A little unnerved contemplating what country Beetle is in right now
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Heathcliff, 5/26/26

When Jewish theologians began to systematize the ideas they had inherited around the spiritual beings we call “angels,” one awkward question they had to answer was where they came from and how more of them could come into existence. While the Enochian literature interpreted the “nephilim” of Genesis 6 as the offspring that resulted from angels lusting after human women, and there was a potential memory of the Holy of Holies including a depiction of cherubim locked in erotic embrace, the rabbinic tradition ultimately rejected these interpretations, seeing the “Sons of God” who sired the Nephilim as noble humans and the art of the Ark representing the union between God and His people. They concluded that angels did not reproduce amongst themselves, but were directly and individually created by God; some of the minor angelic ranks were, based on a verse in Lamentations, believed to have been created fresh by God at the beginning of each day and extinguished at the end of it, while the cherubim and important named angels like Michael and Gabriel were permanent.
But of course, we cannot know how much of this thinking applies to Heathcliff’s cherubim, though we do know that, by some mechanism, their number is increasing. Does our boy Heathcliff create them at his whim and similarly banish them to nonexistence when he tires of them? Or are they sexual entities, like their notoriously horny creator?
Beetle Bailey, 5/26/26

So I looked it up and it turns out that modern tanks take at least three soldiers to properly operate, which leaves me wondering who’s inside that stalled out tank ready to annihilate this lady at point-blank range if she refuses to go along with the Camp Swampy gang’s demands. I’m thinking Zero would be unthinking enough to follow an order to fire and Plato would be coldly rational enough to issue one in the face of necessity. Beetle is, typically, doing the least work here, but doesn’t feel great about it.
Six Chix, 5/26/26

Hey, do you think newspaper comics are for old people? Well, Six Chix is here to prove you wrong, hiring cutting-edge millennial cartoonists to draw panels about … listening to boomer hero Bruce Springsteen’s iconic 1984 album Born In The USA? Hmm. Hmm! At least she’s weeping openly listening to it rather than jamming out, that’s … that’s innovative, right?


61 replies to “A little unnerved contemplating what country Beetle is in right now”
Mary Worth Mashup: Here’s what I think Wilbur will be doing later…
Come for the snark. Stay for the Daf Yomi.
Bianca’s neck isn’t at a very comfortable angle. I recommend lying straight back for pillow weeping.
BB: This is why the army needs to modernise and start replacing its fleet with reliable modern electric vehicles. Or failing that, at least some tanks that look like they were manufactured some time in the last hundred years.
MW: “I have to revise a column. This letter from some idiot who thinks his girlfriend who’s visiting family has left him has to be a fake!”
BB: Now *that’s* a “meet cute!”
BB: A third panel with Beetle saying “Tank you!” was right there.
6Cx: dont know about The Boss, but there are appropriate lyrics on line to *Change My Clothes” by Dream and Alec Benjamin.
MW – Wilbur will take that walk and spot Tommy being helpful. “The old Tommy Beedle wouldn’t do that,” he thinks from his hiding place in the bushes. And so, a father daughter competition for the affections of a grocery store bag boy begins.
Heathcliff:
Wow. This is just like the bowler hat scene in The Thomas Crown Affair.
6Cx – Bianca could have used “c’mon baby the laugh’s on me” from the same song, her avatar weeping because it’s the first time a laugh is come anywhere near her strip.
CS: Tired of waiting for Ed Crankshaft and Lillian McKenzie to die, Satan opens a direct portal to the Funkyverse.
Pluggers: If you use the phrase “I’ve got a guy for that”, you’re a Plugger. Angie’s List has been around in some form for over 30 years.
6C: OK, serious question: does someone need to make sure Xunise is okay?
GT: When you own a store that makes wedding cakes, telling the bride she needs to mind her figure seems like very bad customer service.
Luann: Another point supporting my “the setting of Luann is a fundamentalist Christian small town” theory.
@Baja Gaijin:
Yeah, this is exactly the state I expect someone Wilbur’s age and general physical fitness to be in after he walks around his appartment block for exercise.
