Odd jobs
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Blondie, 9/21/25
Comics Time is a damn complicated thing. Dagwood and Blondie are both relatively young parents of teenagers, which caused some of you to push back on my contention last week that “Blondie in the year 2025 is your go-to for the pettiest boomer gripes about everyday suburban life imaginable,” given that, going by age alone, the Bumsteads are, like the Lockhorns, Millennials. The thing is, though, that their every word and deed proves that they are not Millennials, but rather exude powerful boomer energy and just happen to be drawn as if they’re 40. If you need more evidence of that, take today’s strip, in which, based on the way Dagwood is holding his phone, I assume he has its speaker set at maximum volume and he’s forcing all these other people at the airport to listen to the conversation he’s having with his boss about yet another nephew who’s stealing his whole bit.
Crock, 9/21/25
Imagine a crazed terrorist bomber running straight for you and yelling “It’s kibosh time!” This may be the first time I’ve ever laughed at something in Crock that I’m reasonably sure is supposed to be funny. It’s not the punchline, of course, but baby steps I guess.
Dennis the Menace, 9/21/25
“Working from home? That sure would be a hassle if your kid was notorious menace Dennis Mitchell. You’d probably prefer not to do it.” –The Dennis the Menace creative team a full five and a half years after the COVID lockdowns led to an unprecedented explosion in remote work, apparently
48 replies to “Odd jobs”
RMMD:
“Darlin’, the tradesperson who sews pointers like the kind you see on my weddin’ suit here has a musical name!”
“Really, dear? — what is it?”
” ‘Arrow‘smith!”
Blondie-I see people talk like that on their phones all the time.
Slylock Fox-Jokes on you. Slick Smitty wore gloves.
RMMD-Mazle tov!
MW-Later that night another first for Olive.
FC-And the fourth, Broken Condom.
Phantom:
“Thank goodness I don’t have to use the restroom right now! — having to remove this leotard might waste precious seconds!”
I like how Dagwood says “Cora knew someone?” as if Dithers keeps her locked up at home.
DtM:
That looks more like a “Where’s Waldo” skyline than it does the skyline of Wichita, KS, where Dennis lives.
I know the jury’s still out on Blondie and Dagwood, but Carlos is definitely a Boomer. (See what I did there?)
DtM:
BLATTT!
“Dennis! Quit playing that muffed arpeggio from the Jonny Quest theme song!”
MW: Olive has Belle Batsfrey eyes in panel 6. They’re especially ridiculous considering her ecstatic “I want to do all of that” is to Mary’s “travel and meet people,” as if that’s something rare and exotic.
Time to dredge up that theory that Brigman is using these little touches to express her contempt for Moy’s writing.
Crock: Previously published or not, having a terrorist named Carlos in today’s climate is a bold move. Wear your uniform proudly Crock writer’s. At least we know who you are when the Animalapocolis hits.
DtM: Love the sour look on the guy trying to convince Henry to work from home.
“God, what’ll it take to get rid of this schmo!?” He thinks.
MW: to travel… explore new heights… be exposed to different ideas and people… “I want to do ALL of that!” cries the delusional teen as she jumps over the side of the balloon basket, experiencing this (very briefly) as she plummets to her death.
Even darker: “you WILL, Olive” as Mary pushes her over
Well, at least this time Blondie recognized that comparing the lazy nepo baby to Dagwood should actually be the joke.
LUANN: especially now, but even back in the stone age whe. I went to college, work and school were not mutually exclusive. Got some of my coolest jobs thru work-study programs and occasionally since graduating have taken adult ed classes. Work makes classes more meaningful, and learned of is lifelong.
So glad Lu likes tutoring and WeenieWorkd so much she wants to do them for next 45 years.
CURTIS: One book all summer? Quite an indictment of his school district, but that it’s more than I read.
BoT: man, glass buildings are pure evil.
FG: If you too are relatively new to this strip to read the backstory. Our current writer/artist who keeps it my ving so beautifully, so fast is not near as he strip’s creator.
it is once again Sunday. Time for JUNGLE JIM!
FG: edited- if you too are relatively new to this strip, read the backstory. Our current writer/artist who keeps things moving so beautifully, so fast, is generations removed from the creator.
CROCK: Carlos is inept in many ways. Here he’s terrorizing in a desert environment, and he didn’t even invest in transition lenses. Details matter!
