Praise Heath from whom all blessings flow
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Heathcliff, 5/5/26

The oldest references to cherubim in the bible seem to imagine them as winged half-animal, half-human creatures that guard or carry the throne of the deity, and similar iconography is visible across the ancient Near East. Ezekiel, during the Exile, had a famous vision of cherubim as terrifying multi-faced beings, possibly borrowed from Babylonian imagery; after the Exile, as Jewish theology began to conceive of God as more and more remote and less human-like, an array of semi-divine angelic beings started becoming important as intercessors, at which point cherubim became part of the “inner circle” of angels, close to God’s throne and intellect. This angelology was eventually adapted by Christians, and, thanks to Renaissance painters adopting the imagery of Greek and Roman putti (winged child-like figures), cherubs eventually became the cute little guys we associate with them today, though still strongly associated with their proximity to God. What I’m asking is: Is Heathcliff a divine being? Will He soon transcend away from our experience, leaving behind the cherubim he created in His image to relay to us commandments about what kind of helmets we are to wear, and when?
The Lockhorns, 5/5/26

As a frequent public transit user, I think people’s worry about crime on public transit is largely overblown, but there are definitely dangers to look out for. Like, for instance, what if Leroy Lockhorn just started blathering on at you about how he can’t keep up with the slang the kids use these days, and your stop is miles away? Not the sort of thing that’ll happen to you in your car, I’ll say that.
Judge Parker, 5/5/26

“I mean, we’re not here, so it’s not like we have any idea how good a job you’re doing. But we know you have low self-esteem and will do pretty much any annoying job if people compliment you for it, so we’re giving that a shot.”


159 replies to “Praise Heath from whom all blessings flow”
MW: She was a fine girl, what a good wife she would be!
“I just found out Sluggo is lit. But now Nancy has a differente artist, so I no longer know what Sluggo is and it perplexes me!”
Judge Parker:
“We – we have not made the best decisions lately, to put it mildly. But then again, neither did the syndicate when it replaced Woody Wilson in 2016 with whatever this is!”
Oh, darlings, that shade of gray is NOBODY. And here you are, let’s fix one bad decision!
“I used to be ‘lit’, but then they changed what ‘lit was. Now what I am isn’t ‘lit’, and what is ‘lit’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to YOU!”
“Next time I visit this house, I’m going to sit on the couch with that loving couple instead of hanging out at the stripper pole with Leroy Lockhorn.”
But the other commuter seems so interested! “Yes, comrade, tell more. And where are nuclear wessels?”
JP – are Randy and April saying this in tandem, like a Greek chorus or pod people?
This is a good sign for Leroy, actually. He’s finally had a truce in the marital war long enough that he’s caught up to Season 7, episode 24 of The Simpsons, where Abe makes that joke, but better.
The Lockhorns:
The first time I read this I interpreted “lit” as being short for “literature”, and Leroy was expressing his regret that by the time he had been exposed to the wonders of books and reading, the entire concept had been sullied by postmodernists and their “intentional fallacy”. Damn you Roland Barthes!
@Everything Is Better With Monkeys:
Ooooo! Do The Oresteia next!
Heathcliff Sorry, I simply dont beleive that Heathcliff is in touch with any kind of being touched by God. The only way the extreme wackiness of this strip makes sense at all is if the titular character sold his soul to Satan for all that…stuff.
Lhrs Leroy was literally on fire earlier but hardly noticed. He’s just that blase.
JP Are Randy abd April delivering that message in unison? I’d like to think that they’re singing it in the style of gregorian chants.
It’s a good thing this subway car is so wide. If the couple showing each other genuine affection came into contact with Leroy Lockhorn, the explosion would destroy the universe.
JP: Neddy’s eyes grow wide as she realizes how much of an apology she owes to Bogdan.
BB It’s not accepted slang, but I’ll go with the r/shower thoughts take on “rightunders” – if leftovers are food that hasn’t been eaten yet, the opposite should be what food becomes after eating. Coprophagy references in the morning funnies, folks!
H&L You have a decent health plan whose employee contributions, deductibles, and co-pays haven’t shot up in the last few years? I knew the comics page was a land of fantasy, but *still*.
FC Since Dolly would just be mimicking what she sees her mom doing, this implies that Thel doesn’t even bother asking about preferences and makes decaf by default for guests. Or she has a limited supply of the real stuff and hoards it all for herself to keep up with four little kids – yeah, that tracks.
Heathcliff doesn’t get an angel and a devil on each shoulder to argue with over moral dilemmas. Satan already knows Heathcliff will succumb to any temptation and doesn’t bother, so Heaven is trying desperately to work on him with two conscience-lawyering cherubs
DT – stake out the comic shop ? Set it like the Dillinger ambush.
JP – How do April and Randy know how well or not well Neddy has been? Is Charlotte posting reports online?
