and I started squinting at the “2025” in the Perfesser’s word balloon to see if it had been altered from some earlier and more appropriate date, but then, I thought, you know what? Blankets with sleeves are pretty cool, honestly a lot cooler than anything we’ve developed since, technology-wise. Did you know you can get them with a little pocket for your remote control now? Why is that kind of innovation not being applied in the flying car field? It’s truly shameful.
The Phantom, 4/2/25
I do feel bad for Kadia, whose world as a cloistered rich girl was shattered when she learned that her family riches came from supervillainy. Still, you have to admit that “I was afraid to warn Kit … Kadia can lose her grip on reality and become unpredictable” is an extremely funny thing to think about a girl you’re trying to set your brother up with. Anyway, could her psychic trauma from being the daughter of a supervillain be healed by becoming the wife of a superhero? I’m not a “licensed therapist,” but this is a superhero comic, so almost certainly yes.
Mary Worth, 4/2/25
I’ve never really imagined that the Santa Royale culinary scene is vibrant, exactly, but I still find it pretty wild that Wilbur feels so short of options that he would voluntarily return to My Thai, the restaurant that was the site of one of his biggest humiliations, which is really saying something. I guess it’s possible that that he’s only at this moment realizing that accidentally-but-not-really spilling something on someone at dinner when you’re drunk and/or on whatever it is that has Belle’s eyes looking like that seems cool when you’re doing it, but when you’re sober and watching it happen, you realize it’s actually not very cool at all.
Mother Goose and Grimm, 4/2/25
“Wait, so you had … a job? …in England?”
181 replies to “Yeah, I’m using brand names and generics interchangeably. Deal with it”
MG&G: When I think of that, all I can think of is that Monty Python sketch, where aliens invade and are turning the world’s populace into Scotsman. So that the aliens can win at Wimbledon.
(Because Scottish people are supposedly terrible at tennis?)
SHOE: OK, I’ll be the first to state the obvious; birds can fly.
MW: Hot mustard to the eyes would have been more immediate, but who am I to judge?
RMMD: When word gets out what a date with Summer will get you, she may as well just go into a convent.
9CL: Edda must be proud. Parents always want their children to do better than they did, and LollyPolly makes Mom look like a celibate saint.
Phantom: When I saw the sound effect in panel one, I thought one of those guys was farting.
MW: When Belle was first pictured, I wondered how a guy like Wilbur could attract such talent. Mystery solved.
MG&G: Personally I’d save my Wimbledon jokes for July, when the tournament actually takes place, but I see why when you have a truly hilarious joke like “dog chases tennis ball”, you’d be too excited to wait.
Shoe: Do birds need flying cars? Would they actually invent flying cars *before* wheeled ones, given that you can’t exactly drive up a tree? If it’s 2025, how come Shoe is smoking a big ole cigar at the bar? Many things to discuss.
Shoe – Well…don’t forget we now have pre-moistened ass wipes….
Phantom – Say Kit…did I mention we’re all fucked…and not I the good way….
MW – Don’t the restaurant soy sauce containers have the goofy red cap on top, that only allow a drop to come out at a time? I sense this might be a conspiracy….
MG&G – It had nothing to do with the leg humping….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
GT: Is that baseball player supposed to be catching an errant throw on the first or third base line? And why am I expecting so much from the artist?
RMMD: I’m rooting for CO asphyxiation myself. Or is that “for myself”?
CS: Ed’s found the perfect accessory for his grilling. A mere water hose won’t put out the fires he makes.
MW – WTF is with all the messy eating stuff lately? All this Wet and Messy fetishism. Has readership dipped so low, Moy is specializing by catering to the sitophiliac community now? All I know is, to me it’s repetitive, weird and kind of nauseating.
MW – As he did before, Wilbur will try to wipe off the woman’s chest. The difference from before is that this time Dawn will enjoy it.
MW: Living in the East, I guess I missed the severe napkin, placemat, and tablecloth shortage in California.
Phantom:
“And by ‘The Nomad,’ I mean, of course, Mike Nomad, who is embittered not only because his comic strip has been out of circulation since 2004, but also because he had to share billing with Steve Roper even prior to that, even though he did most of the work in that strip!”
Phantom:
VVVRRRRRRRSSSHHHH!!!!
Hey, isn’t that the nonsense syllable that Jeff Lynne sings in ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down”?
MW: Judging from Belle’s eyes, it seems she’s been dipping into…what do they do in Florida? Bath salts? Next she’ll try to eat Dawn’s face. Too bad she didn’t get any soy sauce there.
MW: Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that Dawn had something splash on her blouse. But unlike the incident with Iris, Belle isn’t going to be trying to clean up her mess because Santa Royale isn’t progressive enough for interracial relationships let alone LGBT friendly.
MW: And, once again, Batts Belfrey ages 20 years between panels.
This character is just a mess so far. Is she supposed to be a Krazy Karen, a scammer/grifter, a psychopathic possible serial killer, a Whacky Neighbor, is she in her 30s, 40s, 50s? Moy and Brigman don’t seem to know. Her personality and even her look changes from day to day and panel to panel. Just winging it and throwing up total crap, as always.
MG&G: He can console himself with a Grimm’s Cup.
MW: Belle is way out of line here. Soy sauce on Pad Thai? An abomination!
MG&G: “If you buried it at center court, why is there a tennis ball in the shot? (Aside) Fire the prop guy.“
MW:
“Oopsie! I have to reclaim that sauce because it goes so well with this restaurant’s ‘Baseball Lovers’ Corn Special’ — the ‘Thai Cob’ !”
