Hi still looks super depressed, at least
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Andy Capp, 10/21/25
I, a guy who has run a blog about comic strips for the better part of two decades now, am, as you might imagine, a huge nerd. Nevertheless, I have significant reservations about the way that nerd culture has more or less taken over the world, dominating the entertainment industry while fans still endlessly complain that their superhero pals don’t get the respect they deserve. That’s why I’m glad to see that there’s still one outpost in the comics willing to make fun of the nerds, and it makes sense that it’s the home of America’s favorite working-class British alcoholic. (Intelligent Life also makes nerds look ridiculous, but I’m pretty sure that’s not on purpose.)
Dustin, 10/21/25
You know, I focus a lot on this blog about how Dustin is constantly persecuted by the other members of his family, but let’s not forget that, in his absence, they’ll also turn on each other, with virtually every intrafamilial interaction landing on a spectrum somewhere between “passive aggressive” and “cruel.” They’re not nice people!
Hi and Lois, 10/21/25
Oh, I guess the Flagston family is OK with the library now, because they need a third place to go when Lois and her book club friends start getting drunk and belligerent and their home is no longer safe.
Heathcliff, 10/21/25
Oh yeah? Well, I like it better when you’re standing either inside the house or outside the house, rather than the MC Escherian simultaneously-inside-and-outside thing you’ve landed on here, but you don’t see me complaining about it.
53 replies to “Hi still looks super depressed, at least”
MW: Does anybody else notice how Jeff’s boat looks like Dagwood Bumstead?
I respect the use of an ancient trope, and I feel that I am somehow deprived in that I have never actually been told to “Shhhh” by a librarian. That tears it! To the library! The liquor store is on the way!
MW: Jeff you idiot. Why in the world would you want to start Mary droning on about dear Olive? How do you plan to stop her? Do you expect to stick your tongue down her throat?
Chip is not in the library, since he’s busy sniffing glue or smoking pot. Your parents can’t see your eyes are red if they cannot see your eyes!
Andy Capp : acts tough, but he still hasn’t gotten over the incident when he went into Stan’s while they were holding a Warhammer 40k tournament and everyone was doing Orks impressions.
(Andy Capp had a “MY CULTURE IS NOT A COSTUME” meltdown over everyone doing really bad soccer hooligan accents, is where I’m getting at)*********
Dustin : “Yeah, I get it. I’m hopping over to Dustin’s bedroom to give him the exact same routine so HE’ll do it.”
*********
Frazz : that 12 year old girl does not give any notice at how frustrated and disappointed Frazz seems when she mentions that her growth spurts never leave her buttcrack exposed. She should, in fact, be incredibly concerned, and possibly report him.
…. Too far?…*********
Hi & Lois : …that’s supposed to be a library? It looks more like they’re in a random old couple’s house! (Who are sitting apart, in different rooms, with looks of profound anger on their faces for obvious reasons).
*********
Mary Worth : Dr Jeff asks to hear all about her most recent adventure, mostly because he knows that if he doesn’t goad her into talking about herself, the date will end abruptly and he’ll have to wait for her next victory lap.
Riots are the voice of the oppressed so I guess grawlix is the voice of the oppressed birds
Are…are the birds actually cussing? Like, in English? Do birds use the same curses as we? Or do these people speak Bird? Can I learn Bird? To the library! Today, I multi-task!
Heathcliff: that’s not a window or a balcony, it’s a poster that Heathcliff tacked on to the wall. That way he can always strut around and imagine they’re talking about him.
One of the bad consequences of globalisation is cultural homogeneity. So you have this British nerd passionate about superhero comics and Star Wars instead of, like, Dennis the Menace (UK), the Avengers (UK) and pigeon racing (UK and only UK)
“Your pointless talk show barely covers our car payments, honey. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
H&L: Can’t believe Thirsty isn’t in the book club.
MW: Jeff responds as programmed.
DtM: I actually laughed at this one.
“New in this Week: Star Wars”. I did not expect the first Star Wars movie since the Rise of Skywalker to first debut in a dingy shop in a Northern English town, but Disney’s management of Star Wars has been quite erratic
AC Look, I’m not saying that there is anything nefarious going on, I am saying that if someone were designing a Wile E Coyote-style ‘nerd trap’ it would look something like this.
Andy Capp:
Every time I see British humor of this ilk, it makes me doubly glad that we as colonies broke away from them in 1776.
MW: Jeff doesn’t interact with other people so much as he gets to “know” them through the lens of Mary’s experience. Thus, Wilbur is ‘quirky’ and not an ‘absolute asshole’, and Olive is ‘remarkable’ instead of ‘a creepy girl with dangerous delusions who is fixated on how special she is and you should absolutely stay away from air conditioners, dogs, bodies of water, and hot air balloons if she’s anywhere around’.
H&L: Taking two kids and a toddler out of the house and to the library is a pain but you don’t argue with the members of Lois’ post feminist book club.
