Facial expressions and other matters
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Mary Worth, 4/29/26
I was briefly excited that this Mary Worth storyline was going to end with Mary and Toby enjoying a self-congratulatory spa trip rather than Mary and Dr. Jeff enjoying a self-congratulatory dinner date and boat ride, but then I realized that probably we’re going to get a self-congratulatory spa trip followed by a self-congratulatory dinner date and boat ride during which Mary relays to Jeff an excruciatingly detailed recap of both the storyline that’s just wrapped up and the spa trip.
Dick Tracy, 4/29/26
Look, I’m open minded, I cheerfully accepted “Dick Tracy is canonically aware of the existence of furries,” but, hmm, “Mumbles, the iconic Dick Tracy villain who was first introduced in 1947 and was played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1990 Warren Beatty Dick Tracy movie, is canonically a furry, and told Dick this himself,” boy, I dunno. Anyway, the MCU is on the tail (haha, get it) of Mumbles and his pals after their dramatic prison breakout, so I guess we’re going to see the cops staking out [extremely heavy sigh] fursuit shops or something.
Hi and Lois, 4/29/26
I’m really enjoying Lois’s facial expression in the second panel here. “Ah shit ah fuck the 22-year-old realtor influencer on TikTok who won’t shut up about ‘boosting revenues with concierge services’ did not say anything about this,” she appears to be thinking.
The Phantom, 4/29/26
I’m also really enjoying the facial expressions on long-time Phantom antagonist Eric “The Infamous Nomad” Sahara and his Gitmo guard as they give Ignis Vindicta a once over. “Is this an … actual alien guy, or some dude in a mask from Spirit Halloween, or what?” they’re both trying to figure out, with varying degrees of confusion and contempt.
Crankshaft, 4/29/26
I’m really not enjoying the facial expression on this lady in panel two, but I accept that, for denizens of the Funkyverse, “I’ve awkwardly set up a truly terrible bit of wordplay and now I’m about to unleash it” is an all-too-common scenario, and they need a visual signal to let people know that it’s about to happen.
81 replies to “Facial expressions and other matters”
Mary Worth Mashup: [record scratch] WHAT?
Phantom:
“My name is Ignis Vindicta. I tried to make a career out of impersonating space aliens. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling Scooby Doo kids!”
Mary Worth:
When Toby calls Mary…
“Let’s practice how not to handle a cell phone, shall we?”
MW: Note how Toby specifies it’s a women’s spa package. This is her subtle way of telling Mary that, if she could, she’d absolutely take
Iana parrot instead.Dick Tracy:
“Mumbles himself told me that he was a ‘furry.’ Unsurprisingly, of course, he was mumbling when he said it, so I didn’t understand a word he was saying!”
“Enjoy your kennel cage, Muffin. They’re grrr-eat!”
MW: “I’m already packing my bag!” No you’re not. That’s not true.
Crankshaft: The only scenario anyone would read one of Lilian’s books on the beach is if they need a bit of extra motivation to do a Harold Holt.
DT: Are we about to see Dick in hot fursuit pursuit?
Wrecks Moregone:
It’s almost as though trying to blackmail or expose Lorna might be a bad idea. Right, Moustachero?
No?
Go ahead, then.
____________________________________
Wary Morth:
“And I’m packing Muffin too!”
Don’t tell me this story is over without the mandatory Supertanker Sized Yacht Ride, the Bum Boat dinner, the walk on the pier, the “The Answer Is Still No”?
I mean, I can accept Trixie jumped over the wall right into the Memory Hole, but not having two weeks of self congratulatory platitudes is a step too far!
MW: You people DO realize that women have to disrobe at these spas, right? I wasn’t thrilled with how Mary’s right breast was operating independently yesterday. So I’m not thrilled by the prospect of seeing any more of Mary’s body than I have to. On the other hand, I’m curious about what a purple cowl-neck bathing suit looks like.
@Baja Gaijin:
Aaaaaaah my eyes!
That spotlight in panel 2 would indicate Lillian is supposed to do a soliloquy here, so let’s all of us just take the win at a bullet dodged.
