I guess if you learn things about him in conversation, he becomes less unknown and it kills the vibe
Post Content
The Phantom, 11/7/25
The Jungle Patrol, like most military and paramilitary outfits, is mostly composed of young people, but the nature of those young people of course changes as we drift through comic book time. Back in the ’00s, their recruits were mostly spunky, idealistic millennial lady cops and waitresses. But today, the zoomer junior officers of the Patrol have no experience talking on the phone and cannot overcome their social anxiety enough to build professional rapport with their Unknown Commander. Sad!
Blondie, 11/7/25
Kudos to the local news for not actually showing the grotesque imagery of magnified fast food and instead merely playing audio of the scientists’ horrified reaction. With Dagwood in town, they clearly know that they need to tread carefully when it comes to food-related news. On the other hand, the news team apparently lacks advanced studio equipment like “teleprompters,” forcing their anchors to simply read the news off a visible piece of paper, so it may be that they simply did not have the capacity to transmit other video content to their viewers.
Mary Worth, 11/7/25
Sorry I haven’t been keeping you up to date on what’s been happening in Mary Worth, so I’ll recap: Toby met a parrot and then spent 72 hours trying to think of a name for it. This is the best she could come up with.
113 replies to “I guess if you learn things about him in conversation, he becomes less unknown and it kills the vibe”
Mark Trail Mashup: What if the thought bubble had different contents…?
Blondie-“Give me another ‘Missing Health Inspector’ special!”
RMMD-Have you gotten beyond the first page in the book?
RMMD-“I have no idea what to think unless someone tells me what to think.”
FC-“Are you sure you’re not here for my mommy instead?”
Archie-Ms. Grundy, put some water in the bucket.
Phantom: “Small talk, gotta think of some small talk… Um, just between the two of us, Commander, do you consider Colonel Worubu to be as big a simp as all of us enlisted folks in the Jungle Patrol do?”
MW: Toby to Bird: “I’ll call you ‘Sunny’, because you like sunflower seeds!”
Bird to Toby: “And I’ll call you ‘Sunny’ too, because when I look into one of your ears I can see the sun shining into the other one!”
MW: Is Toby going to pour the seeds out or is she going to leave them in the bag for the parrot to possibly get it’s head or wings stuck?
Ph: Boy that would have been awkward if our young Omondi had said that instead of just thinking it. But he didn’t, so….yeah.
Blondie Some days this strip feels like the prequel to Soylent Green.
MW I was going to make a joke about Mary Worth lifting plots from Stardew Valley, but Toby, you are no Emily. Honestly, you’re not even a Penny.
MW:
Most people: “You are not a native species. Maybe we should try and find your owner so you don’t die of exposure.”
Toby: “Have a nice day.”
Blondie: The TV is showing the microscope view. Lou’s food is so contaminated that the bacteria have evolved to the point that they have their own society and technology and ratings-chasing shock-and-gore local TV news studios.
Blondie: I don’t blame Dagwood for dismissing a doctor whose response to microscopy is “Yikes!” and “Yucky!”
MW:
“I’ll call you ‘Sunny’ because you ended up in a tree — just like Mr. Bono!”
Kudos to Lou for being thematically consistent by mounting the TV where it can be seen by him alone, and not the customers at the counter. He doesn’t respect his clientele’s taste buds or gastrointestinal needs, so why should he care if they’re entertained? Let them watch him watching TV while his terrible food burns!
Phantom:
“While I’m waiting, I’m going to have a ‘Duran Duran’ snack, because I’m famished, just like my companion Devil here.”
“Er…why do you call it a ‘Duran Duran’ snack, sir?”
“I’m hungry, like the wolf!”
Phantom:
“Let’s engage in some light banter while I’m holding here, Omondi. Omondi, I’m going to see to it that you’re presented with the Barry Manilow Award for selfless public service!”
“W-why the ‘Barry Manilow Award,’ Commander, sir?”
“Omondi, well you came and you gave without taking, but I sent you away; Omondi, well, you’ve missed me, and stopped me from shaking, and I need you today, Omondi.”
CS: Don’t do us no favors, Batty.
