The fish skeleton I just accept. There’s always a fish skeleton in these
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Slylock Fox, 9/10/25
This is one of the most baffling Six Differences cartoons I’ve seen in quite a while. Why does the horse have a butt wound? Why does he look high as a kite? Why does the kid look so smug? Why does the cow look so sad? Where are the birds leading the horse and the kid? Are they leading them to their deaths? None of these questions are meant as criticisms, obviously, they’re a series of delightful unsolvable mysteries that I will enjoy contemplating, unlike the question of whether the clouds in the two panels actually look different from one another.
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 9/10/25
How much of Jughaid’s flesh do you think Sukey would eat before she realized he wasn’t actually a giant carrot? Would it be little enough that the lad would survive the procedure?
Shoe, 9/10/25
“No, he has a gang that sells drugs and stolen property out of ice cream trucks. He killed six people by burning down their house once. It’s really quite grim and I’m not sure why you’re making light of it.”
71 replies to “The fish skeleton I just accept. There’s always a fish skeleton in these”
Mary Worth Mashups: A few Missing Final Panels to make you chuckle.
MW:
“Olive, why don’t you continue the beautiful singing you started on the plane?”
“Okay! How about a little Talking Heads, Mary? — ‘We’re on the road to nowhere!’ “
Slylock Fox:
Well, I’ve got one for sure! The lower cloud in the left panel is clearly a cumulus cloud, whereas the cloud in the right panel is more elongated, so I’m guessing it’s a cumulonimbus.
BG & SS:
“It’s fun to jes’ stand around or sit around and do nothin’ but look at other people workin’, isn’t it? — you know, just like 90% of all the roadside construction crews do!”
Luann: Great. Another Sheldon Cooper except without the whimsy.
Mark Trail: Uh, you have the pool acidity tester there, dimbulb, not the nitrate testing kit. Poteet told you nitrate testing is dipping a paper test strip into a small cup of water yesterthread, putz.
Pluggers: Ha ha! Pluggers don’t recognize their own continuing enfeeblement. Such funny.
Six Chix: Is that Melody Mare? It’s been so long since she’s been on panel I’m not sure I could recognizer her. I know she’s not the equine talend in Slylock Fox. Sid, get her placed, ASAP!
Dustin: Ha ha! Dustmom is delusional about her vegetable garden’s cost. And she kicked Ed out of their marital bed when confronted about her delusion. Ha ha! It’s funny when Ed suffers.
Today’s “Shoe” is a perfect encapsulation of Americans’ relations with their ethnic origins. No one would brag about their relative being in organised crime, at least as small talk. But something happening in the Old Country? It’s fine and cool, these places are not real places with real people but canvass on which to project an exotic origin made by people who are 100% USian.
BGSS I know theres no point trying to make sense of this , but hownis this simpler than Jughaid holding the stick?
@Josh: The cow is sad because the horse snarfed down all the drugs. The birds have to lead the horse because he’s too high to figure out where to go on his own. The kid’s smug because he loves that the horse denied his mortal enemy, the cow, any drugs. And yes, the birds are leading the mammals to their deaths. The birds’ll be pecking on their carcasses for dinner tonight until the larger scavengers find out. Simples.
SFx: Okay, in the first panel, the horse is on tranquilizers and in the second, he’s just had a fifth of Scotch. That’s one difference, right?
Shoe: The Scottish Mafia had a small but impactful presence in America, what with famous mobsters like William “Billy Bagpipes” McEwen, Alex “The Big Kilt” Mackenzie, Thomas “Tartan Tommy” Baird and Henry “Haggis Hank” McGuire.
Cranked: Ahhh, so THAT’S where we’re going with this! Batiuk’s returning to form, using what we thought was a light-hearted, silly story to lead us into the tragedy that is Crankshaft’s house burning down with Crankshaft and Family inside due to improper space heater use!
@Baja Gaijin: Sheldon Cooper had whimsy? I thought he was basically the male Olive, an insufferable know-it-all who can’t shut up about how special he is and whenever he upset someone simply said “I’m sorry you feel that way” and continued blithely onward.
Shoe: Monster —> Mobster. Now do Lobster.
@3 Bob Tice: I hate being that guy*, but someone on the internet is wrong so I MUST correct him. Cumulonimbus clouds are the tall poofy clouds. They look innocent. They’re not–many airplanes in the past have crashed or broken up inside them.
* No, I love being that guy!
@11 The Quiet Man: The whoosh you hear is my comment’s sarcasm flying over your head.
