I truly see your sleepy, sleepy heart
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Gil Thorp, 6/8/26
Isis, a Mudlark student-athlete, was taken by ICE earlier this year, and she’s now being released after much protest by fellow students, and this big local news story with national implications is being covered by … local podcaster Marty Moon, using the same iPhone camera streaming setup he uses to comment on high school golf? Honestly, I’ve never been more concerned about the health of the Milford media ecosystem.
Beetle Bailey, 6/8/26
I have to admit that I’m not really sure what the “joke” here is supposed to be, so I’m choosing to believe that Beetle wasn’t sure whether to dig a foxhole as he learned to do as part of his military training or to dig a hole that would be appealing to an actual fox, so he tried to split the difference and has satisfied nobody.
Rex Morgan, M.D., 6/8/26
Mae Mae is wiped out by her first two mornings of honest work in years, and needs to go take a nap before dinner. Mud is amorously moved by her choice to take self-care in this manner, and honestly it’s the most romantic thing I’ve seen in the comics pages in years.
Herb and Jamaal, 6/8/26
For one brief, terrifying moment, I was convinced that Herb and Jamaal was going to introduce the concept of polyamory to its audience via one of its child characters. But, thankfully, it was just setting up a joke that’s been circulating in print and online for nearly 40 years instead, which is frankly much more on brand.
62 replies to “I truly see your sleepy, sleepy heart”
JPand S4th: Kids are aging! Soon everyone in comi s will be an adult– no wonder kids aren’t reading
H&J: bb humor. For the first time in maybe a year, last night I pulled my dictionary off the shelf to see if Knicks misspelled as Nix was synonymous with ol’ nick, the evil one. Not in hardcover anyway. (I’m in Western conference)
MW: Dawn bonked her head so hard yesterday that her eyes are different color now.
GT: What are those vertical lines all over Mr. Pillar’s face supposed to be? Wrinkles? Scratches? The least efficient tally marks ever made? Or have stray hairs from his mustache migrated over the rest of his head?
GT Congrats to Gil Thorp for having the courage to talk about such controversial matters, but I have to admit, having the victim of American state violence be called ‘Isis Pillar’ is…a choice.
BB Actually, judging by the color, I think that Beetle has managed to somehow construct a fox out of dirt? Which begs the question: is a hole in the ground the absence of dirt or the dirt that surrounds it? Makes you think.
B. Bailey: The sentient shovel joining in with a haughty comment from the sidelines is pretty funny, though.
MW: If you were worried that the stream of inane platitudes was over, have I got good news for you…
BB: I had to zoom in to determine that the fox does indeed, look as disapproving as Sarge does. Perhaps it will join in on the inevitable Beetle Beatdown.
RMMD: Still waiting for Mud to ask Mae Mae to whip him up a quick sandwich before she gets off her feet.
LUANN: “Special Needs Counselor” and “Counselor With Special Needs” are very different things.
MW: Dawn and Tommy run into Brandy (who’s been back for weeks) hand-in-hand with Jared (who has strict rules about how his exes can behave)
Somehow, they manage to make Dawn and Tommy feel guilty.
BB: This remake of Russ Meyer’s Vixen! proved quite disappointing.
H&J: Poly isn’t a noun, unless she’s reading the Urban Dictionary definition in which case someone should be monitoring these kids
Beetle Bailey : Well, Beetle, What does the fox say?
…Probably some weird ratiocination about how the way the hole is dug and the dirt is left around proves it was not Beetle who dug the hole…**********
Dustin : I like the nice touch of these disgusting jerks just spraying each other with crumbs as they talk with their mouths stuffed with donus.
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Herb & Jamall : “Poly” is not a noun when it means “many” or “several”, it is a PREFIX. They’re different things!
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Luann : REUSED CHARACTER ALERT : The admin of Camp Skye is the RA of the Moony Uni dorms.
(The Evansii probably thought we forgot what that character looked like because it’s been… over 7 months since we last saw her (during the “Dez lies to get a foster dog” storyline (huh, I thought it had been longer))
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Six Chix : …Is this like in Triplets of Belleville, where a bunch of off-panel crooks are betting on which dogs run the fastest/farthest and which dogs die of exhaustion first?
BF: Maeve, get brains. Riding bus home from church yesterday an apparently homeless man sat next to me. So Maeve, speaking from experience, you do NOT have to let a grifter live with you
Obviously, Beetle got caught exiting his secret underground base via bubble column on PvP server. That’s an iron shovel, so the clever move here is to enchant the shovel with Sharpness V and Fire Aspect, drop it, and let the fox pick it up and kill Snorkel.
