Don’t even think we need to get into why this bird-lady did it, we can all guess
Post Content
Shoe, 11/17/25
I was about to get really mad and go on a diatribe about how graves are famously clearly labelled with both the occupant’s name and date of death, but then I realized that this bird lady has been dancing on an unmarked grave, and generally the only way you know the location of an unmarked grave is if you’ve dug it yourself. Years ago, she ambushed and murdered someone in the dark who she thought was Shoe and buried them deep in the woods; she occasionally returns to it to celebrate her victory over her tormentor with choreography, but today she decided to visit some of his old haunts to find out what legacy he left behind, only to be confronted with knowledge that has truly merited the patented Shoe goggle eyes of horror.
Mary Worth, 11/17/25
Uh, excuse me, Narration Box, that’s not just “the veterinarian,” that’s beloved Mary Worth tertiary character/Wilbur’s ex’s new husband, Dr. Ed! And boy, he looks happy, doesn’t he? Maybe it’s because he’s settling into the joy of married life now that the emotionally grueling wedding planning process is over, or maybe it’s just that today for once he gets to offer simple, helpful advice like “add good quality pellets to the food you give him” instead of euthanizing a bunch of dogs. And if his animal hospital is the only local vendor of the parrot pellet brand he recommends, well, that’s just an added bonus.
Hi and Lois, 11/17/25
Look, Lois, you have an infant and cannot be much older than your early 40s, you do not remember when streaking was a fad. Though I guess it’s possible that there’s more of an age gap here than meets the eye and her question isn’t rhetorical. “Remember when streaking was a fad?” asks Lois (born in 1986). “Was it, like, during the first Clinton Administration? I think I have vague memories of it as a kid.” Hi (born in 1967) sighs heavily.
Dick Tracy, 11/17/25
Ha ha yes, the, uh, the Ghost Cat. The … Ghost Cat. The beloved character (?) that we all know (??) and love (???). The cat who’s a ghost, and also, in certain jurisdictions albeit not this one, a duly appointed law enforcement officer. Very normal! Ghost Cat!
81 replies to “Don’t even think we need to get into why this bird-lady did it, we can all guess”
Mary Worth Mashups: This storyline’s boring me. I added a few missing final panels. Did they spice it up?
MW-“I can’t believe I escaped ‘Blondie’ to end up here,” the parrot thinks to itself.
MW-Meanwhile a pirate is putting up signs for a missing parrot.
Hi and Lois-“Oh yes, they call him the Streak.”
I enjoy this blog, Josh, and I’ll do everything I can to keep reading it to help you out. I have one serious question for you first, though. Did the Phantom Dingo co-write it with you? *steely glare*
I have no words for Hi and Lois, nor for Family Circus when they do this too.
I draw the line here.
(Draws several lines on Ditto then colours it in) THERE, some pants.
DT- It’s a little slow right now, maybe I can take a couple of shots at him too.
Shoe It would be funny to find out that in addition to being a bird, Shoe was also some kind of immortal zombie. It would explain his outlook on life.
MW Why do I feel like the Mary Worth team is about to get an angry phone call from Mark Trail? “Listen, jerkwads, we don’t put kareoke-songing slobs in our strip, you keep the animal facts out of yours. I get enough of that shit from Slylock Fox.. ”
Dick Tracy: What is this? A Crossover episode??
(No seriously, is it?)
H&L are experimenting with forgotten memes on their kids hoping to cash in on a youtube craze.
“Next!”
Chip comes out dancing to disco music in bellbottoms, platform shoes, a tie-dyed shirt, and a large, rainbow colored afro.
MW: If anyone were going to say “that’s someone’s lost pet,” it should have been Ed the vet. So either that will never be acknowledged or play any part in this story — or the appearance of the owner will be treated as a surprise twist that no one could have anticipated. That’s right, we have a choice of two flavors of bad writing.
Dennis the Menace : “It’s the one task you’re NEVER done with, Dennis. It’s just that something else ALWAYS comes along to interrupt you in the middle of it.”
***********
Dick Tracy : I’m assuming the Ghost Cat is a costumed vigilante. I’m hoping for that descriptor to be further modified by “teenage”, but I’m okay with him simply having a child assistant.
