Mary innovating new insane ways to hold a small cup
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Panel from The Lockhorns, 6/29/25
One of the great mysteries of The Lockhorns that haunts all of us Lockheads is the identity and nature of the non-Lockhorn people who make occasional appearances in the strip. They never have any dialogue, instead just staring dumbly at our title duo as they engage in their passive-aggressive antics, and generally are not, with the exception of a few medical professionals and Leroy’s bartender, recurring characters. And yet we must assume a certain degree of intimacy has somehow developed before we see the vignettes in which the strangers appear, because often they’re in the Lockhorn home! I suppose we can guess at what drives their interest in seeing the inner workings of this hell-couple’s dynamics. For instance, this lady no doubt wonders if the rumors are true: does this seemingly anti-intellectual downwardly mobile lower-middle-class suburbanite pair really enjoy playing chess at home? And does Leroy really lurch about in a grotesque parody of a victory dance when he wins? Still and all, now that her curiosity has been sated, the visitor won’t be back. For most people, a little of this goes a long way.
Mary Worth, 6/29/25
On the one hand, Wilbur’s glad Belle is once again being heavily medicated by her brother, who looks exactly like him but taller. On the other hand, he still wants to grab a last-minute ticket on Spirit Airlines and jet over to Florida and have sex with her. Is this normal, Mary??? Oh, wait, you’re saying it is normal? I, uh, did not expect that, and frankly don’t really like it.
188 replies to “Mary innovating new insane ways to hold a small cup”
RMMD-“You might be the father of an adult son? That must have been a painful birth for the mother.”
RMMD-“I guess we’ll both know soon enough.” In 6-8 weeks.
MW-“Mary, the things Belle did with the her tongue.”
FC-And boy did your grandfather like to watch.
Are we ever going to find out just how Tall Thin Wilbur discovered that Bats In The Bellefry was at chez Wilby Hon?
MW-“Oh, Mary, do you have any idea how close Belle came to being my first? At my age I don’t think I’ll ever have sex.”
MW: Obviously Wilbur’s memories of Belle center around the fact that she was willing to touch him without dry heaving or threatening a lawsuit. It’s not like he actually knows anything about her like her favorite color or if she had any hobbies let alone that she was off her medication. After all, only Wilbur’s feelings matter here and that’s what Mary’s enabling: him whining like the big selfish baby he’s drawn as.
MW: That last panel is EXACTLY the moment when I want a sex-starved Dr. Jeff to burst into Mary’s condo as he yells, “I can’t wait another minute to join with you in connubial bliss, Mary!” only to discover Mary and Wilbur together on the sofa, Mary holding Wilbur in a close embrace as Wilbur nestles his gigantic, tear-besmirched head into Mary’s bosom, prompting Dr. Jeff to become instantly overpowered with jealous rage and act out his long-pent-up passion and sudden fury on Wilbur with his pocket surgical scalpel.
MW:
“Oh, the pain, the pain.”
— Dr. Zachary Smith, “Lost in Space”
MW:
Interesting, isn’t it, that Friday’s evergreen shrubbery outside Mary’s window has been replaced by a bed of flowers in today’s installment. My goodness, that Mr. Allora does quick work.
No, Mary, that’s not normal — except in comparison to Leroy Lockhorn, I guess.
Wilbur is crying because even though Belle is now getting care and is safe to be around, he knows Dawn would understandably rather not be, and even though he’d have to go to the other side of the country to visit her, he knows he still couldn’t avoid somehow involving his daughter in their romantic adventures.
MW:
“Carl’s eldest daughter kept bugging me. That was the inspiration for my writing ‘Jung girl, get out of my mind!’ ”
— Gary Puckett
The non-Lockhorns figures that gravitate around them are a Greek chorus that observes their actions and act as a foil. However, the Lockhorns is not a tragedy but a satyr play, as demonstrated by Leroy’s resemblance to Silenus
Mary Worth: Mary, are you sure you should be touching Wilbur like that? Somehow I think you’re about to receive an overnight delivery of fresh Florida oranges from a “secret admirer” — and by the time you notice the tiny holes in the side and the slightly spicy taste, it’ll already be too late.
MW: A little legal advice, Wilbur. Don’t write about having sex with a mentally impaired person in any of your public journals. No need to self-snitch.
MW:
Thank goodness Wilbur’s abject despair isn’t remotely interfering with his ability to wolf down that muffin.
@Charterstoned: Dr. Jeff seems like he’d be ecstatic to finally escape from his beard who tried to hold him as a financial hostage because she thinks everyone is as homophobic as she is.
@Needless Exposition: MW: Okay, how about this, then: Wilbur, overcome with his sexual needs, takes Mary right there on the sofa as he finishes his muffin.
Lockhorns: I figure the strangers in this strip show up to pitch their real estate schemes to these two in a Glengarry Glen Ross situation.
“Hey, I sold a dozen contract to this Lockhorn couple!!”