MW – Remind me again – this guy is not John Long aka Trixie but the son of the woman who married Zack the guy whose childhood nanny resembled her? And Brandy is NOT the grifter who tried to steal a watch and ended up leaving town or was the Dr, Jeff’s son?!
Can we have numbers in jerseys and a program?
Phantom: the ceremony is to honor the cook and his helpers but not the jungle patrol. Their recognition is a coup well done.
RMMD: And that is the picture used on the tabloid front page. “Where are they now file: Former action star Lorna Starr seen here canoodling with alt country singer Mud Murphy. Is she going on the Mirakle Method ?”
MW: “Brandy said I was a loser because I still use a disposable camera and go to the photo kiosk and the drug store. It’s not my fault that I had to sell my phone for drugs. Or still live with my mom. At least I have this photo.”
LOCKHORNS: “Suit: check. Tie: check. Briefcase: check. OK, I can talk to this guy. He’s MY KIND.”
MW: Just take off your shirt and take the trash out, Tom, you’ll make friends. I mean, there’s no way your mom is the ONLY Charterstone cougar.
@matt w: it is never too late to say you are sorry but now she’s seen too much. She knows where Ann keeps her stash.
LH: What’s the point in riding in the world’s widest subway car when you can still be subjected to the world’s saddest rant? Ah well, sooner or later, the train will hit a turn too fast and it’ll all be over.
FG: Semantics, semantics. Every army is a death squad. Just look at Beetle Bailey.
Curtis: Say, is this our first comic strip “turd?”
JP: Uh oh. First the Suck-up, then the Ask. “So would you mind continuing to take care of her until she’s, oh, 18 or so? Then you can kick her out legally. We looked it up.”
6Chx: Bathtub? Isn’t Bianca a Crunchy Punk?
FG: Is this really how a rule-following commander becomes a terrorist? If so, perhaps we all should start following the rules of war.
PHANTOM: Is Goranda saying he presides over a failing government? But yes, he is right, alert and active citizenry can ward off “space aliens”.
6CX: Must empowerment of one result in disempowerment for another? I say NO! Ghosties Unite! We CAN all get along, as long as we move to a pay-per-visit haunted house or help autbors through their writing blocks.
Lockhorns: Is this a train? It seems to be about twenty feet wide and have lace curtains on the windows. I’m pretty sure this is someone’s living room. Someone’s living room with a stripper pole in the middle, upon which Leroy is just about to unleash a true horror.
RMMD: I know Beatty’s probably still recovering from his recent medical procedure, but that is the most awkward kiss I think I’ve ever seen in a comic strip. Tell me how it isn’t just one piece of clip art slid over another!
RMMD2: Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!! – Michael J. Nelson
JP: Holy shit, it’s Channing Tatum! CIApril sprang for a Cameo account!
@Treetown: On MW – [old timey voice] Pro-grams! Getcher pro-grams! Ya can’t tell one meddlee from another widdout a pro-gram!!
Sleeps a lot, eats with just a little more judgment than a dog, and gets excited around laser pointers? Maybe I’m created in the image of a cat god after all.
***
No wonder Leroy’s always in a foul mood. I’d be cranky too if I had to depend on large, spacious public transportation that looks less like a train and more like a living room with a stripper pole.
@Ukulele Ike: On JP – Normally I’d think that’s exactly where this is headed, but that would mean Ces is officially writing CIApril and her thrall out of the strip and finally, blessedly, putting an end to his attempt to write the next Jason Bourne novel, and we all know *that* ain’t happenin’…
Speaking of Ces…
S4th: I’d forgotten about that bit of extended idiocy, Ted, thank you for reminding us yet again how you (and your daughter and your wife and her extended family and most of her social circle) should be in the same asylum Luann and Company ought to be in for the protection of yourself and society at large…
The Lockhorns: Sure you know, Leroy! You’re green-lit, the dude you’re harassing is yellow-lit, all you need is one more guy red-lit, and you’ve got a full traffic lit system. It’s perfectly straightforward, I don’t know how you don’t see it.
Heathcliff: Heathcliff is, and always has been, a god of chaos whose cult fears and loves him in equal measure.
MW: Last time we saw Brandy, it was at Zak and
NanIris’s wedding. Brandy was thinking about how she wanted to be married herself. Why didn’t we get to see their breakup? Did Moy realize she could never top “My back can take the pain…my heart can’t!” from Tommy’s last failed romance?DT: Not a bad impression of Terrie Smith’s art style and subject matter for a background detail, which, since they’re discussing the (real) comic “Shanda the Panda”, is a nice level of consistency.
Heathcliff – And he forbade Ham so as to keep it all to himself.
@Treetown: re: Phantom: Congratulations on recognizing the potato-peeling mud people from the slave compound. With the new hairdressing and clothes, I figured these were three randos running for Congress.
MW: Tommy should marry Zack’s mom so he can be his own grandpa
Heathcliff, 1: Real hymn-heads know you can praise Heath to the tune of Duke Street, rather than the Old Hundredth.
