Metapost: Comments? Of MY week? It’s more likely than you think
Post Content
Here ya, go folks: that sweet, sweet COTW:
“Oh no! Tommy’s going to get addicted to the dopamine hit that comes from spreading juicy gossip!” –Tabby Lavalamp
And your hilarious runners up!
“Today’s Dick Tracy teaches us that when the cops come to get you, you should also shoot through the wall next to the door. Thanks, Dick Tracy!” –matt w
“Note that Dagwood doesn’t even bother checking the fridge. He knows he wouldn’t keep eclairs in there. No, a true gourmet appreciates the delicate sour note that you only get from leaving a load of raw cream at room temperature overnight.” –Schroduck
“Dagwood does not look like he’s searching for pastries. He looks like he’s reaching for a maybe, probably, dead mouse in each of the 3 panels he’s rummaging.” –Doc Wonmug
“Terrible balloon work on Sunday’s Dick Tracy. After some initial confusion, I eventually realized that Dick (or more precisely, Dick’s shoulder) is meant to be the one shouting that he has a warrant, but my initial read was that Widescreen was shouting through the door, perhaps in an attempt to trick the cops into thinking that he was about to arrest them. ‘I’m the police!’ ‘No, I’m the police!’ ‘No, I’m the police!’ ‘No, I’m the police!’ ‘No, you’re the police!’ ‘You’re the police, and that’s final!’ (Dick puts down gun and allows himself to be handcuffed and led away by Widescreen.)” –samurailizard
“Shouldn’t Tommy be in a funk because his girlfriend Brandy isn’t in his immediate line of sight?” –The Quiet Man
“I won’t be in here forever. Either they’ll let me out, I’ll escape, or I’ll eventually die. One way or another, I’ll be in a different location.” –Joe Blevins
“The alarm rings, rousing Judge Parker from sleep. ‘Ah, it’s finally six P.M.,’ he says sleepily. ‘Time to start drinking.’” –Voshkod
“If this is what Nelly looks like when she’s just gossiping with the stock boy, I can’t wait to see her facial expression explode after she finds out her coupon for toilet paper has expired.” –BigTed
“Does a bear shit in the woods? Well this one shit in his pants!” –Old School Allie Cat
“Cyclospora was a conspiracy by Big Laxative to scare off a generation of pluggers from naturally healthy and fibrous foods that would keep them from relying on prescription-grade Ex-Lax.” –Philip
“I’m a vegetarian, so maybe I’m taking this a bit personally, but this comic strip is … actively incorrect? I know it’s all in service of a pun, but Shoe and its depressed bird-people have not earned the goodwill necessary to disrespect dietary fiber like that.” –Vulpes
“‘This is just between you and me…’ said Tommy, staring up to the surveillance camera, imagining Mary watching the feed from the comfort of her condo. He imagined for a brief moment the incredible relief he would feel when the latest round of loyalty tests was over, before subtly adjusting the mic under his shirt and leaning in closer to Dawn.” –pugfuggly
“Boys, your grades are so bad, you’ve lost bedroom privileges! You’ll be sleeping in The Beige Dimension until I say otherwise!” –Victor Von
“‘THIS IS JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME!’ Tommy shouted, over the sounds of dropped bowling balls and crashing pins.” –CompassRose
“Silly Gil Thorp, you’ve made your bed wrong! When you use one of those Hollywood-approved L-shaped sheets, the half that comes all the way up to the neck goes on the WOMAN’s side, while the half that stops below the chest goes on the MAN’s. You’ve put this one on upside down!” –yo go re
“Beth looks like a woman in those TV ads where you find love by using the product. ‘Thanks for taking me to the big game, Gil! [turns to camera] And thank you, Prell!’” –A. Mulyak
“Sorry to all those Protoss ladies in the audience, Sam Catchem can’t construct any additional pylons for you gals. He’s already married … to justice.” –ectojazzmage
“Routine good?! Jacket Monster leap over and consume you now!” –A Grave Mind
“‘Uh, they’re just pulling your leg.’ June finds the nicest way possible to tell Rex the boys were gaslighting him because they think he’s stupid.” –Hibbleton
“Joke’s on these traffic scofflaws when judge-whisperer Sophie starts digging up colonial-era precedent for sentencing them to hard labor on Spencer Farm.” –Charterstone: Dune
“I’d hate to think they’re not keeping up. But I’d hate even more to have to do something about it!” –Ettorre
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47 replies to “Metapost: Comments? Of MY week? It’s more likely than you think”
Congratulations, Tabby!
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 1
BigTed
September 12th, 2026 at 4:32 am Reply
Beetle Bailey: That pasta looks kinda gross, no? I think the artist is confused about which part of the angel they get “angel hair” from.
Gil Bates
September 12th, 2026 at:33 am Reply
Beetle Bailey: “I think the pubic hair is a special personal touch by the chef for forcing him to make all the pasta together.”
Bob Tice
September 12th, 2026 at 4:38 am Reply
Mary Worth: “…I can only imagine how horrible it is to be deceived like that! And I say ‘imagine’ because no human being on earth would ever want to get close to me in the first instance so as to even be in a position to thereafter engage in that kind of deception!”
Lauralot
September 12th, 2026 at 4:55 am Reply
Mary Worth: “To think of Ian Cameron cheating on his wife…well, that just arches my brows!”
Ukranazi Stepan
September 12th, 2026 at 5:01 am Reply
Wary Morth: “If Toby doesn’t believe it, I know just what to do!”
“You mean, kidnap her until she sees reason?”
“Yes! Do you think anyone can see through these disguises and realise we’re the runaway twins from Wrecks Moregone, MD?”
TheDiva
September 12th, 2026 at 5:22 am Reply
Crankshaft: Tony doesn’t understand why you need AI to provide soulless, incompetent work; he’s been doing that for decades!