Whole sales office breaks out laughing.
MW: I wonder how many readers have heeded the advice doled out by these two in that “Ask Wendy” column. Their own twisted, symbiotic, and enabling relationship can’t possibly be fertile ground for healthy guidance.
Warren Buffet is apparently a Plugger. Who knew?
B. Bailey: Zero seems a little young to have diabetic neuropathy in his feet. Then again, considering the sanitary conditions at Camp Swampy, it may merely be advanced leprosy.
@Charterstoned: With as much shilling as Mary has been doing for the past decade, she should get off her entitled high horse of “well, I deserve to take advantage of a doctor rather than date someone that I shove down everyone else’s throat” and settle for what she really deserves. Either that or it’s going to be incest babies because the only other person in Wilbur’s life is Dawn.
Wilbur has Belle in his belfry. In his cellar, too.
It is Sunday. It is time for JUNGLE JIM!
Jim acts like a mountain goat forgetting that natives hunt mountain goats.
MW: why isn’t advice columnist Wilbur not spending even a little time deeply pondering the evanescence of life and how narrowly he escaped being murdered?
MW
Of course now that Belle is getting proper care and is back on her medications, she wouldn’t touch Wilbur with a 10 foot pole and he has to know that. So Wilbur wants the nut case back.
Lockhorns – Loretta could have said “this is why I hate when Leroy beats me at chess” and I would have thought “meh” and moved on. But she put a “finally” in there and my brain exploded. You can “finally” do something only once! How about: “Damn, Leroy finally beat me at chess. I didn’t realize he’d be such a dick about it. How about I make us some coffee, unnamed person?”
@Sequitur: There’s more action packed into that one Sunday episode of Jungle Jim than Mary Worth has offered us in five years’ worth of Sundays. It’s so refreshing! While Wilbur and Mary are slumped on her sofa eating muffins, Jim is leaping across a chasm, descending a sheer cliff face using nothing but his bare hands, weaving a rope, climbing back up the Cliffs of Insanity, and tumbling back down with an arrow in his back! Awesome! I think Mary Worth could use a Jungle Jim makeover. I vote Wilbur gets the arrow.
Lockhorns: “This is why I hate when Leroy finally beats me at chess”? What tense is this, the future past pluperfect continuous conditional??? The Lockhorns really is pioneering new frontiers in grammar.
MW: We all know WHERE those good times memories are lingering on Wilbur. Maybe he SHOULD go find Belle. If he keeps her on her meds and has no other living contacts, it could be a win for everyone.
RMMD: No worries, Wanda. You already know how to make cookies, and Cody can take care of his own boo-boos. You got this!
LOCKHORNS: Every door-to-door salesperson and missionary in the state has put the Lockhorns on a Do Not Knock list – but there’s always that daredevil who thinks they will triumph. They’re always wrong and vanish without a trace.
Leroy saying “checkmate” to Loretta is the closest thing to acknowledging their relationship that she is going to get.
@Hibbleton:
It’s trench foot, actually.
MW: Wilbur is clearly one of those guys whose idea of a romantic partner is less someone who is his his peer and counter-balance and more like a “mom with benefits:” he wants someone who will coddle him, feed him, clean up his messes and handle the tedious tasks he’s unwilling or unable to manage, while also attending to his physical needs. I guess what I’m saying is that since she’s eighty percent of the way there already, Mary needs to bite the bullet and marry Wilbur.
BETTY: I am SO with this one… forgive a rant. Every change intended to make or save a business money is sold to us as for the CUSTOMER’S benefit. Epay, self checkout, auto deductions all are inconvenient or labor intensive or put customer at risk. I say it’s a rip off and I say the hell with it!
@Schroduck: They’re beta-testing time travel verb tenses as a favour to Dick Tracy
DT: Is there any chance this time-portal-using doppelganger will have some reason to be involved in the art thefts, or are we already at the point where the writers figure nonsense piled up on nonsense will squash the earlier nonsense flat and we won’r notice?
MW: If Carl Jung wakes up every morning in pain, he should probably drink less or quit drinking altogether. I guess Wilbur’s going through something too, but I don’t care. Good luck with the hangovers, Carl Jung!
BoT: I am SO with this one. If it’s not coffee, it shouldn’t be with no a coffee mug.
FG and BETWEEN FRIENDS: Edda and Susan alike, is economic compulsion a form of slavery?
Leroy: Breaking out the Griddy…even if poorly executed.
@Anonymous:
Sorry. That was actually me. Sent too early
C’shaft: “Oh, darn, I guess you’ll have to spend long, long hours taking care of your garden, leaving no time to speak with or interact with us in any way!”
Dustin: The interpretation that Dustdad is deliberately trying to eat himself into cardiac arrest gains credence.
Phantom: If I woke up in the middle of the night and was greeted by the sight of my nude husband embracing a masked man in purple spandex, I would start to seriously reevaluate my perception of both him and our relationship.