MW:
Wilbur tries to deflect interpersonal tension by talking about food. Now there’s a surprise.
MW: Dawn, if your next utterance isn’t to call Belle “Nerdgirl”, you’re dead to me.
Pluggers want to go where everybody knows their name, and nobody knows any TV shows less than 40 years old.
@astroboy:
And, once again, Batts Belfrey ages 20 years between panels.
This character is just a mess so far. …is she in her 30s, 40s, 50s?
She’s like the salt creature in Star Trek. Her look depends on whose eyes you’re looking through.
Why assume it was one of the guys? (My dead aunt, before she died, always said, “Men don’t know that women fart until they get married.”)
@Banana Jr. 6000: Dawn’s about as threatening as an ant fart unless she has a bowling ball and a homely geek with his doormat girlfriend nearby.
The Phantom: “VVVRRRRRRRSSSHHH!!!” Goes the Zodiac. “I love it! I have the best line of dialogue today! VVVRRRRRRRSSSHHH!!!”
(VVVRRRRRRRSSSHHH!!! was the name of my mumblecore band.)
MW: Given the immutable evidence we already have surrounding Dawn’s ability to put food in her mouth without smearing it all over herself, I’m not yet willing to concede that this “OOPSIE” was actually Belle’s fault.
@astroboy: Yeah, reading Mary Worth lately is like watching bad improv. Belle has a character, but no direction. Wilbur and Dawn are just taking up space on the stage, and going along with whatever Belle wants. And I suspect Dawn will fail to make any connection between Belle’s abusive date behavior and Dirk’s, which she JUST went through. It needly hardly be said that Wilbur’s not going to learn or notice anything, beyond his desire to get laid.
Also The Phantom:
Is it, though?
H&L: Looks like ‘Swamp House’ wasn’t such a bargain, after all.
Mary Worth: That there? That there is the look of a man who suddenly, unexpectedly, for the first time in his life will have to perform emotional labor as a part of parenting. The poor bastard is absolutely frozen with responsibility, when all he wanted was some mid-level pad thai and above-average sexy time.
@Banana Jr. 6000: Let’s see you “Yes, and” your way out of this one, Dawn!
The disheveled clothes, the moody Ben Day dots, the stark shadows … I, for one, was not expecting Family Circus to pivot into a noirish mystery strip, particular one where the detective attempts to solve such existential mysteries as, “Why do shadows only come in black and white?”, but if he can finally bring Nobody, Not Me, and Ida Know to justice, I’m game!
@Banana Jr. 6000: Nobody learns in Mary Worth or they would figure out how to use that mush in their heads without that meddling old bat giving them useless platitudes. Dawn’s been bouncing back and forth between staying with the father she originally rejected but now thinks that he’s the greatest person ever, suddenly rejected by her unseen mother who originally was her ally against her father, going through several relationships where she was either a doormat or the borderline abusive party, and not getting that liberal arts degree until she’s as old as Mary.
Mother Goose: And as consolation they dug it up and gave it to you to take home? Brits are strange.
@Needless Exposition: True, but Dawn just learned how to fight back against an abusive partner, which Belle clearly also is. Good storytelling does this kind of character development. Competent storytelling at least acknowledges past events, and justifies current ones (for example, Dawn doesn’t want to fight Belle because she wants to keep her father happy). This crapshow will do nothing but find a way to glorify Wilbur, even though the entire situation is his fault and he does nothing to stop it.
9CL – “Mom, Dad, meet the man I will spend the rest of my life with. He seems to be well into his 60s already, so I’m counting on a murder-suicide pact to fill in the gaps. And I’ve not yet asked him his name, so I should make a note to do that.”
I just wonder where TF The Master is going with this? Is the disconnect intentional? Does he mean to portray her as a dimwitted golddigger? Or has he reached the point in his mental decline that dialogue where a 16 year old girl announces she will spend the rest of her life with a man 50 years older than her doesn’t sound wrong to him?
Gocomics seems to have killed off their comment section. Which is disappointing, because I’m going to miss the people complaining about the 50 year old Fred Basset reruns.
@The Rambling Otter: Ah yes, one of my favorite of their shows: the blancmange.
MW: It *could* be just that Belle is a messy eater. For example, she has a child’s placemat to collect all the food she’d otherwise get all over the table.
MGG: Maybe the jackhammer went over the line.
@Banana Jr. 6000: I don’t know why Moy is so attached to this dumpy little man except for the fact that he draws attention because of his obnoxious behavior. I’ve heard rumors that he either resembles her husband (yikes) or he’s intentionally this way because she wants more views (rather honest but also irritating).
Flying cars seem great until you remember how badly people drive on the ground. And how we can’t stop people from drinking and driving. And how poorly people maintain their cars. Do we really need stalled death machines raining from the sky? But may birds who can already fly have a better handle on this.
***
“Wilbie.”
…
…
…
We’re done here.
I mean, is there a venue in town where Wilbur hasn’t made a colossal ass of himself? Last I heard the City Council was considering banning karaoke just to prevent people from getting Wilbur By Proxy, in which when the 2nd hand embarrassment is too strong it causes nausea and strokes in the audience.
RMMD: So, is Stalker Dude really dead or not? All we have is Augie’s non-professional observation, and the “emergency services” guys are just standing there looking at the car. But never mind all that – the neighbors are all peeking out their windows now, and see that Summer is with a man who has obviously spent the night at her house!
Luann: So… they’re pretending to have expensive cars, and, rather than race, they bash the cars into each other. I’m beginning to understand why they haven’t conceived yet.
CS: Plus, Crankshaft plans to pass it off as meth.