MKay
September 12th, 2026 at 9:46 am Reply
Mary Worth: If this gets any more dire, there won’t be any bold text left in the whole, wide world.
Peanut Gallery
September 12th, 2026 at 6:11 pm Reply
Beetle Bailey:
? Gimme a plate of hair
Long, beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, cooked al dente
Fill me up to there, hair
Red sauce or alfredo
Here, Beetle, there, Snorkel
Everywhere, Sergeant, Sergeant
Hair! (Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!)
Heat it, beat it
Long as Sarge can eat it
That hair
RogerBW
September 13th, 2026 at 1:29 am Reply
Family Circus: “Now, you have your heresy bingo card? Oh boy, he’s going to talk about the Trinity.”
pugfuggly
September 13th, 2026 at 4:34 am Reply
Blondie I feel like this strip starts to make a lot more sense if you imagine that Dagwood is just constantly high. The insatiable appetite, the afternoon naps, his general state of confusion. Intense cravings of a very specific food that you forgot that you already ate not long ago? Classic stoner behavior.
Bob Tice
September 13th, 2026 at 4:36 am Reply
Dick Tracy: “Police! We have a Warrant! — to be precise, a copy of their 1990 double-platinum sophomore release ‘Cherry Pie,’ featuring the hit song of the same name and their hits ‘I Saw Red’ and ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ !”
Ukranazi Stepan
September 13th, 2026 at 4:38 am Reply
Wary Morth: “Yes! It’s suspicious as hell! I mean, just imagine anyone sane being friends with either of these two!”
Maltmash3r
September 13th, 2026 at 5:25 am Reply
Next crime stopper hint:
Always keep treats around your house in order to prevent your food obsessed husband killing you in a glycemic induced rage.
Voshkod
September 13th, 2026 at 5:45 am Reply
Dick Tracy: His gun hurls slurs for Pakistanis! Stay tuned in tomorrow, when it begins to insult the Romani and . . . I’m sorry, I’ve just been informed Dick Tracy has been cancelled.
Tabby Lavalamp
September 13th, 2026 at 8:00 am Reply
Dick Tracy: I don’t follow Dick Tracy closely so I need a reminder – is Widescreen’s crime that mullet?
GarrisonSkunk
September 13th, 2026 at 9:43 am Reply
Blondie: Dagwood is still trying to figure out what the problem was on that “Seinfeld” where George ate the eclair out of the garbage can because it was floating on a doily.
GarrisonSkunk
September 13th, 2026 at 9:57 am Reply
Dirk Twacy Hollistic Defective: “See?!? This is why you don’t warn peeps you’re about to shoot! The bullets start going in the wrong direction!”
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 2
Dilligaf
September 13th, 2026 at 11:44 am Reply
Mary Worth: What’s this? Mary has taken her hat off? In public? The strumpet!
Hibbleton
September 14th, 2026 at 4:39 am Reply
Mary Worth: “Aw, shit. He’s dead, right? I had 2027 in the pool. I figured that lard-asses heart could hold out ’till New Years.”
Schroduck
September 14th, 2026 at 4:43 am Reply
Me reading today’s post: “Wow, Snuffy’s eyes look sad. Wow, Gil’s eyes look sad. Wow, the Plugger’s eyes look sad. Wow, Judge Parker’s eyes look sad. Wow, Rene’s eyes look sad. Wow, Nelly’s eyes look… fucking hell.”
The Quiet Man
September 14th, 2026 at 4:43 am Reply
Mary Worth: From the camera angle, either Nelly has completed a transformation into a tiny Lockhorn-esque goblin-like creature, or she’s so hepped up on the goofballs she can’t focus on the person she’s ostensibly talking to…
Hibbleton
September 14th, 2026 at 4:44 am Reply
Mr Cat Plugger looks like he’s just been fucked stupid -minus the fucked part.
Bob Tice
September 14th, 2026 at 4:49 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Too bad they didn’t show the Tortious Twins driving off in two identical tiny pink cars, each of them labeled the “Scam-Mobile.”
Tom
September 14th, 2026 at 5:00 am Reply
Mary Worth: The thing that gets me is that Nelly is drawn such that if someone with those eyes told me that my least favorite politician had said something dumb I would automatically conclude they had said nothing of the sort.
Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women
September 14th, 2026 at 5:16 am Reply
Mary Worth: “Did you hear aboutProf— wait. Did you say canned tomatoes?!? How much?”
MKay
September 14th, 2026 at 5:31 am Reply
Mary Worth: Forget the canned tomatoes, Nelly looks capable of sucking all the blood out of a living goat in less than five minutes.
Charterstoned
September 14th, 2026 at 5:35 am Reply
Mary Worth: That very day, the Santa Royale Enquirer plasters the headline story with photo: CHARTERSTONE SCANDAL! TWO PROMINENT RESIDENTS SEEN TOGETHER, TWICE, AT THEIR CONDO COMPLEX! COINCIDENCE OR CONNUBIAL CATASTROPHE?
Anonymeaux
September 14th, 2026 at 6:23 am Reply
Pluggers:
You can’t hide — Recliner Eyes
And your gut — cov’ring up your thighs
You could get up — but why even try
There ain’t no way to hide Recliner Eyes
BigTed
September 14th, 2026 at 8:38 am Reply
Mary Worth: If this is what Nelly looks like when she’s just gossiping with the stock boy, I can’t wait to see her facial expression explode after she finds out her coupon for toilet paper has expired.
Everybody Posts, Nobody Reads
September 14th, 2026 at 10:15 am Reply
Mary Worth: “Have you heard about Professor Cameron? He doesn’t know about the sale on canned tomatoes. For the love of God, you have to get over there and tell him. He. Doesn’t. Know.”
