Metapost: KAPOW! It’s the COTW
Post Content
Wham, bam, thank you faithful commenters for your service! Here’s this week’s comment of the week:
“Saul is over in panel one, pursuing his passion: narrating events to people in real-time, as they unfold.” –Victor Von
Oh, and you’d better BELIEVE there are funny runners up:
“If I hear ‘Electrothanasia Room,’ I’m imagining a mad science dungeon full of crackling spark generators and beds covered in chains and straps. Discovering it’s just an IKEA-furnished conference room with a complimentary buffet of coffee and cookies … well, it makes me regret modernity a little bit.” –Schroduck
“Never mind ‘Plano, Texas is a suburb where the median household income is six figures.’ That ship has sailed. Plano, Texas is so legendarily dedicated to high school football that I, an arrant Yankee, know about it. Why are you, Plano Plugger, falling asleep in front of a prime-time NFL game instead of falling asleep in the (googles) John Clark Stadium stands, like the good lord intended?” –matt w
“I don’t really know who Tess is, but this is obviously the highlight of her day. She was hoping Dick Tracy would barge in during the middle of the meeting. She would have been disappointed if he hadn’t. I’m 99% sure she even practiced a few quips that she might say under these exact circumstances.” –Joe Blevins
“Stanley isn’t quite ready to admit to himself that his plan for ‘suicide by hot air balloon’ isn’t working out. And this is his fifth attempt.” –Guts Dozier
“Editor: ‘You know, some people find your strip a little hard to follow. Maybe you could take an opportunity to reintroduce your characters. You know, who they are, where they’re from…’ Writer of Alice: ‘Sure thing! It’ll be completely clear after this!’” –pugfuggly
“Without the ‘tiny,’ it’s just ‘women sure are nags, right, fellahs?’ With the ‘tiny’ it’s just ‘Snow White, history’s greatest freeloader, never got over her height-ist mentality.’” –Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women
“Mary Worth is a lot more entertaining if you think of each day’s strip being an actual day later, with the rescue team going home each night begging them to please make up their minds on the rescue order by tomorrow.” –Tabby Lavalamp
“B.C. referencing OnlyFans is maybe the shortest turnaround time between something becoming culturally relevant and it being referenced in B.C. I don’t want to think through the implications of this.” –Alec Baker, on BlueSky
“I think she means ‘best in the business’ of rescuing people from atop pine/palm hybrids. Whether balloons are necessary is unclear.” –Hibbleton
“I swear, in all my years at the festival, a balloon crash has never happened! It’s almost as if we had been visited by some bad-luck magnet, who attracts doom wherever she goes! Of course, if there actually was someone like that, I suppose she would try to hide her terrible dark mysticism … for example, by pretending to be someone who predicts awful events, so it wouldn’t seem so strange that she’s present whenever they happen. Of course, such a person could never actually exist … Or could she???” –BigTed
“We’re going to be okay! I am a little concerned about the physics, though. Shouldn’t our combined masses create sufficient inertia to slide us off these pines’ rather thin outer branches? I’m not afraid of falling, in other words, I’m afraid of why we haven’t fallen.” –I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
“WORST person to trust with a pile of cash. He won’t WANT to, but his very Dagwoodness will take him straight to the nearest sandwich shop. And won’t his condiment-smeared face be red at pay-off time!” –MKay
“Anyway, turns out babies cry a lot when you take their medicine from them. The moms don’t like it much either.” –Voshkod
“Saul: ‘Mary! Thank goodness you’re okay!’ Mary: ‘Well, I’ll assume you meant to say Mary! Thank goddess! You’re great! and let this one slide!’” –Ettorre
“‘Drone Store’ is actually a judgment value on the customers. The fact that they sell drones is a coincidence.” –Dan
“Thanks for sending the DOGS? That’s no way to talk about our brave first-responders!” –Lord Flatulence
“…and so much outdoors. Do you know how easy it is for a child to wander off and get lost? Listen to me, Katherine — I’m offering solutions here.” –cheech wizard
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19 replies to “Metapost: KAPOW! It’s the COTW”
Always fun to start the weekend with a ride on the float. Thanks Josh!
@cheech wizard: And such a deserved ride, too. I like the way you think.
Way to go, all.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Uncle Lumpy
October 5th, 2025 at 5:32 am Reply
Crankshaft is still trying to make “climate damage” happen. It’s kind of adorable, really.
Ukulele Ike
October 5th, 2025 at 6:22 am Reply
MW: “You know how to make a million dollars playing jazz saxophone? Start out with two million dollars. Ah ha ha ha. Ah ha ha ha.” — Wayne Shorter
Liam
October 6th, 2025 at 5:30 am Reply
FC-Hungover again?