9CL: I think this strip might just have jumped the Brooke. (OK, I realize it did that years ago)
MW – Assault with a salty weapon.
FC: The answer is “God,” Jeffy. I don’t think your precious little melon head could handle any other explanation.
Dustin: Oh, shiiiit. I actually agree with the sentiment in today’s strip.
RMMD: Still nothing other than stalker-dude “looks dead” through a locked car? EMS milling around in the background, police talking to witnesses rather than helping break a window to get to the guy and check whether or not he’s dead? It would be one thing if his head was on the passenger seat next to him (not possible based on the earlier silhouette) or, I guess, his torso was hollowed out by a chestburster, but I suppose it’s just because all the medical personnel in this town have been trained by Rex at the medical school of Do The Bare Minimum If You Absolutely Must
For the first time, I think the modbot has eaten one of my posts. Should I be annoyed or honored?
MG&G: And you REALLY don’t want to know what Attila did at the Beach Volleyball championships.
Shoe: I said this back when Snuggies first came out. Just put your robe on backwards. You even have a pocket for the remote.
That’s probably ho-hum stuff to the neighbors. But if they were to know that they didn’t even diddle, I’d guess that would be shocking news to them.
I’m not necessarily against naming small boats, but you should keep the name short enough that it doesn’t extend off the bow. Also, maybe throw in a few vowels, Phantom.
MW — It’s going to be more like the “Muy Thai” restaurant if BB keeps this up. Well, and if Thai restaurants had bottles of soy sauce without lids as table condiments.
The Ghost Who is Not Self-Aware — Yeah, maybe Girl Phantom should have warned Boy Phantom not to stick his d*k in crazy, but if we’re going with the Sins of the Father boogaloo then she might take a good look at her own ancestry. . .
@Dennis Jimenez: Shoe – Well…don’t forget we now have pre-moistened ass wipes….
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Pre-moistened FLUSHABLE ass wipes!
@Voshkod: That’s obviously the boat’s model number. It’s the VVVRRRRRRRSSSHHH!!! 2000 model II.
@Calvin’s Cardboard Box: 9CL: Well, Brooke already had 13 year old girls doing it with older monks in Pibgorn, so this is actually a step back for him.
@Lord Flatulence: I think he’s made it perfectly clear why he’s stopped working in Pibgorn. Why do twice the work for the same thing?
@The Rambling Otter, MG&G: The sketch resurfaced when Andy Murray made his run (and finally won) at Wimbledon. Blancmange was eaten in celebration.
RxMD: And another few weeks of finding Ring footage showing that they had nothing to do with his demise (or is it?).
Questionable content:
Is Jephthy at some point going to address the question of just why Faybbles are broke? They run what seems to be the only robot repair shop in a town where at least half the population seems to be androids.
It’s like saying the only hospital in a city is broke.
Scratch that, it’s like saying the only hospital in a city with daily gladiatorial contests and rife with genetic defects is broke.
I haven’t been counting, but. . . is Crazy Belle the first person in Mary Worth to cast a shadow? That would mean 1.) She’s ultra-sinister, or 2.) Someone from the physical has invaded the world of ghosts know as Santa Royale.
@Lord Flatulence: Ah, yes, an acronym for the Very Versatile and Variable Rapid Response Raft with Rivets, Ropes, and Rigid Rest Seats Supported by Steel Hafts and Heavy Hulls!!! 2000 model II (the model I was less versatile).
@Needless Exposition: Wilbur is basically Les Moore. Complete with the toxic personality, inexplicable attractiveness, and a career writing about emotionally difficult topics despite having the depth of a petulant 14-year-old. (SEE ALSO: Dustin; mother character; talk radio career of.)
Shoe-You’re birds! You have wings. You can fly yourselves.
MW-Soy sauce is thin and black not thick and brown.
Mother Goose and Grimm-The ruckus Grimm caused. Tearing down the net. Taking a jackhammer to break up the tennis court to get at the dirt underground.
@Scratchy Scrotum LXIX: I think it was just their relative positions.
MW: It’s odd that Wilbie Honey is sitting next to his daughter instead of his girlfriend. Is her rear end *that* big?
Phantom: After rescuing Kadia, the head lifeguard tells Kit, “Okay, thanks. We’ll take it from here. We’d give you a ride back, but these things hold only four, and Heloise here bogarted your seat.”
RMMD: Love how the EMTs are just standing around going, “Yep, he looks dead alright.”
Dustin: “You don’t want to offer an opinion on politics? So you’re one of THEM, aren’t you? Well screw you. Goodbye.”
GT: And standing astride this unparalleled dynasty is Gil Thorp. Gil manages to simultaneously coach boys baseball and girls soccer teams to state championships every spring. Unlike that sleazy cheatbag Gerads, Gil is truly the Good Boy of Milford Sports.
Meanwhile, Keri delivers a vicious uppercut to win the ball from her opponent.
Anyone else have problems accessing their GoComics account after the big changeup?
MW: What does Belle hope to gain by separating Wilbur from Dawn? Is “winning” Wilbur worth it? Of course not.
MW: June, honey, if you’re not going to look up references for actual vegan Thai dishes, can you at least make Dawn’s food look a little less like spaghetti and meatballs?
Shoe: Between the average behavior of drivers on the road, the erosion of the FAA’s efficiency and competence and Cybertrucks outdoing the Pinto on the fire hazard front, I think one of the surest signs of progress is that we’ve had the sense to keep cars firmly on the ground.
FC: After emerging from the cave, Jeffy can’t reconcile his perception of reality with the outside world.