Pluggers are all in their seventies minimum, apparently.
RMMD: Wanda and Truck decided not to have kids? I would have sworn she’s at the stage of life when that option is quite firmly off the table.
Mary Worth quote confirmed from Contributions to Analytical Psychology and I continue to take it as a personal affront that these are getting more accurate.
Lockhorns: You should see what happens when Leroy wins at Go. It’s not pretty.
WilburMW: “It’s not any less normal than my relationship with Jeff.”Luann: Leave the tackling of real-world issues to Batiuk. At least his stuff is unintentionally funny.
CS: Oh, Pam did plenty of “weeding,” thank you very much.
@MKay: Yeah, what’s stopping him? Wilbur has unlimited money and free time. Flights to Orlando aren’t expensive. She showed up at his house uninvited, so there’s no reason he couldn’t do the same.
FC:
“Daddy, why isn’t Grandpa with us anymore?”
“He was killed in a fireworks accident. He got too close a seat.”
FC: I’m disappointed to learn there are no fireworks in Heaven.
Dustin: “Speaking of scores, I’ve already decided *not* to give this restaurant a good Yelp review.”
@taig: Yeah, Crankshaft’s obsession with gardening and his over-the-top methods to increase production just scream “grow op.” Or, his family could get rid of him permanently by planting an acre of wacky tobacky while he’s out of town.
Shylock: Weirdly still has a few bugs to work out of his holographic AI travel software.
“Bah! Dromedary, Shmomedary.”
Somehow, it seems like Sigmund Freud would have been a more appropriate choice to quote in Mary Worth today. What’s German for “man, that’s completely fucked up”?
Shlockhorns – Funnier if he was also clearly drunk with the old school trademark lampshade on his head, disco dancing with a hot babe at a house party bacchanal….
MW – And just know the Propecia (TM) head boob massage was starting to work….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
RMMD: it all adds up- Cody looks and plays like Truck, his mom was Trucks ex. So of course Truck for is not his biological dad but he socially adopts him anyway as Cody wants a dad and Truck wants a son. Biology be darned.
RED & ROVER: Clicked on this by mistake. Hope Sid got gig of casting these aggressive birds. Must be hard to rein in
@Rube: Warren Buffet is apparently a Plugger. Who knew?
As was Jimmy Buffett.
Zits: Imagine if Jeremy described her this way.
Frazz: Why exactly are they criticizing lawn mower guy?
RWO: So are you now going to kill them and their babies too?
9CL: What the hell? Isn’t she currently gold-digging an old billionaire? She’s already hunting around for something on the side, and anybody with a Y chromosome will do?
@Banana Jr. 6000: What’s stopping him is his laziness and his doppelgänger having shoved his sister back into the crooked group home so he can take a cruise of his own.
@Lord Flatulence:
As was Golden Corral
Pluggers: Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
9CL: So, I guess the old rich guy is getting tossed over for the worlds most pretentious git.
@TheDiva:
#39. PLUGGERS: Pluggers at 70? Yay! Tomorrow’s my birthday and become a true Plugger. So I can do weird things like Cecil (LOLA)
Lockhorns: Y’all, are we sure they’re playing chess at home? It looks more like the White Void comic strip characters love to visit. Maybe it’s some kind of timeshare?
@Will: I couldn’t tell if Brooke was mocking this guy or praising him.
Hi and Lois: They did it. They beat “Lois walks out to the lawn in the middle of winter and thinks how peaceful it would be to freeze to death.”
@taig:
On Luann : I’m grateful you posted a version of this without the inexplicable, kinda disturbing throwaway.
Also, Luann and Bernice’s brilliant knowledge of how things work is cribbed from answers to Slylock Fox mysteries (they’ve done the “how fans work” one before, and Bernice thawing out everything in the fridge by trying to cool off by keeping the door open in her face reminds me of Count Weirdly’s failed attempt to freeze Slylock solid in the same manner (“But instead, the room was WARMER than when the Count set his death trap! But how!?”))
@Tom T.:
On Frazz :
Maybe it’s “Lawns are evil, people claiming that rain helps it grow are stealing valor from REAL gardening”?
Or it’s “Rain is ALWAYS bad, it’s an inconvenience that makes it harder (and thus MORE NOBLE) to run, anyone saying it’s actually good for vegetation is just hollow cope”?
…Or it might even be “NOBODY has any reason to say rain is good because it helps vegetation. Farmers, gardeners and Pluggers are not real – Jef Mallet”…
Lockhorns: To celebrate his exceedingly rare triumph, Leroy is off to his bars, temples, and massage parlors.
Mary Worth: This is not normal, Mary! Nothing about any of this is normal!! And its incredibly alarming that you say it is!!! What the actual fuck is wrong with you!!!!
@Banana Jr. 6000: I thought about that, and I think the answer is his conscience. See above.
Pluggers are old enough to remember when Vatican II ruined The Church.