Just John
September 14th, 2026 at 10:24 am Reply
Judge Parker: No one will be seated during the thrilling “hit the Snooz Button” scene.
Hibbleton
September 15th, 2026 at 4:42 am Reply
Pluggers: In a glorious act of passive-aggression, submitter Pauline has been feeding her husband massive salads since the outbreak started.
Everything Is Better With Monkeys?.
September 15th, 2026 at 4:45 am Reply
Rex Morgan: We’ve waited what feels like years for our titular hero to return and save us from the epically dull Twins saga. Only to remember that Rex and his brood are somehow even less interesting. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to read this strip daily.
matt w
September 15th, 2026 at 4:47 am Reply
Pluggers: Explosive diarrhea! Sure! Great punchline material! Ball’s in your court, *Marvin*!
MKay
September 15th, 2026 at 4:50 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Cake? Unplanned, unsupervised, unapproved CAKE FOR LUNCH? Here comes the next Morgan crisis!
Lauralot
September 15th, 2026 at 5:00 am Reply
Mary Worth: “Professor Ian Cameron spends more time with Mary Worth than with his own wife!” “Oh, haven’t you heard? They both caught Disproportionately Tiny Hand Disease and the CDC is making them quarantine together to stop the spread.”
But What Do I Know?
September 15th, 2026 at 5:20 am Reply
Plugging — And to think I believed all those lies they told us about bears sh*tting in the woods!
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 3
TheDiva
September 15th, 2026 at 5:23 am Reply
Rex Morgan: “I learned our adult heads on children’s bodies frighten other kids.”
Tabby Lavalamp
September 15th, 2026 at 6:01 am Reply
Pluggers: Well, now we know the Charmin bears aren’t pluggers they’d welcome explosive diarrhea with open opens and ecstatic smiles.
Guillermo el chiclero
September 15th, 2026 at 6:30 am Reply
Pluggers: C’mon, Andy. You’re a bear. There’s woods in the background. Have you forgotten what Baloo taught you about the bare necessities?
Her Father, John Darling
September 15th, 2026 at 6:55 am Reply
Pluggers: An entire bottle of blue cheese, a half-pound of bacon bits, a full cup of shredded cheese, a couple of hard boiled eggs and two contaminated slivers of iceberg lettuce are technically a salad, I guess.
Philip
September 15th, 2026 at 8:44 am Reply
Pluggers: Cyclospora was a conspiracy by Big Laxative to scare off a generation of Pluggers from naturally healthy and fibrous foods that would keep them from relying on prescription-grade Ex-Lax.
Guillermo el chiclero
September 15th, 2026 at 9:18 am Reply
Pluggers: Andy Bear’s wife Sheila Roo is going to dread the next laundry day.
Horace Broon
September 15th, 2026 at 10:24 am Reply
Rex Morgan: And I learned that however dull the nothing that happens around the Morgans might be, the nothing that happens to them is always duller!
Anonymous
September 15th, 2026 at 10:39 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Is Johnny sure it was Mickey Dugan, and not his twin brother Rickey Dugan? Those tricky Dugan twins, running the old “Cake for Pizza” scam again!
Anonymous
September 15th, 2026 at 10:42 am Reply
Pluggers: Pauline Calabrese Is the mayor of Penn Hills. She’s going to be using this comic in her next election for sure. “Vote for Pauline, She Eats Her Greens, and her Colon is Clean”
Artist formerly known as Ben
September 15th, 2026 at 2:13 pm Reply
Judge Parker: The reactivated Judge is well aware of how close the strip came to being retitled Some People Named Parker Might Show Up, I Dunno.
Poteet
September 15th, 2026 at 7:07 pm Reply
Mary Worth: The past two weeks have provided enough views of Ian to last me for the next five years.
Liam
September 16th, 2026 at 4:35 am Reply
Family Circus: Quick! Throw Jeffy in the oven!
Bob Tice
September 16th, 2026 at 4:44 am Reply
Mary Worth: “This is just between you and me…your hair looks as if it just lost a fight with a cyclotron!”
Victor Von
September 16th, 2026 at 5:54 am Reply
Rex Morgan: “Boys, your grades are so bad, you’ve lost bedroom privileges! You’ll be sleeping in The Beige Dimension until I say otherwise!”
CompassRose
September 16th, 2026 at 6:03 am Reply
Mary Worth: “THIS IS JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME!” Tommy shouted, over the sounds of dropped bowling balls and crashing pins.
Peanut Gallery
September 16th, 2026 at 8:53 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Nice to see Rex working on his Ed Grimley impression, but he needs to throw an “I must say” or an “as doomed as doomed can be, you know” into his conversation once in a while.
Anonymous
September 16th, 2026 at 9:22 am Reply
Rex Morgan: “We learned something about if a boy had one spleen, and had his appendix removed, how much cake would he have left? But I forgot the rest.” “Yeah.. then in English class, we learned that when Mary and Ian go walking, Nelly does the squaking!”
nescio
September 17th, 2026 at 4:46 am Reply
Mary Worth: At this point, I’d expect the Charterstone residents to be highly relieved and elated by the gossip. “The more time that busybody and that blowhard spend together, the less time I have to interact with either of them!”
ComicallyChallenged
September 17th, 2026 at 5:01 am Reply
Mary Worth: The look on Dawn’s face is less “shocking neighbor drama” and more “I just cut the wrong wire on the bomb.”
AmazingLabyrinth
September 17th, 2026 at 5:19 am Reply
A plugger doesn’t care if his socks don’t exactly match, just so long as they are hideous monstrosities that cover up his even more hideous feet.