@Dennis Jimenez re: MW: That was my initial thought–you really have to put in an effort to spill that much soy sauce from the average bottle. But then Belle could deliberately unscrew the top while glaring at Dawn, then hurl the whole thing at her with an exaggerated “OOPSIE!” and all Wilbur would be thinking about is how many lipstick prints he could rack up while Dawn was in the bathroom cleaning off.
Look, Phantom Daughter… I know you’re really trying hard to get your brother laid… which is a sentence I never thought I’d type and never want to again, but what you’re describing is a psychotic break or severe depression with suicidal thoughts or possibly generic comic strip mental disorder that ends with Kadia putting on a weird costume, doing themed robberies, and periodically trying to kill your family. Maybe just make a profile for the guy on a dating site.
@Little Guy:
RxMD: And another few weeks of finding Ring footage showing that they had nothing to do with his demise (or is it?).
I was left wondering “Did I miss the strip where McStalkie loads a VHS tape into a VCR?” or is watching The Ring a recognized medical condition in the RMMD world?
Shoes-“Even our jokes aren’t new. These are the same tired cliched jokes spewed forth by hack writers.”
@Lord Flatulence: Yes, but it seems to be working since I reset my password. For certain values of “working” — I was opted out of email delivery of my comics, and I see that the subscription price is going to nearly double when I renew. I doubt that I’ll renew.
So the new GoComics site is janky, slow, and overrun with ads. Meet the new boss…
C’shaft: Hmmm….*Googles*
“Prolonged exposure to silver iodide can cause argyria, a condition where silver deposits in the tissues, causing them to turn blue or gray.”
Not as destructive as Crankshaft’s grill explosions, but what it lacks in firepower it makes up for in scope. And hey, maybe he’ll cause someone to have a near-fatal allergic reaction like Buddy Ebsen with the Tin Man makeup.
Dustin: “Dr. Diva” would absolutely be my Bond villain name.
GT: Last week: Milford basketball has a mediocre season; Inma gets taken to the mat by her wrestling rival.
This week: NO ACADEMIC INSTITUTION DOES SPORTS BETTER THAN MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL! WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EURASIA!
MT: Yeesh, Luann was a less naive NYC tourist.
MW – My Thai may have a delightful array of splatter worthy liquids as a major selling point, but one of these days, they’re going lose out to Pho Saigon where where condiments include fish sauce and table chilies and you can just stick your SuperSoaker’s intake into your bowl and have at the entire dining room.
@taig: “I think he’s made it perfectly clear why he’s stopped working in Pibgorn. Why do twice the work for the same thing?”
Pibgorn started an origin story in 2019, rebooted it twice, and then just sort of went on vacation. Last update was last August. The archive now charges to read earlier strips. It’s finished.
Last story arc featured a teenaged Pibgorn getting married and having a baby at the exact same time. The reboot had long since lost all connection with whatever was being rebooted. And, as noted, he now can use 9CL for all his “hot young barely-legal teen girl falls for 60-something man, pledges to spend her life servicing him” action.
And the Wimbledon games aren’t till June!
Juggs Parker
Abbey used to be more stacked. That’s what’s wrong with ‘Murica today!
@Scratchy Scrotum LXIX: “Women don’t fart! They poot!— Richard Pryor
Shoe: No, we were told in the 50s that we’d have flying cars by *1985*! And the 1986 Haley’s Comet was supposed to be spectacular. The 80s were a big disappointment.
Mary Worth TL:DR MW
1. Belle’s “thought” bubble: “soya later!”
2. Belle’s after “thought” bubble: “it’s the
daanningwait-donning? huh? howdyaspell her name..?what was I thinking? oh, yeah..! new stage! or was that age? what?
I hope that leaves a stain.
yeah!! take that, DEAN!”
3. Wilbur’s “thought” bubble: “Belle must really like Dawn! She’s staring so intently at Dawn and clearly concerned about her shirt! This is going great! What other willfully oblivious excuse can I make?”
4. Dawn’s “thought” bubble: “Oh, no! My good washed-out off-purple shirt!”
Shoe: “Shoe, do you ever think there might be more to life than sitting around being pathetically and self-righteously bitter and smug about the world?”
“Nah. Anyways, let’s complain about Flex tape next. That’s still a meme right?”
The Phantom: Its always fun when the Phantom and his family talk like drunken idiots clumsily repeating lines they heard from an old mentor guy in some old kung fu movie.
Mary Worth: This was a very elaborate setup for a mere reference to the “bbq sauce on my titties” joke from Orange Is The New Black.
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: I’d call it an Adventure strip if anything.
MW: We may be seeing a Rashomon gag where we’re seeing Belle through Dawn’s eyes. “Batsfrey” may just be Dawn’s unspoken nickname for the ill-mannered Karen stealing her father. Imagine how Dawn seems in Belle’s version.
@Lord Flatulence: Yup… tried signing in to get told I don’t exist there. I figure it’s first week bugs on the new site.
Re: GoComics.com
I’m not a subscriber and just cherry-pick but to me, it’s looking not too bad.
It’s interesting that they’re allowing subscriber comments on the political cartoons but not the daily features.
We’ll see how long that lasts given these toxic times and the grotesque propaganda and inaccuracies of some of the artists.
It’s a nice design. They’ve removed some of the hilariously outdated thumbnails on the political side.
(Like the large Republican elephant patiently guiding the childlike Trump).
We’ll see how it goes.
@Old Man Shadow: Maybe Heloise is trying to avert this by getting Kadia into a place where she starts wearing a costume and fights alongside her family instead of against it?
Who puts soy sauce on Pad Thai? Gross
Seattle Times is working.