H&L: The top panel is awfully low-effort even by Walker Comic-Like Illustration Amalgamated. But I do appreciate how Lois is not yet so broken to answer “Child abandonment!” in the last panel.
BG&SS: Orville’s house doesn’t look any more building inspector-friendly, but it does have a shine and no patches on it. I guess gentrification is coming to Hootin’ Holler.
DT: Oh! It’s a MAGICAL Time Machine. All right, then.
Phantom: “Shhhhhhh, I’m just here to screw your wife. Diana is so vanilla I can’t even stand it, just lies there limp and stares at the ceiling.”
Phantom: Instead of waiting until morning and filing a report, Kit goes peeping in Wambesi bedrooms.
Luckily, he has an excuse when he wakes someone.
(Sorry I missed Friday’s strip. Stripey fucking with the Jungle Patrol with that Secret Commander shit is always funny)
Doonesbury: Oh, time constraints. Musk is now attacking the Trump budget battle plan.
JP: If you want to find out whether Leah really is from Wisconsin like she says, ask about the places she made highway pit stops back home. If the words “Kwik Trip” do not come up anywhere in her answer, she is a phony.
@61 ValdVin: I got the reference.
Ohhh, Willllllbur (the strip formerly known as “Mary Worth”): Shut up, Mary.
Just shut up.
(But first, 86 Wilbur from your condo. I don’t care how)
HtH: And that was the day Lucky Eddie decided to stick to dating mermaids.
MW: Honestly starting to think that Mary has long ago given up any attempt at actually meddling Wilbur, because she tried that for years and it never did any good. The final straw was probably that time he semi-accidentally faked his death and was surprised people were mad with him. Now she just wants to see what he’ll do next!
MW – Wouldn’t the advice of any reasonable person be, “Just go jack off, Wilbur.”
@ValdVin: (Also) Got the reference!
WILBUR: I just… I want to get on a plane, leave Santa Royale…
(Literally the entire cast is gathered at the window, watching eagerly—major characters like Toby and Ian, infrequent appearances like Saul Wynter, total one-offs like Keith the beefy daughter-haver and Esmé the smoking boat seductress; everybody.)
MARY (trying to subtly but desperately wave everyone away, they’re going to blow this): It’s perfectly normal Wilbur.
LH: The Andy Capp version of this comic omits “at chess”.
@Professor Well Actually: Um, because doing dumb stuff like dwelling on his past or introspection won’t get him laid? Duh.
Mary Worth – Mary is holding her coffee cup strangely in the third panel. I can’t help noticing, because it’s a distraction from this infuriating pity party.
Now let’s go sing karaoke! That’ll cure everything.
FC – What? Why isn’t Dead Grandpa fucking with the fireworks to entertain the melonheads? You know, like making the fireworks explode a few feet above the ground (how spectacular!), inadvertently turning the nearby houses into a raging inferno.
Rex Morgan – Seriously, I can’t stand these people. It’s a mystery how and why Beatty ever got the idea that they’re beloved characters.
6Chix – Why would they want to shred a conch?
9CL – A nymphomaniac meets a pretentious twit. I’m sure that Brooke thinks that this is scintillating, witty, romantic comedy.
MW: “Mary, why are strapping muffin pans to your hands?” Wilbur asked.
“Ohhh, Wilbur, Jung said there’s no coming to consciousness without pain,” Mary replied as she began to viciously slam the pans against both sides of his head repeatedly.
“Wake up, Wilbur! Wake the @#%$! up!”
Has Wilbur maybe considered getting professional help himself rather then relying on the platitudes of an untrained old biddy with nothing but time on her hands and suspiciously coloured muffins? Before this, the man had a break with reality where he assaulted people on the street. He needs more than some home-made baked treats and a conversation with the local busybody to get through this.
@Sequitur: re: Jungle Gym: Arrow in the back! That can’t be good.
FG: Edda the Mechanic really IS Maggie the Mechanic. (Jaime Herndandez, LOVE AND ROCKETS comics). Punkette haircut, wife-beater tee, legs like tree trunks.
Mary Worth: Epilogue: Wilbur did not know that his new life would not be given him for nothing, that he would have to pay dearly for it, that it would cost him great striving, great suffering under the watchful and meddling eye of Mary. But that is the beginning of a new story — the story of the gradual renewal of half a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new unknown life, without Belle, without sex, without even the comforts of mayonnaise. That might be the subject of a new story, but our present story is ended. Wilbur is going to Siberia.
@Ukulele Ike: Eh, at least it’s not a sucking chest wound.
Edit to add: OMG, Edda the Mechanic clearly is modeled on the early Perlita.
I have to say every time Josh features a panel from the Sunday Lockhorns, it makes me twitchy. I keep looking around for a larger image, and they’re just not publicly available. Damn you aspect ratios that must be honored! Damn you Hoest Enterprises and Andrews McMeel Syndication, and your lack of interest in Lockhorns wallpaper!