RMMD: I’m seriously disappointed that Mud didn’t pronounce them, “Pard and Missus.”
MW: Olive is well on her way to mastering the art of mind-numbing, hackneyed drivel.
@Activist:
On Luann : I agree, treating attending school and having a job as mutually exclusive things like this (and as the barrier between child and adult) is
kindergarten*HIGH SCHOOL thinking.*No, seriously, this strip would work better as a FAMILY CIRCUS, right? Like, Jeffy is in panel one, and Bil in panel two?If Dagwood is the office manager, why is he always writing the reports himself?
Preregistering a Sunday Mary Worth Quotevestigation hypothesis: Benjamin Franklin didn’t say that.
DT: Some foreshadowing: the gel is spent so no zap gun versus DT’s automatic shoot out likely, and D.S.E = Diet Smith Enterprises? Electronics? Not a deal with Diet Smith Industries?
Phantom: Despite the suspension of disbelief, it is a beautfully drawn strip. The fire exstinguisher triggers are on the co-pilot side under the engine starter panel.
JP: Is this a new turn for the strip – focusing on how a idle young woman trying to find herself helps a young girl coping with the sudden disappearance of her parents?
MW: OK, we get it, Olive is special and will do special things. Eat special foods, see special places and meet special people. Is this a pilot for a spinoff series?
FRAZZ: Another juxtaposition — a defeatist feels big by cutting down a hundred-year-old tree, a believer feels big by planting a sapling.
JP: Ned’s lived in Europe, built a business (tho it crashed), helped free friends being held for Ransome, wrote and sold a script. And now she has to baby sit? Reality bites, but bite it back.
PHANTOM: I was wrong. Pilot may have been a Nazi but at least he didn’t murder his friends.
RMMD: so nice of Mindy to dye her hair to match the groom’s boutonniere.
@matt w: Yup. I should’ve also preregistered that this is a widely enough known misquotation that it’s on Quote Investigator. Partial match to Xunzi, honed into its current form by a bunch of anonymous quotemeisters, many of whom pulled off the rare trick of describing something as a “Chinese adage” that really was a Chinese adage.
FC: HTT Grandma finally requested an investigation from Child Protective Services, and now Thel is giving them the evidence they need about her day-drinking.
Carlos: It’s kibosh time!
Other students: Carlos….!
DTM: … doesn’t Dennis go to school? Wouldn’t work-from-home be fine, especially since the summer vacation is over? Come on Henry, just admit the truth – you won’t work from home because it would wreck your opportunity to have an affair with the secretary.
@Activist: When I was a kid, we had to read one book/do a book report over the summer.
I remember one student read Black Beauty, which was around 400 pages.
Everyone was ooohing and aaahing.
I had Treasure Island but didn’t finish it, and some of the other students were calling me lazy and stupid, including the students who chose to read “Mr. Men” books.
I love the irony here.
Rex Morgan Mashup: They forgot a panel.
@treetown:
MW: OK, we get it, Olive is special and will do special things. Eat special foods, see special places and meet special people. Is this a pilot for a spinoff series?
It’s Olive’s World (You Just Live In It)
@treetown: “Olive the other (tummy)-brained dear”
@27 Baja Gaijin:
Yeah. Cake. Frankly, in my experience, wedding cake is not the best cake.
MW: Wild-eyed, Mary blathers nonsensically while Olive stares maniacally. The balloonist chuckles and says to himself; “they all do that until they learn not to breathe the fumes from the burner.”
About yesterday, despite what I said. Out of respect towards Ike (who I apologize for annoying last night) I’m going to tone my rambling down.
Not “completely” but I’ll try to at least stay on a relevant topic.
Blondie: I refuse to believe that Dithers hasn’t already set up all of his nephews in functionally redundant VP positions where they don’t have to do anything other than travel and golf while they net somewhere in the middle six figures. Hell, I’m not entirely convinced Dagwood isn’t his nephew.
Crock: On behalf of all nearsighted people, I hereby call a moratorium on all “can’t see a thing without my glasses” jokes. My astigmatism is so bad I wouldn’t be able to see my laptop screen without contacts, but I could still find a large tower poking up out of an otherwise featureless desert. (And no, Velma Dinkley, the growling voice and size thirteen feet with fur and claws do not belong to your pal Shaggy. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.)