Yay, Seattle Times!
GT: and just like that….Marty and Clambake are gone.
Replaced by a statue of Divine Leader Gil Thorp.
Nobody does it better. Makes me feel sad for the rest.
MW: “Hmm. I can’t exactly complain about the assault; your invocation of ‘oopsie’ gives you plausible deniability. Well played. Want to go bowling after this?”
I’ve been reading MG&G for something like two decades now, and in all that time, I don’t remember it ever specifying a setting. But pinning it down in London solely because it has the only major tennis tournament played on grass, thus making it the only place this joke is possible? That’s the kind of creative risk-taking that puts this strip on a slightly higher level than Shoe.
MW: Since nobody in their right mind puts soy sauce on pad thai, at first I just took that bit as a further provocation on Batts’ part. Then, I remembered. Batts is not in her right mind.
MW: Dammit woman, you’re making sassy spiky bicolored badger wigged gals look bad.
Respectful and fun comments only? GoComics really doesn’t want me anymore.
Shoe – The awkward phrasing of “all we have new” has made me imagine Shoe indulging in a bit of Yiddish. “Is that all we have? Nu?”
Don Abundio, translated:
“Ha, ha, Juan! You look like one of the Three Musketeers!”
“Of course, that’s the role I played tonight”
“It’s one of those multimedia franchise things!”
“Ah, I love being in a play named after a candy bar!”
If Grimm buried the ball, how come he’s got it now?
@Navigator: The creative team went with Wimbledon because they couldn’t think of any major tennis tournaments in the U.S. But they’re Open to suggestions.
The only way Shoe’s setups make sense to me is if I mentally swap out each lame punchline with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s perennial “….for me to poop on!”
Because, really, why *would* birds want millions more flying machines in the air? The only consolation would be to hover overhead and let the droppings fall.
@Decima Dewey: With social security in jeopardy right now, Belle and Wilbur might need Dawn to support them in a few years.
@Navigator: Well, there was that one comic where Mother Goose was scolding Grimmy for chewing up Dorothy’s ruby slippers. “How will she get back home now?!”
And Josh deduced that the comic taking place in Oz, makes maybe a bit TOO much sense.
I mean, all of the talking animals.
@Navigator: Well, it’s Mother Goose. Aren’t ALL nursery rhymes set in England? Like throwing a cat down a well? Blind mice? Blackbird pie? Brit stuff.
Because of the odd spacing, I had a really hard time not reading “Wimbledon” as “Wimbled on,” which means I spent some time and mental energy, on a sunny spring day, thinking about kerning in Mother Goose.
Shoe: Yes, birds can fly. But have we ever seen any of the characters in Shoe flying? Maybe they’re not birds but just people who dress up as birds. Why they all do it, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the law.
(I seem to recall some guy who delivered mail was flying, but that could have been in another comic strip.)
@Dr. Larry Erhardt:
Wimbledon, unlike many other tennis tournaments, is famous for having a lawn instead of a court, so it does make sense that DAMN IT I COULD BE EATING A BURRITO RIGHT NOW BUT INSTEAD I’M THINKING ABOUT MOTHER GOOSE
@Nekrotzar: You could be eating Caviar and foie gras. (I kinda enjoyed Questionable Content today)
@Pozzo: That’s not a Zodiac. It’s a giant whoopee cushion!
MW: Dirk and Belle are siblings, aren’t they?
@Nekrotzar: #107
Did you know that “wimble” is “an archaic term that refers to any of various instruments for boring holes, like a gimlet or brace and bit, or a device used for extracting rubbish from a bored hole, especially in mining”? So Grimmy could very well have “wimbled” on the tennis court at “Wimbledon” when he buried the ball! COMICS ARE NOT JUST ENTERTAINING, THEY ARE STUNNINGLY EDUCATIONAL!
MW-Dawn, you slob wipe that shit off your shirt.
@Arabella: No, we were told in the 50s that we’d have flying cars by *1985*!
Who told us that? Popular Mechanics? But we were specifically promised self-driving cars by now, by Elon Musk. Well? Where’s your self-driving car now, Elon? Huh? Where’s your self-driving car now?
Does anyone know what it means if you try to access GoComics and it says Page Not Found and something about Azure Front Door? Do I need to clear cookies or something? Or is this one of those bizarre computer problems that only ever happen to me and Randall Munroe and nobody can ever explain?
Now that I know this isn’t what everyone’s getting, which I was kind of assuming yesterday, I tried it on the iPad. I can at least get to the sign-in screen there no problem. Of course, then it doesn’t like my saved password and won’t send me a verification code to change it.
DT: Kids! If you want to be a successful criminal, never go to the dentist and never brush your teeth! This has been a paid announcement by the National Plaque Council.
EC: Here’s an idea for “now what?”, Len. I’m sure it’ll seem a bit out there at first, but it might be worth thinking about. Have you considered not forcing the kid to play freaking baseball if he doesn’t want to? Seriously, if I wanted to read a strip in which teenagers must play sports, and any and all tactics are valid in pressurising them into doing so, I wouldn’t have quit Gil Thorp! (Okay, that’s a lie, there were so many other reasons to quit Gil Thorp.)
FC: Jeffy, dumb questions like that are exactly why Mommy and Daddy have banished you to the endless void again!
MG&G: As others have said, not only is Mother Goose and Grimm probably not set in the UK, but nobody’s even playing at Wimbledon right now. Honestly, the interpretation of this strip that makes the most sense is that Grimm, like Snoopy before him, believes Wimbledon is in Kansas City, and unlike Snoopy, he actually did find a random tennis court there that he decided was Wimbledon.