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 4
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
September 17th, 2026 at 5:27 am Reply
Mary Worth: Dawn’s expression in panel one convinces me that she is contemplating, in horror, the idea of Mary and Ian doing the horizontal mambo. Or possibly taking an extra large hit from the crack pipe. What am I, a clairvoyant?
The Quiet Man
September 17th, 2026 at 6:05 am Reply
Gil Thorp: Having polished his teeth, Beth places the Gil2000’s head on its place of honor while his body is powered down for the night. It must recharge for the next hard day of sportsballing.
taig
September 17th, 2026 at 11:54 am Reply
Dustin: I dunno. I’d feel better about taking advice from a cookie than from any of the current Dunning-Kruger exemplars giving advice.
HaikuMatt
September 17th, 2026 at 1:15 pm Reply
Gil Thorp: The way he says “We’re just getting started” as they cuddle in bed and look out at the viewer makes me feel like I’m in their cuck chair and am decidedly not comfortable with that. Nuh uh. Nope.
nescio
September 18th, 2026 at 4:35 am Reply
Pluggers refuse to honor the “Best If Used By Date” for neither food nor clothes.
CanuckDownSouth
September 18th, 2026 at 4:36 am Reply
Pluggers: (Attenborough) And here we see how Pluggers use a bottle of expired dairy in their morning routine… they only change underwear when the person next to them can smell it more than sour milk (/Attenborough)
Guillermo el chiclero
September 18th, 2026 at 4:39 am Reply
Family Circus: HTT Grandma is thinking, “Hmph. If that boozy slattern Thel didn’t spend all of Bil’s disposable income on liquor they could buy poor Billy a new football and not come begging to me”.
matt w
September 18th, 2026 at 4:41 am Reply
Pluggers’ spouses should have got rid of them a long time ago but just can’t face the idea of cleaning out their fridge, I can believe it.
Ettorre
September 18th, 2026 at 4:45 am Reply
Rex Morgan: “I’d hate to think they are not keeping up. But I’d hate even more to have to do something about it!”
Ukranazi Stepan
September 18th, 2026 at 4:54 am Reply
Wary Morth:
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How do the rumours grow?
With Pompous Axx and forty whacks
And forty meddles all aglow?
Lauralot
September 18th, 2026 at 5:21 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Has anyone else noticed how often foreheads are the focus of Beatty’s close-up panels? When they’re not making unprompted hand gestures, it’s just all foreheads all the time.
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
September 18th, 2026 at 5:24 am Reply
Pluggers: Eh, there are worse things than death. A plugger’s boxers, for one. Axe body spray, for another.
pugfuggly
September 18th, 2026 at 5:30 am Reply
Pluggers: No no no: dogs smell butts, not chickens. You’ve got it all backwards!
Shadow COTW
——————
Anonymous
September 15th, 2026 at 11:59 am Reply
Mary Worth: At some point during this story, I would like Mary to say: “My gosh! Is this what being nosy looks like from the other side? I’m a monster!”
That the mayor of Penn Hills, a substantial suburb of my home town, writes in to Pluggers is the second most disturbing thing I’ve learned today. And the first most disturbing thing was real bad.
Thanks for the float and shadow rides! Congrats to Tabby Lavalamp and the fellow floaters and shadowers (and future scroters)! Big w’s to samuralizard, yo go re, Hibbleton, Vulpes, and especially pugfuggly.
Thank you, Baja!
Way to go, Tabby, and the Floaters and Shadowers, and deep appreciate to all who made shitting-one’s-pants wisecracks. It reminded me of our beloved Shrug a few years ago when the Keanes were at the Grand Canyon and someone asked if it was canon that Jeffy shit his pants there. Shrug’s reply was brilliant: “Who here hasn’t shit his pants at the Grand Canyon? It is, after all, a national landmark.”
Here are the insights from our current ‘Mudges:
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Steven Otte on Facebook
September 11, 2026
Show me you’re drawing from a mirror image instead of a photo reference without telling me.
September 12, 2026
Is Luann implying she’s a screamer? <shudders to imagine>
BigTed
September 12th, 2026 at 4:32 am Reply
Beetle Bailey: That pasta looks kinda gross, no? I think the artist is confused about which part of the angel they get “angel hair” from.
Lauralot
September 12th, 2026 at 4:32 am Reply
BB: That is a plate of cut up hot dogs and strands of hair. The kitchen is sick of Sarge’s bullshit, and they’re willing to fail a health inspection if it gets him to go away.
Gil Bates
September 12th, 2026 at 4:33 am Reply
BB: “I think the pubic hair is a special personal touch by the chef for forcing him to make all the pasta together.”
Hibbleton
September 12th, 2026 at 4:45 am Reply
BB: A disappointed Beetle thought it would be a cute frat-level prank to throw a bunch of pubic hair on Sarge’s food and watch his angry reaction. Instead he thinks; “He’s gonna eat that? Really?”
Roscoe
September 12th, 2026 at 5:00 am Reply
BB – You have to admire a waiter who’s so committed to the flow of a joke that he awkwardly starts his sentence with a prepositional phrase instead of putting at the end like a normal person.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Bob Tice
September 12th, 2026 at 4:38 am Reply
Mary Worth:
“…I can only imagine how horrible it is to be deceived like that! And I say ‘imagine’ because no human being on earth would ever want to get close to me in the first instance so as to even be in a position to thereafter engage in that kind of deception!”
MKay
September 13th, 2026 at 5:45 am Reply
RMMD: No one should worry about the twins making the Most Wanted List; all of their time is taken up with assembling their revenge roster.
MW: Karma’s a bitch, Alma, you’ll see. Soon, very soon, you’re going to have some stupid-ass life drama, and do you think your “friend” Nelly is going to give you muffins and platitudes that somehow make you see the light? I don’t think so.
