Also, why is it a mansion, seems overly grandiose to be honest
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Blondie, 9/26/26
I very much accidentally read Blondie’s dialogue in panel one as “that restaurant we swore we’d never go back to” and, you know what: Mama Chowabunga Manicotti Mansion would absolutely be on a list of restaurants to never go back to. Honestly it feels like it should be at the top of a list of restaurants never to go to in the first place. They took “cowabunga,” first coined as a fake Native American word for the Howdy Doody show, and turned it into a fake Italian word, in a move that could get groups that usually fight with each other about recognizing Columbus Day to unite against a common enemy, which I honestly think is kind of beautiful, but I wouldn’t eat there.
Mary Worth, 9/26/26
I know it would never happen, but the absolute funniest denouement of this storyline would be if after weeks of gossip Toby was like “Ian and Mary? I don’t think so” and it’s just never addressed again and there’s a new plot on Monday. Are they or aren’t they? None of our business, frankly! Toby doesn’t think so and that’s good enough for me!
35 replies to “Also, why is it a mansion, seems overly grandiose to be honest”
MW: It sounds reasonable until you realize Toby’s inner monologue is in the voice of a parrot.
Blondie: I assume years ago a doctor told Dagwood to keep a food diary to help fight his eating disorder. Instead, he uses it to further sate his psycho-sexual eating binges. Blondie, who fears that one day he’ll go full Jeffrey Dahmer, instantly regrets picking at that scab.
Blondie: “Mama Chowabunga Manicotti Mansion” feels like a compromise solution of the world’s most dysfunctional corporate committee. “Ok, to review: our market research says that the most successful restaurants in our target area are luxury bistros, cozy Italian eateries and Chuck-E-Cheese. Now, since we can’t seem to agree on one clear option, I’d like to propose a radical solution…”
GT Keri, Keri, Keri… I know you think that calling CPS will result in Dorothy being immediately whisked away despite not having _any_ signs of abuse. And you _would_ be right! Because it’s Milford, and it would be on Word From A Thorp! But your dad said no and given that your rebelliousness level has been set at: “bonfire teen party with beer – ROOT beer”, face it, not gonna happen
Blondie:
Now, we all know Dagwood loves food to a truly disturbing extent, but we’ve finally found something he loves even more, something he’s willing to restrict the restaurants he goes to in order to express his adoration for: alliteration.
Bizarro : “Actually, yes. I *DO* mind a lot, I’m happy you actually asked for permission. But it’s no, you can’t.”
***********
Blondie : Kathy’s Kabob ALSO used to have an alliterative adjective to be a three-word name (like the other two), but it got them into a lot of trouble so they eventually dropped it.
…Too far?…***********
Luann : Either the Daytona-DeGroots are so stupid they can’t see into the next room (of a canonically TINY house) to see the food they came over to eat, or TJ’s food is THAT gross that despite SPECIFICALLY originally coming over for dinner (and thus hungry), they all skipped on it.
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Mary Worth : And Toby immediately walks in on Mary and Ian having one of their “Haha, how interesting” exchanges in 3… 2… 1…
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Shoe : “And by lower level of consciousness, I mean none. As in, he’s dead. I poisoned his drink.”
MW:
“Tommy Beedie hand-picked these fresh stalks for me! — I sure am glad he’s a celeried employee at Freda’s!”
Phantom Let’s see, before the cameras went out due to Phantom shooting down all the drones Masky McMaskface was _saying_ their adversary was near. Masky _ought_ to be assuming Phantom can overhear anything shouted from the drone speakers and shouldn’t be revealing the whole darn plan. Not that much about this plot _ever_ made sense, but I was hoping we’d get to the Python/Nomad team-up turning on Masky before it all fell apart
MW:
“I’m going to take my mind off that empty nonsense and think about international affairs instead! — I see that the president of Communist China actually came to the United States to visit. I mean, Xi whiz!”
Luann: Ok, all you whiners, there’s the damn food you’ve all been demanding. Not TJ’s fault those morons didn’t touch it. Too bad TJ didn’t do a crossover and invite Dustdad over. No worries about what to do with the leftovers.
Dustin: Ed, I’ve heard there’s a bunch of uneaten food over at Brad and Toni DeGroot’s that’s begging not to go to waste.
