The great outdoors
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Mary Worth, 3/28/26
OK, fine, “Trixie” successfully scammed Harvey out of a six-figure amount, which we do not condone. But, does Harvey need that money, honestly? He seems pretty well off and also likely to die soon, and it’s not like he’s that close to his daughter and only heir. Meanwhile, “Trixie” has been rewarded for the successful grift by being released from his dank, ill-lit prison to get a few precious moments outdoors! Isn’t that more important than whatever non-enslaved-person drama is going on in Charterstone?
B.C., 3/28/26
There’s probably not enough lead time for B.C. to be doing oblique commentary on current events, so I guess this is just a panel about a couple of fish who are going to murder two of this strip’s main characters, using a massive explosion. And good for them!
31 replies to “The great outdoors”
How To Tell The B.C. Characters Apart: Clumsy Carp is the one who won’t be rightfully slaughtered by superintelligent fish.
That is for the B.C. oldheads. The ones who are like “yeah! clumsy carp! I remember him!”
BC: Silly fish, explosives haven’t been invented yet! Also, underwater explosions are unhealthy for the pranking aquatic fauna. Dynamite fishing, anyone?
Mary Worth Mashup: Let’s return to Harv’s place…
Rex Morgan Mashup: Who does she remind him of?
MW: You know it’s funny: whether you’re an old person living comfortably in a condo in southern California, or a young cyberslave being held in a dark prison in an undisclosed location, we are all, in our own way, mauve.
B.C. If you’re going to take your Stone Age-themed comic strip and do a gag that implies in-depth knowledge of woodworking, metallurgy and explosives, maybe it’s time to admit that your premise is a bit too limiting.
Mary Worth: Just wait until it turns out that this scammers’ prison is located on the vast grounds of the Charterstone Condominium Complex in Santa Royale, California. Wilbur, you scoundrel!
B.C.: Wow, there was a time when cavemen and talking fish existed simultaneously? This must have been the most important point in evolutionary history! If we could only study them, we would know so much more about (BANG!!!) Oh, well.
Pluggers: It doesn’t matter what her name is, dude — look at that sky! In three minutes, you’re all going to be hit by lighting.
MW:
“Who’s reaching out to capture a foment?
Everyone knows it’s ‘Trixie.’ “
— The Association (adapted)
Scams sourced to human trafficking are typically endemic to the poorer corners of the globe, but given the architecture, the greenery, the ethnicity of unfortunate Trixie, and the limited capabilities of this storyline’s protagonists to go globe-trotting, I’m beginning to suspect that it will turn out that this hellish prison complex is located about three blocks away, on the Bad Side of Town.
Pluggers: The lady in purple is named Henrietta Beak, she is your wife, and you are talking to her. This is advanced dementia even for a plugger.
MW: “I made a TUNA CASSEROLE that I thought you might like…there’s enough here for a month’s worth of meals—if you eat it for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!”
MW:
“Wow. Now I understand what Pink Floyd meant when they said, ‘All in all, you’re just a-nother brick in the wall’ !”
G. *(&@#$!! Thorp – Only in Milford would you see a sport where someone swings a golf club like a baseball bat.
MW:
“This is what it sounds like
When schlubs cry.”
— Prince (adapted)
“Cleetus, remember that old naval mine we swam by?” “The thing the humans couldn’t possibly have the ability to create in the time this strip is supposedly set in because they shouldn’t have the concept of a navy, let alone the ability to create explosives that can damage a boat from the bottom of a body of water?” “Eh, they have Christianity in a strip named for an acronym that literally means ‘Before Christ’, clearly this setting is really post-apocalyptic.”
This is terrifying. Intelligent fish in BC … BC is not Before Christ – it is in the future, perhaps the near future! The downfall of man is coming, and perhaps quick!
Could it be tied into Slylock Fox? Maybe the last vestiges of humanity survive in caveman-like areas near the equator, I think Fox and Mouse deal with snow from time to time?
B.C.:
“Why are our thought bubbles displaying an identical matched pair of ‘Z’s?”
“We’re fishing for ‘complements‘ !”
RMMD:
“Hmm. Maybe ‘Divine’ from Hairspray?”
For the first time, B.C. hits the right place for its setting – the Fertile Crescent, including the Straits of Hormuz – but completely misses the time. Good try!
RMMD: It’s strange to realize, although this conversation seems to be dragging on forever, in strip time the second customer hasn’t even finished his cup of coffee.
MW: I feel sorry for the people still locked inside. The only color they get to see is “Trixie”’s Manic Panic hair dye.
B.C.: In the tradition of Disney’s frequent recycling of animation sequences, this is an all-purpose gag that the syndicate provides for all its strips. Even ones whose Stone Age tools could not produce metal fishing hooks or boats made from precisely cut slats…oh, silly me, I forgot Hart subtly retconned the strip to a postapocalyptic one. Carry on…
I misread today’s Mary Worth and thought that the money that “Trixie” grifted was put to use to build a giant wall, to keep him in. Which only made it seem even more depressing.
MW: So Grunge!Tommy has just been standing outside for several weeks, then? I’m beginning to think this human-trafficking scam center is inept.
BC — There’s a maxim that fish don’t understand that water is wet, because they have never been out of it. These two, however, can identify a “naval” mine, which shows that they can conceive of other types of mines (land mines, e.g.). Clearly, this indicates they have reached a level of self-awareness and will soon be plotting the destruction of humankind in revenge for our many deprivations. We must prepare immediately!
GT I would have thought having a single coach “good” at a sport wouldn’t really be enough to instantly have a strong high school team, but I also was unaware of a golf variant with the holes floating in the sky, so who knows?
FC Is adult Jeff trying to diss his dad’s cooking through the comic? Because honestly, sure, that’s one way to cook a fried egg, there are even recipes for how to get those nice crisp edges.
MW: Mary doesn’t do anything by half-measures. If she thinks you might like a tuna casserole, she won’t bring you a little bit to try. She’ll bring the largest portion that will fit in her oven, carried in one of those huge thermal takeout delivery bags. Better eat it all before it spoils! (This is a joke, it’s actually already spoiled)
@But What Do I Know?: Maybe this connects with the post apocalyptic hints *and* the Animalpocalypse! The equatorial zone is where the remnants of weird didn’t-quite-work transformed animals fled along with most of the remaining humans. Intelligent lungfish had to traverse the land to get there (in the process learning much about the dying human society and its tech) and now live in the last seas where they won’t be harassed by Slylock Fox
MW: Trixie forlornly eyes the wall separating him from his beloved H___y.
@Schroduck: I’m surprised that Mary isn’t holding an actual casserole dish in her hands.
Harv: Slaps the dish out of her hands smashing it to the floor.
“Bad scams make you a bad person”
MW: Yes, Mary, don’t do anything at all to help, but make a damned tuna casserole for HH so you can invite yourself over and learn the latest gossip.
Luann: Called it. “Trying to get a date in the world of Luann is punishable by any form of humiliation the offended party deems appropriate. Which looks like it’s about to be three broken ribs.” Or maybe only one, since Les only fell about four feet.
Pluggers: Of course Pluggers have a hard time remembering names, because that would require them to be interested in anyone other than themselves. Names are easy to remember if you paid attention to the person when they first gave it.
Dustin: I love how Dustin, his dad, and his sister are all absolutely right, and also absolutely horrible people at the same time.
BC-That wasn’t a mine. That was an unexploded nuke from the Before Times.
RMMD-Eh. Bad waitresses all look alike.
MW-Mary made a tuna Muffin casserole.
Beetle Bailey-“Do you know something else we can make from the remains of the failed recruits and nosey government inspectors?”