I am enjoying that Josh is prefacing this storyline with “THINK HOW WEIRD THIS STUFF
*LOOKS TO AN OUTSIDER WHO IS COMPLETELY UNFAMILIAR WITH THE GENRE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT CROSSES OVER WITH A MORE ‘REALISTIC’ POLICE PROCEDURAL”* And by “stuff”, I mean the Gotham Caped Crusader’s antics. That what we’re (probably) going to be spoofing here, right?***********
Family Circus : “I swear, Jeffy, if you don’t shut up and put on your damn pants, you’ll start getting DOLLY’s hand-me-downs instead!”
***********
Hi & Lois : are insufficiently panicking considering that’s the opposite direction the bathroom is in… and Ditto is in fact sprinting for the FRONT DOOR.
***********
Luann : Oh no. More of this… though it’ll all be worth it(?) if this is leading up to Dash shitting on Dez’s shoes while she’s still wearing them, and Dez completely losing her temper and starting screaming at Dash (while the R.A. is coming over to check how things are going)…
**********
Mary Worth : Uh, shouldn’t Dr. Ed be telling Toby “Hey, that parrot is obviously not some feral stray, maybe you should try and find its owner or something”?
***********
Safe Havens : …Is this a strip being published out of order? Because shouldn’t this have come BEFORE Palmtop became Alex’s girlfriend? Or even before she told him all her secrets (about being a shapeshifting cat)? Or even BEFORE she asked Samantha to make a potion that would permanently turn her human so she could be with Alex forever?
Like, why is Pam all “WHAT ARE THESE STRANGE FEELINGS I HAVE FOR ALEX” when she and Alex ALREADY GOT TOGETHER?
***********
Shoe : Alternate punchline : “No way, Shoe died back in the 90s, the same day Nelson Mandela did! Next you’re gonna tell me I’ve been pronouncing the Bearenstein Bears wrong, and that ‘Captain Crunch’ is not fully spelled out on the cereal box!”
***********
Slylock Fox : today, in horrors of the Animalocalypse : the unholy fusion of Paul Blart, Mall Cop and Foghorn Leghorn.
MW: And cue Dr. Ed’s next appointment being a child in tears asking if they can put up a ‘Missing Parrot’ poster they drew themselves…
DT: What the f-…? Is Costello seriously about to bring the #$%&@ PHANTOM into this?! The 1966 Batmobile and ‘My Mother the Car’ and Superman’s Electrothanasia Ray weren’t enough??
RMMD: Ah, now we see what Augie meant by ‘grading papers’. He’s been wanking to this story ever since the real events happened, desperately trying to recreate the adrenaline rush of finding the stalker’s corpse and being threatened with hard time by the police. Those bedroom eyes in the third panel tell me he’s two seconds away from begging Blondie to dress up in a ‘sexy cop’ costume and threaten him some more…
The confusion is understandable. All graves in the Shoe world are unmarked to keep them from being dug up by vultures.
MW: I guess the drama will start when Ian comes home from his whaling expedition… er… conference.
H&L: We’re *that* close to seeing Ditto Junk, and I for one do not approve.
@Anonymous: I don’t read Safe Havens and am not going to check the comic for context. So I’ll just assume that due to her inner bestial nature as a cat, the “feelings” are that she is developing the urge to kill and eat him.
Edit: I mean maybe Holbrook is getting confused and is mixing up plots from Kevin and Kell.
Shoe: Oh, the relatable humor of Shoe! Who among us hasn’t danced on someone’s grave only to find out that person is still alive? It’s not just me, right?
MW: Dr. Ed is letting us know Sunny is developmentally ahead of Toby by about 1 year.
H and L:
Bowdlerized Ditto has the equipage of the Pillsbury Doughboy.
I once received a series of increasingly agitated voicemails from a woman who wanted me to euthanize her parrot.
And I’m not a vet.
“Ghost Cat” — a 2003 made-for-TV movie with Elliot (then Ellen) Page, in which a recently deceased cat and its owner try to stop (it says here) “scammers and wealthy businessmen from making unnecessary land-development deals and screwing over their community!” If this is the one they’re talking about, then Dick must be talking to — I don’t know — Michael Ontkean.
MW: The implication here is that Sunny isn’t a lost pet. Did I miss a series of strips where the whole cast and crew relocated to La Paz?
Shoe: Is this a one-shot character created solely for this joke? Or is the writer implying that they have no long-running legacy characters who legitimately want Shoe dead?
Dick Tracy:
“Buford, why is that when we’re concentrating, our eyebrows have the slope of a sine wave or a cosine wave?”