Gil Thorp:
Well, the transmogrification of Marty Moon into ’80s era Cheech Marin is apparently complete.
@Anonymous:
#8. Anon- great video. Thanks for my first laugh today. (giggle)
Is the girl in the last panel of Gil Thorp crying literal floods of tears, or is she doing Ziggy Stardust-style makeup?
RMMD: note that Mae Mae’s pert waitress do is the same stylish coiffure Lucy wore to the big dance 64 years earlier. Classic!
H&J: Now do “Congress”. HA HA HA HA HA
GA: “Welcome to the Hotel Hootin’ Hollar….”
GT: “That’s right, Bajaras, they’re nice and healthy and well-fed. They even had corn flakes. Now end this plot line NOW!”
RMMD;
“Why the steer embroidery on your shirt, Mud?”
“They serve as powerful symbolism that I’m horn-y!”
I wouldn’t have gotten what was being referred to in Herb and Jamaal without the link in Josh’s commentary. (“‘Poly-tick’? Is that a word?”) Luckily, being infuriatingly non-specific and refusing to commit to its punchlines is also on-brand for Herb and Jamaal.
RMMD The artist may be trying to draw “tender moment just before lips meet”, but I see “Mae Mae falling asleep on her feet waiting for the kiss, Mud missing this (and her lips!) as his lean-in overbalances and they both tumble to the floor, Mae gently snoring”
JP “About that… as a certified Ethnic Character in this strip I have an ancestry outside the US in recent generations, making me eligible for citizenship by descent in Unspecified Country. I’ve been working on getting my papers in order, my new passport’s on the way, and I am not going back!”
DT I can usually get Mumbles decoded pretty quickly (P2 is ‘damn if I know’) but what’s BCHAA in BCHAANTGNAFINDM? The NTGNAFINDM should be “not gonna find ’em”
H and J:
“Tickpoly”? — isn’t that the capital of Libya?
@CanuckDownSouth:
but what’s BCHAA in BCHAANTGNAFINDM? The NTGNAFINDM should be “not gonna find ’em”
It is either : “But you are” or “I bet you are”.
GIL THORP: I know people make fun of expository dialogue on the comic’s page, but panel #1 shows why it’s important so the audience isn’t sitting there wondering why they got transported back to a Tony Orlando special from ’75.
GIL THORP (2): This strip also shows how important
gooddecentbarely tolerablenot dogshit awful visual art is since it’s the thin lone separating “earnest attempt depicting the brutality and unfairness life has on regular people” from “mean-spirited Fox News meme about ‘liberal tears’.” No, no that was callous of me. The exaggerated crying this side of a Loony Tunes gag really conveys the stark horror of unlawful detention.@Anonymous: On Luann – so, do you think this is just the Evansii lazily reusing art, or that this is the exact same character who decided on a whim to quit her steady job to gad about in the woods for a month?
JP: ‘… I’m being written out of your own story. Say hi to CIApril for me when she next crashes into and ruins your life!’
MW: ‘Last one to push an innocent person into traffic is a rotten egg!’
CS: I can’t get over the fact that the ‘father’ in the title of this refers to that of $%&@-ing LARRY DINKLE!!!
GT: Isis asks Keri why she has a bucket of pigs’ blood…
@Anonymous: The “N” signifies a negative.
JP: Reena is going to stay in Norway and be Lars’s Barista Wife.
RMMD: Lorna finds that the old Hollywood trick of using maple syrup for lip gloss has unintended consequences.
FC: Ironically just today, a plump and overweight adult Dolly is reading this strip with a full grown Labrador lying on her lap.
REX MORGAN M.D.: Yes it’s always romantic when obvious clip art from two completely separate occasions get superimposed on top of each other.
REX MORGAN M.D. (2): It’s too bad these are real people, because if they were Mud would smoothly point out that since they’re both already at a motel, he can suggest an activity that would keep Lorna/Mae Mae off of her oh-so tired feet for a while. Unfortunately the
StepfordGlenwood Wives that demented roots country fan/animatronics expert build only come with a dial that switches from “Eat” to “Sleep” and back again.GT: “Today the part of Marty Moon will be played by Tony Orlando.”
Gil Thorp: It was nice of ICE to color-coordinate Isis’ lipstick with her outfit. Between her friend’s green hair and her KISS Army makeup, though, I think Milford may have a clown infestation.
