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.”


44 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!