Looming holiday cheer
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Dennis the Menace, 12/17/25
[when you get caught in the middle of what’s very explicitly a mock torture session, like you’re literally condemning this snowman to die in agony, you went through the trouble of putting a frowny face on him and everything, and you want to distract your parents from your sadism with a little darndest thing saying] “Just, uh, burnin’ some calories! Ha ha!”
The Lockhorns, 12/17/25
One of the things The Lockhorns does well is make it very subtly clear from their facial expressions how much the various one-off ancillary characters are regretting their decision to interact with Leroy or Loretta. This guy, for instance? Does not want to be there at all, and they’re not hitting you over the head with it, but you can tell.
Blondie, 12/17/25
I love how surprised the saleswoman seems in panel two. “Wait, people are buying our novelty mugs ironically? This changes … everything!”
50 replies to “Looming holiday cheer”
Mary Worth Mashups: Any of these missing final panels make today’s strip more entertaining?
DtM:
Check out how the snowman’s left arm is actually reaching outside the frame. He’s, like, doing the opposite of the cartoon character in the A-ha video “Take on Me.” He’s trying to escape into our reality rather than trying to pull us in so that we end up getting squirted by Dennis.
Anyone here own a top hat? Or seen one? Ever? Yet the Mitchells own one. Look at Henry’s pose, right there. THAT, friends, is the asshole who thought it was cool to dress as Mr. Peanut for Halloween, every year, from 1987-2002
DtM: This is how kids learn about the world around them. The snowman melts; Joey doesn’t.
“I just started here this morning, so Loretta is…who? Guess your wife? Shopper, huh? No, there’s nothing in this mug. There’s never anything in this mug.”
DtM:
“I sure am glad we stopped at one kid,” muse Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell.
Blondie-Then Dithers will gag Dagwood by shoving the mug into his mouth.
Dennis the Menace-“This guy owes me money.”
MW-Don’t learn to talk from Mary Worth.
FC-“Even a coffin?” “Nah. We’re just going to leave her beside the curb for pickup.”
Lockhorns-“Oh god how I hate my wife and our sham of a marriage.”
The saleswoman in Blondie suddenly regards the”World’s Goodest Employee” mug she was gifted with dark, new eyes.
Lockhorns: “and I guess you know what a ‘Little Leroy’ is.”
Blondie: The overly literal clerk discreetly puts the ball gag back under the counter.
“That’s not really a gag gift, is it?”
CS: Ah, so we finally learn where this is going with the reveal of Chekov’s cat.
JP: Please let this go in the direction of FBOFW when April decided to ‘sail the boat’. No Farley to come to the rescue this time!
Luann: And yesterday we all thought they were actually going to go through with it. Nope, suddenly they are too tired and are just going to settle for awkward, fully-clothed ‘cuddling’.
MW: And where do we think Sunny picked up *that* little phrase, hmmm?
@Baja Gaijin: One should have been Sunny dropping the AC unit on him.
Dennis finds one of Calvin’s snowmen in his front yard. “Not in my strip, kid!”
@10 The Quiet Man: Patience.
MW: This is glorious. My only regret is that Toby isn’t smart enough to trick Ian into thinking Sunny learned that term of endearment from the television.
Just what exactly, is the weapon Dennis is murdering the snowman with? I assume it is powered by a battery.
MW: Sunny rules! Can we PLEASE introduce him to Wilbur soon?
RMMD: “And what are YOU and your not-rich-or-famous husband doing for Christmas?” Summer can’t spell “condescending, ” but she sure can be it.
DtM: The snowman ‘s coal smile turned upside down as soon as he realized who his creator was.
H&L: C’mon, Foofram, there are only three guys standing in front of you. Hi is a known wimp and Thirsty is in a perpetual stupor. It was obviously Angry Goatee Guy.
BLONDIE: Dagwood won’t be laughing when he opens his “World’s Sexiest Husband ” mug on Christmas morning.
DtM: Mr. Mitchell is worrieed that Dennis is wasting the battery power of his cordless hairdryer (it takes FOREVER to charge that thing.) Meanwhile, Mrs. Mitchell is worried that this might be awakening something in her.
Missed opportunity for a Snowman Ozempic joke. Maybe in seven-eight years
Dagwood might wanna visit the local adult shoppe if he wants a true gag gift.
Hmmm, Uncle Lumpy? I seem to have angered the content filter gods….
Was it my gratuitous use of the word “butt”?
Dick Tracy: Catman’s hat ears aren’t as cute as a real cat’s ears.
Pluggers: On the tips of plugger tongues is remnants of the last candy bar they snarfed, except for that cat plugger. He has fur from the last time he licked himself–not saying where he licked. Let your imagination…on second thought, ignore the first thought.
MW: THIS. IS. AWESOME.
You just know that Leroy has made the same joke every single Loretta for the past two
weeksWomenbeshoppings, and his coworkers / neighbors / occasionally-encountered Salvation Army Santas are over it. He doesn’t even bother to hit a new person every Loretta– Mug Guy heard this same “joke” last WednesLoretta, and he must seriously thinking about either a) asking for a transfer or b) giving up coffee until at least New Year’s Loretta.It today’s performance of Heathcliff the role of Santa Claus will be played by Sigmund Freud.
BF: No…..don’t take that sweater, it makes you look fatter….no, no, not that one either. In Paris? Are you kidding? No….look, just maybe get your boyfriend to take you shopping in France, huh?
I don’t see any identifiable punctuation, any expression change by the store clerk in the panels nor do I see any bold or italic words in the bubbles.