“Don’t go off on a tangent, Tracy!”
DT: “He needed to use the Ghost Litter Box on our way up. Must’ve taken a magazine in there with him.”
SHOE: This generates some questions. Has she never run into the supposedly deceased Shoe? The tree-world can’t be THAT big. And what in the world did Shoe DO to earn a grave-dancing level of animosity?
SF: Ronan must REALLY love Jeanie, as he hasn’t run screaming from the train wreck that is her adult children.
MW: Waiting for the conflict: Ian suffers from orinthophobia/ hates the bird on principle.
RMMD: I know there’s no one right way to deal with trauma, but “Ooh, I have a new boyfriend and he’s got a new truck!” and, “Hold my beer, I’m going to churn out a secret novel!” seems to have been the wrong way.
@Hibbleton: Maybe parrots are native to the vast, dense Santa Royale Remote Forest Edge? Who can say, it’s totally unmapped and lacks cell service.
MW: “I’ve been watching morning TV with Sunny hoping he’ll learn something. Have you seen this Count guy? He’s amazing!”
@Ken: In turn, the parrot population is kept down because Land Clams feed on parrots, window eels and house hippos.
MW:
“Sunny here has been watching Andrew Dice Clay routines on TV to help him learn English. Give Dr. Harding a sampling, Sunny!”
“Stell sent Harding up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
He bought an Evian instead —
A sheer display of hauteur!”
Luann: That couch is going to be stickier than the Sex Hut.
CS: He’s going to be stuck on that floor for a long time, and, surprisingly, Pam asking, “Dad, what are you doing on the floor?” is not going to help.
9CL: Uh huh. Resolve your differences, like you want to shtup her twin sister, and she doesn’t want you to? Only in this comic strip, I guess…
MW:
“Talk to Dr. Harding about Professor Cameron, Sunny!”
“Ian, mian, miney, mo –
Catch a windbag by the toe!”
FC: I hope someone gets Jeffy to a doctor to look into his case of elephantiasis.
Dustin: “To be fair to Fitch, he was pretty despondent after the 19th time he got shot down at the fern bar.”
@Baja Gaijin: The first choice definitely echoes my thoughts vis a vis Toby and Sunny.
Dick Tracy: I for one hope the Ghost Cat is precisely what their name indicates – the spirit of a normal house cat whose freedom from earthly bonds allows them to achieve hitherto undreamed-of levels of idleness.
@MKay: And what in the world did Shoe DO to earn a grave-dancing level of animosity?
*gestures broadly at every strip in which Shoe appears*
Dick Tracy: A commentator over on GoComics suggests that Ghost Cat is not an existing-but-forgotten character, but one being introduced. That makes this a proleptic Dick Tracy, the worst kind. Shoot, don’t tell!
Mary Worth: I feel like we’re sleeping on Sunny shitting all over Toby’s shoulder.
Hi and Lois: I feel like we’re sleeping on Ditto shitting all over the Flagston’s floor.
@Hibbleton: Given that the owner of the only funeral parlor is himself canonically a vulture, I don’t think that’ll do much good.
@Josh Shoe: Or there could be someone else named “Shoe”…
@taig: Only by one?
Dick Tracy: Hmm, it occurs to me that Ghost Cat will most likely be the only detective character who could care less than Dick Tracy about someone getting shot through the forehead, as long as they open the Ghost Fancy Feast Gravy Lover’s Poultry & Beef can first.
@The Rambling Otter: She’s a one-gag character, but seeing Shoe’s behavior and attitude in general, I’m guessing she wouldn’t be the only suspect in his fricasseeing murder.
Across the nation, a hundred grandmothers are clipping Shoe out of the newspaper and placing it under the American Quilt Association magnet on the refrigerator, while a hundred grandfathers are sighing deeply, “What did I do now?”
Dick Tracy: At first I was hoping that “Ghost Cat” was a Blacksad-like detective, a literal humanoid feline in a trench coat.
Then I realized that he’s just going to be a human with a gimmicky name.
Then in the end, I guess it doesn’t matter because its already established that Ghostcat isn’t going to show up.
@Ken: yes, or at least the locals are used to weird fauna coming out of there as the same twisted space-time that allows firetrucks to get between the dense trees also occasionally wormhole-connects to other wilderness points around the world. There is a *very* confused Californian mountain lion hunting in the Amazon rain forest right now…
This is a quaintly inappropriate observation in the world of Dick Tracy, but Buford doesn’t have anything on Rojo Ozob. The inspection may have found evidence that Scott’s brakes were tampered with but that doesn’t tell you who did it!
