Post Content

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/26/26

Well, a week was about all the time we could spare to dedicate to Augie’s grim determination to never feel a moment’s excitement about anything that isn’t an absolute certainty, so now we’re moving on to … ugh, fine, it’s Buck and “Shorty and the Beanpole,” Glenwood’s favorite neo-vaudeville double act, I guess. You get a sense of how deep these kids are into this lifestyle by the way Corey reflexively says “the ceiling” in response to his father’s question. There’s no joy, no whimsy on his face: he just says it automatically, the way a tennis player at the top of their game would lob a serve back at you without a second thought.

Dustin, 10/26/26

God, look at this kid’s expression in the second panel. He is extremely excited to be on the verge of learning a fun fact from Dustin, which is one of the saddest things you could possibly say about a child with his whole life ahead of him.

Pluggers, 10/26/26

You know who doesn’t have his whole life ahead of him? This plugger! He’s stuck in that beanbag, and he’s gonna die there, soon!

Post Content

Hi and Lois, 10/25/26

Given how much time I spent parsing Hi’s fantasy self-image as a young Major Leaguer a few weeks ago, I’m kind of tickled by his vision of his real childhood, where he looks exactly like he does now, same haircut and everything, except smaller, and his dad looks exactly like he does now except with a mustache. Speaking of Hi’s dad, it’s kind of weird that Hi and Lois are probably in their early 40s at the oldest and they never seem to visit or be visited by their parents, right? I guess spending fall weekends cheerfully breathing in a toxic mix of fine particulate matter and carcinogenic chemicals might have something to do with it.

Heathcliff, 10/25/26

Not to be a downer about it, but a big bone-in ham like that is basically a corpse, right? Or at least a sizable chunk of one? So I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s inhabited by a vengeful ghost of some kind, though the fact that it’s haunted by three of them implies that we know a lot less about matters of the spirit than we may think.

Mary Worth, 10/25/26

Lot going on here, but the panel I’m really hung up on is “People gossip about things they don’t comprehend.” I mean, I buy that most people don’t comprehend why Toby and Ian are together. That’s because they don’t know them well enough to get a sense of the various personality problems that have significantly limited both of their romantic prospects.

Panel from Dick Tracy, 10/25/26

Oh, come on, Crimestoppers Textbook! Carmen Sandiego and her coconspirators at V.I.L.E. have their sights set on stealing historic treasures and natural monuments. They have no time for petty door-to-door-salesperson scams!

Post Content

Crankshaft, 10/24/26

Crankshaft, no longer satisfied to merely irritate his neighbors with occasional billowing clouds of smoke during grilling season, is now hoping to more effectively poison them by simply pumping out gasoline fumes for hours on end.

Family Circus, 10/24/26

Wrong, Dolly! Kangaroos are nonhuman animals and feel no sense of patriotism; they can flourish in environments with a wide range of temperatures so long as there are plentiful grasses and shrubs for them to eat and no large carnivores who might prey upon them.

Bizarro, 10/24/26

Most turkeys that Americans will be eating this holiday season will have lived their entire lives inside the factory farm where they will also meet their demise. You might be inside a factory farm right now, li’l poult! Make a break for it! Try to get outside and never look back!