I know, I know, it’s just the weirdest depiction of tears available on this artistic team’s particular palette, which makes it exactly on-brand for the current generation of Gil Thorp creators. I can tell, because a story about immigrant clowns might be fun and interesting, and is thus forbidden.
@Anonymous: The admin of Camp Skye is the RA of the Moony Uni dorms.
Maybe they’re supposed to be the same person? We certainly can’t have Luann meeting new people in this summer camp! Or learning! Or having any new experiences! No, every interaction in life must steer Luann right back to her forced straightedge fundamentalist existence. Or, be a straw villain that convinces her she needs to steer right back to her forced straightedge fundamentalist existence.
@Ukulele Ike:
The “N” signifies a negative.
I know, I was saying Mumbles is saying either “But you are” “Not going to find ’em” OR “I bet you are” “Not going to find ’em”.
Beetle responds: “Can’t a guy take a shit in peace?! Then I’ll dig your stupid foxhole!”
BB: Look at that fox’s expression; it’s obvious that Beetle didn’t do any digging at all, just commandeered a hole and rendered a noble beast of the wilderness homeless. Whatever Beetle pieces left by Sarge’s pummeling will be eaten with great satisfaction as the fox returns to its diggings.
@Gerry Quinn: Those teardrops are tattoos, one for every week she was away, because the GT “artist@ thinks an ICE detention center is just like regular prison)and I’m trying like hell not to get into a political rant here).
@Banana Jr. 6000: We’ve previously discussed the idea that Luann is in a facility similar to a dementia village — her behavior today certainly demonstrates the need. By that theory, many of the people around her are caregivers playing roles as teachers, employers, and so forth; and that for financial reasons some of these caregivers have to double up. The original context was a high-school teacher who inexplicably became one of Luann’s college teachers, but you can see how “dorm RA who’s also summer camp admin” fits the pattern.
Remember when hair salons named after the Egyptian goddess Isis were getting threats and being forced to change their names because people are idiots? This poor girl hit the double whammy of life.
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Do they even still dig foxholes in the US army, or is nostalgic plugger Snorkle just trying give shiftless… Millennial? Zoomer? Younger person people a make work project?
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Mae Mae was insistent that Mud have his nap first, but the big man gallantly pretended to soil himself so he would go last.
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Smug: Adjective meaning exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself. Ness: An American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone. I don’t know what I’m trying to say here, but oooooh, that look on the guy’s face in that last panel is slap-worthy.
GT: Hooray, Isis and her family are free! The humanitarian crisis has been solved forever and nobody will speak of it ever again!
H&J: Are we sure the DJ3000 didn’t get a job writing for Herb and Jamaal?
RMMD: Rex Morgan characters somehow always manage to kiss like two Barbie dolls being mashed together.
PFC Bailey’s deployment to Camp Zama in Japan is about to be interrupted by an annoyed kitsune. Welcome to VIII Corps, Private. Probably for the best they left Cpl. Yo in Camp Swampy.
@Banana Jr. 6000:
We certainly can’t have Luann meeting new people in this summer camp!
About that :
a) So, you’re also thinking the person greeting Luann is a redesigned Delta, huh?
b) But she *IS* meeting new people, because I’m pretty sure Luann has never met the Moony Uni Dorm RA before! Like, one of the problems with Luann (the strip) is that the ensemble cast is divided into closed sets that have very little crossover, and so Luann (the character) barely interacts with a third of them!
RMMD:
“You know, Mud, sometimes you’re so combination overtired and overstimulated that you can’t fall asleep. If that happens, I’ll just turn on World Cup — that’ll put me right out!”
“It’s not your fault”. I mean… it is, in a meta way! Keri gets all the socially relevant storylines, so Isis was caught be ICE to provoke an emotional reaction from them! On the other hand, Isis was specifically created for this storyline, so Keri is also responsible for her existence. I guess this is similar to the question “If God creates you specifically to suffer, should you be grateful to him?”, making this Gil Thorp not really about politics but theodicy
“Poli-” in politics derives from “Polis” (things regarding the entire city/state) not “poly” (many)! Fuck you Herb’s son, if you think you can be so smug about etymology, you should first learn the first things about ancient Greek!
Beetle Bailey should have taken this opportunity to dig a grave large enough to bury Sarge. When Sarge comes to look at it Beetle knocks him out with that tiny shovel and buries him alive. The incompetence at Camp Swampy will ensure that nobody ever properly investigates or discovers the body.