Heathcliff, 2:
Cherubim and seraphim following Heathcliff,
Who who wast, and art, and evermore shalt be-cliff!
[Workshop this]
Pluggers: “It feels like it was just 1968!” Well, it’s 2026. 58 years have passed. That means you’re very, very old, and, frankly: it’s time for you to die. Have another bag of chips, wash it down with Bud Light, and head to another day of your soul-crushing blue-collar job. While you still have it.
Luann: Speaking of things that need to die: we’re still pretending this is a couple? Phil has to know he’s going to be paying 99% of the expenses in this arrangement. Which Luann should be fine with. Getting an MRS degree is probably her best option in life.
Judge Parker: You’d look shocked too if you were presented with plot hole this wide.
6Chx: Yeah? How about
Six little ghosties
Sitting on posties
Eating buttered toasties
….anus-clenching Victoriana Horror is hereby UNLEASHED
@Everything Is Better With Monkeys:@pugfuggly: great minds oversnark etc
@Ukulele Ike:
Please. 4th grade lunch break
I used to think of Heathcliff as a cat who punched, or at least intimidated, dogs. These days, though, he’s dabbling in whimsical parthenogenesis. I guess it’s as close to a brand as anything else on the comics page.
Wary Morth:
“Brandy is gone! I knew I shouldn’t have drunk so much! Now her bottle is empty! Auuuuughhhh!”
******************************************
“Auuuuugh” is copyrighted by Wilbur.
Is Tommy going to pay him royalties for using it?
Wrecks Moregone:
“What brand of beard perfume do you use, Mud? It smells great!”
Murky Tail:
Cherry: “I didn’t know those catfish-breeding farms were so capital intensive!”
6Chix: Sorry, artist avatar, that’s the ghost of Mr. Bubble. He’s cursing you with a UTI. AHHH!
@Ukranazi Stepan: If “Auuuuugh!” is copyrighted by anyone, it’s Charlie Brown. Unless Wilbur found some sort of loophole by altering the number of U’s, or something. Which would make his catchphrase the comics equivalent of knock-off gas station college football merch.
JP-“We’re abandoning our daughter with you.”
FC-“Drink it all up. We want you to get all of the sleeping potion that’s in it.”
MW-In desperation this guy hooks hoop with Dawn.
Andy Capp: Having trouble which of extant parties would even appeal to Andy. Labour’s out of touch, Lib Dems are a buncha weenies, the Tories want to throw him off the dole, Reform and DUP appeal to curdled, brittle nationalism I’ve seen no signs of Capp possessing, so maybe that one that wants the north to secede as an independent state called Northumbria?
Pluggers: Ah, the acid is finally wearing off, and never mind the passage of six decades—the real shock is gonna be finding out he really is a man-dog.
Josh, how dare you praise Heathcliff. All our blessings flow through Mary Worth.
Be not afraid, but be very confused.
Heathcliff 3:12
Lockhorns: The double wide subway cars are usually more crowded during rush hour.
@Treetown: How do April and Randy know how well or not well Neddy has been?
You expect the author to track what individual characters know? We saw Neddy getting along with Charlotte, therefore April and Randy know that too.
@Banana Jr. 6000: I don’t think the Evanses are even trying to suggest that Luann might be moving into an apartment with Phil. This is just Luann encouraging Phil to move into the apartment himself.
@Ken: Actually, it would not surprise me in the least if Charlotte sending secret reports through a satellite uplink hidden in a teddy bear (or maybe that pet squirrel wasn’t *really* a squirrel) is exactly how they know what’s been going on in Cavelton despite neither having any actual contact since the ruckus in the coffee shop.*
*Incidentally, when are we going to see Sophie sent to some post-Soviet gulag for being part of Glucas’ money-laundering charity scam?
@Charterstone: Dune: Back in the good old days, Andy’s best beer buddy was Oswald Mosley of the British Fascist Union.
Lockhorns: After months of popular demand, the LIRR introduced its new ‘No Leroy’ car. It turned out to be more popular than the “quiet car”.
BG&SS: I have the uneasy feeling that Hootin’ Holler has a Participation Trophy Statue from ‘long about a century and a half ago.
FC: Dolly, it’s 2026. If you’re not offering matcha you’re never going to climb the social ladder.
DtM and H&L are both elbowing in on Blondie’s turf with classic Dagwood gags. Is this the start of a crossover or a gang war?
@Ukulele Ike: I’m afraid don’t see it. In fact, I feel like Andy would be extremely pro-immigration—more people to buy him beers.
Heath: I wonder what paeans Heathcliff’s heavenly host sing ceaselessly around his throne. I’m guessing “MEAT” is involved.
JP: Neddy has been shown to be a mediocre caregiver at best, fumbling through the responsibilities while awkwardly attempting to relate to her charge, so that just proves how low the bar is with this family.
L’horns: The guy next to Leroy is already planning on switching cars at the next stop. The one with the homeless person sleeping with his pants down around his ankles doesn’t seem so bad now….