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Tabby Lavalamp
October 6th, 2025 at 5:32 am Reply
I’m with you, Grimm. It would be disgusting, but not as much as watching large men giving each other CTE in stadiums built by taxpayers to make enormously wealthy people even richer.
Ettorre
October 6th, 2025 at 5:07 am Reply
As a European, I never studied the rulebook of US sports, but I still learn some rules by pop cultural osmosis. Note to self: “American football players are not allowed to shit in the field”.
Remy
October 6th, 2025 at 5:38 am Reply
MG&G: fun fact everybody, during extended and vigorous bouts of physical activity your body will involuntarily release your bowels. We all know it happens to marathoners sometimes, but it also happens to football players, especially the linesmen, who have to explode into forceful action on every play. This includes the center, who snaps the ball to the quarterback, a ball that is frequently covered with… well. Mud, we hope, but so many fields are synthetic turf so it couldn’t be that.
What I’m saying is it’s quite likely some old the players are shitting on the field.
lynn
October 6th, 2025 at 7:16 am Reply
@Remy: Wait, what does that mean for the ‘tush push’?
pugfuggly
October 6th, 2025 at 4:53 am Reply
MGG: I like the idea that this trio has been sitting down to Monday Night Football For years now telling themselves that surely — SURELY — this is the week where it finally happens.
MW: Hold the fuck on: the “vast dense forest” is sparse and flat enough for a firetruck to pull right through? Are we sure that they didn’t touch down in a Home Depot Garden Center?
TK
October 6th, 2025 at 4:32 am Reply
I’m thinking Stanley is gonna take the opportunity to relieve himself once the ladies are gone.
Hibbleton
October 6th, 2025 at 4:36 am Reply
@TK:
I’m thinking Stanley is gonna take the opportunity to relieve himself once the ladies are gone.
Looks like he’s already started.
Needless Exposition
October 6th, 2025 at 4:44 am Reply
MW: Stanley is going to let the ladies go first, much like the canary in the coal mines. Then he’ll untangle the balloon and laugh maniacally as he turns on the nitrous oxide and heads towards the skies to make the Hindenburg look like a footnote.
Guts Dozier
October 6th, 2025 at 4:44 am Reply
MW: Stanley isn’t quite ready to admit to himself that his plan for “suicide by hot air balloon” isn’t working out. And this is his fifth attempt.
MKay
October 6th, 2025 at 4:46 am Reply
MW: Olive has mastered the self-satisfied expression. When will Mary get that the student has surpassed the master? When Jeff takes them on his boat, Olive tames a rogue wave and Jeff bows at her feet?
Bob Tice
October 6th, 2025 at 4:48 am Reply
Mary Worth:
“But remember, there’s this thing called ‘sovereign immunity,’ and so if they drop you and you go SPLAT! on the ground, there isn’t a darned thing you can do about it!”
Charterstoned
October 6th, 2025 at 4:50 am Reply
MW: This is the point at which Stanley reveals his abject fear of heights and then admits he’s not even a balloonivator but was only filling in for his cousin who is the balloon’s real owner/operator but that he felt sure he could manage it because as a children’s birthday party clown he deals with balloons every day but it turned out big balloons were different and he discovered his mistake when the airship left the ground and his acrophobia kicked in and that’s why he’s afraid to leave the gondola and the ladies should go first he’s fine.
Rube
October 6th, 2025 at 5:25 am Reply
MW This entire storyline could have been written by a not particularly gifted eight-year-old. I know comic strip writers don’t get paid much anymore, but WOW!
Victor Von
October 6th, 2025 at 5:41 am Reply
Mary Worth: Saul is over in panel one, pursuing his passion, narrating events to people in real-time, as they unfold.
Lauralot
October 6th, 2025 at 5:42 am Reply
MW: As captain of the hot air balloon, Stanley must remain and go
downup with his ship.CanuckDownSouth
October 6th, 2025 at 6:04 am Reply
MW The fireman’s unhappy expression in Panel 1 is less “how do we get them down safely?” and more “what unholy non-Euclidean geometric path got my firetruck into this mess of trees?”
cheech wizard
October 6th, 2025 at 6:36 am Reply
Stanley is serene because he knows that removing Olive, then Mary’s fat ass, will lighten the balloon enough that it will float free of the tree and he’ll fly away, never to be seen in this strip or mixed up with Mary Worth again.