I also assume that Ghostcat always keeps a bottle of booze on him because he’s a sloven drunk after well… dying.
Like a dark gritty version of the ghost cat from Yokai-Watch, who is already a kid friendly version of a dark gritty Japanese folklore.
@The Rambling Otter: There is a *lot* of development in those first couple of years.
Sue MacNelly’s therapist saw today’s Shoe and bought a new boat.
(reposting because I had used a synonym for “therapist” which triggered the spam filter)
H&L: A small child running naked around the house is barely remarkable at all. Most parents would just say “At least he’s happy to have a bath!”. Look, Hi & Lois, if you want to capture the #relatable parenting crown, you’ll have to try harder. Marvin, like it or loathe it*, would not have shied away from setting today’s strip at the supermarket or a fancy restaurant.
* well, loathe it or loathe it.
Shoe: Shoe did die, 20 years ago this very night. His ghost has been haunting Treetops ever since. Finally, his restless spirit can find peace and the strip can end.
@The Rambling Otter: Oh, I’m sure he’ll “be needed” and show up. Anyone betting on a split existence (split personality?) with Cop Dude himself?
@matt w: I’m going to guess he left his bottle of seltzer at the crime scene. I obviously haven’t read this story, and only know that there’s a *shudder* clown involved.
DT: Ettinger and Curtis are just using this as an excuse to draw more furry characters aren’t they?
@CanuckDownSouth: Super-powered split personality?
I’m thinking towards DC’s “The Creeper” or WB’s “Freakazoid”
@CanuckDownSouth: Or this cop guy is an otherkin split personality who literally identifies as his cat fursona.
That might be a bit too deep though.
Shoe: There are ways to do this joke right and wrong.
Take The Simpsons, where Bleeding Gums Murphy’s blind Jazz musician friend gives him his prized saxophone.
Murphy: This isn’t a saxophone, it’s an umbrella!
Mentor: I’ve been playing an umbrella for thirty years? Why didn’t anyone tell me!?
Murphy: We all thought it was funny.
I think I got caught up in moderation and I can’t figure out what word or phrase triggered it. Josh, if you see three posts from me, I’m sorry, please delete two of them.
Who’s the funky cat who wore out his nine lives?
Ghost Cat!
Who prowls in the dark where you can’t see him?
Ghost Cat!
Who has law enforcement powers limited by national jurisdiction?
Shut your mouth!
I’m just talking about Ghost Cat.
I just happened to look up the trope “Floating Head Syndrome”
Mary Worth has literally zero mention.
Not even on the Mary Worth trope page itself.
I mean, admittingly, that did lessen a lot once June Brigman took over as artist but still…
MW: That ringing sound you hear is the death knell that sounds each time a patient enters ANIMAL HOSPITAL. Anybody have Sunny in the Dead Pool yet?
DT: Obviosly a reference to Le Chat Bleu, Fuunky Winkerbean’s death cat.
DtM: Dennis and Wilson have a heart-to-heart about his chronic constipation.
FC: “Listen, Jeffy. Everyone wears hand-me-downs. You think PJ likes wearing your old thongs?”
@Guts Dozier: “I once received a series of increasingly agitated voicemails from a woman who wanted me to euthanize her parrot.
And I’m not a vet.”
Maybe the parrot was pinin’ for the fjords? Or, it could have been an ex-parrot? Bereft of life, it rests in peace? If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies?
Today’s Heathcliff comic is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever contemplated. Are there deranged pervert animals that see the mutilated carcass of their kin and think that it’s kinky because they are also nude?
DT: I may be reading too much into Dick’s facial expressions, but he seems curiously pleased that “The Ghost Cat” won’t be joining them. Jealousy of someone who doesn’t need the cover of “law enforcement” to get away with vigilantism?
I just noticed that today’s Heathcliff also has a hidden penis in it. WTF is wrong with these people?
I am a Hi Flagston by years only.
DT – “Back home, the Ghost Cat even has law enforcement powers. Seems he was bitten by a radioactive cop once.”
H&L shows the most effort I’ve seen in years for their art.