RMMD: Good grief, Blondie! That ponytail must be giving you a brain bleed because you are approaching Toby, or dare I say Luann, levels of intelligence here. This guy stole your traumatizing experience to make bank and, to add insult to injury, would apparently rather ‘grade papers’ than service you! If you don’t smack him full in the face with that 300 page slashfic the next time you see him, you deserve whatever’s coming to you.
Luann: Of *course* the Magic Negro’s magic negro-ness is the only thing that gets the traumatized dog to calm down in a confined space with four crazies. Of *course*…
Phantom: He’s going to start humming a Muzak version of “The Girl from Ipanema”, isn’t he?
DT: Stop the presses! This was actually…. a very good mystery. Learned something new, and I see what the murder victim did with chess notation (! for the Caesar Cipher Shift and ? for the letters of the murderer’s name).
GT: And here I hoped, since we’re in the hormonal highschool era, the Origin Story of the “Thorp Special” wasn’t going to include football.
yCurtis: Greg is the only person that would take a genuine compliment by his son and react with side-eye fourth-wall-breaking snark.
GA: HAW HAW! Big fancy words are funny! They also sound offensive!
MW: “I’d have preferred to be called Hempy,’ if you get my drift.”
You’d think a chirping parrot would be called “Chirp”.
@Little Guy:
Curtis:
Dad Wilkins is one of the more unpleasant characters in the comics and it’s surprising why more people don’t realise it. He keeps moaning about money and yet smokes in front of his family, not just burning money but forcing his wife and kids to breathe his poison fumes. He can’t stop pretending to be superior to the things his son is enthusiastic about, yet he never attempts to show what’s good in what *he* likes. And half the time even Curtis is more egalitarian and progressive than he is.
@Baja Gaijin:
I stopped reading Murky Tail years ago but going by the expression on Reddie’s face I’m already supporting the feral pigs.
DtM: Why is it that Joey is in so many of these sitting-in-the-corner gags? When I ground my kid, I tell the neighbor kids that he can’t play right now. What I don’t let the neighbor kids into the house to shame and embarrass mine. Then again, my kid doesn’t constantly, cruelly, relentlessly criticize my cooking at every opportunity while my spouse sits there silently smirking, so who am I to judge?
Mary Worth: Uh, Toby is aware that parrots are not native to SoCal, right? Clearly this parrot is not wild and is an escaped pet or zoo resident. And she’s just going to leave it there?
MW: Sunny is indeed an escapee — from the college’s English Department — and flies off squawking, “Why did I marry such a dingbat?”
MW: Oh, I get it. The parrot is actually SAYING the word “Chirp” ironically. He can also say, “Tweet,” “Whoo,” and “Cluck Cluck,” which will confuse the crap out of Toby.
RMMD: Summer is upset because SHE was going to write a book about the stalker experience. She’s already started drawing the stick figures.
9CL: Apparently, a couple must be legally joined to subject a paying audience to their slobbering PDA. It’s nice when there are standards.
GT: “But first, let’s get some ice on those faces. You all look like you’ve been cleated!”
PHANTOM: All I can think of is how hot that painted-on superhero garb would be in a jungle. It doesn’t look like it breathes at all!
Blondie – The Kent Brockman-wannabe is actually reading a menu from Lou’s, where today’s specials are Yikes and Yucky.
@Powers: Not to worry, because in true Hollywood/Lifetime/Hallmark fashion, by this act of kindness Toby will cause ‘Sunny’ to imprint upon her and follow her home.
@Ukranazi Stepan: Isn’t Chirp Hi and Lois’ oldest son?
Rex Morgan, MILF Diver – Just wait until Summer gets to the part about the stalker having a cock ring.
@Powers: Maybe not native, but parrots turn out to be adaptable and can live as far north as Chicago.
MW: Sunny, whose real name is Sonny, is a pet bird taking flight from his mafia boss owner and the mobsters who are out to kill him, who is desperately hoping to turn state’s evidence to get into a witness protection program under an assumed name. He’s already singing like a canary.
Mary Worth: I kind of enjoy the idea that Toby experiences non-comic time, just sitting there day after day, blankly staring at this parrot as nothing comes to mind for a name. I mean, I really enjoy it. If we have to suffer through Mary Worth’s endless foot-dragging, so should its characters.