Hi and Lois:
Unflappable Trixie sports an Alfred E. Neuman-esque “What, me worry?” look.
Heathcliff:
“I like it better when they sing.”
“[Bird}: “Okay. Heathcliff, you CHEEP b*****d!”
H&L: Meanwhile, Hi’s future self looks up from his newspaper and scowls. He remembers all too well the shameful day that his family was shushed in the library. But he can’t dwell too long on that feeling; he’s got a job to do.
@Ettorre: I would argue it goes both ways: globalization exposes people to nerdy things that aren’t local to them. Americans can now be passionate about non-American nerdy things, like Harry Potter and non-U.S. sports. I never thought I’d have a favorite English Premier League team, but I and a lot of my sports-watching friends do.
AC: If the nerds can handle Eric, a presumably drunken man wearing a purple pinstripe suit and a gravity-defying hat, I’m sure they can handle a little window-tapping.
Heathcliff: If we read Josh complaining about non-Euclidean geometry, do we see him complaining, or do we hear him complaining? Much to consider, and this is even before we get to two little birds cursing in unison while one goes his own grawlixed way.
Dustin: Helen continues reading from her marriage manual: ‘Communicative friction can raise the adrenal levels of a lazy lover.’
MW: “Tell me about her.” Jeff, Jeff, Jeff … dude, you just will never learn. You ask that, and then your dinner is ruined by a non-stop, blow-by-blow recap of shit you just don’t want to really know, only to banally agree to pretty much every conclusion that Mary comes up with just to maybe – MAYBE – get her to shut up, then you SWEAR to yourself that NEXT TIME you really WON’T EVER ask that question again. Then weeks later when you haven’t seen Mary for who-knows-why you ask her out for a sunset cruise and dinner, only to forget your solemn vow …
More questions for Andy Capp: Do…do they keep nerds as pets in Hartlepool? Can you adopt a nerd from Stan’s, and get your nerd chow needs met at the same place? Does Stan sell cute little nerd outfits and leashes? (The answer to the last question is almost certainly “yes.”)
Smallest. Balcony. Ever.
MW: Can we have Wilbur and Dawn back? Pretty please? I’d even take a Keith Hillend story at this point.
CS: Ed, you are 106 years old, in a world where people die in pointlessly and tragically. Listening to you bitch about your obscure risks, related medical conditions, and the cost of insurance is just insulting to everyone around you. You’re also begging for a bus filled with glitter from one end to the other.
Dustin: Hey Dustmom, aren’t you supposed to be a talk radio host? Shouldn’t you know how to communicate your ideas clearly and without hostile smugness… never mind, I answered my own question. Carry on.
@blammers66: Jeff has made his calculation, and decided that pretending to listen to Mary gives him a better chance of getting to first base. Someday.
Hi and Lois: Hi is miserable, of course, missing Tuesday Night (Canadian) Football or whatnot. But Trixie is ecstatic: they’ve brought her highchair with the attached tray. Tonight she will feast, on books! I mean in her mouth, not as a feast for her intellect. She’s going to put corners of the entire 36-volume Eric Carle’s Oxford English Dictionary in her mouth, is what she’s going to do.
RMMD/Luann: I see Beatty let the Evansii borrow his patented upnostril pose today. Evansii is really showing Beatty some new tricks but please, for the love of all that is holy, I hope he never makes his characters do that ever again.
JP: Tomorrow’s strips shows the completely destroyed kitched of Neddy’s cabin, black smoke billowing from the oven, fire alarm going off. Neddy turns to the raspberry-haired brat and says ‘You got any of that muffin left, kid?’
Heathcliff (in a sophisticated British narrator voice): At the beginning of the animalpocalypse, naturally, the very first thing the animals picked up from the humans were their vices.
For example, Raccoons skittering around looking for garbage, once they slowly gained sentience they started questioning what those white things were on the ground. Soon enough, raccoons are raiding smoke shops for their nicotine fix.
While birds as shown here, just tell everyone to F off. Over and over. They find it amusing.
This has been another edition of “Animals in the Wild” I am Richard Otterborough.
Dustin: I really like the confused look that Dustin’s dad is giving. He doesn’t get where she’s going! In truth, he doesn’t understand condescending sarcasm at all if it isn’t addressed toward someone of a younger generation!
H&L “You know, when you think of it, a joke is really nothing more than a thing that happened” -the writers of Hi and Lois, apparently.
Heathcliff: Really curious as to what Heathcliff’s role is in all of this. Are the birds swearing at him? Did he teach them to swear? Does his physical being contain some kind of random energy field that allows the impossible to happen around him? Actually that last one might explain this entire strip.
MW Ah yes, the classic “sunset cruise” starting in bright blue midday skies because Dr Jeff knows just how long Mary’s self-congratulatory speeches go on. They’ll be lucky to eat by midnight.