Lockhorns-And thus Leroy’s attempt to burn his house down for the insurance money failed.
FC – Oh, come on, Dolly. “Decoffeenated” was right there. You’re going to lose your kiddy malaprop license.
Gil Thorp – I didn’t think there was anything more boring than watching a golf match on TV, but reading a hideously drawn comic strip about it is darn close.
Mary Worth – Tommy is allegedly a man in his mid twenties, but he’s coming across as a thirteen year old girl who was bullied out of the clique.
C’shaft: Okay, now you’re doing it on purpose.
Dustin: So, Dustdad monitors his wife’s spending for her ridiculous “health and wellness” stuff (“dur-hur, who needs to be taught breathing”), while Dustmom scans her husbands records for signs that he’s cheating on his diet. It’s rare to see financial abuse in a marriage that flows both ways.
GT: I’m so glad we paused the high-stakes, high-relevance story of the ongoing human rights abuses inflicted on immigrants to watch the Milford athletes make a drunken guy’s night at Top Golf look like the PGA Tour.
MT: As predicted, using the more trendy “pig butchering” for this situation would just have been awkward.
MW: Hey look, YOU’RE the one who told her your life, your love and your lady was the sea, you can’t blame her for moving on…
RMMD: You’d think a woman who was a big-time movie star would have learned to kiss better.
Don Abundio, translated:
“Hey, big spender! Will you pick up my handkerchief?”
“No, thanks anyway”
“Doctor, I think I’m losing my interest in the old clichés…”
[Diploma: CARTOONOLOGY]
@TheDiva: On GT – Honestly, I’d rather they stick with the golf instead of their ham-handed, half-assed attempts at being ‘relevant’ which all eventually boil down to the Good White Man making all the Bad White People rub their toes in the ground and say ‘We’we sowwy, we didn’t weawwy *mean* it!’
For those keeping track: The Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and Tom Batiuk didn’t win again.
@Ukulele Ike: Otter Mosley?
On Luann :
So, uh, if Phil isn’t inviting Luann to move in with him, why did he invite her along? He seriously thought “this event is catered, so it’s like I’m taking you to lunch”? He needs her to chirp in to make his decision?
Also, WHEN is this taking place? Luann’s shift just ended, but I thought she had the graveyard shift? Is this tour happening in the wee hours of the morning? Or was the graveyard shift only on the weekends?
Finally, Bwad and Toni can’t afford to move out of their current place despite two full-time firefighter salaries (+ a full-time restaurant cook if they bring TJ along), but Phil, who’s just a retirement home orderly, can afford a luxury condo?
(Was this originally a Bwad and Toni storyline? But itwas changed because the previous vignette was all about how they CAN’T move into a condo appartment for just the two of them because a) they’re (supposedly) trying for a kid; b) they (supposedly) can’t afford it; c) they need to make sure TJ has a place to go before they make a decision to move out their current place)
@I speak Jive: Darn. I thought the anecdote about once seeing Chester “Chet” Gould would put Tom over the top.
@UncleJeff: The Chester Gould bit was 2026, and the awards just announced were for 2025. Maybe next year.
> Not the sort of thing that’ll happen to you in your car, I’ll say that.
Excuse me? You’ve never read Blondie?
@I speak Jive:
What WAS the big Crankshaft prestige storyline of 2025, again?
Eugene (the guy Lillian duped away from Lucy to ruin her life) buys a wisteria bouquet for his lost lover’s grave (because they met at the Wisteria Ballroom (despite the fact that wisteria AREN’T bouquet flowers. IIRC?)), only for them to be immediately thrown away by the gravekeeper?
Crankshaft shits his pants at a CFL game and pretends it’s just spilled poutine?
Another one I forgot?
JP: 8 years later…Did Abbey or did Abbey not burn down her own barn? I’m still waiting for THAT ancient loose end to be tied up.
@I speak Jive
@UncleJeff
Maybe Batiuk is employing the ‘MadAuthor’ theory, making his writing so insipid that the committee gives him the prize just so he’ll finally shut up and go away.
@Anonymous: Not to mention, last week wasn’t Luann about to rush off to ‘Camp Skye’ and apply for that counselor position? I guess that storyline will have to wait another year. Maybe next summer there won’t be a camp in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Mary Worth – Cut your hair, take some night classes and get a better job already and maybe another girl will take interest .
Luann – I remember when someone would ask me “How’s it going ?” and i would say jokingly” You know , living the dream ” cept in the Luannverse, living the dream is 2500 a month and free Hors d’oeuvres
Curtis – Heartthrob needs to get over himself , course these little 10 yo girls are just as bad thinking they are entitled little bitches .
@Mr Beardo:
Or don’t cut your hair, learn a few power chords, book a few gigs and maybe a buncha other girls will take interest!
MARY WORTH: Um…did Brandy get sold off to a pig-butchering* scheme herself? Because the fact that Tommy is saying she’s “gone” and the rather over-dramatic expression of sorrow he’s expressing over their dull-as-fuck, go-nowhere relationship makes it sound like something tragic happened to her.