Ken
September 13th, 2026 at 4:55 am Reply
MW: With the shift of the focus from Nelly to Alma, we may be watching Moy and Brigman re-create Norman Rockwell’s classic “The Gossips.” But very, very slowly.
CanuckDownSouth
September 13th, 2026 at 5:42 am Reply
MW Even on Sunday, the extra-details colourist can’t dig up a realistic skin tone for Alma, so nobody was ready for some non-white character. *Everybody* gave up on their “colours of the world” palette section, dumped it, and tossed in extra mauve ink to be ready for all of Mary’s wardrobe colouring needs.
Charterstoned
September 13th, 2026 at 5:18 am Reply
MW: “It’s been said that TRUE LIFE…,” Mary muses, “is STRANGER than fiction….”
Still unaware of the rumors percolating behind her back, Mary practices her remarks to Jeff for their next dinner at The Bum Boat, knowing that he appreciates her random insights and will be grateful for her wisdom.
Professor Well Actually
September 13th, 2026 at 5:18 am Reply
MW: just how long have Mary and Ian been standing in the parking lot laughing? They’re smoking weed I assume.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Bob Tice
September 14th, 2026 at 4:40 am Reply
Gil Thorp:
Coach Thorp can’t be thrilled with tonight’s performance.
***
Well, unless he bet against his own team.
Little Guy
September 14th, 2026 at 4:59 am Reply
@Bob Tice:
Gil Thorp:
Coach Thorp can’t be thrilled with tonight’s performance.
But enough about the wedding night….
ComicallyChallenged
September 14th, 2026 at 5:32 am Reply
GT: Oakwood’s performance is especially impressive given that one of their players appears to be wearing the baseball team’s catcher equipment.
Peanut Gallery
September 14th, 2026 at 6:29 am Reply
GT – I don’t care how the Mudlarks are doing, this is a historic occasion. The highlight for me will be the halftime show, when Mud Mountain Murphy sings “Football on the Moon.” Everyone’s holding their breath in anticipation!
UncleJeff
September 14th, 2026 at 6:46 am Reply
GT: Gil may not be happy but I don’t think he’s worried.
He has the protections of tenure and institutional inertia at the school.
On the other hand, if I were the coach of the GB Packers, I would be hiding in Mequon or Neillsville for a few days to let the fan base cool down.
Joshua K.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:39 am Reply
Gil Thorp: Who is lettering this strip? And have they considered not breaking words over two lines if they can avoid it?
“Oak-
wood is mak-
ing life difficult
for Milwood to-
night.”
Baja Gaijin
September 14th, 2026 at 4:38 am Reply
Mary Worth: The CIA is jealous; they can’t spread disinformation nearly as effectively or quickly as Nelly Feneley.
Tabby Lavalamp
September 14th, 2026 at 6:03 am Reply
Clearly Nelly doesn’t know about Tommy’s troubled past because that’s the face of someone who would be raising all kinds of hell to get an ex-junkie fired “for the safety of the community.”
Josh
“Did he die? Is he finally dead? Because he still owes me money from when I sold him weed six years ago. I mean, it wasn’t actually weed, it was oregano, but he didn’t know that.”
The Quiet Man
September 14th, 2026 at 4:43 am Reply
MW: Shouldn’t Tommy be in a funk because his girlfriend Brandy isn’t in his immediate line of sight?
Ukranazi Stepan
September 14th, 2026 at 4:53 am Reply
Wary Morth:
“Yes, he was pecked to death by a couple of parrots!”
Liam
September 14th, 2026 at 5:15 am Reply
MW-No but if you hum a few bars.
Bud
September 14th, 2026 at 6:12 am Reply
“Wait, did you say CANNED TOMATOES are on sale? Get me two flats of cans first, you little bastard!”
Everybody Posts, Nobody Reads
September 14th, 2026 at 10:15 am Reply
MW: “Have you heard about Professor Cameron? He doesn’t know about the sale on canned tomatoes. For the love of God, you have to get over there and tell him. He. Doesn’t. Know.”
Hibbleton
September 14th, 2026 at 4:39 am Reply
MW: “Aw, shit. He’s dead, right? I had 2027 in the pool. I figured that lard-asses heart could hold out ’till New Years.”
Mr Cat Plugger looks like he’s just been fucked stupid -minus the fucked part.
TheDiva
September 14th, 2026 at 5:07 am Reply
Pluggers don’t have energy for anything anymore, least of all sex. (And we’re all glad to know that.)
Maude R. Fawker
September 14th, 2026 at 10:30 am Reply
Pluggers: If the recliner’s a-rockin’, someone’s gettin’ a cock in.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Just John
September 14th, 2026 at 10:24 am Reply
JP: No one will be seated during the thrilling “hit the Snooz Button” scene.
Nekrotzar
September 14th, 2026 at 11:27 am Reply
Coming up next in Rex Morgan:
– the IRS spends several weeks deciding not to audit the Morgan family taxes
– Rex is unknowingly exposed to COVID but his existing antigens easily fight it off
– An undetected asteroid passes harmlessly by the Earth
TheDiva
September 15th, 2026 at 5:07 am Reply
Pluggers think the lettuce in Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme counts as a “salad.”
(Credit where it’s due: “Johnny on the Spot” is a great name for a port-a-potty company.)
Hibbleton
September 15th, 2026 at 6:20 am Reply
Pluggers: The owner of the Johnny-on-the-Spot portable outhouse business sees this and thinks: “Well, that’s gonna cost me.”
pugfuggly
September 15th, 2026 at 4:48 am Reply
Pluggers Before reading the caption, i just assumed the joke was “A Plugger’s strict diet of meat, bread and cheese-like products can be violently disturbed by even a hint of roughage.”