….Oh wait, you’re implying that’s what he’s going to be doing INSTEAD of physical exercise. That works too.
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Beetle Bailey : I’m more fixated on how tiny the car appears to be, and how crappily that tank is drawn. *I* could do better than that, and I’m 100 % I’m not that much better an artist! (I would put the main gun on a TURRET, rather than the body, for starters)
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Crankshaft : …Shouldn’t that black hole be obviously vacuuming everything around it?
….Then again, it’s pretty much Batiuk’s M.O. to ignore that certain things in his comic strips massively suck.
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Dustin : …ugh, this turned out to be a multi-strip bit. Hopefully this is only two days, and this is a “WAIT DID WE RUN A ‘DUSTIN REJECTS APPLYING FOR THE MILITARY AS AN IDIOTIC MOVE’ ON *MEMORIAL DAY*!? QUICK, RUN A FOLLOW-UP CLARIFYING WE MEANT THAT EVEN DUSTIN REALISES HE’S NOT FIT FOR SERVICE!” situation.
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Frazz : …how was this a dumb question? That was an obvious “Dr Spaetzle and Frazz high-five over the former having set the other up perfectly for a clever line (and also in celebration of the short work week) moment.”
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Heathcliff : …this is before we get to the “Biblically-accurate Angel” stuff, where it’s discussed that angels aren’t supposed to be humanoid, or even have a form we can comprehend, right?
Beetle Bailey:
“My vehicle just sorta tanked. So to speak.”
@Baja Gaijin: For Wilbur, that’s a day ending in “Y”.
“Fairtree Mountain Trails” sounds like we may be treated to Dawn falling off a cliff, and Tommy rescuing her. I may be overly-influenced by the Comics Kingdom banner, which still shows Iris rescuing Zak.
This lady is basically stealing money from the syndicate. What would less effort even look like?
Six Chix:
“Target of comic strip commentary as I am, I’m just ‘Dancing in the Snark’ !”
The song “Born in the USA” is not patriotic and it is actually a bitter protest song about a disillusioned, working-class Vietnam veteran returning home to broken promises, unemployment, and systemic abandonment.
BF: kick the ingrate out!
BLONDIE: let the ingrates In!
BF: never trust an intermediary with essential communications.
MANDRAKE; Ditto
Heathcliff I find it kind of funny that these two seem to be discussing proper pluralization form rather than the realf life consequences of whatbl they’re seeing. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism.
@Rusty: I’m pretty sure you mean Six Chix, but there are so many strips where that could be said.
So she just sorta… stuck her torso out the bottom half of the window, huh? Arms at her sides? Standing straight up? No, no, I get that there are eight little mini-Heathcliffs (Heathscliff?) fluttering after our main guy, that don’t cross my eyes none– right now I’m focusing on the window thing. When a Biblically-accurate Heathcliff shows up, that’s when I stop nitpicking. Possibly forever.
@Ken:
Upon hiking a challenging trail, Dawn twists her ankle and somehow hobbles home. She gets addicted to painkillers, and then in a flash of humility, reappraises her dismissal of Tommy. The next 6 months writes itself!
I’m really curious about how this Six Chix lady has a tattoo on her leg of a spider web. Is she goth or is she really into Spider-Man?
Maybe she’s listening to Dancing in the Dark lyrics and she’s feeling remorse for her decision to get this stupid tattoo or maybe she’s unhappy with her decision to buy such ugly pillows?
@Baja Gaijin: Not going the click on that. I think we all know what Wilbur is going to be “doing later.” The question will be if he’ll have enough Kleenex for the clean-up later (to…uh…wipe up the mayonnaise stains of course.)
Heathcliff: Meanwhile, the plural of cats is חתולים, or chatolim, with a nice throaty aspirated h at the start, perfect for our Heathcliff I think.
@Baja Gaijin: At least he’s not masturbating furiously while daydreaming about Bats Bellefry.