@CanuckDownSouth: re: DT: I guess Curtis pity-hired those two losers who managed to fuck up Mara Llave, Keister of Time so effectively.
“Time portals! Times portals!”
“No, guys, that’s not really what this strip is all about. Think criminals and police procedural.”
“Time portals! Time portals!”
MW: Carl Jung fucked his lady patients. In years to come, this would become a strict no-no in psychoan@lytic circles. But in those days, goodness knows, anything goes.
Phantom: The dimensions on that bed look wrong and out of proportion. It reminds me of those shortened department store versions where they display bed linens. Are all the Wambesi people less than five feet tall? They also need to put a screen on that window. If a horse can stick its head inside, there’s no telling what else can come in.
@Amelie Wikström: You’re suggesting an I Want My Beloved To Be Happy / Tragically Disabled Love Interest story. That’s probably what Moy thinks she wrote, but this isn’t even close.
The TVTropes description of the former says “this plot can fall flat if it hasn’t shown that (Belle and Wilbur) had any real connection, or if they appear to have ulterior motives.” Bingo. Wilbur never had a drop of interest in Belle, much anything resembling actual love. She was a sex toy to him, and nothing else. Belle’s ulterior motive turned out to be incest. And the story is ham-handedly trying to ignore all its own plot points, so it can prop Wilbur up as some kind of Byronic hero.
As for Belle’s mental illness, the story never bothered telling us what it was. So it’s impossible to know if Wilbur *should* have a conscience about being in this relationship, or if it’s something that’s manageable with love and commitment. (And Wilbur already fails to win our empathy as a suitor, for the reasons listed above.)
So Wilbur’s attempt to win the Academy Award today comes off like performative grieving to manipulate Mary, not his actual feelings about Belle.
@TheDiva: re RMMD: “Wanda and Truck decided not to have kids?” Yeah, I figured she was mid 50s at the youngest. Maybe they discussed using a surrogate, but decided against it since women of child-bearing age are scarce in Glenwood.
9CL:I’m not one of those manly-man toxic masculinity type of guys, but I am pretty sure no man has ever sat cross-legged at the edge of a pool.
Mary’s old-fashioned advice is often effective, but her prude instincts are driving her astray. A modern therapist would simply say “Wilbur, you aren’t in love, you’re simply horny. Rub one out and consider the situation objectively through post-nut clarity”
Slylick Fox: How to turn a pear into a parrot!
@Banana Jr. 6000: No no, it’s Dawn he has feelings for. Well, the fear she won’t give him one more last chance at least counts as a feeling.
@Arabella: I don’t know what age Wanda is, but based on past storylines I think it is frighteningly possible that the writers of this medical drama script have either *very* incorrect ideas about female fertility (she still has non-grey hair! that’s young enough, right?) or *no* clue whatsoever that menopause is a thing.
@Charterstoned:
Given what “muffin” is slang for, I now have a truly horrifying mental image in my head.
The Lockhorns – The Lockhorns are tolerated in that town because their terrible antics let everyone else know things could be worse in the marriage. Divorce rates in the neighborhood are remarkable lower than the county and state average.
Mary Worth – Wilbur is going to fly across the country unannounced, move in to Belle’s apartment, only to get jealous of her ”controlling brother” (who has court-approved power-of-attorney), and try an increasing series of sad attempts to kill his rival for Belle’s affection and attention.
@James: You’re welcome.
@wesccov: re: 9CL: He writes poetry, composes music, and holds a degree in art history. I bet he bakes a mean soufflé. He may have a Y chromosome, but he’s clearly “batting for the other team.”
(Polly doesn’t care. As long as he’s got a dick, she’s certain she will be able to wangle SOME sort of reaction out of it. “Sucking the chrome off a trailer hitch” is a phrase that comes to mind)
Not pictured: Leroy kicking the chair over as a little extra “Take that, bitch!”
Also not pictured: The happy memory Wilbur is picturing is Belle trying to kill Dawn. He needn’t keep that thought to himself, though. Mary would reassure him, “That’s also perfectly normal. I’m a little done with Dawn too.”
@matt w: Found Lois almost ending it all, for my fellow Dark Hi and Lois enjoyers.
Ziggy Spanish to English.
Overboard Spanish to English.
@Amelie Wikström: He has feelings for Dawn that would have had him arrested if she was still a dumpy high schooler. Now he gets a prescription and a free offer to spay and neuter both of them.
Frank and Ernest: Literally breaking the fourth wall.
I read this very quickly and for a minute I thought that Dawn was the one who was being heavily medicated in some mental ward. Frankly, that would make a lot more sense than Mary reassuring Wilbur that all this is normal.
@taig: It celebrates with fireworks on indoctrination day instead of Independence day
@Wool Worth: 102. MW: being told he’s “normal” is NOT reassuring to a narcissist. Wilbur likes being special.