“I’ll call you Sunny, because you like sunflower seeds! I guess they should call me… Alcoholy! Ahahaha! Well, actually Mary insists that calling myself an alcoholic would be a first step or something like that”
Of course Dagwood doesn’t want to know the ingredients or effects of food. He has a picture in the attic that gets fat instead of him, so recognising it would inimical to his deal with the Devil!
@Guillermo el chiclero: “…or is she going to leave them in the bag for the parrot to possibly get it’s head or wings stuck?”
Mary: Dr. Ed! How are you?
Ed: I don’t know, Mary. I don’t know if I can keep on being a veterinarian. Just today I had to provide mouth-to-beak on a parrot that nearly suffocated in a bag of sunflower seeds.
Mary: That sounds awful!
Ed: The worst part was they were Bigs’ Takis Fuego Hot Chile & Lime flavor. Do you know how much salt is in that stuff? The poor little thing was suffering from saline poisoning. We attempted to rehydrate it intravenously but the osmotic reaction caused water to flow into its brain cells. It died from a cerebral edema. Scanners-style.
Mary: What the fuck?! That’s a thing that can happen? Why are you telling me this? I don’t want to know all this! I don’t have any aphorisms for this!
Phantom – The young Jungle Patroller has an inspiration and adopts a robotic-sounding voice. “Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold for… THE COLONEL… or press Pound at any time if you would like to leave a message.”
Don Abundio, translated:
“The boss is back from his poker game”
“Did you win, Don Abundio?”
“Yeah. About $150”
“How nice! You must be feeling good!”
“A little itchy”
“I packed too many aces!”
The parrot is actually called “Sunny” because he is the reincarnation of Aurelian, who established the cult of Sol Invictus. The restoration of Rome will arrive soon!
Blondie: “I’ll take an Ignorance-Is-Bliss Special!”
“Wit Whiz or witout?”
[Looks at Dagwood, who nods.] “Wit.”
“Extra Listeria?”
“Customer’s hungry, Chef. Pick up the pace!”
“Order up!”
BF – “In fact, when you come to think about it, a child is really just another kind of gold-digger.”
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Alt joke: “I’ll take an Ignorance-Is-Bliss Special!” “This isn’t Arby’s, you know!”
“Mary, I have a new friend! He’s a parrot, he follows me and repeats mindlessly what I say!”
“How cute! You have your own Toby!”
@Hibbleton: #6: My partner brought a Quaker parakeet (small parrot) into the relationship with him, 27 years ago. Meanest little shit you ever saw – it only liked him. While researching the breed ( to see how long it would live) I learned that there are wild flocks in cities as far North as Chicago and New York. No sightings in Ohio, thank God. Pete has since gone to his reward. ( I didn’t kill him)
The Phantom: The Ghost Who Gets Excellent Reception And 5G Service.
Now that I think about it, Dagwood is the opposite what Plato considers worthy in a man: ignorance is bliss, governed by base instincts, disinterested in eternal forms, wage slave, in a heterosexual loving marriage…
@Baja Gaijin: It’s too early in the morning for this.
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Phantom: The Ghost with No Forehead.
MW Even if Toby is too dumb to think the bird will have trouble getting the seeds from the bag (everybody calls her ‘bird-brain’, yet she can, so of course birdie will too!), she ought to dump out the seeds in order to, y’know, not litter with the bag. She apparently failed those kindergarten lessons, folks!
@MKay: Pete has since gone to his reward.
Just to clarify – Pete was the parrot, not your partner, right?
@Liam: Blondie: “Give me another ‘Slime i the Ice Machine’ special!” — in memory of Marvin Zindler, Eye Witness News.
@pugfuggly:
Ph: Boy that would have been awkward if our young Omondi had said that instead of just thinking it. But he didn’t, so….yeah.
Well, in MANGA, “thought bubbles” are often used to depict stage whispering instead of thinking, so maybe Omondi actually said that stuff under his breath, but not softly enough for the Ghost who Walks to not hear it… if this WERE a manga, which it isn’t.