Crankshaft:
“Thanks for purchasing my book with the sand jacket. Now I can make an alluvial deposit in my account!”
“Your stuff is a lot better now that you’ve removed the coarse language in it.”
“My sediment exactly!”
“It probably took a while for you to do that, but as the old saying goes, ‘Loam wasn’t built in a day’ !”
“There’s more than a grain of truth in that expression!”
H&L: I’m guessing the back story that this guy wanted a shirt like Charlie Brown, but a zigzag stripe was too outlandish for his personality.
MW: If Toby were smart (ha) she’d sign them up for the All Silence Serenity Package.
H&L: Poor Charlie Brown. His shirt stripe flatlined, he wears a bad toupee and his life still just sucks.
RMMD: Well, Lonnie, IF you recognized the ever-so- famous Mud Murphy, you’d have a foot in the door. Serves you right for not being cool.
Mary Worth: From the sound of it, Healthy Beauty is not one of those glossy magazines featuring dewy-skinned models and articles about how movie stars get a good night’s sleep, but a trade publication that publishes press releases from expensive local spas and charges extra for placement on the cover. Does Mary subscribe to it for some reason — or did she happen to thumb through a copy at her hair salon and somehow memorize the entire contents while waiting for her usual order of “sexless old-lady bob, no color”? In any case, she and Toby have decided to drive two hours in heavy traffic to Claremont, a Southern California town best known for excellent colleges and terrible summer heat and smog. A “multi-day women’s spa package” sounds like torture to me — but then again, I don’t have an annoying older husband or empty life full of other people’s problems that I’m anxious to get away from for any reason possible.
MW: The alien holds its phone at arm’s length and takes a selfie. Yes, I am a woman.
DT: Given that it’s Mumbles, he might have actually told Tracy “I like curry,” or “Nice furniture,” or “It’s perfect.” For that matter it could have been “I’m going to kill you, Tracy.”
Dick Tracy:
As a furry, I am of course deeply sensitive to portrayals of my people in popular culture. We’re not really known for criminality (although that one CSI episode left scars on the fandom’s psyche that still haven’t healed), so I guess Mumbles being a furry isn’t really stereotypical or anything, but it’s still troubling for a long-established nogoodnik to have being a furry grafted onto his character out of nowhere. Why won’t the media let us commission $100 art pieces from each other and run the entire IT industry in peace? Still, it could be worth it for the mental image of some nonagenarian who’s been a fan of Dick Tracy since childhood reacting to what he learns about furries from this storyline, so I’m willing to see where they go with it.
When Lois says “concierge services,” I can only hear “crappy day-old croissants on a plate,” but then, this supplement to my anti-depressant really ISN’T working.
Phantom:
“Invicta, your head’s even bigger than the Morgan girl’s over at RMMD!”
Is this were the old D.T., this would absolutely be setting up a scene where Mumbles gets crushed to death in a sea of hugs during a suit parade at Midwest FurFest.
Wrecks Moregone:
Is that her?
Is that her *what*?
Hi, Moustachero, here’s a suggestion, gratis:
If you get any money out of this, invest it in a course in remedial English grammar.
The guy in today’s Hi & Lois has a fascinating shirt on. The yellow-and-black design elicits Charlie Brown energy, yet the pastel shade of yellow and the placement of the stripe make him look like a depressed Powerpuff Girl.
MW: While packing, Mary remembers she has a cat. Fortunately she’s able to persuade Ian to watch it. Sunny and Muffin take an instant dislike to each other. Hijinks ensue.
Sadly we won’t get that story. We’re getting Mary and Toby at a spa.
…and they can’t resist comic books or being a purple fox or whatever for the couple days this job takes? That sounds like more of a problem, guys. Help is out there! Not for you, but for people with actual problems, just thought you should know.
The Phantom:
“Consider yourself liberated, Nomad! Wait, sorry, I meant to say you work for me now, with no choice in the matter and the constant threat of reincarceration or worse hanging over your head. My apologies, I’m still learning your Earth languages.”