*Freudian Slip alert: Originally typed “pig-BITCHering scheme” here by accident, which indicates how much sympiathy I have for Tommy’s whiny mewling
MARY WORTH (2): Honestly I probably should be more concerned about this. I mean a single guy who’s “lonely” and doesn’t have a female relative available to watch over him like a hawk? We know what that means! I think “Trixie” has found herself a new man…for about a month, until “she” realizes that there is no way this loser is ever going to have $200,000 to waste (well, unless his new stepfather is dump enough to leave his credit cards and bank statements lying around where Tommy can see them.)
@Ukulele Ike: #54: That’s Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet to you, pal.
FG: OK, men. First thing, we flood all Kiran cell phones with spam calls about extended car warranties. Then, we use the Vein to sneak into their bathrooms and leave the toilet seats up. Last, we sneak into the Dragonmen’s man caves and drink their last beers. By the time we’re through I’ll really be known as The Merciless.
@Banana Jr. 6000:
I think we can already be assured that Luann will totally achieve the latter, at least if my theory is correct (that theory being that “Toby” is just “Luann’s” evolved form. I mean, with their shared ditzy naivety, and overwhelming desire to gravitate toward meddling old crones for companionship, this should have been rather obvious. Hell, “Puddles”, already proves Luann is willing to tolerate pets that make “messes” all over the places. All the pieces of the puzzle fit!)
F&E – I think I’ve seen this guy around, on the streets.
The Familliar Mucus: “Don’t worry about getting a good nights sleep, its Mommy’s extra strength NyQuill™.
@Voshkod: You’re mixing up the head of the British Fascists (1932-40) with that guy from Animal House.
JUDGE PARKER: “We…we may have not made the best decisions lately, to put it mildly.”
Especially when you guys decided on his-and-her matching shirts. Honey, no! (I haven’t paid enough attention to this arc to understand what crime April committed this time, but she should be arrested by the fashion police, at least, cause, girl, prison orange would look more flattering then your attempt to blend into the wall!)
I’d love for Luann to get that job at Camp Skye. The Inner Hebrides are roughly 5,300 miles from San Diego, so we wouldn’t be seeing her around for quite a while.
LackHorniness: Minutes later, a time-traveling junkie mugger from 1977 materialized and cut up Leroy like a butcher’s diagram. No one interfered, but there was scattered applause.
‘cliff: Imagine being a human in the Heathcliff universe. You’ve seen so much crazy, random, impossible stuff that, when you notice the neighbor’s cat has two smaller, winged cats hovering over it, you barely care. What I want to know is, what would it take to freak out a Heathcliff side character?
‘horns: Since Leroy and his companion are depicted as 1950s-style businessmen, is it possible they’ve gone through some kind of Twilight Zone-type portal into our time?
JP: Judge Parker asks its readers to accept a lot of far-fetched things, but I do not believe Neddy would have a phone case the exact color of nacho cheese dip.
The Lockhorns: “Lit” may no longer be something the kids say — but it also wasn’t something anyone would say in a mid-’60s romantic comedy. (The one in which Dustin Hoffman and Elaine May are a poor but happy young couple who read paperbacks together on the subway, but break up after overhearing Leroy Lockhorn talk about his own horrible marriage for five minutes.)
@Peanut Gallery: “Frank and Ernest?” More like Vladimir and Estragon.
@Guillermo el chiclero: He’s just ‘Ozzy” to me. I have no good words for the British peerage. I’m an Irish-American who puts the milk in first.
@Victor Von: “Big black nemesis! Parthenogenesis! Everybody happy as the dead come home!”
And that’s my musical obscurity for the day.
JP – The woman in the second panel is disturbed because (1) she’s taking this phone call in a police line-up, and (2) they just said “wee-wee”!
Heathcliff: I think it’s been pretty obvious for a very long time that Heathcliff is an eldritch being of some kind.
The Lockhorns: I can totally picture Leeroy lurking through train cars trying to find somebody who won’t lean away or tell him to fuck off when he begins his rambling.
Judge Parker: I know Neddy is supposed to be surprised, but did the artist have to draw her doing a pogchamp about this news?
Also Judge Parker: There’s a gag I absolutely adore in a later season of Futurama where – amid some goofy event that’s totally divorced from the show’s starting premise of futuristic couriers but typical for what it grew into – Hermes just super abruptly says “hey, aren’t we supposed to be a delivery company?”. I think of that joke a lot on this blog, because it sums up a lot of my feelings about Judge Parker. “Isn’t this supposed to be about small-town judge? Why is it instead about the moronic spy activities of a bunch of annoying assholes loosely connected to that judge?”
I have similar thoughts on Rex Morgan and it’s bizarre decision to abandon medical drama for the melodrama of the roots country music scene.
@Treetown:
#17 PHANTOM: Thanks for recognizing the subtle, revolutionaries in the kitchen. With my face recognition problems, didn’t realize they were the ones being duly awarded.