MW: Who’s new at Charterstone since Olive last appeared? Saul and Eve? That’s all I can think of. I hardly think they’re going to lavish praise on Dear Olive. For that matter, who will? Wilbur and Dawn are far too self-absorbed, Toby will be resentful of Olive’s youth, and she’s too young to drink box wine with anyway. Zak/Iris/Tommy/Brandi haven’t been seen in ages.
I predict Olive pulling some Final Destination ripoff where she warns a bunch of people not to go up in a hot air balloon and then a big hole is discovered in it, something like that. Followed by dinner at the Bum Boat where Mary praises Olive and, for no reason, herself while Jeff drinks himself into a stupor while pondering his life choices.
Normally, when you’re going to run a horse-doping scam at the track, you wait until just before the race begins to inject them in the rump with tranquilizer. And you don’t put a conspicuous bandage over the injection site. That’s why the cow is so sad; she knows this plan is doomed to fail.
“To quote a meta-research paper, Loch Ness is the one body of water on Earth we can be most sure doesn’t have a monster in it. It’s been so thoroughly searched and mapped, for generations you just had to say you were thinking of looking for the Loch Ness monster and you’d get funding. It’s a pretty funny situation. Anyway, time to get some jokes from this century, Roz.” “Well. I guess then we know where your uncle doesn’t dump the bodies. He’s the. . .Not-Ness Mobster? Something Elliot Ness something? Look, we’ll workshop it later.” “Again, he’s murdered a lot of people.”
SF: Man, Uma Musume lookin different.
BG&SS: Man, Uma Musume lookin different.
Slylock…. human, dog, duck, goose, and chicken have been body snatched. The butt wound on the horse is where they stung it and injected their spores. The other animals that still have their minds intact cower behind the fence in horror.
@Baja Gaijin: Fair enough. I’ve just met enough people who actually like the character (seriously, how in the H#LL did we get seven $&#$^ seasons about him as a kid after enduring 12 about him as an adult?!) and worse, compare me to him. ‘Sheldon likes trains, and YOU like trains! You must like Sheldon!’
No, no I don’t.
FG: Final panel Narration box: “You Who Persist.” Getting flashbacks of Senators Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Warren, here. “Yet, she persisted.”
Funny, because when Flash was swinging his sword at Wolfang to regain ground and Wolfang was kicking Flash in the chest, I was thinking “Golly, these two are just like Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Warren.”
The cow is a veteran of the Animalapocalypse. She still remembers the excitement and frenzy of those early days, when they were making the impossible possible: slaughtering all those humans who had been taking away her calf and exploiting her for milk. But that revolutionary zeal is now gone, humans have been reintegrated into society. A young human dressed as the slaver cowboy is even replicating the ritual of riding, one of the great humiliations that had sparked the revolution in the first place! That horse seems to accept this without having the historical memory or intelligence to understand he is doing what his revolutionary forefathers fought to end! Nothing sadder than the ideals of your youth being mocked and discarded!
JP Should the judge’s wife be insulted? Or is there some Deep Lore about her being off finding herself and she returned after the kids grew up?
Curtis I know there have been school lunch cuts (not in MN where there’s a state program for all), and it’s a serious issue for many. But wouldn’t Curtis’ parents have known they were no longer eligible – those forms have to be filled out or waived every year? And then made Curtis bring some food from home (if he can make a sandwich after school, why not the night before and pack it)?
9CL: Belching vowels; the first and last masculine thing Amos ever did.
GT: I know that this strip turns itself inside out trying to be relevant, but what point is made by depicting the women as though their faces have been trampled by football cleats?
SlFx: This comes off as a “Surrealism for Kiddies” lesson.
Have the creators of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith ever seen a mule, or is this a Chinese lion kind of situation? Have they ever seen a human? Have they ever seen a carrot? Much to contemplate, especially before work.
GT: “The part of Mimi will be played today by Miss Piggy.”
MW: “I sense that there Mr. Weston is still there. I can hear his thoughts.”
“Oh Olive, you need to get out of there right now!”
“I can…ewwww!”
JP: Hah! Not breakfast at ALL! “With a bit of a mind flip/you’re into the time slip/and nothing can ever be the same.”
I see they both went for the club sandwich because they like the pretty ribboned toothpicks and how they’re cut into those cute triangles and think they’re getting a bargain because of the extra bread slice in the middle, but why did Sam get potato chips when Alan got french fries? And Alan is clearly thinking “Where’s MY fucking half pickle?”
Shoe: When I’m at a new restaurant, I always like to spice up the conversation by casually dropping hints to the wait staff that I’m connected to organised crime. Perhaps they’ll worry that knowing this information has put their lives at risk, perhaps they’ll just think I have Swiss bank accounts full of gold. Either way, you can bet no one’s going to tell ME “We’re a bit short staffed, the garlic bread will be another 10 minutes”.
Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids: I think the bandage on Ol’ Boxer there is meant to represent that he’s been whipped so often he’s been completely worn through. That would certainly explain a lot. He has a concussion! He’s off to the glue factory! The other animals will feast tonight on scraps of horse meat and gelatin! Only the cow knows the sad truth, as she sees the boy’s face, indistinguishable from the pigs who have come to rule the animalpocalypse.
“Mister Piper, your contract with the city of Hamelin specified, and I quote ‘said piper shall remove all rats from the city of Hamelin through the use of non-lethal means, to wit, a magical pipe of the musical variety.’ Instead, you removed three avians, one equine, one canine, and one human child, to points and places yet unknown. Now, you can repay the city the deposit, or we can involve law enforcement. Your choice.”
I liked Young Sheldon a lot better than old Sheldon. Even so, he was my least favorite character on Young Sheldon.
SFx – I refused to engage in any further analysis after it became clear to me that they spiked oxy in the old nag’s ass. Shame on you….
BG&SS – When I saw this, I knew the seventh seal had been broken….
Shoe – I’m taking the Firth of Forth on that….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
SFx: I just want to know what’s up with the kid’s skin. Is he severely jaundiced? Were the colorists going for diversity but unfortunately ended up on Five Chinese Brothers tone?
@The Quiet Man: I’ve also been compared to Sheldon, and I find it deeply insulting. Yeah, I’m a little socially awkward, and I’m passionate about some weird, geeky things. But I’m not a selfish, egomanical jackass like Sheldon is. I put a lot of work into improving my social skills, so I really don’t appreciate being equated with someone who makes zero effort. People like Sheldon can’t even get jobs anymore, much less the many friends and attractive women he does.
@pugfuggly: Or Snuffy could hold the stick. Or Hootin’ Holler could invent the wheel and Maw could ride a wagon. Or Maw could attach the stick to the mule so when the mule moves the carrot does too, which was the whole point of the original carrot-on-a-stick wheeze. Ah well.
@Amelie Wikström: Except that’s the funny thing with cryptids. They can only be seen if they want to be seen, can only be photographed if they allow it, otherwise your camera won’t work.
Shylock
Bossie looked disconsolately after her barnyard beau, Trigger, as he was led away in a macabre farewell parade led by their fowl friends, Quack and Cluck. He had seen better days, to be sure, but she loved him still, and knew she would never see him in their bed of straw again. Quack and Cluck tried to put a good face on it. But of course, they too knew what was in store for the horse. He’d been given a shot by the local vet, just to ease his anxiety, for Trigger was not stupid and he was certainly aware that this was the end of the line. He was going to God’s Corral. They passed through a graveyard littered with the remains of other animals they had known—Rex, and Stellan—and even the baby duckling and Rex’s successor, Bowser, knew it was a wiser move to look lively and happy lest the psychopathic farmer took them for sicklings and summarily joined them to Trigger’s fate. But for their part, Felix and Tweet would not play that game, and they had resolved to escape the farm, today. They knew that none of them was safe. Even the harmless blind mice had been mutilated by the farmer’s cleaver-wielding spouse. They were only too well aware that the whole MacDonald family was batshit insane, including their son, Anthony, who had a strange purple gaze and spent a lot of time playing in the cornfield. From the barn, Farmer MacDonald hollered toward the house, “What’s for dinner, Maw?” The woman hollered back, “Cow!”
MW: I’ve already been in psychic contact with the new residents, Mary and I got a thing or two to tell you about Keith Hillend. Oh, and Toby goes commando.
So Josh, was your reference to a Scottish mob that “sells drugs and stolen property out of ice cream trucks” just a random product of your imagination, or a subtle shout-out to the great Bill Forsyth film “Comfort and Joy”? Inquiring minds need to know.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087072/
FG: We had lion people and shark people. So obviously Wolfgang is going to be a a wolf person, right?
(Checks comic)
Nope… boo.
DT: “Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have promised no more killing until after I met with the groping venture capitalist.”
Dustin: The next year, Helen saved a great deal on fertilizer, her vegetables were doing better than ever, and the police relegated Ed’s disappearance to the cold case files.
GT: I want to laugh, but apparently at least one of the Divaling’s teachers is using an AI program to grade their work, so…
MW: Olive is always eager to meet more people to inculcate into her cult.
SH: I’m just impressed she’s not making that chittering noise.
@The Quiet Man: “Viewers tend to either think Sheldon is the best part of the show, or wish that he’d remove that gigantic stick from his ass for once.”