Hi and Lois: She’s having a moment of self realization that her son Chip is never going to become a productive member of society and leave the house. She’s going to have to support him until she’s so old and decrepit that she dies and he never reports it so he can keep stealing her social security money.
Note Lillian’s stiff posture in the first panel. She’s come out from behind her table only to find herself confronted by … a fan? She’s heard of such people, and she’s sure they must exist, since against all logic her publisher keeps paying her to write books. But her deep (and not undeserved) sense of self-loathing forbids her from fully accepting the idea, and she tenses up, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But whew! By the third panel she’s relieved to find that the only threat this woman poses is her weak facility for “wordplay.” This, she can handle. She’s known Ed Crankshaft for DECADES. She’s got this!
@A Grave Mind: No, Muffin will stay with Ian and the parrots. But we won’t see any of it.
MW: I’m now expecting Long John to come crashing through the hedges onto the campus of this ‘spa’ while the women are dressed up like Romans in togas sipping Long Islands. That spa better have Doric Columns somewhere!
GT: You need this job… and you’re about to lose it by sneaking an unauthorized civilian onto the grounds for what is looking suspiciously like a breakout attempt. What about all the *other* people who would be in here screaming for help, medical assistance, or legal representation? Eh, they’re on their own, Gil’s only here for the cute girl…
PhanClan: Calling it now, this is the Schmelon Schmusk fellow from 2-3 storylines ago (he’s so endearingly quirky, you see!) breaking out the Phantom’s worst nemesis in an elaborate plot of revenge or something. Whatever happened to that young POC who I believe was last seen fleeing Schmusk’s goons? Eh, she’s on her own, Phanny’s got Hanny now…
Luann: Hush, little girl, the adults are talking smut…
Mother Goose and Grimm: Hey did you ever hear about this Dr Seuss guy? Apparently he’s written some children’s books that have silly rhymes.
DT: “And he mumbles… because animal’s can’t actually talk, they literally just make growling noises.”
Hi and Lois: I read that as “your” son, and thought that Lois had to foreclose on her own house and these people can’t move into the once-Flagston’s home until Chip leaves.
DT: Oh man… if we can’t understand him now, I’m just picturing how more muffled a fursuit would make him.
Also, I’m a little confused, is Mumbles the furry, or did Mumbles tell Dick that Double-Up was the furry?
@11 Ukranazi Stepan: What are you beefing about? Wilbur’s not wearing his Speedo.
@Vulpes: Speaking as a Furry also, in the previous Furry arc in Dick Tracy. I recall was treated pretty respectively.
They never leaned into anything like “Ewwww furries are gross” or anything like that. In fact I think the artist had a blast drawing the furries in the various panels :3 and Dick having a conversation with a rabbit/jester fur which was just in good fun.
I don’t know though where THIS arc will lead, but I have a bit of trust still, that hopefully it won’t taint anything towards the fandom.
The Phantom: “My name is Inigo Montoya…no, wait, that’s not it…my name is Ignatz Mouse…dammit! We practiced this. My name is Ignis, and I’m a vindictahol—DAMMIT.”
Dick Tracy: When did Mumbles tell Dick he was a furry? Why did he tell Dick he was a furry? And why, for the love of God, is Dick wearing that smirk? Are…are we about to learn the meaning of yiffing in Neo-Chicago?
@Vulpes: @The Rambling Otter: I do look forward to the creators of Dick Tracy getting the same treatment as the Gil Thorp team.
The Ghost Who Upgrades:
Regular Service: Oligarch buys a pardon for a violent criminal.
Concierge Service: Oligarch buys a pardon and flies to Gitmo in a weird alien costume to pick him up.:
@Vulpes: Honestly, given that it’s being placed alongside comic books, which I’m assuming a legacy comic strip would portray positively if anything, it seems to be a vast improvement over much of media in that it’s apparently just another hobby here. The choice of a long term baddie as the one to represent it is an unusual decision, but maybe it’s meant to be (ugh, no pun intended) humanizing? As in, he’s got a life and interests outside of just being a cartoon hoodlum?