@Needless Exposition: It’s another plot hole, isn’t it? We have no idea why Wilbur is acting this way. The story never established any kind of relationship between them. All we can do is reach the obvious conclusion that he wants his FWB back. But Mary should be calling him out on that.
@Ettorre: You should be writing Ask Wendy.
Also, I will endeavor to work “post-nut clarity” into my everyday verbiage.
@matt w, @ValdVin: Re Hi and Lois – I temporarily forgot that “Hi” is the name of one of the title characters (you have to admit, it’s a weird name), so I spent some confusing moments looking at that throwaway panel, trying to figure out how someone would say “Hi, honey” to their spouse in the form of a question. Is she not sure she’s saying hello, or not sure that’s her husband?
Don Abundio, translated:
“Pedro, I hear celebrating out there!”
“Yes, boss”
“Isn’t it customary to ring in the new year?”
“Yes!”
“But not the fiscal year!”
Rex Morgan MILF Diver – I have experience only as a stepdad to a cat, but it seems to me there is a difference with marrying someone and becoming a step parent to a child who is still being raised and with marrying someone with an adult son. Truck and R/Wanda deserve each other. Mud Mountain Mitch or whatever is too good for either of them. (Although I’d still like to see Mud bang R/Wanda just to stick it to Truck – as Richard Dreyfuss did in Tin Men.)
@matt w: Dark Hi & Lois is the only Hi & Lois worth looking at.
@Banana Jr. 6000: If Mary wasn’t a colossal narcissist who likes to play God with the Charterstone residents to keep them in her Hays Code 1950s fantasy, she would recommend that Wilbur seek out psychiatric treatment and probably even a voluntary stay and maybe for Dawn too. But in her mind, she can
controltreat everyone with muffins and platitudes to follow what she wants until they’re good little WASPs in her hive. Then again, she likely gives Wilbur free reign because she wants his column permanently.Lockhorns: The lady with the purple top is Loretta’s chess coach, as the two are about to begin their strategy session for next month’s rematch. Leroy’s chess coach is currently bellowing on the roof with his shirt off.
MW: Carl Jung wrote today’s quote after becoming conscious that Wilbur Weston exists. “Oy vey,” he moaned in pain, quoting his mentor.
@107 Peanut Gallery:
“Hi” is most likely short for “Hiram” who was king of Tyre in the Old Testament. Not a common name but not unusual. It was probably more common in the 1950’s when this strip came out.
9CL: Lolly is engaged to Alistair. Polly is with the rich old guy. Either polyamory has come to Chickweed Lane or Edda has been cloned. Both possibilities are alarming but credible.
C-Shaft: I’m trying to figure out the background here. Is that a thick forest of trees that for some reason don’t have any trunks? Or is Crankshaft taking over the neighborhood with one of his truck farm crops again?
Curtis: Curtis saying that he’d marry a pizza if it were legal is why Luigi pretends he doesn’t speak English even though his family has been in America for 160 years.
DT: I thought en plein air painting was just a chance to watch naked women loll around in the grass but apparently you can use it to build your family’s fortune after you’re dead, too.
JP: Would have been funnier if Sophie’s last “is” collapsed into a prolonged series of Z’s that ran through the last 2.5 panels.
RMMD: Truck Stop: 20 Great Trucking Songs contains one of Truck Tyler’s most beloved hits, “A Rest Area? Oh Thank God! I’m About to Burst!”
And when she gets it, is it to be expected that she will demand that it be changed to Ask Mary? With her delusion and self-inflated opinion of herself and her muffins, I can’t believe she wouldn’t demand credit.
BB: Zero’s leg in panel 2 is weirding me out. Legs shouldn’t bend like that, unless he’s got backwards knees like a bird.
Curtis: After Curtis marries the pizza they go to bed and the pizza says, “Hey, Honey. Put your pepperoni right here!”
Ouch. I just grossed myself out. This is a scenario Bianca Xunise would do.
@Sequitur: Yes, it’s canon that his name is “Hiram”…I’m going to stop looking for the comic in Josh’s archives that mentions it, but the current artist, Eric Reaves, is “hiramflagston” on BlueSky (he’s only used the account for this reply to me).
There is a bird, who is kind of an internet sensation.
His name is Apollo, he’s an African Gray Parrot. He can identify colors, materials, objects, Shrek and Wario, and even give instructions of his own.
One video he was trying to pronounce the word Block.
“Blick? Bleck? Black? No wait… that’s a color”
Between him and Coco the Gorilla, I think if the Slylock Animal uprising was going to start it would be now.
@118 matt w:
That’s good enough proof for me.
Luann-“Bernice, I thought you didn’t get hot. You are frigid.”
@121 Liam:
Good point but it’s not so much she doesn’t get hot, she’s just not hot.
@ectojazzmage: Unfortunately, Wilbur’s foolishness here *is* normal (see: people who stay with their abusive partner, and the fact that “don’t stick your d*** in crazy” is advice that has to be given.)