RMMD- “G’night Fergus Murphy….oh..that reminds me..whatever happened to your cousin, Festus Murphy?”
@The Quiet Man: Nope, sorry. A “ham-handed, half-assed attempts at being ‘relevant”’>a ham-handed, half-assed attempt at golf.
Mark Trail: Mark Trail seems to tend to clean up after Mary Worth arcs.
As with Rusty telling his friends a campfire story about a man who fell off a cruise ship and died and his ghost still haunts the nearby islands.
@2+2=7: Tommy is deep in mourning because Brandy was chosen by lottery to be the most recent blood sacrifice to maintain Mary’s unholy immortality.
Sex Organ V.D.: Clodfelter finally feels the clod.
The people who would favor an expansive definition of literature to include forms of expression like comic strips are NOT fans of Leroy Lockhorn, apparently.
@TheDiva: MW- But he had always told the truth, Lord he was an honest man..and just look where that got him.
Marmaduke-Marmaduke demands that people pay homage to his picture everyday.
@Anonymous:
Because this dweeb is too cheap to take his girl on a real date and Luann is too dumb to know the difference. (So yep, this is definitely a guy who’s going to be giving real consideration for this clearly-outside-his-price-range apartment complex. Uh-huh.)
@The Quiet Man: Are you guys serious that Batiuk thinks he deserves a Pulitzer? For Crankshaft? That would be funnier than anything he’s put in Crankshaft for the last, oh, decade at least.
@MP: If they can give the Literature Nobel to Bob Dylan, they can give it to Bunny Hoest, say I!
….or maybe they could saw it down the middle and give half to Batuik, like they did with Kissinger and Le Duc Tho.
@ectojazzmage: According to Comics Kingdom, “This serial comic strip Judge Parker features a no-nonsense, upstanding lawyer who stoically handles drama inside and outside of the courtroom.” That needs updating nearly as badly as the cast picture they’re using for the banner.
Also from CK, “Rex Morgan M.D. is a compassionate family physician, who is personally invested in his patients’ best interests. This comic strip tackles contemporary and contentious healthcare issues with sensitivity and intelligence.”
@Anonymous: Yeah, Luann being involved in this at all implies that her opinion is relevant. Even though yesterday’s and today’s strip made it clear it was Phil’s apartment, as @Joshua K. and @2+2=7 said.
@Ken:
Nah, it’s just an exaggeration that Batiuk is quick to hype up Lisa’s Story by pointing out that it was nominated for a Pulitzer in 2008 (in the “Best Editorial Cartoon” category).
I don’t think he’s ever considered Crankshaft as potential award-bait, even though he’s done several Very Special Storylines in it (Lillian ruining her sister’s life was part of one! She confessed everything to Lucy, but Lucy was too far gone from Alzheimer’s to comprehend it, it was all very tragic!).
@Anonymous: There should be a strip where Crankshaft delivers a jukebox to Batiuk’s author-avatar. “You always said you wished you had a Wurlitzer.”
JP: “And by ‘chose’, we both know we really mean ‘guilted into’, and that you caved because it was temporary. About that last part….”
BF: and Kim, don’t forget that a steady job denies you the thrill of irregular pay.
MF: (strip we must not discuss). Happy Cinco de Mayo !
SFx: with one quick snap, Sydney could have Surf and Sky without the $16.99 charge the Bum Boat requires
Crank: You know, I’d probably find it easier to think “Haha, that Crankshaft and his malapropisms!” rather than “This man has serious cognitive function issues and somebody should do something” if Dan Davis didn’t keep drawing characters with expressions that strongly imply they’re thinking the latter.
JP: “It’s hard to imagine anyone making worse decisions for our family than me and April, but goodness knows my dad and stepmon could probably manage it! Compared to that, having Charlotte looked after by a directionless twentysomething with a string of failed ‘projects’ behind her seems like the least terrible option!”
Phantom: “Yes, the rule of law in our country is safeguarded by these brave everyday heroes. It definitely didn’t need safeguarded by another county’s paramilitary organisation entering Ivory Lana without following any protocols, which I guess would technically have counted as an invasion! That would be crazy!”
SH: I’m pretty sure Ming’s supposed to be an artist, so it’s kind of hilarious how her films always sound like the sort of nonsense that would have even a dumb-Hollywood-blockbuster fan like me thinking “This movie was obviously constructed by studio execs and focus groups. But how drunk were the focus groups and what drugs were the execs on?”
Heathcliff – Heathcliff is, if anything, a Trickster God, dwelling among us mortals for a while to entertain himself with his antics. His parody of Abrahamic religion is just yet another joke he makes for himself.
The Lockhorns – LeRoy is il-“lit”-erate.
@Anonymous Furry: As I discovered recently, Shanda the Panda was written by regular Dick Tracy writer Mike Curtis who co-founded Shanda Fantasy Arts with his wife, who wrote Katmandu, so I would hope the strip would get the attention to detail right on this stuff.