Artist formerly known as Ben
October 6th, 2025 at 7:40 am Reply
MW:
Stanley is no fool.Stanley is relatively not a fool. He knows that if he goes down last there’s a good chance the firemen will be all laughed out.Mountain Mama
October 6th, 2025 at 8:05 am Reply
MW – “OK, Stanley, I offered! Now you’ll have to listen to me go on and on about Olive’s gifts and how much she reminds me of me…”
“Oh, God. You’re right!” Stanley leaps from the balloon, breaks his neck, and dies. Everyone else is jealous.
White Rabbit
October 6th, 2025 at 8:08 am Reply
MW: Stanley, why don’t you go first? (sotto voce) It might be dangerous.
Stanley: No, ladies first…I’m all right. (thinks) Yes, it might be.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
A Grave Mind
October 6th, 2025 at 6:31 am Reply
Also, nice to see Rex vanish again after one appearance by his asinine brood.
“I wanna be the Derpy Tiger!”
“All your life, kid.”
Local Doctor Kills Four, Then Self
TheDiva
October 6th, 2025 at 7:24 am Reply
Dustin: Geez, Dustin, if you really want to do divination get yourself a deck of Tarot cards, or even a Magic 8-Ball. Probably as reliable as the neighbor kid with the bowling ball and the Carnac turban, and they won’t sass you back as much.
MKay
October 7th, 2025 at 4:46 am Reply
MG&G: ” How many times do I have to tell you, Drippy?”
nescio
October 7th, 2025 at 5:49 am Reply
MG&G: Grumpy didn’t take a shit. Not surprising.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Professor Well Actually
October 7th, 2025 at 4:37 am Reply
MW: when Creepy Mary climbs out of the balloon people on the ground will be able to see her granny panties. Unless she’s commando.
Kirk Out
October 7th, 2025 at 4:40 am Reply
MW: It is nice to see that Stanley has rejected somewhat the old patriarchal and patronising idea of women and children first. Let the old smug broad go first, enough with her nattering. The child chose to remain in this dangerous situation despite my responsibility as operator of this contraption. Good enough for me!
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
October 7th, 2025 at 5:19 am Reply
Mary Worth: Well, Olive will need to reignite the balloon’s engine to go anywhere. So 50/50 odds that she floats off to Oz, or that she carbonizes the tree, herself, and half of Santa Royale’s vast, dense forest. Bit of a win/win situation, if you ask me.
Tabby Lavalamp
October 7th, 2025 at 6:06 am Reply
Mary Worth is a lot more entertaining if you think of each day’s strip being an actual day later with the rescue team going home each night begging them to please make up their minds on the rescue order by tomorrow.
Unca Bob
October 7th, 2025 at 5:42 am Reply
MW- Alphonse and Gaston did it better.
Hibbleton
October 7th, 2025 at 4:55 am Reply
FC: Thel tapes a max-pad over Jeffy’s mouth. “If I can wear it, so can you!”
MKay
October 8th, 2025 at 5:00 am Reply
RMMD: Boooring! Where’s the demented busboy with the ponytail fetish who is stalking Summer?
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
MKay
October 8th, 2025 at 5:00 am Reply
DtM: What conversation could Dennis possibly have eavesdropped on to come up with this? Was Dad caught sniffing women?
Hibbleton
October 8th, 2025 at 6:12 am Reply
DtM: “Everyone smells if you sniff hard enough.”
Sometimes the quip makes you see through the strip straight to the author. Shouldn’t this guy be on some kind of watch list?
BigTed
October 8th, 2025 at 4:39 am Reply
Mary Worth: “I swear, in all my years at the festival, a balloon crash has never happened! It’s almost as if we had been visited by some bad-luck magnet, who attracts doom wherever she goes! Of course, if there actually was someone like that, I suppose she would try to hide her terrible dark mysticism… for example, by pretending to be someone who predicts awful events, so it wouldn’t seem so strange that she’s present whenever they happen. Of course, such a person could never actually exist… Or could she???”
seismic-2
October 8th, 2025 at 4:40 am Reply
MW: “I swear, in all my years at the Balloon Festival, a balloon crash has never happened! That’s because incidents like this one are always classified as unscheduled arboreal landings!”
Col. Havoc
October 8th, 2025 at 4:32 am Reply
“In all my years at the balloon festival, this has never happened.”
Not counting last week. Please don’t ask about last week.
Anonymous
October 8th, 2025 at 4:59 am Reply
MW: “We’ll rescue you soon, but here’s a mini-skating rink you can amuse yourselves with until we get there!”
Tabby Lavalamp
October 8th, 2025 at 5:12 am Reply
Are first responders allowed to put people back in a tree after listening to them for thirty seconds after a rescue?