@The Rambling Otter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8-ZmuJixIg
Seriously, this bird is so smart, it’s almost terrifying, but also very cool.
Mary Worth: “Compared to fucking fish it’s normal, I mean.”
Pluggers: Plungers wonder why they haven’t been elected Pope even though they’re not Catholic.
Truck’s Truck Stop: 20 Great Trucking Songs opens on side one with a cover version of the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin,’” but the hit single was “Driving my Truck,” a Truck original.
I’m driving this TRUCK truck truck
I’m down on my LUCK luck luck
I’ve got corn to SHUCK shuck shuck
And chickens to PLUCK pluck pluck
I’m gonna get STUCK stuck stuck
In a puddle of MUCK muck muck
I feel like a CUCK cuck cuck
But I don’t give a FUCK fuck fuck
’Cause I’m driving my TRUCK truck truck
(chorus)
@127 Ukulele Ike:
And then there was a real song by Glen Campbell called “I Love My Truck”.
(Chorus)
This unfortunate soul has nothing better to do than watch 2 weirdly obnoxious people play a game of chess? The inclusion of the word “finally” implies that this person may have watch the aforementioned weirdly obnoxious people play more than 1 game too. I feel for this person’s life.
Lockhorns: Leroy only thought he won the game. He noticed an unusual formation of Loretta’s game pieces and checkers jumped all of them with his queen..
MW – “No, Wilbur, it’s perfectly normal, even if you aren’t “
In victory, Leroy clearly sees himself stomping a tiny city into oblivion. Take that, maser tanks! Leroy guzzles Scotch tonight in joy, not despair!
On the other end, Mary is clearly trying to push Wilbur out of frame at the close. “My comic! Your family’s awful stories have consumed 49 weeks! What the Hell, Karen?”
@132 A Grave Mind:
Leroyzilla.
The Argyle Sweater: One day in the life of the pigeon family.
For me it was a surprise ending.
Bound and Gagged: The weird thing here is that he was injected in the ass.
MW: Is it just me or does June Brigman have trouble drawing the way people hold everyday objects like cellphones and cups in one hand?
Or perhaps we are being given a glimpse of how June holds an artist’s stylus. Although then you would expect the result to look like Gil Thorp.
Crankshaft: Pam thought this was a prairie garden.
Slylock Fox, Six Differences: In the upper panel, the bear is shitting in the woods. In the lower panel, the bear is staring at the beaver and jacking off.
@137 Everybody Posts, Nobody Reads:
It’s tough drawing things the way they should be when you’re drunk on mimosas.
Usually the Lockhorn Drawing Bullpen puts weird, trapezoidal pseudo-feet on Leroy and Loretta, but today, Leroy’s feet must be 15 inches long or so. Grotesquely long, even on a freak like Leroy.
@139 Baja Gaijin:
Yeah, that happens often when checking out beaver.
In the first instance the bear shit down a gopher hole. There is one pissed off gopher in the woods.
Surprised no one mentioned Wiz of Id’s foray into gen Z/Alpha terminology yet, I’ll just jump in here to ask if anyone has seen another syndicated comic with the word “skibidi” or if this is the first one…
@Rube: Warren Buffet is apparently a Plugger. Who knew?
___________________________________________________
I had an suspicion when I heard he was starting WARREN’S GOLDEN CORRAL BUFFET™ The place where Pluggers meet to seat and eat.
@Sequitur: ….and that’s how the Kardashians were born.
@144 GarrisonSkunk:
I’m so glad the only Golden Corral in our area went out of business a few years ago.
@145 Ukulele Ike:
A bunch of soreassed Kardashians.
@Sequitur:
How does she get drunk on mimosas if she holds the cocktail glass the way we all assume?
@148 Everybody Posts, Nobody Reads:
Osmosis.
@Sequitur: Mimosmosis
For the record, guys, check out all five glorious panels of today’s Lockhorns. I love Leroy’s friend (?), Mario Mustache Guy! His barbecue brawling, and dry disdain are aweseome. Guy should be Mayor. Or Guy We Call To Defeat Giant Turtles Who Mostly Walk In Predictable Patterns.
@151 taig:
*snerk*
JP: Nice Pluggers crossover with Sam and Abbey watching The Cowboy Channel. Rich people are just like us!
@153 Midtown:
Yes. Yes we are.
*kidding*
Late Thread Cuisine: So many layers. So very many layers.
@A Grave Mind: Mothra vs. Leroy Lockhorn. I’m here for it.
@155 Baja Gaijin:
That should keep an ungulate happy.
@157 Sequitur: Are Pluggers ungulates?
@158 Baja Gaijin:
Ya know, bear, dog chicken, kangaroo, cat…
Wait! RHINO! It’s an ungulate!
@Baja Gaijin: All of them are unnecessary.
@Artist formerly known as Ben:
Mothra never faced ennui of THIS magnitude!