@Vulpes: Actually, I don’t think the comic could really negatively impact furries.
1- They would have to bring up the negative sexual stereotypes, which this comic wouldn’t be able to do, being a family comic. (Unlike that CSI episode)
2- Newspaper comic strips are no longer mainstream and not many (besides us) really care about them. If anything was to blow up in controversy from a newspaper comic, it would have been something Wilbur related ages ago.
MW — We’re into the forties and still no one has made a comment about Mary and Toby’s “self-help treatments.” Do better, mudges!
H&L — Physician, heal thyself. . .
Phantom I will say kudos to the artist for being able to give clear colourist directions, unlike the disappears-into-the-background Mary Worth seatbelt. Whoever this turns out to be, we have pink skin tone hands and a grey head consistently in 2 panels, so it’s clearly a human in a mask. (Which would explain the rather blasé attitudes of the crew and guards!)
@CanuckDownSouth: One thing I learned from the furry fandom, is that “aliens” count as furries, well, aliens that look animalistic enough at least, like Stitch, or Ratchet (from Ratchet and Clank)
Maybe Ignis is actually planning on meeting up with Mumbles.
MW: You can practice self-care at home, or you can go to a spa for care provided by the spa employees. Toby bought two tickets to an empty warehouse.
The narration box tells us that Toby is calling Mary, which we can see happening, to ease us into the final shock of Mary saying that she is already packing her bag when she is not literally doing so.
DT OK folks, in order for this to be useful which is more ridiculous: there just happens to be a furry convention they can stake out in the few days right after the escape before the big heist, or Dick etc al will, in about a day, set up a fake one that’s never been heard of or advertised before and get a huge event Mumbles will be inexorably drawn to?
Curtis Is his dad upset that Curtis isn’t cheating his way to straight As on tests by using his smartphone?? [insert rant about access to information online not being the same thing as learning anything, especially if you don’t even understand a topic and have no idea what to look up, it’s not as if “open book” tests were aced by everyone before the internet…]
MW: I can’t wait for Wilbur to stumble into the Maenad Spa in Claremont just as the women are looking for a participant in their “Sparagmos and Omophagia” workshop.
H&L: I’m picturing Lois as the concierge from the original The Producers and suddenly her character is a lot more interesting –and it’s not much of a stretch for Thirsty to appear as Franz Liebkind.
“My name is Ignis Vindicta. You killed my father. Prepare for indefinite work release. We aliens are really big on rehabilitation and reintegration in the penal system.”
DT: Question, while I’m not saying that being a furry is in any way disrespectful to a character.
Is it disrespectful to put this new lore on a legacy character that has been around for half a century?
I mean, with Archie Comic’s Jughead… the reboot made him asexual. (Because it always seemed pretty obvious)
But they didn’t add this canon to the original Jughead.
Because Archie Comics inc. said that they can’t make that canon, as the original creators aren’t around anymore to confirm or deny anything.
So they left original Jughead alone.
Dick Tracy is not a reboot, and this is not a new Mumbles (as far as I know? Didn’t mumbles die a long time ago?)
So I don’t know if just adding new lore to an already long established character is right?
I mean, this isn’t Doctor Who here…
I’m a little disturbed that the robot follows of Heathcliff are specifically teenage robots. What nonsexual reasons would someone have for building a robot that resembles a teenager?
Dick Tracy: Finally, I can prove it! Mumbles died at sea in 1947, when no one could hear his mumbled cries for help. He was replaced by an imposter, a Furry, and…
Okay, I can’t do it. They’re just going to have DT and friends stake out an off-brand version of Comic-Con. If they don’t have the juice for the real (and nearly forgotten) Green Hornet, what other pastiches of heroes from radio serials will we see? The Umbra standing in for The Shadow? Doc Cranky, the Man of Tin? Definitely-Not-Superman, whose catchphrase “Top, Top, and Forward!” has touched literally dozens of imaginations? Kinda-sorta looking forward to finding out!
@Anonymous: There was that cartoon “My life as a teenage robot”
Where XJ9 (Who calls herself Jenny) was designed to save the world from various threats and alien invasions, but was designed with the personality of a typical teenage girl.