@The Quiet Man: Batiuk didn’t even get a Gold T-Square for having a comic strip for 50 years. And he genuinely deserves that, since quality is not a requirement. He’s absolutely not getting a Pulitzer.
@Ken: I can only imagine that that synopsis for Rex Morgan was written on Opposite Day.
Sure, being stuck on Leroy Lockhorn’s subway car is bad. But look around — at the uncannily expanding public-transit-compartment-that’s somehow-also-a-living-room — and realize: no, you’re stuck in Leroy Lockhorn’s dream. That’s worse. Much, much worse.
9CL-“Ever heard the expression ‘Screw the pooch’,” the dog asks, “Want to give it a try?”
Lockhorns-Leroy, that pole wasn’t installed in the office for you to not dance around it. Now dance!
@Banana Jr. 6000: Batuik doesn’t even have a Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year. You know who DOES have a Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year?
Momma has one.
Cathy has one.
Luann has one.
FOOB has one.
Rose is Rose has one.
Pickles has one.
Wrap your head around that, Thomas. You haven’t even made it to THAT level.
9CL — Daphne is now my favorite comic dog, provided she soiled the slut twin instead of the engaged one.
@The Quiet Man: I wonder if they’re stalling because they’re trying to figure out how Gil can shame ICE into compliance by threatening to quit his job.
@Liam: Reminds me of an old pre-Bloom County comic. Steve Dallas’s dog ends up in a Tijuana bar and says “Who’s up for a little beastiality?”
Six Chix – Nothing scares her ever since she lost her nose in the war.
@Horace Broon: Well, that explains the inclusion of a real-life comic. I’m not the master of all the ancient lore regarding who wrote for what, but it’s nice to hear that it’s being acknowledged. Good for them.
Luann: Can I just say real fast I hate how the Evanses seem to draw every person outside the main cast as a snob with their eyes glued shut and always looking up?
Heathcliff – I’d think Heathcliff is more of a homunculi kind’a guy….
Shlockhorns – In my day, lit meant literature. Now lit don’t mean shit….
JP – Shut the fuck up, sweet Charolette….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
FG: Thrill, as the now evil, all-powerful Ming leaves a sack of flaming poo on the Witch Queen’s doorstep, bangs on the door, and runs back into the Vein.
@Peanut Gallery: Isn’t it pretty to think so?
LUANN: Luann’s droopy eyelids make her look especially Muppet-like today, especially in the last panel. Kinda reminds me of Miss Piggy.
MW: So does this mean the scam story is over? Then what was even the point of showing the scammer escaping from where they were being held?
@Bryan:
Jonh Long escaping from the compound seems to really have been entirely because they couldn’t come up with a better reason why Trixie would start ghosting H@rvey after conning him out of 200K$, instead of assuring him things would get better thanks to his money (but not now), or, you know, asking for even MORE money (until he refused).
JP: Randy and April, clad in grey and speaking in unison, have really gotten with the dystopian program. Do they love Big Brother?
Lockhorns: Just as well. If Leroy had started picking up Zoomer slang back when it was fresh, he’d be hitting all the Gen Z hangouts—assuming that such places exist—and trying to pick up much younger women, which would go about as well as you imagine.
Late Thread Cuisine: Is this flan tea and/or hamburger pizza a April Fool’s joke? Guess before you search the internet.
C-Shaft: It could just be the change in angle, but I like to think that Ralph has wandered off due to sheer lack of interest.
DT: Well, anyone the trio could have sent out for supplies either has a telltale verbal tic or very recognizable stars, so this was always where the plan would start to unravel.
Dustin: Dustmom is a radio host, so she has her own income stream. Dagwood Bumstead is much better at remembering that kind of thing, although part of that is because Blondie’s job is food-related.
Luann: Luann and Phil just had lunch at Weenie World, which means that the spa would be a grisly accident waiting to happen.
MT: You can’t talk to Cherry about serious stuff right after she’s eaten one of her special brownies.
MW: Tommy lets loose with an internal AUUGHH! That kind of anguish is usually reserved for something like the other team kidnapping your beagle shortstop.
RMMD: Lonnie shouts, “Hey, sorry, guys. I got a text just then. Could you redo the kiss?”
6C: Yeah, Xunise isn’t going to be very intimidated by this ghost when her parents grew up playing a video game where similar ghosts get their asses kicked by a hungry yellow pie chart.
@Human-eared Dragon: Does make you wonder how many Luanniverse snobs have tragic accidents walking into traffic.
@Baja Gaijin:
#129. Its clearly a mix for Flan Flavored Flea
@Voshkod: ???
@Ukulele Ike:
Yes, but not for The Lockhorns — for Howard Huge. That is one very, very large dog! Hilarious!
@Ukulele Ike: I once did a study of Tom Batiuk’s award shelf. He has a Reuben Award, and the Pulitzer nomination is a legit accomplishment (though newspaper comics were the easiest category by 2008). Other than that, it’s mostly awards anyone can buy, or from incredibly snall bodies.