@Midtown: That could be the Wealthy Ranch Owners’ Channel. Abbey is a subscriber.
But I can see Sam as a huge fan of Gunsmoke and Bonanza.
@Sequitur: “A bunch of soreassed Kardashians.”
I suppose when you’re trying to maneuver around the world wearing asses like that, they tend to bump into a lot of things. The family probably employs a team of professional ass-rubbers.
What a Frazzhole!: When exactly did not having brains enough to come in out of the rain become a sign of intelligence and superiority?
@Artist formerly known as Ben: Leroy VS Mom-thra (His mother-in-law)
@Baja Gaijin:
#155. Before convincing myself its just like seven layer salad, I’d want to know what is in
each layer, esp. the black one.
PV: what happened to the second, guardian, ship? Has it been snatched by the pirates or smashed by the rocks? The Queen will surely survive, but the commoners count roo.
@Ukulele Ike: @Sequitur: “A bunch of soreassed Kardashians.”
_______________________________
I saw that DS9 episode!
FRAZZ: This cartoon makes sense too me because as a kid I in learned the song,
Look for the silver lining
Whenever storm clouds get in the way….
It’s the art of gratitude. If life doesn’t cooperate with our plans, revise our plans to cooperate with life’s.
Lockhorns: “Christ. What an asshole.”
Mary Worth: “Christ. What an asshole.”
@Anonymous:
Sorry. That was me.
@Abomynous:
Sorry. That was me.
@Baja Gaijin: Is this supposed to look like a cake? Because I can hear Ron Swanson’s voice in my head: “So not only does this thing exist, but now you have deprived everyone of cake!”
@166 Activist: The black layer is blood pudding mixed with crushed Oreo cookie cookies sans filling. I see layers of peas, artichoke parts, turkey breast or broken bits of a tureen, topped by phlegm, surrounded by the contents of those “do not eat” packets that come with cheap electronics once you soak ’em in water. And a tiny oak tree sprouting out of the top.
@Activist:
I salute this Frazz, for being utterly befuddling narrative-wise, and yet STILL insufferably pretentious. I do enjoy looking at it and thinking “hee hee, yur gonna break yer leg!” Frazz being in pain might make this summer. Doubtless a speaking stuffed lion will assist him with journeys through the imagination.
@172 Dr. Larry Erhardt: It certainly looks like a cake. A weird jiggly grody cake-shaped thing that could be an alien life form. Not a cake. It’d do great in a food fight between people you hate.
MW: I resent being reminded again and again that when Belle was around, I wondered if she maintained that same zany wild-eyed expression when she and Wilbur were engaging in coitus. If that’s what they did. For all we readers know, it was pure costumed B & D, and then Wilbur would go away to shower by himself and remember their session and moan a lot and…sorry, sorry, SORRY. End this story, Karen and June, please, have mercy.
JP: *thumping cane* Back in the ancient times, I spent six months in Europe and never communicated with my parents except through the post office. These young whippersnappers have no idea. Also, Freyja doesn’t hate everyone, Sophie, just you and Reena. I’m hoping we’ll see other people visit your house and that Freyja will make a point of purring and cuddling with them, hahahahaha.
@Baja Gaijin: *goggle-eyed face of horror*
@A Grave Mind: Unless this is a flashback, I’m asking myself “Did he not already break his leg?”
I remember others saying on here that he did.
Keep in mind that this is all from the perspective of one who has never read Frazz (except once, to know what I was dealing with) and I prefer to keep it that way.
@ValdVin: I both got and laughed at the reference. Well done.
@Poteet: I’m hoping Freyja somehow puts both the Americanskis in traction.
(“Causes their death” seemed a little extreme. Nobody really enjoys reading Bram Stoker’s “The Squaw.”
@Poteet:
178: my gosh, Poteet, see his explanation at #173.
@The Rambling Otter:
Yeah, I simply figure the Sunday/weekday thing affects the timestream, here. And you should read it more! It sucks, but the rage is delicious!
@UncleJeff:
Does Charterstone have at least six floors? How many windows are on the top floor?
Pluggers – Somehow, this has gotta be related to the old question, “Does the Pope poop in the woods?”
@Poteet: I think I found the whole context, if you want to know the true recipe: https://www.reddit.com/r/Old_Recipes/comments/lb5giv/terrine_of_garden_vegetables_recipe_tried_to/#lightbox
Somebody should have slapped the 70s silly and yelled at them that they were not the pre-electric age and so making food that conspicuously requires tons of refrigeration/packing in ice is not the flex they think it is, so go make something tasty for your dinner party!
@185 Peanut Gallery:
The Pontiff poops privately on the Pope privy producing potty patties produced by priestly poots.
@Sequitur:
#187. PLUGGERS: Thanks for the alliteraphiles’ delight. Pluggers know that despite his youth and many flaws, we’ll still call him Holy Father. Or at least Catholics will.