*************
@The Quiet Man:
On Luann : Well, the strip is seemingly totally unwilling to
admitdepict Dez as being in the wrong, so… ALSO : Of course the dog is the exact kind of cute pocket dog the other three wanted, and not a big, ugly old dog like they feared (and that Dez was pontificating about how they have to accept anyway).*********
On Crankshaft : “Why did you keep doing comics even after you retired?” “It’s the only job I know.” …no lie detected. (Bat
iukTON THOMAS is still dodging the “why one comic rather than the other?” “Why did you retire”, because he doesn’t want to admit “THE SYNDICATE FORCED ME TO RETIRE, AND WOULD HAVE CANCELLED *BOTH* STRIPS IF IT HADN’T TURNED OUT ANOTHER SYNDICATE OWNED PUBLISHING RIGHTS TO ONE”)…Too far?…**********
Dustin : …I’m waiting for this “DustinSister dates only horrible losers” angle to start being juxtaposed with “Dustin can’t get a date because women immediately know he’s a horrible losers, and we all know women NEVER date those!” and “DustinSister routinely ridicules her brother for being a horrible loser”.
************
Frazz : Oh wow, Caufield REALISED he was blatantly wrong, and is embarassed for saying stupid shit! Mark your calendars everybody!
Mary Worth: Are we going to find out she got roofied or something? This is getting to stupid it’s becoming scary.
MW: Toby can figure out how to get sunflower seeds out of the bag and the parrot is smarter than Toby.
@MKay: Although this *is* a single bird who isn’t afraid to go up to a person (hey, *it* doesn’t know it’s just Toby!), so if I saw that happening I’d still wonder if it was a lost bird instead of part of a feral flock and probably look for lost pet ads to report it to.
MW (one month from today): “Of course I love you Ian! But Sunny and I have so much in common! It’s like we have the same mind, the same brain!”
@Bob Tice: “I’ll call you ‘Sunny’ because you ended up in a tree — just like Mr. Bono!”
Ouch!
MW:
Sunny speaks: “Bwaack! Nevermore!”
“Stay in your lane, Bub.” Says Toby.
@Lord Flatulence:
Stable? She was introduced as a mysterious person who was NEVER THERE, always leaving Bernice holding the bag for wild dorm parties! Then, she became an on-panel character, but her role was STILL to always leave Bernice holding the bag for wild dorm parties. Then, she became the weirdo hippie friend who’s always off doing weird stuff, like having a small plot of land next to highway as a “secret (tomato) garden” or doing meditation/yoga/callisthenics in the nude!
She was always “wise”, but in the “weirdo mystic witch-lady who uses strange magicks” kind of way.
Mary Worth: Pets continue to infiltrate and conquer Charterstone from within, and Olive, the all-powerful Beast Queen, is nowhere to be found! Surely this will lead to conflict, chaos, and drama!
Or sunflower seeds. I guess parrots like sunflower seeds, so yeah, we could do a story about that.
@Scratchy Scrotum LXIX: My partner still lives. I haven’t killed him, either.
@Bob Tice: Truly funny. I can picture a music video with Barry Manilow playing a piano while crooning this out.
MW: Moy must have gotten letters from her loyal reader complaining that the balloon scene was too tense, so decided to tone it down to “50 mg of valium” levels. Next week: Toby stands up.
MW – Damn, Moy is really leaning into the incorrect onomatopoeia here. I’m surprised Toby didn’t name the parrot Chirpy.
Fast food is not healthy eating, but damn it, I would like to challenge Blondie‘s crack team of writing interns to look at the ingredients of a Big Mac and a home-made burger under a microscope and tell me they can tell the difference. You would need to do a chemical analysis to really find the unhealthier parts (and a home-made burger isn’t doing you any favours either). Yes, I’m getting pedantic over science in a newspaper comic strip gag.
***
At this point I think Karen Moy is actively lashing out at us for making fun of Wilbur stories.
Or not far enough, for those of us who don’t follow the wild, soap-opera lifestyles of comic strip writers. Is there any juicy detail you can share without risking a libel suit?