JP Does the artist really not know that little kids can’t be in passenger seats, or is Neddy already so frustrated that she’s subconsciously trying to get Charlotte killed in a fender-bender?? (Seriously, air bags will internally decapitate a child and it’s not just a height thing, it’s also about bone hardening which is why it’s usually illegal to ride in the front before the teen years .)
Josh, I do see you complaining about it. Your complaints were transmitted over the world wide web to my computer screen, which emits photons that literally enter my eyeballs.
H&L: In NYC, the City That Never Sleeps, the latest a library is open is 8 p.m. Where did Hi find this all-night library?
FG: So, given the choice between a cruel, monomaniacal dictator and benevolent monarchies, a high percentage choose the former. Good thing we don’t live in that kind of world. Oh, wait…
Hi & Lois: I like that Trixie is sitting in her high chair in the library. I don’t understand it, but it’s nice. She looks thoroughly entertained.
I also like that Hi looks miserable. Letting women learn to read was a mistake, and now they’re all paying the price!
@CanuckDownSouth: Well, as we established yesterday Neddy hasn’t looked at the ‘notes’ she was supposed to read before taking charge of the raspberry-haired brat. We should be grateful Neddy didn’t put her in a pet carrier strapped to the roof of that lovingly depicted Honda SUV.
RMMD-“You’ll be bigger than Les Moore.”
MW-Uh, Jeff, if you are planning on being a witness at Mary’s future trial or plan on turning her in you don’t want to know.
FC-“Mommy, why does Mr. Moore always cry and mutter about a last leaf?”
As someone who plays Magic the Gathering I can confirm seeing a stereotypical working class British man knocking on the window of the store I frequent would cause a mild heart attack.
***
Lady, there is a baby in the library. Shush all you want, there will be noise.
RMMD: Will Augie go back to the classroom to say goodbye to his students, or will he just walk on out the front door?,
@The Quiet Man: My kids would know and say they belong in X seat with Y booster / child seat as a throne, but it’s always possible Charlotte found Neddy’s mistake exciting because she’s always wanted to be in the Forbidden Front Seat.
MW:
“Don’t be a dope, Jeff. That’s only a picture she’s placed in your mind. I’m still stuck in a balloon while you’re in bed with a teenage prostitute.”
As a Brit, my eyes narrowed at the American ‘store’ creeping into Andy Capp in place of the more English ‘shop’.
It’s a sad sign of our continuing irrelevance that this last bastion of Little English parochialism has fallen.
@Victor Von: There are foldable portable, quick-strap-to-any-chair baby chairs with trays. That would actually be useful to keep Trixie occupied with crayons without worrying she’d mess up the library furniture, but given the general level of thought for the strip it’s likely the artist just doesn’t know how to draw Trixie in any other kind of seat.
FC:
“Mommy, when did this huge, misshapen tree appear by our doorstep?”
@CanuckDownSouth: I wouldn’t worry about Charlotte’s car-seat safety. We’re about at the point where her parents will suddenly appear and pull her from the car, shouting “get her to the safe house” and leaving a confused Neddy to try to explain to the cops what happened. Neddy’s arrest will be derailed when two CIA agents show up and take her to Washington for interrogation, and the strip starts an extended flashback showing what happened in Norway and (as it turns out) Laos during the time-skip. We won’t see most of this, it will all be cryptically conveyed by the CIA agents, or in late-night cell phone conversations by irritated-looking minor characters.
In other words, Judge Parker will return to normality.
@Tabby Lavalamp: Any noise Trixie makes will be drowned out by the pre-teens in the “education center” playing MMORPGs on the library computers.
JP: Forget about the booster seat. How does Neddy drive with her shoulder restraint around the steering wheel?
MW: Jeff be careful! Don’t…no!!!! There goes two weeks of our lives.
RMMD: Second panel: Augie’s agent puts him “on hold.” Third panel: Augie kinda gets into the Muzak.
Today’s Heathcliff, actually gives me fond memories, of a fantasy novel I enjoy.
Where a pothead college student ends up in a fantasy realm populated by humans/talking animals and various fantasy creatures.
He meets a talking bird (who had what sounded like a Brooklyn accent) and not certain what to do, offers him some gum in his pocket.
“Would you like a juicyfruit?”
“Thanks, but I’ve had all the berries I can stand for now. I’m up to my ass feathers in berries.”
AC: A geek emporium in the UK with no trace of Doctor Who, Harry Potter or Monty Python? What next, are they going to start calling petrol “gas” and dropping the u’s from their spelling?
Dustin: Dustdad may be a terrible lawyer, father, and human being, but he sure knows how to play dumb to his wife’s passive-aggressive nagging in the hopes that she’ll give up on him.
@Ken: You beat me to it, I figured that out just now as I was driving to work (I’m safely parked now, so no worries there).
My only quibble with your theory is you’re moving too fast. I’m betting we’re going to get a late night confrontation at Neddy’s cabin which is conveniently isolated enough for this to work.