Hibbleton
September 15th, 2026 at 4:42 am Reply
Pluggers: In a glorious act of passive-aggression, submitter Pauline has been feeding her husband massive salads since the outbreak started.
But What Do I Know?
September 15th, 2026 at 5:20 am Reply
Plugging — And to think I believed all those lies they told us about bears sh*tting in the woods!
BigTed
September 15th, 2026 at 5:40 am Reply
Pluggers: When a plugger says “salad,” he means egg salad. As far as he’s concerned, there is no other kind! And unfortunately, the FDA did recently declare a Class 1 recall of certain eggs in six states after an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis. So enjoy your time in the off-brand porta-potty, buddy — you’re going to be in there for a while.
Maltmash3r
September 15th, 2026 at 5:47 am Reply
Pluggers are so bound up with meat, cheese and french fries, that if they need to go more than twice a week, they consider it explosive diarrhea.
Philip
September 15th, 2026 at 8:44 am Reply
Pluggers – Cyclospora was a conspiracy by Big Laxative to scare off a generation of Pluggers from naturally healthy and fibrous foods that would keep them from relying on prescription-grade Ex-Lax.
Old School Allie Cat
September 15th, 2026 at 5:58 am Reply
Pluggers – Does a bear shit in the woods? Well this one shit in his pants!
Her Father, John Darling
September 15th, 2026 at 6:55 am Reply
Pluggers. An entire bottle of blue cheese, a half-pound of bacon bits, a full cup of shredded cheese, a couple of hard boiled eggs and two contaminated slivers of iceberg lettuce are technically a salad, I guess.
Tabby Lavalamp
September 15th, 2026 at 6:01 am Reply
Pluggers aren’t used to having fibre in their diets – they got this far on meat and potatoes just like their dads who keeled over at 59 and it was good enough for them goddammit – so they’re not exactly free flowing in the first place. Cut them some slack and order a couple of extra portapotties to get them through this crisis.
Peanut Gallery
September 15th, 2026 at 6:38 am Reply
Pluggers have already forgotten about having COVID-19. Twice. Because they refused to get vaccinated.
Hannibal’s Lectern
September 15th, 2026 at 6:41 am Reply
Pluggers Definitely unplugged: So a Plugger has the firehose squirts immediately after eating salad. That sounds completely on-brand, but I wonder: what’s cyclospora got to do with it?
matt w
September 15th, 2026 at 4:47 am Reply
Explosive diarrhea! Sure! Great punchline material! Ball’s in your court, Marvin!
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Everything Is Better With Monkeys?.
September 15th, 2026 at 4:45 am Reply
RMMD – we’ve waited what feels like years for our titular hero to return and save us from the epically dull Twins saga. Only to remember that Rex and his brood are somehow even less interesting. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to read this strip daily.
treetown
September 15th, 2026 at 6:25 am Reply
RMMD: Now it is the boys turn to occupy the spotlight. We’ll see all of the shenanigans they get up to and the whole town is oblivious to the dangers they pose.
ValdVin
September 15th, 2026 at 6:44 am Reply
GT: “Can Milford tie the game?”
No idea. Instead of the score,, time left, and other trivia, all we’ve got is “making life difficult”, “another interception”, and “can’t be thrilled”.
This comic strip needs an in-game chyron.
Baja Gaijin
September 16th, 2026 at 5:06 am Reply
Dick Tracy: Wow. A literal Blue Screen of Death. Kudos, Dick Tracy creative team!
Anonymous
September 16th, 2026 at 7:36 am Reply
A “superhacker” who runs Windows and not some highly customized Linux set-up? Well, he was just kind of asking to get shot, then, I’d say…
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Downpuppy
September 16th, 2026 at 5:13 am Reply
Sure, Mary Worth is having a silly plot about gossip that Mary will squash with the tip of her thumb, but can’t we all enjoy Tommy’s correct usage of “Between you & me’?
MKay
September 16th, 2026 at 5:09 am Reply
MW: Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to gossip. But, sometimes, sheer reality tells us that some things simply cannot be, in the world as we know it. Ian Cameron and Mary Worth playing Hide the Salami is one of those things. Is no one going to say, “No, that can’t be right?”
Bob Tice
September 16th, 2026 at 4:44 am Reply
Mary Worth:
“This is just between you and me…your hair looks as if it just lost a fight with a cyclotron!”
Ettorre
September 16th, 2026 at 4:33 am Reply
I hope Dawn is paying attention. Mary was a staunch defender of Tommy against his accusers when he was at his lowest point and now he is not hesitating about spreading vicious rumours about her. Tommy is a lowlife, Dawn, not because of the drugs but because he is an ungrateful backstabber! Find someone better!
Lauralot
September 16th, 2026 at 4:46 am Reply
MW: Oh, okay. So Tommy, Brandy, and Dawn became started practicing ethical non-monogamy. That’s why Dawn’s part of the last plot had no resolution, because Moy would never dare discuss such a thing. I guess Tommy’s daily depression over both of his girlfriends being out of his immediate line of sight explains why his IQ has dropped so low that he believes Nelly’s gossip.
Vulpes
September 16th, 2026 at 4:52 am Reply
Mary Worth:
Maybe this is expecting too much of bowling alley signage, but if you put a giant green bowling pin on the facade of your building, you’d better have pins the come in a variety of cheerful colors, not the plain-ass white ones we see in the background here.
pugfuggly
September 16th, 2026 at 4:52 am Reply
MW: “This is just between you and me…” said Tommy, staring up to the surveillance camera, imagining Mary watching the feed from the comfort of her condo. He imagined for a brief moment the incredible relief he would feel when the latest round of loyalty tests were over, before subtly adjusting the mic under his shirt and leaning in closer to Dawn.
RMMD: Uh, this doesn’t sound like two kids who weren’t paying attention in school, this sounds like two kids who have never been to school, and are trying to cover it up by repeating terms they heard on TV.