@Powers: I don’t know about Santa
BarbaraRoyale, but in the LA area, there’s a large population of parrots that may at one time have been pet shop escapees or whatever, but for the last several decades have been doing pretty well living and breeding in the wild. In fact, I just now heard a flock of maybe a couple dozen of them fly overhead (leaving their overnight roosts) all loudly chattering at each other.Pluggers – Okay, maybe pluggers don’t buy golf balls, but let’s imagine if they did. Let’s say the plugger depicted here decided to visit a golf shop to purchase a dozen Pro V1s. I imagine the scenario would go something like this:
PLUGGER: Hi, I’d a dozen Pro V1s, please.
SALESPERSON: Aghh! A talking bear!
FC: “I’m the BOY and Jeffy’s the SHITTER. Don’t even ask what we call Dolly.”
You’re a Real Plugger if you find a half dozen golf balls before the country club calls the cops and has you trespassed. Again.
@Ettorre: Brandy?
Blondie: I bet the original art showed an old timey, one knob radio on a shelf.
The Ghost Who Fails to Upgrade His Tech — Why does the Phantomphone have four columns of buttons? It looks like he’s using one of those hand-held calculators that only added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided.
And the Pulitzer for Public Service Reporting goes to WDAG out of Dagwood’s Home Town, USA. Congratulations . . . congratulations . . . congratulations . . .
“Would someone wake up the talking head? He needs to read something off the paper and look good doing it. Did Andy get graphics for this fast food story? No?? Jesus, this fucking place.”
@69 But What Do I Know?: You’re a plugger if you use the freebie calculator you got for subscribing to Fortune magazine in the 80’s as a cell phone.
You’re not a plugger if you wear purple spandex 24/7 to show off your chiseled abs.
JP: When it comes to the “little girl wants a pony” birthday wish, Charlotte plays the long game.
Dennis the Phantom Menace: Shouldn’t the Unknown Commander have a paper bag over his head?
Mary Wormtounge: I’m calling Bellevue ’cause Toby is NUTS!
Blondie: Exactly the reason why I don’t read 9 Chickweed Lane.
@Ken:
…It’s all
mostly baselessspeculation based on :1. Before Funky Winkerbean ran its final year, there were a bunch of moments in Crankshaft that had “the comic is ending” vibes (mostly, Crankshaft going “I’m too old to look forward to the future, maybe I should call it quits”)
Which I maliciously interpret as Batiuk being told that Funky Winkerbean was being cancelled due to forced retirement, Batiuk going “Oh yeah, I’m cancelling CRANKSHAFT instead”, and Kings syndicate going “Oh, we’ll cancel BOTH then”)2. The only collected Crankshaft albums were published by Andrew McNeel (in the early 90s), the GoComics people, rather than Kings Syndicate.
(I choose to interpret this as being a lifeline Batiuk grabbed onto, that “oh you guys STILL have the publishing rights, which means I can transfer the comic to you, even if the previous syndicate cancelled it”).RMMD: Augie does have some ethics. He shamelessly got close to Summer to use her stalker situation as fodder for his book but he didn’t take advantage of her sexually (or he’s gay).
@But What Do I Know?: At the risk of being too earnest/taking a super-hero strip too seriously, perhaps The Ghost Ghost Who Manually Enters Each Digit Of The Number Which He Has Memorized One At A Time uses an analog radiotelephone because the parts are more easily replaceable when he’s in the bush?
MW: Moy is testing the waters of “What if Toby found an infant?”
Thinks about it. “Yeah, that’s a hard pass.”
@Rube: There was an episode of My Name is Earl, when back when Earl was a criminal, he would sneak into the country club. One golfer there had declared that every time he wins a game, he would host a huge feast at the country club. Earl wanted the free food, so he snuck around moving the guy’s balls into the hole.
The guy thought he was absolutely invincible as a golfer because he won every time, then when he left the country club (i.e Earl wasn’t there to cheat his games) he was terrible at playing. He was desperately trying to get his groove/skills back, this obsession alienated his wife who left him, and in turn he lost his home and went downhill from there.
Just one of MANY people whose lives Earl had screwed up in the past.