C’shaft: Because rehashing the Lucy/Eugene story wasn’t annoying enough, we had to bring Harry Dinkle into it.
Dustin: “Anyway, I should get back to work, there’s this huge labor rights violation case I…ha-ha, just kidding! Pass me another Boston creme.”
JP: “Did you ever notice we never actually went to our internship?”
Luann: Yes, you definitely want this idiot who cannot master a simple call-and-response in charge of your children’s well-being for two weeks.
MW: “Maybe we can talk more about how much better we are now that we’re working on self-improvement!”
Not only is that foxhole inadequate, but Beetle is having the stage prop break the borders of the balloon! You’d think that after almost 80 years in the army/funnies page, he would have learnt!
DtM: I’m genuinely curious about (1) what Dennis is actually doing in the background and (2) whether it’s a “right thing the wrong way” or a “wrong thing the right way.” Honestly, this is the sort of inscrutability I expect from Alice and I don’t really appreciate it in a lukewarm legacy strip.
MW: I’ve already noticed that Tommy is improbably ripped for a guy who only runs and never lifts, unless you count stacking cans at Freda’s, but today he’s reached Chatu-levels of ripped-ness. Are we sure he hasn’t swapped meth for gear? It might explain all of his confusion around Brandy comings and goings and whatnot since long-term steroid abuse can negatively affect cognition and memory
Sarge has a good rule of thumb to check whether a foxhole is well done: if an atheist can fit in it, it is not a proper foxhole! Unfortunately, Sarge uses Plato for this test, but Plato embraces a series of ideas regarding destiny, dualism of substance, karma and spirituality that are basically religion, except he doesn’t call them that because of intellectual snobbery. Beetle is actually a true atheist (explaining why he can’t build a foxhole), but he hides it from others, because he has already enough reasons to be bullied
Luann – If we have learned anything from the Evansii, it’s that hyper-realistic characters are evil and not to be trusted. Is this (assumed) other counselor a bully? Is she a sexual aggressor? Is she the reincarnation of Delta, and this is going to be a reunion summer?
I have so many questions. Many will go unanswered.
When did Marty Moon turn into Charles Bronson
“Enjoy your nap. Naps are good for your physical and mental health if you have an exhausting job. Okay, that’s enough medical points to justify this storyline being on ‘Rex Morgan, MD’!”
Pluggers: No, it’s OK. The comic strip he’s looking at is Crankshaft.
MW-“Let’s go to the park and ‘walk’ in front of the homeless people.”
FC-Dolly’s going to be a supervillain.
Crankshaft-“I was young and needed the money. It’s not gay if you do it for money.”
Gil Thorp-It’s your dad’s fault for naming you after a terrorist organization.
Gil Thorp:
Wasn’t there a storyline a few years back about Marty Moon being a big ol’ racist? Maybe his spartan broadcasting setup is because he’s not reporting on this as part of his job, but for the benefit of his buddies on his Milford-area right-wing nationalist Discord group, who are all very upset that someone insufficiently white will be allowed to once again play high school golf or whatever.
Arlo & Janis: Meg is preparing for The Great Pumpkin like nobody’s business.
Hagar discovers you can lose a battle if you’re fighting a petty fief who owns the whole county. Don’t worry; the Duke will buy your shares for fifty cents on the dollar!
DtM: Mr. Wilson, he’s not a Boy Scout.
Literally.
If you want him to learn how to tie a
nooseknot in a rope he plays withall the time, well, it’s up to an adult like you to teach him.Blondie Why is our titular (heh-heh) heroine standing there with her hands out likes she’s ready for a hand-off? Is this the start of “Blondie Bumstead : Suburban Running Back”?
Beetle – You might be a Private Snafu if… your foxholes aren’t Foxworthy.
Don Abundio, translated:
“Why are you dressed like that, Polonio?”
“If you hadn’t been passed-out drunk all week…”
“You’d know the boss had a pool installed in the conservatory!”
Wait, the second guy is just Marty without a wig, right? Marty, it’s radio, you don’t need to pull these visual tricks.
@CanuckDownSouth: bet cha can’t find ‘em
H&J :Right,and MONOPOLY comes from Latin for “One Parrot”.
H&J – This also explains the origin of the word “asinine.” She’s gonna whack his ass in nine places for that joke.
“I’m so sorry that I’ve attached these leeches to my lower eyelids in penance.”