Shoe – Since the Venn diagram of people who ask where the flying cars are is basically a circle with people who laugh at bad Boomer posts about giving panhandlers job applications, I have made it my side hobby to hand those who share posts about “Where are the flying cars” physics textbooks so they can be part of the solution.
Mary Worth – I wonder if My Thai regulars are informed when Wilbur plans to eat there, since this is the best dinner-and-a-show you can get in Santa Royale outside of when the touring version of Hamilton comes to the local civic auditorium.
Mother Goose and Grimm – Wimbledon is the name of the town where the famed tennis tournament takes place in July, so my guess is Grimm just got a job at the local parks and rec department.
FG: I was honestly close to tears when I saw the baby Lizardman crying in the cave. I have grown to love this strip so much – great art and great narrative – it is superb.
I choose to believe that tennis ball has been soaked in full-metal, Grateful Dead-quality acid. Everything there is bloody damn logical, then.
@Daisy: (118) Well said!
@Daisy: The Lizardmen sure make cute babies. Shame they grow up so damn ugly.
I hope Dale doesn’t go cliche and become the default nursemaid. Dr. Zarkov seems much more maternal.
I can tell that the Bella-Wilbur relationship will go to hell within a few days
It happened with Estelle before
MW: I’m trying to post a Mary Worth snipe, but it keeps vanishing into nowhere. I can’t figure out what the hell I might have said that was objectionable. Anyway, you’re all missing a really fantastic comment, too bad, your loss.
GoComics – Yesterday I couldn’t access the site at all, but today I could. I managed to read my usual comics, but the site was slow. Part of the problems might have been due to my Kindle, which often freezes up when it isn’t losing my internet connection. Between the site and the Kindle, reading the comics was an ordeal.
I’m an unregistered user, and I think that I may subscribe after the bugs are worked out.
Mary Worth – Belle sure has a lot of quirks. Mary has to get involved before we know if the quirks are endearing.
Dawn should be used to having food and/or condiments spilled on her clothing. Unless the “messy eater” was just a plot device.
“Wilbie” – shudder. That would be a deal breaker for most people.
Rex Morgan – This is the most exciting and interesting this strip has been in ages. I give it three days before it fizzles into boredom again.
Speed Bump – Eeeewww.
Lockhorns – Didn’t Pluggers do a similar strip? In any case, Mr. Jive and I related to it more than we would like.
@csroberto2854: Estelle chose to hang onto Wilbur when he gave her a nickname that she hated (but now everyone uses it), when he groped his ex in public right in front of her, threatened physical harm to her cat for the most minor reason, foisted off a French bulldog on her that he adopted to spite her and her cat, made her think that he was dead, and yet she still stuck with him until she finally had enough/found a replacement.
@Will: I saw comments under most of the strips, including the political cartoons.
The comments indicate that the old comments have disappeared.
@taig: Re 9CL – I thought 9CL jumped with the World War II stories, but this current dreck is just as bad, if not worse. The interchangeable couples are bad enough, but focusing on a barely-out-of-her-teens girl who falls in lust with every random man she meets is abominable.
JP – It seems about right that Sophie will be delivering charity to people who have one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Mary Worth – I see some major differences between Belle and Dirk. Dirk was an oblivious My Way or the Highway type who didn’t see Dawnie as a person – it didn’t occur to him that he couldn’t tell her what to do. Belle, on the other hand, is fixated on Wilbie and sees Dawn as a threat. Dirk was a self-centered, inconsiderate bully who tried to dominate Dawn, while Belle is a crazy bully who is trying to get rid of her or at least make her look bad.
I wonder how Mary will get involved and what platitudes she will trot out to solve this.
Cosmo had a flying car that time he got drunk and drove his pink Cadillac the wrong way off that one way branch. It spun into the koi pond, there was one survivor.The police bird was unimpressed with Mr. Fishhawk’s excuse “I was only going one way,Officer!”
Is it weird that “MG&G” has now referenced England more in one strip than “Fred Bassett” and “Andy Capp” have over the last 15 months combined?
@White Rabbit: . I can’t figure out what the hell I might have said that was objectionable.
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Go ask “Alice” when she’s 10 foot tall.
@I speak Jive: re: 9CL: What? You don’t believe in true love?
FG: Flash’s job, of course, will be catching bugs to feed the lil’ rugrat.
@I speak Jive: I wonder how Mary will get involved and what platitudes she will trot out to solve this.
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She’ll say, “Tell Belle, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.'” at which point, Belle will pull out a handgun.
@Will: re: GoComics Comments – They do still have a comments section for each comic, but they’ve made it harder to get to if you’re a paying subscriber who reads the comics from a personalized GoComics page that you’ve set up yourself. Right now, if you’re reading your page and want to comment on and/or “like” a comic, there’s no way to do it from your page. Instead, you have to click on the comic title to open its own page and maybe click “like” and then see how many comments you can read before you get to one that’s overly literal-minded and/or pedantic. (I count myself lucky if it’s not the very first comment.)
TLDR – The revamped GoComics site has made it so there’s a little less functionality for paying subscribers. Good times.
@Anonymous: I was finally able to access GoComics this morning, revise my password, read everything on my page, and change my username from User6684 to “Ukulele Ike” without the space, because spacing is forbidden.
I notice that GoComics now EMAILS me all my stuff…at 5PM sharp. I simply need to revise my day by going to bed at 8AM, get up and make breakfast by 6PM, enjoy the convenience of reading the funny pages in my mail, and post snark here by sundown. Thanks, GC!!!