Twinkles the Elf
September 16th, 2026 at 4:48 am Reply
And what about those nerdlings’ clothes? Baggy gray pants and solid-color tees. Is that what the kids are wearing nowadays? Or do Rex and June just dress their two off the generic rack in the thrift store?
Victor Von
September 16th, 2026 at 5:54 am Reply
Rex Morgan, MD: “Boys, your grades are so bad, you’ve lost bedroom privileges! You’ll be sleeping in The Beige Dimension until I say otherwise!”
But What Do I Know?
September 16th, 2026 at 6:16 am Reply
RMMD — “We learned something about fractions in math, but I forget exactly what.” I remember the teacher said something about half wits
The Mighty Finn
September 16th, 2026 at 7:05 am Reply
RMMD- If the Scam Twins had managed to kidnap one (or both) of Rex’s sons, I don’t think he would have minded that much. He might have counted that as a win, actually.
ValdVin
September 16th, 2026 at 7:37 am Reply
FC: “Jeffy, I think you’re mature enough to hear how the story of Hansel & Gretel really ended. Say, aren’t you a little chilly?”
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
ComicallyChallenged
September 17th, 2026 at 5:01 am Reply
MW: The look on Dawn’s face is less “shocking neighbor drama” and more “I just cut the wrong wire on the bomb.”
MKay
September 17th, 2026 at 4:47 am Reply
MW: Like everyone else in the Worthverse, the only thing of Mary’s that Ian is stroking is her ego.
GT: “We’re just getting started?” I would expect Gil’s foreplay to be more like, “Hut! Hut! Hike!”
matt w
September 17th, 2026 at 4:49 am Reply
After sexily brushing her teeth naked, Beth Mrs. Gil Thorp sexily cuddles up to him in bed, her bare ass and legs sexily protruding over the edge of the mattress.
Schroduck
September 17th, 2026 at 4:52 am Reply
GT: Panel 3 is simultaneously the sexiest thing ever to appear in Gil Thorp, and one of the least sexy things I’ve ever seen.
But What Do I Know?
September 17th, 2026 at 4:53 am Reply
GT — After examining today’s strip I’m forced to the uncomfortable conclusion that having angry adults scream at him is a form of foreplay for Gil. Beth gets hot by imagining men fighting. But only the truly weird would derive any arousal from looking at their oddly shaped heads.
CanuckDownSouth
September 17th, 2026 at 4:55 am Reply
GT “You… you could hear them. But then – I’m not even here for Necessary Exposition, so what _am_ I? I thought I’d get to be a Real Girl after I married into the Thorps but I still can’t find any personality trait. Every time we get a temporary artist, I hope I can at least become Eye Candy, but it never lasts…” (Gil turns away. Beth freezes mid-syllable, waiting to be activated again.)
Austria
September 17th, 2026 at 4:59 am Reply
“I’m surprised there wasn’t a fight.”
(3-5 minutes of complete silence as the Thorps finish brushing their teeth, move from the bathroom into the bedroom, crawl into bed, and stare at the fourth wall)
“We’re just getting started.
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
September 17th, 2026 at 5:22 am Reply
Gil Thorp: From now on, every statement about Gil Thorp must end with “In bed,” Chinese fortune cookie-style. It is now canon. In bed.
Guillermo el chiclero
September 18th, 2026 at 4:39 am Reply
FC: HTT Grandma is thinking, “Hmph. If that boozy slattern Thel didn’t spend all of Bil’s disposable income on liquor they could buy poor Billy a new football and not come begging to me”.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Ukranazi Stepan
September 18th, 2026 at 4:54 am Reply
Wary Morth:
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How do the rumours grow?
With Pompous Axx and forty whacks
And forty meddles all aglow?
Everything Is Better With Monkeys?.
September 18th, 2026 at 4:54 am Reply
MW – the worst thing about this is knowing we are eventually getting two weeks of Mary recapping and pontificating about the dangers of gossip as Doctor Jeff parrots her in mindless agreement.
Lauralot
September 18th, 2026 at 5:14 am Reply
MW: Does Dawn look disheveled because Brigman is trying to portray that gossiping is an animalistic behavior, or did she do a line of coke before spreading the news?
MKay
September 18th, 2026 at 5:10 am Reply
MW: Someone has just sent someone a naughty pic.
PLUGGERS: Does this imply that the “Best If Used By” sticker is on a certain anatomical feature?
CanuckDownSouth
September 18th, 2026 at 4:36 am Reply
(Attenborough) And here we see how Pluggers use a bottle of expired dairy in their morning routine… they only change underwear when the person next to them can smell it more than sour milk (/Attenborough)
A Grave Mind
September 18th, 2026 at 4:35 am Reply
Oh, he’s not dying, he’s just soiled himself. Probably from drinking “milk” that apparently comes in a Carlo Rossi-style jug. Shoulda gone with the Paisano, guys!
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
September 18th, 2026 at 5:24 am Reply
Pluggers: Eh, there are worse things than death. A plugger’s boxers, for one. Axe body spray, for another.
Bob Tice
September 18th, 2026 at 4:44 am Reply
Pluggers:
You’re a plugger if you think that being “lactose intolerant” means that you don’t like the smell of sour milk.
Ranger
September 18th, 2026 at 5:38 am Reply
Pluggers: I don’t think dog man smells of death, I think he just shit his pants…again.
nescio
September 18th, 2026 at 4:35 am Reply
Pluggers refuse to honor the “Best If Used By Date” for neither food nor clothes.
Hibbleton
September 18th, 2026 at 4:41 am Reply
Pluggers: “The milk’s fine. It’s you that stinks.”