Snuffy: So Loweezy went to the time and trouble of making a giant carrot costume for Jughaid, when she could have just had him, you know, hold a carrot? Make no mistake, she wants him to get eaten.
Slylock: After trying to analyze the baffling series of events in today’s strip, Occam’s razor told me it’s Weber who’s as high as a kite.
No, I will not spot six differences. You can’t tell me what to do, especially when you’re foolish enough to give me the answers right there.
***
Those look like horns on the mule, not ears, which brings me to the very logical conclusion that the inhabitants of Hootin’ Holler aren’t misshapen people but foul demons from the very depths of hell.
***
There are, in fact, a few good-sized cities in Scotland. Inverness, with a population of just under 48K, is not one of them and is just the 12th largest municipality in the country. It’s like if you told me you had an uncle running an organized crime ring in the US and I called him one of the San Jose Loan Sharks. That would take a lot of assumptions for a pun that’s not worth it, wouldn’t it, lady?
Dustin “Dad, I am quite aware that you’re an asshole. I didn’t express any interest in what form your assholery took this time.”
@The Quiet Man:
I thought that Mary’s role! See. now I’m confused….(No, wait. The key thing is that unlike those other losers, Our Girl Mary has advanced into finagling other people into gushing endlessly about how special she is for her.)
Anyway the “male Olive” is clearly going to be Piro’s dorky brother from Luann who thinks he’s special because he and Bernice are the only ones capable of doing
elementary schooluniversity-level assignments…like keeping up with the normal pace of the class. (And say what you will about Mary Worth, but at least their “Insufferably Precocious Child” arc isn’t trying to do a broke-ass Rain Man pastiche.)Lockhorns: “He also says to take off my blouse.”
GT: “The score is 78-0. Shut off the fucking AI.”
GA: Corky’s Diner puts the cream and sugar in your coffee for you? That’s some service! “Check my oil while you’re at it, willya?”
Jimmy Johnson is an old man who hasn’t had a straight job in decades. However, whenever he deals with the business world or the modern economy in Arlo and Janis, he shows that he understands what he’s talking about. So, it should be possible for strips like Luann and Dustin to do the same.
JP: The waitress knows to cut the crusts off he-man Alan’s sandwich bread. “Here you go, Gums.”
RMMD: “What about your brother?”
The Doctors say at this point his hate for me is the only thing keeping him alive.
MW-Later on. “Nope. I don’t like these people at all.”
FC-“Oh okay then,” PJ says picking himself up and dusting himself off.
Lobster, Lobster, Bo Bobster, Bonana Fanna, FoFobster, Fee Fi FoMobster, Lobster!
Now do Chuck!
Slylock Fox – Both panels are stills from a post-Animalcalypse propaganda film explaining the state of the animal world under human domination. The beast of burden, “man’s best friend”, and other livestock are shown marching in harmony with their oppressor, while the transgender cow, the anarchist cat, and the wild bird represent the change in consciousness that was just beginning to emerge in the early days.
BG&SS – Given that Doc Pritchard is the only medical help for many miles around, Jughaid would not survive the procedure, and the Smith family will be ruined under the medical debt and Snuffy being in debtors prison.
Shoe – The Scottish Mob has the Loch Ness Monster on their coat of arms, since whenever asked about the Caledonian Mafia, members claim it’s just a myth.
Shoe: I’ve been watching British television on BBC America and Britbox for years. It’s my understanding that the whole of the British Isles are a criminal enterprise where you have a high chance of getting murdered.
LUA. , MW: The eidetics are coming, the eidetics are coming! They’re already here, taking over our tummies and now our brains. But looking at Jughaid and ma, perhaps we shouldn’t resist.
DT: Why can’t be both sexual misconduct and premeditated murder?
S4th: Ted’s Dexter vibes are showing.
Beetle Bailey: Sadly true.
JP: C’mon judge you have a lot going for you. Like how you are trying to kick start this hair style – early 1950’s LA Rams helmet, right?
RMMD: The truth is Cody has found a family of people who can tell him everything is fine when he goes and mess things up.
MW: Olive has already foreseen meeting the Charterhouse gang and their dooms – puts a smile on her face!
GT: In USA high school football, talent and execution is more important than actual play selection. A defense can know the exact playing coming but don’t have the physical ability and skill to stop it!
@The Rambling Otter: A little non secateur here, but I’m reminded New Zealand has a population of cryptid moose. They find droppings and foliage marked by moose feeding, but there’s been no verified sightings and no one knows where they are. The theory is they stay in water a lot.