Ettorre
October 8th, 2025 at 6:33 am Reply
“Santa Royale firemen are the best in the business. To be fair, their business is mostly helping Wilbur when his forearm gets stuck in the big jar of mayo! But you’d be surprised by how trained they are on that!”
richardf8
October 8th, 2025 at 6:04 am Reply
MW – Chilling fact: Olive was born after 9/11, and the valor of the FDNY is a tale from a history book to her, not lived experience.
Durandal_1707
October 8th, 2025 at 6:09 am Reply
For my money, the best firemen in the business would have to be in Chicago. They got serious after 1871…
Liam
October 8th, 2025 at 5:48 am Reply
FC-“I’m sure we’re sorry but that hamster was tastier than the usual stuff we eat.”
ValdVin
October 8th, 2025 at 7:00 am Reply
FC: …by which Billy means a living hamster
Karen Ballsnatch
October 8th, 2025 at 9:11 am Reply
FC: Did Billy buttfuck a hamster again?
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Plenary authority
October 9th, 2025 at 4:31 am Reply
Crank: Anyone who even slightly chuckles at this punchline needs to explain why. I’m truly curious.
Hibbleton
October 9th, 2025 at 4:50 am Reply
Crank makes more sense after tomorrow’s continuation. (spoilers) “But if I’m going to ‘weiner off’ I’ll need some other pills.
Anonymous
October 9th, 2025 at 4:56 am Reply
Crankshaft : I guess the joke where Crankshaft complains that he was prescribed “baby” aspirins, and is now being “weaned” off them (like a baby would be weaned off his bottle) would not be an obvious joke without one of his trademark malaprops, but I feel as if having him turn “wean” into “weiner”, in such close promixity to the word “baby”, is kind of inappropriate for a character whose job makes him in constant contact with minors?
…Too far?…pugfuggly
October 9th, 2025 at 4:41 am Reply
Cshaft: I had to read that last panel twice because the first time I thought Ed was saying that the doctor was making him ‘wiener off’ in front of him. Too bad, because I feel like a slightly less disgusting version of that line could have made for a good bait-and-switch gag.
Peanut Gallery
October 9th, 2025 at 6:42 am Reply
Crankshaft – I would think Crankshaft would be used to everyone telling him to “Wiener off!” Or any other expression ending with “off.”
TheDiva
October 9th, 2025 at 6:30 am Reply
C’shaft: Never, ever say “weiner off” again.
Blondie: Sorry, but Dagwood could never run a betting ring. The first time he heard the word “spread” he’d be off in a condiment-fueled fugue state.
Hibbleton
October 9th, 2025 at 5:05 am Reply
Blondie: In response to complaints about fan service and the focus on the hyper sexualized body of the female titular character, the artist has outlined the penis of the central male figure standing in line. Not sure that evens things out unless maybe the strip plans to feature more of “Big Ed.”
H&L: Hey, dad. Whose pile is bigger?
Thirsty’s “piles” are bigger than both!No Punchlines!!! —Ed., Kings Features Syndicates
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Needless Exposition
October 9th, 2025 at 5:27 am Reply
MW: I’m of the opinion that Saul and Eve are only married because Moy doesn’t believe that people of the opposite sex can’t be “just friends.” Look at how Jared is still simping for Dawn and wouldn’t step in during the Dirk situation because he didn’t want to be mistaken for still having feelings for her (which he does).
Anyway, dogs are good but their owners are delusional.
richardf8
October 9th, 2025 at 5:52 am Reply
FC – If you want to live to see your next birthday, get your ass back in bed and go the fuck to sleep!
Guillermo el Chiclero
October 9th, 2025 at 7:17 am Reply
FC: Once Billy’s gone to bed Thel will squirt that canned icing into her mouth and wash it down with gin.
TheDiva
October 9th, 2025 at 6:55 am Reply
RMMD: Gee, if only there were a way to publish your writing yourself without having to go through the traditional channels! Maybe it could be provided by, I don’t know, an obscenely large corporation that started in book sales and now accounts for a significant majority of that market…
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Tripod
October 10th, 2025 at 5:19 am Reply
FC – Jeffy is sporting some morning wood.
MW– Mary is rocking that no-bra look.
Arabella
October 10th, 2025 at 5:42 am Reply
MW: Hour 19 of Mary’s Playtex 18-Hour Bra.
jvwalt
October 10th, 2025 at 5:55 am Reply
MW: Little did Olive know, when she revealed her secret mental powers in a moment of existential stress, that dull suburban Santa Royale was not only home to a dense impenetrable forest, but deep within that forest was a secret U.S. government lab dedicated to weaponizing secret mental powers. Mary, look out — those aren’t firemen, they’re a federal goon squad bent on spiriting Olive away for highly invasive brain surgery!