MW: Th3 op1n1on of Harv3y R1chards, Lawy3r for Ch1ldr3n, 1s that und3r th3 doctr1n3 of Oops13 D1x1t, B3ll3 1s not r3spons1bl3 for th3 sp1ll3d soy sauc3. L3gally, 1t was an acc1d3nt. Sorry, Dawn, th3 law 1s pow3rl3ss to prot3ct you.
I like how the Mother Goose and Grimm thought the joke was so great he couldn’t hold on to it for a couple of months.
@Batiuk’s Attic: Just like I was so excited for that observation that I couldn’t be bothered to type artist or writer.
MW: Belle borrows a bottle of soy sauce for the express purpose of throwing it at Dawn’s tits. Let the speculation on her psych diagnosis commence. Personally I hope it turns out to be something cannibalism-related.
Phantom: So, Heloise let Kit go swimming with Kadia without mentioning her frequent urges toward self-annihilation. We all have our little oopsies.
Shoe: The. Perfesser. And. Shoe. Can. Already. Fly.
@White Rabbit:
We see the problem. It’s the H word, which appears as the fourth word of your post.
JUMP STREET:. Has been laugh-out-loud funny the past two days. Too-good-to-be-true Sunny gets one-upped by her friend Dexter whom, I think, she short sheeted at camp last summer.
FRAZZ:. My machine said April 2 is ” National Check the Facts Day.”. Maybe we’ll make it a 364-day habit.
PHANTOM:. Speaking of checking the facts, Heloise shows why a salesperson should always be doubted.
FG:. Ethical dilemma, do you save the child of your enemy, knowing it may just be bait to ensnare you?
9CL: If Polly is going to spend the rest of her life with Random McOlddude then much of that time—the healthiest stretch, probably—will be after she has him mummified.
C-Shaft: The difference between Bean’s End and the Acme Corporation is that Wile E. Coyote was actually shown doing funny things with Acme products, while Crankshaft just talks about Bean’s End products and Batiuk assumes it will be hilarious.
DtM: How could Dennis and his pals feed scraps to the birds they’d already eaten? Yes, folks, the real menace is ambiguous syntax.
Dustin: It’s a safe assumption that Dr. Diva is also a drag queen who wears a head mirror onstage.
GT: Keri tries to pull focus from good ol’ dad by elbowing a girl in the face.
JP: “I know Norway is always voted Happiest Country in the World, but that’s bullshit. Belize is getting robbed, I tell you, robbed!”
RMMD: Summer, you can just say “walked out on a date.” “An arranged date” makes it sound like your mother and Stalky’s mother wanted the two of you to get married.
FC – Kid, just stand in front of that wall and your shadow will be black and blue. As will you be if you don’t shut up and quit bothering me.
@I speak Jive: The only thing those two have in common is that they’ve swapped spit with a Weston. And you’re right about how they both regard Dawn with Dirk seeing her as an object to vent his childish anger at (Moy’s a little too hesitant about playing the domestic violence card as we saw with Jess) and Belle sees her as a threat to getting at Wilbur so she resorts to passive aggressive bullying while love bombing Wilbur so he’s oblivious to her motives.
Even though, let’s face it, Dawn is way too old to be part of a Parent Trap stepmother plot. Any adult child would just let their parent do what they want and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Unlike the Westons who regularly share stories about each other’s sex lives and believe that everyone else is the problem.
I’m now convinced that the MW author has never actually been to a Thai restaurant.
Honestly that strip feels vaguely racist.
@Activist: FG: It’s a foundling. This is The Way
(-:
@The Witch:
oh god I just realized they’re eating with chopsticks
I can’t stand it.
@The Witch: The irony is that Karen Moy appears to be Asian but is writing about a place that is morally and ethically stuck in the 1950s where a Southern California town/city is more like a historic New England town. Every single major character is a heteronormative WASP who needs to be paired up by some busybody widow out of touch with the world but is portrayed as not just being constantly right but also the only voice of reason because everyone has the short term memory of a gnat.
@White Rabbit:
Could this be more pretentious? Spoiler: no.
@Cleveland Mocks: We see the problem. It’s the H word, which appears as the fourth word of your post.
I get it! A six-foot invisible rabbit, who wants to hear about that?
@A Grave Mind: Pretentious? Moi?
The Six Chix From U.N.C.L.E.
MARRIAGE:. There was an understanding that the way to chill the “cool” of characters (mixed metaphor intended) was to get them married. Then instead of having relatable problems and victories, the couple then have the yucky boring issues of parents.
Stan Lee kept Petey and MJ hot by keeping them childless. (Thanks, Mr. Lee). Team Evans likewise are keeping Brad and Toni cool by keeping them thus far childless and playful. Hope they devise ways to keep them cool while tending young’uns.
@White Rabbit:
I get it! A six-foot invisible rabbit, who wants to hear about that?
Actually, I was being serious, and what I said is correct.
I don’t know/remember exactly why the H word is banned, but some of the O.G. ‘Mudges who have been around here a lot longer than I have can fill you in. I think it has something to do with a troll with that name who used to post here before he got banned.
FG: The sure sign that a sitcom has “jumped the shark” is to suddenly introduce baby into the cast. I hope this isn’t a portent of things to come.
MW – It’s nice of My Thai to offer sushi complete with Japanese plate for people like Belle who can’t tell Asian countries apart and who need to spill some soy sauce.
I’m going to make two predictions:
CS: Ed’s attempts at cloud seeding will cause a torrential rainstorm over Centerville, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in property damage. Of course, the old bastard will suffer no legal consequences whatsoever.