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: And the Lord bless you for digging up the NRSV version of that bit from Lamentations, even if it’s going to make me hum “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” all morning.
Murky Tail:
“I spy with my little eye……Trixie!”
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Wary Morth:
“And then, for additional exercise, I’ll crawl through the shrubbery screaming AUUUUUUGH in practice for when I next see Yak and Irish smooching!”
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Curtshaft:
Curtis’ bathroom door and Crankshaft’s grille suffered the same black hole anomaly.
@Anonymous: Looks like a hang glider to me.
Six Chix: How to ruin a Gen Xer’s day in six words: Courtney Cox is 61 years old.
Heathcliff: Triumph all ye cherubim, sing with us ye seraphim! Heaven and Earth resound the hymn: Heathcliff, Heathcliff, Heathcliff the godhead!
Beaten Bailey:
That’s not a tank. That’s either a self propelled gun or a WWII era tank destroyer. Either way it needs not a three man crew, but at least four.
In Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel describes four living creatures acting as attendants to God’s chariot. Each has four faces: a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. They have four wings, human hands under their wings, and hooves or feet like a calf’s that shine like polished bronze. Ezekiel notes that their entire bodies—backs, hands, and wings—along with the mystical whirling wheels moving alongside them, are covered with eyes.
@Baja Gaijin: Nice! But Wilbur will never be that neat and re-cap the mayo jar. He’d leave it open with the butter knife inside.
@Ukranazi Stepan: And if it were a modern tank, it would need a 24 volt jump, not 12.
Beetle Bailey: One thing I learned in a recent Wikipedia hole is that when tanks break down, they require giant tow trucks to collect them and haul them into the shop, a process that is pretty entertaining to watch in old news reels. Of course, tanks are also sitting ducks without close air support and are typically used to advance ground troops, so lady in the car might want to worry both about why Beetle’s out on his own and when the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs are showing up.
Heath: I think we can all be glad Heathcliff’s flock* of cherubim are the little winged putti of popular imagination and not biblically accurate. I don’t think I could handle a four-headed multi-winged Heathcliff.
*Proposed collective nouns for cherubim: an adoration, a valentine, a tetramorph.
Chix (sic):
We get it, Xunise.
Discovering your online dating crush is Mark Trail’s dad can cause an existential crisis in self-esteem.
Crankshaft I am sorry to have to note that while the mass of a black hole with an event horizon diameter of about 1 foot is only 0.005% that of the Sun, the concentration of that mass within the small event horizon means that the gravitational acceleration at that horizon is about 3e16 times that of the Earth’s (30 million billion times). Given the inverse square law, the difference in forces across a few feet will be a substantial fraction of that enormous force, and far beyond the strain tolerances of any known materials. The Earth is doomed to be torn apart starting with the bits right by the hole. On the plus side, Crankshaft *will* be the first person spaghettified!
MW: there needs to be a trigger warning before Wilbur pops up unexpectedly like that.
Six Chix: I think my favorite detail here – besides (squints) Bianca Xunise using a pillow to avoid having to draw a face – is the boom box in the corner. I look forward to this strip’s weird, semi-rendered characters listening to Thomas Edison’s voice on wax cylinders for their entertainment, and I can only hope they pump the volume to the max.
BB: Funny how the barrel is two inches from the back of Beetle’s head. Is Killer feeding him lines through the tube?
“Ask her to take off her top!“
If I’m already talking to a two dimensional old lady who can stand straight up out of a window like that, a cat surrounded by little angelic cats is barely going to make a dent in my theological outlook of the mad existence I’ve found myself damned to.
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Beetle, you’d better at least finish this interaction with “Tank you very much.”
***
“[C]utting-edge millennial…”
Oh, Josh. Maybe the youngest in the age range but the top end is well into middle-age.
@CanuckDownSouth:
No worries. He’d be dead from Hawking radiation well before that.
Heathcliff – Meanwhile, the neighbor is thinking “What a bunch of smug assholim.”
@Anonymous: True.
The Navy trains Seals to be weapons, to kill people a hundred different ways with their bare hands pretty much.