MW:
“Then again, maybe the two of them ran off someplace, leaving me here holding the bag! “
Mary Worth:
Note that Toby actually thinks “ha ha!”, just like Ian and Mary sat in a car and actually said “ha ha!” Clearly, this is foreshadowing a threesome.
@Anonymous: not just can’t see, also couldn’t smell the food! and nobody said “hey, let’s celebrate – sit down for dinner!”.
The alternative was that TJ made food _and_ ordered pizza (like someone suggested he do instead of the menu) and frankly, given the proposed dishes, I’d probably skip his stuff and devour the pizza
MW:
Was Toby perhaps a little overenthusiastic with a botox treatment on her lips? — she looks to be rocking a little rictus sardonicus in today’s second panel.
Blondie: I would assume Disney would be more litigious if the restaurant’s name were Michaelangelo’s Chowabunga Pizza Palace.
Blondie, you work in food preparation yourself! Don’t you keep track of the competition?
@CanuckDownSouth:
But he has to—it’s, like, Chapter One in the villain book!
Blondie: The most in-character thing about Dagwood here is that he claims to be a great gourmet, yet the only places he ever eats seem to be off-brand versions of TGI Fridays and Chuck E. Cheese.
That’s not an official comic strip grocery bag without a baguette poking out of the top.
Toby has to have another bag of groceries in the car as we see no bottle of wine sticking out of the bag she is carrying.
Blondie:
Thesis: Daisy functions in this strip in the same role as the chorus in an ancient Greek play, offering commentary, perspective and context on the unfolding events, albeit through nonverbal, facial expressions. Discuss.
MW-:Toby seems unconcerned because if Ian is spending time with Mary, he’s not spending time with her.
DT: Eric Costello left a comment on today’s strip thanking Charles Ettinger for his work on the art. Say what we will about the story (and goodness knows we’ve said a lot), I don’t think anyone can say Ettinger was phoning it in on the art. Very classy of you to do, Mr. Costello.
JP: Randy hears ‘explode’ and thinks “Of course, that’s IT! I need to explode her before she explodes me! I wonder if she has any of that C4 from the prison break left…”
S4th: Woulda been funnier if the two neighbors had already gotten drunk on their Kroger-bought wine before realizing that not only is the furniture going in and not out, but typically families don’t move house using UPS or FedEx trucks.
@CanuckDownSouth: You forget the Keri Corollary to the Word of A Thorp Law: Anything Keri the Malcontent says must be dismissed as the ravings of a ‘Woke’ teenager simply looking to stir up trouble and distract from sportsball.
Daddy Daze is still on that same arc about the car breaking down.
Hi and Lois: I honestly saw some stores that began stocking Halloween inventory at the end of June. Everyone knows that as soon as the back to school sales end that stores jump into Halloween.
@Y137 GarrisonSkunk: “Always wondered what happened to the Freakies™ after Ralston stopped selling their cereal.” They moved to Count Weirdly’s castle in the Slylockiverse.
Maybe Pluggers wouldn’t have such horrible spinal issues if they weren’t spending large amounts of time sleeping in hammocks,
DtM: The Wilson series of terminators was a total bust.
FC: Bil is too distracted by the knowledge that his ill-fitting aftermarket seatbelts won’t stop Jeffy from flying through the windshield in the event of an accident to notice his raised hand.
@6 Anonymous: on Luann: I have to admit TJ asked me for my list of rejected Late Thread Cuisine recipes. Sorry, deGroots and Daytonas.
MW: Toby and insoucience are seldom seen together. Did she indulge in an edible before shopping?
@20 TK: Toby has a subscription at BevMo! for daily deliveries of her favorite merlot by the case.
MW: I think Josh has got it right. Moy has taken a page from RMMD, and Monday we’ll see a narration box with “And so Ian and Toby get on with their lives, completely unaware of Nelly’s vicious gossip campaign. But let’s see what’s happening to the other residents…”
Aaaaand it’s another @#$& Wilbur story.
Sally Forth: I love the neighbor’s look of rage in the final panel. True, unfiltered loathing.
@Gil Bates: I’m a little slow on media, so I’m not certain if it’s because
1- Did Disney buy the Ninja Turtles property from Nickoledeon?
2- Or because there is a Lion King character named Bunga?
MW: Nice try, Mary Worth, but you got to work a lot harder (less?) if you want to match Rex Morgan’s lack of drama.