Blondie: It’s not a joke. The manufacturer only produced one of those mugs, and you’d better believe they won’t sell it to unless you provide exhaustive audited evidence of the relative superiority of your boss compared to every single other boss on the planet.
DtM:
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell’s reaction to Dennis’ tomfoolery is decidedly Frosty.
DtM — Dennis is dropping more Frosties than the local Wendy’s. . .
But seriously, wouldn’t spraying water on the snowman in freezing temperatures form a layer of ice and make him *more* resistant to melting?
Lockhounds — Hey, give them credit for at least getting the calendar right. . .
DtM:
“Hi, kids, it’s Slylock Fox! — can you count how many little squirts there are in today’s ‘Dennis the Menace’ installment?”
DtM – Dennis Mitchell – Agent of ICE….
Shlockhorns – Just 8 more Shlockhorns ‘til Xmas – a Shlockhorn is a what I call a comic strip that consistently shits the bed….
Blondie – Have you got one with World’s Best Boobs….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
Blondie- The whole scenario is so stupid, the extra playing the sales lady had to get so drugged up she can’t blink.
Blondie: “Ha-ha, next you’ll tell me you’re buying this ceramic Christmas tree as a gag because you’re actually Jewish! But you’re not Jewish, right?”
[Smug Anakin smile]
“You’re not Jewish, right?”
MW Since Sunny hasn’t been around Ian’s colleagues’ commentary during take-your-pet-to-work-day yet, I have the disturbing thought that he learned the phrase from Toby “talking dirty” to Ian in the bedroom
Is that supposed to be a blowdryer that Dennis is wielding? Where’s the cord? I took it for a water pistol at first, especially given all those drops that are spraying ONTO the snowman. If the goal is to coat the damn thing in ice so that it’s rock-solid and immoveable — and it’s smack in the middle of the path to/from the front door — I guess that’s pretty menacing. On the other hand, the “burning calories” crack now makes NO sense. Or wait, maybe that refers to the effort ol’ Dad will have to go to to shift the iceman out of the way? Nah. Why do I go to so much work before just admitting it’s a Gag Fail?
@Baja Gaijin:
The way things are progressing – endings 1 and 2 are plausibly canon!
Weapon of mass liquification. Takes notes RRN
DtM:
“I see the cross, slightly puzzled expressions on your faces, Mom and Dad — but since Comet 3I/Atlas is about to plunge into Earth’s atmosphere and destroy all of life as we know it, what difference does it make if I take out this snowman, anyway?”
Dennis the Menace: At first, I thought Dennis had a cordless hair dryer, but then I realized that’s not a thing. Not a thing I’ve seen, anyway.
Someone gave the mean little towhead a heat gun! Why does Dennis even know what a niche tool like this is? Planning on doing a little desoldering later, kid?
DT: So the deputy just happens to lug around his complete catman suit with him all the time? Before they went out on their latest sortie, did DT and him go to his car and pick up his kit? How long did DT have to wait for him to put on his gear? How are they going to explain DT having a masked vigilante helping him?
MW: This is great! Clearly most of the damage (torn playbill, guano in the shoe) are actually Toby’s secret work. She taught Sunny “pompous axx” and the parrot is a quick mimic.
RMMD: Meanwhile the line at the check-in/check-out window has ground to a halt, and many people are just leaving throwing their paper work on the floor. Rex and June are in the back room wondering why it is so slow today. Must be the weather and time of year – yeah, that’s the ticket.
JP: Charlotte is great! Finally the snarky sassy character that this strip needs to pull itself out of the morass. That last frame shows that Charlotte is heeding every word of caution that Neddy is saying (wink wink).
We joke about how Dennis isn’t really a menace, but I didn’t think they’d read our criticism and have him jump straight to psychopath. Here are some words I never thought I’d say — can we pull back a wee bit on the menacing in Dennis the Menace, please?
Future MW punch lines:
“Arggghh! That infernal beast left his droppings in my ear!”
“Argghhh, call the doctor, that infernal menace bit my wee wee!”
“Arggghhh, put down that gun you winged menace!”
“Arrgghhh, call our lawyer Toby, that flying fiend called ICE on me! I’m still on my student visa!”
“Arrgghhh, guards, help me, that prattling parrot has put a hit out on me.”
“Sunny, darling, more wine?”
@Baja Gaijin:
They all are but I didn’t expect the third. It’s a thing of beauty.
Wary Morth:
“Pompous Axx” is what Toby calls Ian behind his back, right? When? Not while talking to Mary, and she has no other friends, so…..to herself? To a phone sex site?
FC: Why on earth would Billy be reading this from a sheet of paper? Did Grandma give him written instructions?
“Here. I don’t want a box of Kotex like last year.”
@A Grave Mind:
My school drama department used to have one, but I don’t think I ever saw it worn by anyone in any play ever.
MW: Ian in a rage takes an axe and aims to split Sunny in two. Toby screams and grabs his shoulder from behind upon which Ian turns and buries the axe in her head. He then carries her lifeless body to the laundry room where he hurriedly seals her body in the wall. Afterwards, Sunny is nowhere to be seen….to be continued.
And I’d bet that Neddy has experience with moving her hips with a horse.
CS: Pam, your cat doesn’t look well. Its lossy. You need to get that cat to a vet, or to a graphic designer. Try exporting it to .PNG and see if that helps.
@Hibbleton: A Tales from the Crypt version of MW? Love it!
@Ukranazi Stepan: I think the implication is that she’s venting to the bird all day about the horrors of living with Ian.