No, dahlings – contrary to the rumors I’m not making any panel appearances today, even though there are rare Equine roles in both Six Chix and Sly Fox! I’m still “on board” with the Prince Valiant team, currently shipwrecked off the coast of Italy.
I’m sorry I haven’t been allowed to be shown on-panel during the voyage – apparently there’s some silly Medieval superstition about Horses on ships! Ridiculous, I know! So on Sundays I have to remain below deck, even though that other full-figured gal gets to be shown occasionally. hahaha Anyway, I think we’ll soon be sailing again and then making landfall, so maybe I’ll see you after that!
You know, I would have considered doing the role of the Spaced-Out Nag in Sly Fox had I been available – but that’s a fantastic performance by my old friend, Hector Horse! He’s a noted character actor who can portray any sort of eccentric Equine. He’s really showing his stuff today! I don’t know those two who have landed speaking parts in Six Chix, but they are also doing an exceptional job with their delivery and expressions! What a great day to be a Horse!! But that’s *every* day, dahlings…. ta ta for now.
Shoe: “My uncle runs an organized crime ring in Scotland.” “So he’s the Loch Ness Mobster?” “No, they call him Peaty Blinders.” “Okay, that’s a better joke than mine was. But what does your uncle really do?” “I don’t have any family. It’s sad, actually. Also, does this restaurant serve any food or beverages?”
REX MORGAN M.D.: Ok you guys! We are at the funnest part of any Rex Morgan M.D. adventure: where they rehash whatever boring non-story
the protagonistthe tertiary characters just went through to mildly interested acquaintances! See? Fun!CS: Maybe Ed’s hiding because he’s scared that Skip will interview Batton again next week.
Shoe: “My uncle runs an organized crime ring in Scotland. Yes he’s kilt people before!” (Come on, Bob Tice. That one was right there!)
@2+2=7: The only way to make it better would be a crossover, where one of the Judge Parker characters phones another and tells them what happened on Rex Morgan.
Did I say “make it better”? I meant “drag it out longer.”
Slylock: I think the weirdest bit about the horse is his feet. They don’t look like hooves, they look like human-shaped feet wearing shoes. Maybe the cow’s more unsettled than sad.
GT: It’s hard to tell who anyone’s ever supposed to be with the artwork, but that’s Gil’s ex-wife, right? The one who just became Athletic Director at that school with all the resources? I’m not sure what makes less sense, that the AD is personally coaching the football team, or that she’s acting like the put-upon assistant to AI Guy when, as the AD, she’d be his boss.
Slylock: In the first panel, the horse thinks he’s imagining the chicken is a chicken. In the second panel, he realizes it really is a chicken. Either way, he’s given up being an herbivore, so RIP chicken.
BGSS: You’d think Sukey would be more concerned about the cactus patch he just walked thru.
Goals:
– FRAZZ: I’d said Moby Dick was really about addiction, but rethinking it, MD might have same lesson as the Great Gatsby– that is, the waste and sickness of a life pursuing a goal not worth the time. And the cost to other people.
– BETWEEN FRIENDS: Susan’s goal is an interesting job. Her husband’s is in enhancing their retirement monies. Whereas their mutual goals should be staying alive and together.
CURTIS: pack a lunch. You’re liking a sandwich now.
– RMMD: OTOH, Cody and Truck enjoy their mutual goal of family. And it’s a healthy goal.
@Baja Gaijin: That falling A/C has to get them sometime, galldarnit!
CS: the spiderwebs! The horror! Hope Ed finds the spider under the bed with him. :-/
So Slylock Fox is telling a largely incomprehensible but ultimately dull story set in a multiverse reality. When were they bought out by Disney?
FC: “An’ I don’t have my phone, so I can’t make another PJ’s Tantric TikTok.”
MW: Olive is already working out ways to grift *all* the money from them.
Dustin: Yeah, Helen! You are doing something that only you will canonically benefit from (none of these assholes will even look at a fresh vegetable). Maybe you should think about spending your money and time on something that will benefit Ed… so he can still belittle you.
Slylock Fox: Clearly this is depicting the beginning stages of a revolution to restore humanity to their place as rulers of the planet by lobotimizing the animal legions back into non-sapience. The cow is sad because she is watching her family be turned into mindless slaves used for the amusement of the rebels’ children, and knows that she shall be next. Pretty grim stuff.
Shoe: “My aunt lives in Scotland, she says its quite nice.”
“Well she’s wrong.”
@Baja Gaijin:
#5. Baja, as I recall, last we heard from Melody Mare forewarned us she would be incommunicado while en voyage to Italy for her continuing role in PV. That ship has been on stormy seas so imagine even a quiet 6CX gig would look good to her.