RMMD: Remember the other victims of Stalky that Summer was desperately trying to get in contact with? One of them was heading to Summer’s house to meet her, saw Stalky there, and offed him.
@Guillermo el chiclero:
FG: The sure sign that a sitcom has “jumped the shark” is to suddenly introduce baby into the cast. I hope this isn’t a portent of things to come.
True. Also, I clearly remember when the popular sitcom “Modern Family” jumped the shark. It’s when they changed Cam from a normal well-adjusted person who happened to be gay into a mincing, overly sensitive drama queen who checked all the fairy boxes.
When writers of successful shows run out of funny, they turn to stupid. We see this over and over again. “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The Office,” and “Heroes” come to mind.
@Cleveland Mocks: Yeah, the freak who shows up some mornings to post childish insults at Josh under silly usernames used to post under the name H@rvey H@rveyson. It’s not like something happened to him, he’s always been a moron.
FG: Isn’t Bok the logical one to take care of the Dragonman kid? We’ll see his softer, gentler side as he and Hawkwoman Adrane(?) settle into a spinoff family dramedy.
@Cleveland Mocks: I knew you were serious, and I was trying to make fun of the prohibition itself. The odd thing about it is that there’s a renowned comic artist by the name of H. Kurtzman, and a prestigious comic award named for his first name. So it makes some legitimate comics topics a nuisance to discuss. Thanks for the enlightenment, by the way.
@Arabella: The kid is a Lizardman, not a Dragonman. I suspect the Lizardlady from the bar tales we just finished will be putting in an appearance. Of course, lizards are kin to dragons, I guess, so you may be right!
9cl — I know I’m late to the game today, but I swear I read that as “Bubb Letia” instead of “Bubble Tea”.
@White Rabbit: Leave us not forget our friends Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey, Lil’ Hot Stuff, and the rest of the merry gang over at Hurvey Comics.
Pluggers: Pluggers are old, decrepit meat sacks # 7,295.
@Rube: Thanks for this. I was thinking back way further to the username that was semantically equivalent to “elevated rotational force” and would go into these absolutely massive ragers about Luann.
@taig: Dustin: Oh, shiiiit. I actually agree with the sentiment in today’s strip.
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They should have stolen the line from “Airplane!2 The Sequel”
“What’s your impression of politics today?” ” I’m a doctor, I don’t do impressions.”
@White Rabbit: @Arabella: The kid is a Lizardman,
__________
Has Flash gone native?
@Ukulele Ike: Leave us not forget our friends Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost…
So very true! Although I always thought the Casper animated cartoons were awful. As I remember them, you had to die to be Casper’s little playmate.
@White Rabbit: Only vaguely remember those, with an accompanying faint queasiness.
When the Casper movie came out in 1995, some slick magazine, I think it was The New Yorker, ran a little art piece alongside the film review. It was a collage of Caspers, and was captioned “Casper, the Friendly Dead Little Boy.”
@Cleveland Mocks: That’s correct, but it wasn’t that long ago — last year, or the year before. I don’t know, I lose all sense of perspective here.
RIP Val Kilmer. He was 65.
@Hibbleton: #22: The Star Trek episode with the shape-shifting salt vampire was the seventh filmed but the first to air in September of 1966. The networks insisted on airing it first because they wanted a scary monster to grab initial audience interest.
@Guillermo el chiclero: If you wanted scary monsters, just flip the dial to the final season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
I should really binge watch that sometime. A parade of werewolves, zombies, ambitious gorillas, ambulant Egyptian mummies, evil robots, etc. — all appearing somehow on a nuclear submarine — unparalleled in entertainment history. Irwin Allen was a GEENYUS OF TEEVEE.
@White Rabbit: #120
Thank you! I’m always gratified when I come upon a comic that’s well-drawn and well-written. :-)
GT: Is Keri cold-cocking that opposing player? I guess being the daughter of Lord God Coach Thorp allows you to get away with a lot of shit.
@Daisy: Les Nombrils, aka The Bellybuttons. The Bellybuttons. The Bellybuttons.
@Ukulele Ike: #121
I had to take another look at the baby – those tears just tugged at my heart. Yes – who will be the infant’s caretaker is the question. It reminds me of a great New Yorker cartoon from years ago showing three explorers who come across a seemingly abandoned nest with a giant egg in it. They realize that if it is to survive and hatch it needs to be kept warm. The two men on the team look from the egg to the only woman team member and back to the egg, as she sighs in resignation. :-)
@Daisy: “Miss Vanderpant, we have a rather odd request to make of you.”
I like how Shoe is looking at the audience with a “there he goes with his flying car carp again!” expression.
116@Horace Broon: Re: Gocomics access. The “Page not found” and Azure Front Door Service configuration message shows up if you are trying to access Gocomics with the unsecure link. That is, http://gocomics.com. If you use the secure access URL (https//gocomics.com), then you shouldn’t see that message.
I noticed that Gocomics no longer fully works with the PaleMoon browser. The daily comic strips still show up but I can’t sign in from Pale Moon. Also, I can only save webp versions of the strips. If I use Firefox, then the comics are easily accessible in their regular format (usually gif or jpeg). Going back into the archive is a PITA now. It is still possible to get to older strips but requires some tinkering with the web page source code to get to the comic strip in the archive so it’s usually not worth the effort. When I tried to get into my account via Firefox yesterday, it failed to recognize that the account existed. I haven’t tried to get in after that. If the older comments no longer exist, then there may not be any reason to reactivate the old account.
I look at today’s Mary Worth WAY too fast, and thought Belle shot some sort of venom out of her wrist at Dawn, like a vindictive and hateful Spider-Man.