Gasoline Alley should keep “Abbott and Costello” out of their mouths. This strip is making me appreciate the Ritz Brothers, and Wheeler & Woolsey, all of whom look better and better in hindsight.
FC: Billy’s got a more annoying look on his face than usual which I can only figure is because he’s making a TikTok reel of all his new drip.
Shoe: There’s an untold story about what exactly would lead the tavern customer to dance on Shoe’s grave. Any time the strip has an unnamed female customer, she’s spurning advances from Shoe. I suppose we can assume that Shoe kept insisting that she spend the evening at his nest and she longed for his demise to finally release her.
DT – Rather than try to figure out who “ghost cat” is, I’m just pretending that Tracy and Buford are beatniks and they’re just talking about a ghost.
Don Abundio, translated:
“He’s a very well-trained dog”
“Do you feel any more inclined to pay the money you owe me?”
“I sure do…”
“That’s the first time I ever saw a dog give me the finger!”
@Foobar: You mean, like a “pair” of them?. . .
@Weaselboy: ♪ They say this ghost cat is a bad mother–
(Shut your mouth!)
But I’m talkin’ ’bout Ghost Cat!
(Then we can dig it!)
DT: I’ve seen enough costumed vigilante stories to know that this circumlocution indicates that Buford is the “Ghost Cat,” and that Dick is in on his secret and is inquiring into the possibility of superhero shenanigans developing as a result of all this. Buford politely declines, realizing that although his clandestine activities are accepted and somewhat officially sanctioned in the South (what with their history of men disguising themselves to violently punish perceived criminals without regards to due process), they might not play as well in the more cosmopolitan Neo-Chicago.
MW: Sunny looks like he’s large enough to be microchipped, and given that parrots are among the more expensive pets out there I’m guessing his owner would have opted for it. Which means that either a) Dr. Ed doesn’t know enough to scan the bird for identification or b) Karen Moy doesn’t realize that it’s a thing. I guess it all depends on if your interpretation of the incompetence in Mary Worth is Watsonian or Doylist.
DT — The remake of “The Ghost and the Darkness” that no one asked for. Either that or a housecat that nails a few interviews and then doesn’t respond to texts or calls. . .
@Voshkod: Oops! You got there before me.
@Peanut Gallery: The real question is why did “Ghost Cat” immediately call to mind “Shaft” in at least two brains.
@CanuckDownSouth: It would be pretty great if he wasn’t though. “Has the GHOST CAT come along with you?” “No, he lacks jurisdiction in this county.” [Ghost cat is never spoken of again]
DT: “The ghost cat only appears when he is needed, for example when someone opens a tin of tuna (maguro only, not the cheap stuff). Back home he even has law enforcement powers, but here all those police-involved fatal clawing cases are still working their way through the system.”
@ValdVin: Am I the only Hi and Lois art appreciator? Check out the attention lavished on the fall foliage in the eleventy-billion strips about raking they did this month!
Dustin: If Dustdad were a halfway decent lawyer, he would realize this scenario falls under “non-permissive use” (as apparently this is the first time he’s even heard of Fitch driving his car) and therefore the car owner is not liable, and may even be able to bring up charges for unauthorized use of his vehicle. But Dustdad is a terrible, terrible lawyer, fortunately for Fitch and Dustin and also for me, because I love seeing the fat bastard suffer.
GT: Ah, so this has all been a lead up to Emily’s doomed high school lesbian romance coming back into her life, where she will…um…well, probably cause some mild drama before the whole thing peters out in two weeks like everything else.
JP: It’s been brought up before, but didn’t Sophie and Reena emigrate for work? I know they need to have some time to get acclimated and find out their landlady was a CIA agent, but it’s been months now. Surely they’ve been to NPO’s offices and met co-workers by now? Or is Reena splurging because she knows Norwegian immigration authorities are closing in and she wants one big blowout before their work visas are revoked and they get deported?
Luann: Oh SHUT UP, Dez. You were the one who brought this dog in knowing your roommates didn’t have a clue about what they were doing, assuming your Magical Negro Mother Goddess energy would be enough to offset them. I don’t know why anyone would trust you with a sea monkey kit, let alone a foster dog.
RMMD: “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there was a difference between me writing about my own experiences as a means of processing them and me writing about your experiences without your knowledge and permission and then springing the results on you in such a way as to make you as uncomfortable as possible.”
Suit up, Wilbur Weston, Augie’s coming for your trash fire crown.