Needless Exposition
October 10th, 2025 at 6:13 am Reply
MW: It wouldn’t be a Santa Royale Rescue if Mary wasn’t there to take the spotlight away from the people actually doing the work.
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
October 10th, 2025 at 5:33 am Reply
Mary Worth: I used to visit a woman who liked to tell the story about falling in her home, which turned out not to be so bad because the responding EMTs were a pretty nice-looking bunch of guys. Also, Mary is looking pretty disheveled there in panel two. I bring these items up for no particular reason.
Hibbleton
October 10th, 2025 at 6:14 am Reply
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV:
Also, Mary is looking pretty disheveled there in panel two.
Wait. We’re supposed to infer that Mary fucked the fireman between panels!?
Moy: “D’uh”
MW: Mary looks like she’s swinging two loose grapefruits in a sling under her shirt. A few hours in a balloon has stretched that Maidenform to its limit.
JP: Neddy shows some genuine insight here. I guess in the Marciuliano world the flatter the chest the higher the IQ.
pugfuggly
October 10th, 2025 at 4:49 am Reply
JP: Careful readers will notice that Neddy is not offering Charlotte a pony, just a pony ride. Singular.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
MKay
October 10th, 2025 at 4:49 am Reply
RMMD: Augie is about to announce that he has, platitudinally, quit his day job and will be moving in with Summer, along with his five, er, SIX unpublished novels.
The Quiet Man
October 10th, 2025 at 5:18 am Reply
RMMD: The really depressing thing is, I don’t think Summer’s being sarcastic here.
TheDiva
October 10th, 2025 at 6:40 am Reply
Luann: These girls are all young adults; surely they’ve had pets before? Known someone who has pets? Took a turn feeding the fourth grade class guinea pig for a week?
Schroduck
October 10th, 2025 at 5:31 am Reply
MG&G: In my experience, drone stores are one of the few types of stores that are growing. If a new shop opens at your local mall, it’s a drone shop, or a vape shop, or a weird shop that only sells TikTok trend hot chips for $20 a bag because an online influencer told them how to launder drug money amateurishly. I don’t think they normally wear tuxes, admittedly, but that could also be part of the influencer hustle.
Dan
October 10th, 2025 at 5:58 am Reply
“Drone Store” is actually a judgment value on the customers. The fact that they sell drones is a coincidence.
GarrisonSkunk
October 10th, 2025 at 5:44 am Reply
George Constanza: “The drone store called, and they’re running out of you!”
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Guillermo el Chiclero
October 5th, 2025 at 9:38 am Reply
FC: Good, Bil’s on vacation and left Billy in charge. That means I can take a vacation from reading his strip.
69. lynn
October 6th, 2025 at 7:13 am Reply
H&L: This is preferable to my father’s phrase, ‘The best part of you ran down your mother’s leg’
69. Voshkod
October 7th, 2025 at 7:05 am Reply
“Now, I’m not a king or a general or a rocket scientist, but thanks to my time in Skull and Bones, I know a few! Let’s see, what would George H.W. Bush do?”
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69.
Dinner for TwoSequiturOctober 8th, 2025 at 7:39 am Reply
Bacön: Just in case you were wondering…
69. I speak Jive
October 9th, 2025 at 9:09 am Reply
FC – So much wrong here. The name and age* go on top of the cake, not on the side. And she’s using canned spray frosting! Holier than thou Grandma makes homemade buttercream frosting and uses a piping bag to make decorations on cakes. Don’t worry, she’ll let Thel know – several times – at the family birthday party.
*Isn’t Billy already 7 years old?
She saved some money using generic Gift Wrap instead of Hallmark, so she had enough for a special bottle to get her through the birthday party. It’s a given that Jeffy will do something stupid, disruptive, and messy.
Gil Thorp – Penn State has him on speed dial.
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Peanut Gallery
October 10th, 2025 at 7:13 am Reply
Don Abundio, translated:
“Don Abundio, do you have all these games in your office to create a more enjoyable working environment?”
“Certainly not!”
“You obviously know nothing about management!”
“This stuff is here to show everyone I’m the boss!”
@Poteet: awww, thanks Poteet. I’ve always been a fan of yours as well.
Thanks Josh (and Scratchy), and congrats to all the COTWs!
Big thanks to
WrongSideForAFartScratchy for the mention!Thanks, Scratchy.
Congratulations to Victor Von and the rest. Also to the scratchies, with thanks to Scratchy Scrotum LXIX. Tips of the beret to Schroduck, matt w, and cheech wizard.