(For reasons I can’t fathom or remember, as her mad scientist creator resents her doing teenager related things)
MW: “I’m already half-in-the-bag! I mean packing my bag. Seriously, Toby. Call me back.”
H&L: I’m not an expert in comic making by any means, but Lois missing her right boob and glum lady missing her left seems like a bigger story than a home bound boy.
MW – “That’s great, Mary! And because you’re a friend, I’m only going to charge you $1500 for your ticket!” “$1500!?” “I didn’t say you were a good friend.”
H&L – I don’t think Lois has ever been shown working out of an office before, so I’m going to assume that sign is in the Flagston home. Probably next to the laundry room where she’s carved out just enough shelf space to keep a single 3-ring binder.
DT – Listen, if I wanted comic-book wankery, I’d read Crankshaft. (Ha ha, no! Nothing would induce me to read Crankshaft!)
Don Abundio, translated:
“Don Abundio, I’m more concise than you”
“How would you describe the shape of a doughnut?”
Resolving myself to the lack of Trixie closure, but I would like to see him show up for like a strip every other year or something. Like
March, 2028: One strip in which Trixie washes up, weary, on the shores of California. The next day cuts to Wilbur complaining about his love life for three weeks.
September, 2030: One strip where Trixie thanks the kindly bodega owner who hired him to sweep floors. The next day Toby is anxious about a dinner party, a story that will last through Halloween.
June, 2032: One strip in which Trixie, who has married the owner’s daughter, is inheriting the store as the owner retires. Immediately followed by a month-long plot about Saul Wynter’s dog getting into some chocolate and needing an emergency vet visit.
November, 2034: One strip in which Trixie notices a pothole outside the store, frowns, and thinks, “something ought to be done.” The next day, back to Wilbur’s love life.
February, 2037: In the background of a story about Ian’s academic rivalry with a bearded professor from the neighboring college, the chyron of a news show reads, “PRESIDENT TRIXIE’S APPROVAL RATINGS SOAR”
The Phantom:
The Nomad wears a sackcloth gown everywhere he goes? Like a stereotypical desert wanderer?
(from 400BC)
Is this is gimmick? Should he even have a gimmick? I mean, he’s not a Dick Tracy villain here.
TIL Mary reads “Healthy Beauty” magazine and not “Modern Meddler”.
***
Lois is trying to do business with an adult Charlie Brown who is so exasperated by his son that his hair has grown in and his shirt is flatlining.
***
We can see your hands, Vindicta! You’re not fooling anybody!
***
Being aware of the demographic that still reads newspaper comics and what other media they consume, there are a lot of Boomers this morning who now think that Mumbles poops in a litter box.
@Dan:
“First Ascot Hardy Har Har attends White House Gala.”
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV:
IIRC, during a storyline that involved an art forger(I think?), while staking out a comic convetion, at some point Dick caught the forger(?) exchanging a suspicious enveloppe with Mumbles for a fistful of cash, Dick was like “A-Ha! A crime! I got you!”, the forger is all “What’s illegal about selling prints of cartoon characters at Comic Con?”, and Mumbles, showing the innocent drawings, said “Yup, Dick, not doing anything suspicious or illegal, I’m just a furry.” (significantly more illisibly, of course).
…. I couldn’t tell you more about the storyline that moment came in, because THAT MOMENT is all I remember from it….
************
P.S. You guys got it all wrong, here’s how (I predict) the storyline is going to go :
Dick Tracy : And there’s only one person who can help me!
Dethany (on the phone, and with a helpful arrow identifying her as “Dethany from On The Fastrack”) : What’s that, Dick Tracy? You want to find out more about furries? Well, I can hook you up with the best person for that!
Cartoonist, sitting at a booth at a mediocre pizza place because that’s where and how cartoonists are interviewed apparently
(unless that’s only when you’re a one-armed journalist?): Hi, Dick Tracy, I’m Bill Holbrook, newspaper strip cartoonist. I heard you want to know more about furries? I’m happy to answer any question you may have.@Anonymous: This is the most brilliant thing I’ve read today ^^
C’shaft: Most people would not want the author’s signature on the (sigh) “sand jacket,” something extremely prone to getting damaged or lost. But then, Lillian’s autograph probably deprecates the value of the book.