Then (for whichever reason) they send that person home to “be a normal civilian again”
Many people can’t cope with that, after all they’ve been through.
DT: That abandoned newspaper box has very little chance of stopping a modern military rifle at that range (aka across the street)
GT: It dawned on me that the artist must really dislike this job.
MW: Wilbur returns! Just in time for the return of summer!
Judge Parker: JP: “Just because I’m older, every time I take a moment to think everyone assumes I’m confused.” “Uh Alan, that was 15 minutes ago, notice that my coffee carafe is now empty. I topped off everyone’s cup in the diner and then circled back. The blackouts are getting worse.”
@Victor Von: I would personally prefer an “Auuuugh!!!” with the iconic Peanuts style expression but…
GT: [Does double take at first panel] What the fu-? Merrill, you keep Ghibli off your nasty pen!!
JP: Can you blame Ernest Borgnine for asking? Judgey Wudgey looks like a malfunctioning Disney animatronic.
DT: M-4s are for the menfolk of the Neo-Chicago PD, so Lee and Lizz have to make to with those little peashooters. They’re so dainty, you know!
@Anonymous: Then I’m not at all surprised it’s being used as a soundtrack to someone attempting to smother themselves with a pillow.
@Banana Jr. 6000: Are *any* of us okay when [gestures at whole world]?
C’shaft: It’s finally happening: the weight of the tired running gags has become so great that the strip is starting to collapse in on itself.
Dustin: When the current dust-up in Iran was started, certain comments from the president had me worried that a draft would be instituted just in time to target the teenaged Divalings. A friend of mine in the reserves quickly disabused me of that notion, pointing out (among other things) that twenty years in Afghanistan wasn’t enough to require compulsory service so they weren’t going to start anytime soon. And while I’m certainly happy that’s the case, if there’s a group of characters I would want sent off to die in a foreign country the cast of Dustin would be right at the top of the list.
GT: Is Gil’s mom drawn like that to convey that she’s a domineering harridan who disapproves of her son’s future trophy wife, or because everyone in Gil Thorp looks that hideous?
Luann: Relax, Brad thinks “trying” involves looking under cabbage leaves and setting out food for storks.
MW: Going down to the leasing office to steal the cookies set out for potential residents is not a “walk,” Wilbur.
RMMD: The drama! Will Doug get a referral for a good print shop? Will their estimate be a little high? Will the mock-up need revision?
Beetle – “Could you give me a JumpStart?” “Sure, here you go. I agree, Robb Armstrong does a hell of a lot better job than whoever draws this crappy strip we’re in!”
Just wait until they introduce the Heathcliff “Weeping Angels”
Haha, just kidding. Heathcliff (and any variation of him) would never cry.
@The Quiet Man: To paraphrase the esteemed Tom Servo, never put a reference to good artwork in the middle of your crappy artwork.
MW-Don’t hurl anyone into traffic, Wilbur.
FC-“There’s a voice coming from the drain saying “Dear God please don’t send them down here”.
@Anonymous: I just presumed it was a literal spider-web (she probably hasn’t moved for days)
Heathcliff —
And the beast opened the seventh seal, and I saw a roguish feline, of human stature and movement, and around his head were a multitude of cat spirits, and they said unto him: ” Walk down the sidewalk, and we will follow thee, and the people will know thy name, and they will call us by the plural form, even if that is irregular.”
“Tanks for the jump start, lady! Get it? Tanks?? She didn’t laugh. Gunner, PC, HEAT, fire!”
Six Chix-“Wanna tell a joke.”
Six Chix – Is the “UUUGGHH” because she feels the same way as the lyrics of the song, or because she hates Springsteen? The truly awful possibility is feeling both at once.
Don Abundio, translated:
“The floor is covered with ice!”
“Yeah. By order of the boss”
“That’s insane! I’m going to give Don Abundio a piece of my mind!”
“If you can catch him”
FC: As a parent, I would immediately suspect the older brother.
“Billy! Did you tell your sister to wash the ice cubes?!”