But really, the show was actually wholesome because it was about redemption, Earl had a list of every person he had ever scammed, cheated or ruined. And every episode was him making amends, trying to set right what he did wrong in any way that he possibly could.
I miss that show.
Blondie: Is the health inspector in every town an escaped from the local laughing academy?
Blondie: Is the health inspector in every town an escapee from the local laughing academy?
MW: In a world where dogs and cats can smile, I’m not gonna question how a bird (which doesn’t even have lips) manages it.
Pluggers know that, paradoxically, golf balls are easier to find when they’re moving.
Gasoline Alley: T-Bone: ” ‘Contiguous’ are those people who wouldn’t wear masks during the pandemic!”
FC: “Well, you’re grown up enough to make your own decisions. I have a puppy and candy in my windowless white van.”
H&L: In three minutes Chip will be snoozing on the couch. He was never known for his stamina.
Question time:
GT: Isn’t a play supposed to succeed before you start nicknaming it?
Blondie: When did Lou get a TV in that undefined space floating over Dagwood’s head, and will it be there next time we see the diner?
Dustin: Megan, with your sense of humor how do you know what his laugh sounds like?
I watched enough of The Wild Thornberrys as a kid to know where this is going. Toby just dismantled the food chain in Santa Royale.
DT: OK – I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
RMMD: Please let the twist be that (if you recall) when the old man (the one who offered Augie a truck) appeared, he seemed to have choked out the stalker. In the book, we learned that Augie had snuck out and had done the deed earlier.
“Holding for the Colonel.”
“Colonel Sanders? I don’t think there’s a KFC in country, sir. I do have a Captain on the line.”
“Which one.”
“Crunch, sir.”
@Voshkod: “Colonel Sanders? I don’t think there’s a KFC in country, sir. I do have a Captain on the line.”
The name is Crunch. Captain Crunch.
@1 Baja Gaijin:
Mark Trail mashup? Since I refuse to look at or read anyone’s comment on the atrocity they now call “Mark Trail” I did not click that link and you can’t make me.
THE PHANTOM: Pshaw! Amateur! That aforementioned waitress and lady cop would have known what to say to “the unknowncommander: some highly inappropriate sexual come-on or innuendo, of course! Geez,maybe they should just let women run things!
@But What Do I Know?:
“The Ghost Who Fails to Upgrade His Tech — Why does the Phantomphone have four columns of buttons? It looks like he’s using one of those hand-held calculators that only added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided.”
Even The Phantom has been captured by the rectangular screens of isolation and anger.
@Calvin’s Cardboard Box: Well, I did mistitle him. He’s technically a Cap’n, which I think outranks a Commander but is subordinate to a real Captain (navy side).
Phantom – I don’t follow the strip, but I’m guessing he’s concerned about the status of his door-dash order of fried chicken….
Blondie – This is a wise crack about government…right….
MW – It’s so rare to connect with someone on your intellectual wavelength! When it happens, enjoy it….
Adios Amigos, DJ.
PHANTOM: if Mary and Olive had subscribed to the same cell service as the Phantom, they would have gotten through to real rescuers instead of having to rely on dogs and telepathy. On the other hand, if the Phantom had telepathy, he wouldn’t have to be stuck on the phone with this doofus, waiting for the Colonel to pick up.
Blondie: It’s pretty clear that Dag’s favorite diner only makes food from cans, jars, freezer bags, and other industrial-size food-service packaging. The “ingredients,” if you want to call them that, were decided on and combined months or even years ago. (And he can only wish the fare was as fresh and healthy as what you’d get at a fast-food restaurant!)
If Olive were here she could probably wrap whatever this parrot story is going to be about in a few minutes by simply asking the Parrot for it’s input on whatever is about to transpire surrounding it. Unfortunately though she had to go back to New York City where she is inundated constantly with the truly harrowing nightmare lives of New York City rats. Oh well.
BLONDIE: “Sometimes I’m better off not knowing the ingredients. In any case, this new “soylent green” dish you have on the menu looks absolutely delicious, Lou! Give me a big portion of that, please!”
MW: Toby just leaves the bag of sunflower seeds on the bench, assuming the bird knows enough to dispose of its litter when it’s done. (It’s clearly more intelligent than she is, so this is a reasonable conclusion.)