DT: So, what do you suppose Mumbles’ fursona is? I’m betting something feline, so he can pass off all that unintelligible muttering as purring.
MW: I feel sorry for all the other ladies at this high-end wellness retreat, who are about to have their tranquility disrupted by Mary and Toby loudly gossiping about their elderly neighbor’s run-in with a pig-butchering scam.
@Baja Gaijin:
#1. MW: No, Malty, I said… Get Willa!
MW: Hmmm, what do you think the “conflict” of this new spa story arc will be? Toby and Mary have a moment of introspection amidst the mud baths and cucumber facials and realize they are vapid little busybodies, upon which discovery the they decide to meddle themselves, with the story and artwork veering toward the surreal and psychedelic as they plunge inward in a sort of Meddle-ception journey of growth and healing? Or perhaps the “spa” is actually a front for that pig-butchering call center, and Mary and Tobes are about to undergo a harrowing ordeal as they find themselves trapped in modern-day slavery that’ll put the “problems” they typically deal with into proper perspective? Or maybe, just maybe, someone at the spa will have having a slightly sub-optimal experience due to a fairly piddling personal problem that can be solved with a pair of proverbs over prosecco. Yeah, that’s the one!
Hi & Lois: On the advice of an intellectual property attorney, AI was used to replace Dustin’s parents with these generic substitutes. But we know who they really are.
MW-In typical ‘Mary Worth’ fashion we will take a serious subject matter and vastly water it down.
@Ken: @Midtown: But we did “see it.” it was only a few arcs ago, during the story that introduced the parrots in the first place (Ian played the part of “the cat.”) Trust me, we are not missing out on that score by skipping it.
Dustin: Maybe if you’re too lazy to write a punchline, you shouldn’t be throwing stones at unemployed twenty-somethings.
GT: It’s okay to participate in human rights violations if you really, really need the money.
SH: “Which would be really weird since elephants don’t even start growing tusks until they’re two years old. You’d think I’d know more about my own species.”
@Dan:
My girlfriend looked at me funny for how hard I laughed at this. Hope to see it again on Friday!
DT- (Panel2) Is that Lorna Starr in “The Scarlet Sting”? Is that her?
Ignis has flesh-colored hands, so I’m leaning toward the “guy in a mask” possibility. Of course, it could just be a coloring mistake (it’s probably a coloring mistake)
DT: Glad to see the heavy comic emphasis – after all Free Comic Day is soon!
RMMD: Since it is a melodrama and not a neo noir horror, the plot will probably end up being some mish-mash about leaving people alone, understanding oneself and such.
If it were a neo noir horror, mustache guy does reveal the location of Lorna Starr and post videos of Mae Mae and Mud snogging. He goes and collects his money from the NotTMZ website. Then to his horror, his remaining family and friends find what he did sad and creepy and distance themselves. His employer thinks he is a creep and his remaining customers makes it clear they want a new service rep. He is fired and then it gets worse. There is a female action hero cult site and the few but devoted members there adore Lorna Starr and they hunt down mustache man and torment him using the internet.
Phantom:
“My name is Ignis Vindicta.”
“Mister, that sounds like the product name of a weed-killer!”
@Baja Gaijin:
Nicely done, the gut on Ian is well shaped. Was a pile of melting lard used as a reference model?
@Dan: President Trixie still does nothing about the situation he was previously trapped in. Because.. “meh”
MW: Are we not going to go back to Trixie getting the authorities to shut down his former slavers?
It’s like, kids watching a hypothetical animated movie about a piglet trapped in a slaughterhouse. We want the piglet to escape to freedom, we NEED to see her escape to freedom and she does. Gets back to her pig family and everything is happy.
All the other pigs? They’re just nameless background characters so who cares about them….? They aren’t marketable like the protagonist. (That is actually very sad)