DtM – Henry needs a consult with Rex “I’m probably contagious, so I’m just going to hide in the garage from family life; don’t thank me, I’m a giver” Morgan.
DENNIS THE MENACE: Um, guys? That’s just the bosses passive-aggressive way of firing the department.
DENNIS THE MENACE (2): But you’re right though, Josh. How long have they’ve been sitting on this comic? You can tell it’s a relic from the “COVID era”, because Henry stupidly assumes Dennis will be home all day instead of having his WFH schedule coordinate with Dennis’s schooling.
BLONDIE: My experience and observation is that Millennials (and younger) are far more likely to keep their phones on speaker constantly. Boomers still remember a time when phone conversations were meant to be private.
MW: When I saw this comic, I actually said out loud, “Throw that little brat out of the basket already.” My husband asked me why I said that and I had to recount the bare bones story: Mary Worth visited the “special” teenage girl who she has a borderline inappropriate relationship with and took her back home to ride a hot air balloon.
His response was to shake his head and say, “Oh my God.”
@7 Bob Tice: I see what you did there!
@11 CanuckDownSouth: I think I understand…in this Mary Worth Mashup.
@TheDiva: That shows how poor a businessman Dithers would be.
I mean, Scrooge McDuck never gave Donald nor he would even consider eventually giving Huey, Dewey and Louie positions in the company just for being related. As he (being a good businessman) hires people who actually have genuine skill.
Sad to say a cartoon duck is superior than Dithers the more “realistic” boss.
(If one considers literally pummeling your employees realistic)
Both Henry Mitchell and Dagwood Bumstead wear bowties, a traditional symbol of emasculation.
I’m not entirely sure what this means in light of Blondie’s huge bust and Alice’s smoldering suburban sex appeal, but it does make me tingle pleasantly.
@13 Activist: on Luann: Luann’s lucky: Weenie World can’t replace her table-wiping job with AI.
@30 Sequitur: The promise of cake is the only way June could get Rex to attend this wedding.
@35 2+2=7: I thought Dennis was 5 years old. No school for him!
Dustin: “Besides, the creep is looking at me like he assumes I find his smug, mediocre middle-aged man vibe attractive, so I figure he deserves to be publicly embarrassed.”
MT: I always get the unsettling feeling that Jules Rivera defines “unethical hunting” as “any time a human being kills a wild animal for any purpose, ever” when the reality is much more complex. Hunting is an essential part of subsistence living in remote places like Alaska, and regulated hunting can help control overpopulation of prey animals like deer and elk whose natural predators have been taken out of commission. I appreciate her commitment to environmental issues; I just wish she’d approach them with a little more nuance than a fourth grader who’s just learned about elephant poaching.
MW: Oh, shut UP, Mary. You’re the sort of person who thinks dining at the Times Square Olive Garden is an adventure. You think you’re being multicultural when you greet Carlos Allora with “Hola” instead of “Hello.” Your soul has never ventured beyond the code-controlled gates of Charterstone, and there’s every evidence that Olive will grow up to be as provincially self-centered and narrow-minded as you are. If a peregrine falcon missed diving at a sparrow, tore a hole in your balloon envelope and sent you plummeting into the Santa Ana mountains, at least you would do some good in the world by nourishing the scavengers who came upon your corpses.
Pluggers are weirdly creepy around strangers.
RMMD: We know Lou’s not getting paid for letting this wedding take over his establishment; do you think any of the musicians are being compensated for the reception gig or are they being paid in cake and access to the Chik-fil-a catering trays?
@Bob Tice:
… the skyline of Wichita, KS, where Dennis lives.
Wichita? Looks more like Frostbite Falls.
Seriously, the early sixties artwork combined with the modern concept of working remotely is too much of a mindfuck for Henry. I don’t blame him for taking a pass.
Marvin – Is that a butt crack emanating from the front of his pants? Having two anuses (anii?) would explain a lot.
@TheDiva: (On Mary Worth) Amen to that!
@The Rambling Otter: Since when does being a good businessman have anything to do with wealth in this day and age? It’s all about stock buybacks and bribing politicians to cut regulations.
DtM – For some reason, the cupboard and counter make this look like Hammerin’ Henry has moved his desk into the break room. That doesn’t make sense. If it were Ed Kudlick, though . . .
MW: I was wondering what the hell kind of conversation this was, until I suddenly realized that Moy had written the dialog as new lyrics for “The Impossible Dream”.