Phantom: Doesn’t the Jungle Patrol have hold music? I’d love for the Ghost Who Delegates Things to His Personal Military to have to sit in his cave listening to some peppy jazz riff punctuated by “your call is important to us…”
@Pozzo: 15-MW- Or maybe “Buddy”
C’shaft: Oh, don’t pretend you’re doing this for the readers, Battom. You’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel about them.
DT: ….Mnyae?
Dustin: I find it hard to believe Dustsis would let something like this slide. She would absolutely be making sneering comments about her boyfriend’s laugh at every opportunity.
JP: Abby is starting projects based on comments from a six-year-old. I look forward to her explaining to Sam why it makes sense to have Bluey painted on the side of the new barn.
MT: Are these supposed to be the antagonists? Cause, you know, they’re not wrong…
RMMD: Thinking is not something that comes naturally to Summer.
FC: Why do I get the feeling that guy’s got a Watch Tower Society magazine in that briefcase of his?
Zack Hill: Berenstain?
MW: Well, folks, Pauley – aka “Sunny” – is gettin’ a great reception! And as pronounced, his name sounds like “Sonny” … so he’s portrayed as a male and won’t hafta wear the false eyelashes! I know some people are thinking his dialogue isn’t regular Parrot-speak, but Pauley himself came up with “Chirp” to show he’s no *ordinary* Parrot. No stereotypical “Squawk” for him! Save that for the pirate gigs.
Yes, things are moving rather slowly here, but I’m sure the mystery of “Sunny” will keep everyone guessing and engaged in this lighthearted, yet potentially poignant, tale of a Lost Bird…
@Sid, Agent to the Animal Stars!: Is that a hint that Pauley’s future dialog will include such bon mots as “cheep,” “cluck,” “quack,” and — truly showing his range — “whip-poor-will”?
Crankshaft – If Battoniuk thinks I’m clamoring for more of his crappy comic strips, he’s deluded.
FC – Evidence this is originally from the 1970s: the guy apparently asked to talk to “the man of the house.” That’s an expression that would get him laughed out of town now. Or beaten over the head with whatever the lady of the house had in her hand when she answered the door.
Another sign: the Keanes don’t have a Ring doorbell so they can avoid talking to annoying salespeople.
9CL – They have to go backstage to make out? The piano bench is right there.
Speed Bump – Today’s earworm is brought to you by Speed Bump.
Gasoline Alley – Doone has been reading the thesaurus. Who would have ever dreamed that a repulsive hayseed would have something in common with worldly, sophisticated, repulsive Amos Van Hoesen?
@Baja Gaijin: Mashup – I don’t follow Mark Trail any more, but I checked out your mashup anyway. Gaah! How about a little warning? That was horrifying.
@Ettorre: Ginny?
As someone who’s spent my life rescuing parrots and currently shares my home with a dozen of various species, I can assure you of two things:
1. If you find a lost parrot, you don’t just walk off and leave it there unless you’re really cruel or a complete idiot.
2. Parrots don’t go “Chirp” unless someone with a quirky sense of humor taught them to say that. My double yellow head Amazon, Sammy, says, “Holy crap!” and sings, “God’s favorite biiiiiird!”
@I speak Jive: GA: Remember, Doone has worked in multiple fine-dining restaurants. From this strip’s point of view, he is Carny from The Bear.
@Pat443:
What is the correct protocol in case I find a parrot?
Ah yes, zoomers don’t know how to make chit chat on the phone, but we sure love using the phrase “blast you”
“And over here is my other bird, Sessy! He loves sesame seeds. And Wally loves walnuts. And Assy over there…”
“He loves asparagus?”
“No, he’s just a real asshole.”
@Anonymous: I see your point. I stand corrected.
@Pat443: re double yellow head Amazon: You got a two-headed Parrot?! If Sammy can sign in harmony, we need to talk!
@Sid, Agent to the Animal Stars!: “sing” I got too excited there!
@Sid, Agent to the Animal Stars!: I used to breed two-headed parrots, specifically for the two-headed pirate market.