@Anonymous: As if the scammers wouldn’t just give someone else the role of “Trixie.”
@Banana Jr. 6000: I mean to say: I think Batiuk *does* have a Reuben.
MW: poor lonely Tommy. In the spring, a young man’s heart turns to… Dogs? A parrot? Doesn’t Mary need a cat sitter?
@138 Activist: Tommy’s not thinking about Mary’s pussy.
@Ken: @ectojazzmage: To be fair, that synopsis of Rex Morgan M.D. would have been ridiculous even under the “old” regime, because if there is one consistent throughout all of the strip’s writer turnovers it’s Rex treating any interaction (patients, friends, family, whoever) with grim taciturn annoyance. It’s the one solid foundation in the dreary uncertain world we can depend on! The good thing is that the stoic pissiness Rex has with anything “causing a scene” is the one trait that meshes well with Beatty’s conflict-avoidance aesthetics.
@TheDiva: Well, yeah – plus we had a story not too long ago that involved actual butchering of actual pigs.
But it’s not like we need to worry about Mark taking Rusty catfishing – these days Rusty’s too busy on the socials.
@Baja Gaijin: I say the Flan Tea is the April Fool’s joke as I can’t imagine the Japanese (despite some of their culinary combinations that defy Western food sensibilities) fucking around with tea like that. Also, unless is Mandela Effect vaguely remember Burger King trying the pizza burger out a few years back and it flopped.
@Baja Gaijin:
But he is thinking about eating Mary’s suspiciously delicious muffin.
@Ukulele Ike: There are one or two pubs in Drumnadrochit where she could fail at wiping tables, and then finally fall off the Nessie Hunter during a two hour tour.
@Banana Jr. 6000: I went through the list of Reuben winners. Did I miss him?
As a lad in the 1980s I worked a few years for G. Schirmer music publishing, and one of my menial chores was to pack up the scores of every composer’s latest work and mail them to the Pulitzer committee. Yep, they were all “Pulitzer-nominated artists.” None of ‘em won.
@Deadly Goon Bugs: #142: I’d say Burger King’s most ill-advised offerings were the sliced beef sandwiches au jus in the 80s.
They should’ve known they were in trouble when they had to run TV ads explaining to the average Burger King customer what au jus is and how to eat the damn things.
@richardf8: We stayed at a rural inn several miles north of Portree when we explored the Isle of Skye about 15 years ago, but went into the town for dinner. Some of the best seafood I’ve had in the UK, and I’m surprised I remember because I was also sampling all the local whisky.
Heathcliff – Cherubim and Seraphim – Doxology – the Old Hundredth – an AA clubhouse – Higher Power lingo – a mid-thigh height fence. I don’t think it’s Hieronymus Bosch, but it’s definitely that 16th century Flemish school….
@2+2=7: There are fewer sanctimonious undercurrents in bad golf.
@Guillermo el chiclero:
I don’t remember the BK au jus sandwich. But I tend to avoid McD, BK, Wendy’s, type places. Not because I’m a snob, but I’m at that age where my gallbladder screams in terror when in the presence of greasy food. Shit, does that make me a Plugger?
@142 Deadly Goon Bugs: Flan Tea is a real product, available starting this week. It’s really a milk tea beverage; reading the description, it’s really flan flavored tea. The Burger King Pizza Burger was a real product too. It was offered for only a short time at only a few flagship locations. I’ll have to try harder next time.
@pugfuggly: my mind is feeble and staggering, so you win….
@Schroduck: My first thought on that Lockhorns panel: lets see, that’s obviously the front door of a house, with framed windows with curtains, some benches against a wall, art on a wall, no handholds or railings of any kind other than a very conspicuous stripper poll in the middle of the room. This is obviously a suburban house set up by some OnlyFans content provider to be an underground alt-cabaret strip club. The only thing I don’t understand is why Leroy isn’t holding a drink.
JP: Let’s finish this dumb video (eww, April, you look really awful, and that’s the end of your final redeeming feature) and get to the fun part where Bogdan is released, politely says farewell, and heads straight to the police and then a good attorney’s office. A really good attorney, which rules out anyone in the Parker/Driver circle.
@Baja Gaijin: I’m sorry, I can’t trouble myself with that when I have shit like this going down in my own neighborhood. Please forgive me.
I did not know all that about cherubim but yes, I’ll accept Heathcliff as God of the comic strips. It is, you gotta admit, unique and spectacular absurdity.
I have been reading joshreads.com since well before Apartment 3G ended (which I just discovered was over a decade ago!) and I have to say that after all this time, I STILL know nothing about Judge Parker.
I have been reading joshreads.com since well before Apartment 3G ended (which I just discovered was over a decade ago!) and I have to say that after all this time, I STILL know nothing about Judge Parker.
Lockhorns: I thought at first that Leroy was at a party of someone who had a stripper pole in their living room.