RMMD: “Uh, they’re just pulling your leg ” June finds the nicest way possible to tell Rex the boys were gaslighting him because they think he’s stupid.
Ettorre
September 18th, 2026 at 4:41 am Reply
“The boys tried the ‘too cool for school’ excuse, but I explained that they’ll never be cool, so they need to do school or they’ll blip out of existence”
Charterstone: Dune
September 18th, 2026 at 4:42 am Reply
RxMD: They way Rex says that last line, grimacing through gritted teeth, has me worried about what will happen if they boys don’t “keep up.”
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Baja Gaijin
September 13th, 2026 at 9:32 am Reply
Dennis the Menace: Am I the only one seeing Mrs. Wilson eyeing up Dennis’ grandad like a starving dog (or Dagwood) looking at a side of beef? “Will George welcome a third into their marriage?” she wonders.
69, TimP
September 14th, 2026 at 6:42 am Reply
@Anonymeaux:
Pluggers:
You can’t hide — Recliner Eyes
And your gut — cov’ring up your thighs
You could get up — but why even try
There ain’t no way to hide Recliner Eyes
Amazing work.
It’s fun to get worked up about trivial things and the way the artist resolved the issue of eyeglasses on a cat’s head really bugs me!
69. Activist
September 15th, 2026 at 8:27 am Reply
JP: Whew! Strip can be named after Alan, as he magically became an active to judge again. Sure takes pressure off little Char to finish elementary, high school, undergrad, law school in next 18 months.
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Guillermo el chiclero
September 17th, 2026 at 7:47 am Reply
FC: Josh should appreciate this one. He’s already gone on record that he only likes the ones with an angry Billy.
FC: Billy’s disappointed because Jack didn’t burn his genitalia off.
@Baja Gaijin: Thanks for the mentions,Baja!
Congrats to all and thanks, Baja and Scratchy!
Thanks, Baja and Scratchy.
And thank you, Josh!
Thank you, Baja and Scratchy! Kudos to everyone!
Congratulations to Tabby Lavalamp! You can never go wrong cracking wise about the people in Mary Worth!
Thanks Josh, Baja and Scratchy!
Thanks, Scratchy!
Congratulations to Tabby!
Thanks for the mention, Baja.
Hooray, for I think only the second time I made the runners-up on the main post!
Thank you Josh, Baja and Scratchy!
I never seem to get up in time to make the Friday COW deadline. I regret my laziness even more than usual today.
I learned that dogman plugger, like bearman plugger earlier this week, doesn’t always make it to the can in time, much to his wife’s disgust. Maybe it’s time to change the name of the strip to something more indicative of frequent incontinence?
I’m pretty sure the first panel of Gil Thorpe was accidentally put at the end. At least it makes more sense that parents would have jealousy fights when they see how athletic the couple is in bed.
Another Scote!!
Thank you, Scratchy.
Let’s see…awakened before seven by a particularly loud deposit-bottle forager going through the recycling can; weather is hot and muggy and buggy in the second half of September; dog pissed a quart onto the dining room floor as I was calling her to go for a walk; found a $65 ticket on my windshield for “improperly displayed license plate;” now I see I scored absolutely zero on the Friday “best of” lists.
Today’s the day to buy a lottery ticket!
Not to mention Two Party Opera sharing a pro-Nixon moment.
I have to feel positive about Tricky Dick today?
Congrats to Tabby Lavalamp, everyone on the float, the shadowfloaters and scratchies. Broon Croons to matt w., samurailizard, The Quiet Man, Vulpes, MKay, Garrison Skunk, Tom, Everything Is Better With Monkeys?. Anonymous, Nekrotzar, Lauralot, Schroduck, and CanuckDownSouth!
*blush*
Thank you!
@Ukulele Ike:
Makes you feel better, Uke, I’d celebrate good days with a scratch-off (and booze), and I’m like 0-12. Maybe bad days are the key to buying a scratch-off (and booze)?
Thank you, Josh and Scratchy! Hail our new champion, Tabby Lavalamp! Horns skyward for everyone on every list! The Gravemind sees ectojazzmage (I’m STILL laughing), A. Mulyak, yo go re (hilarious!), and Victor Von (who sucks because he’s always funnier than me), that’s one too many, don’t care, it was a sick list!
Welp, whether I suck in the most positive way possible or not (according to Peacekeeper, that’s a compliment), I still feel seen, Gravemind!
All hail the Tabby Lavalamp! I’m glad everyone loves the Beige Dimension as much as I do.
Thanks Baja, Scratchy, and Broon!
@Victor Von: Love the Beige Dimension idea, but I think the boys have failed so utterly they not only have to sleep there, they have to live there until they *earn* a background again, darn it!
@Baja Gaijin: THANX! Congrats Tabby.
Happy weekend and congratulations to Tabby Lavalamp and the other find float folk. Kudos also to the shadow-ies and scratchies, with thanks to Baja Gaijin. Tips of the beret to matt w, samurailizard, Voshkod, A. Mulyak, Charterstone: Dune, TheDiva, Horace Broon, Lauralot, RogerBW, Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women, ComicallyChallenged, CanuckDownSouth, and Ettorre.
Way to go, Tabby!
I no doubt speak for many when I say thank you to both Scratchy and Baja. Felicitations to the float riders and other scroters/shadowers, and a Letter of Commendation will be issued to Lava Tabbylamp for taking top COTW honors this week.
Thanks Josh (and Baja and Scratchy), and congrats to TL and all the COTWs!
@Scratchy Scrotum LXIX:
I remember that thread as I was involved in the conversation about Jeffy’s fully dressed expulsions. Good times.
@Ukulele Ike: I feel for ya…
Congrats to Tabby, thanks to our host and Baja, I appreciate being scroted by Scratchy, and clap for everyone named.
Thanks very much, Baja!