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It’s the 2020 Comics Curmudgeon Summer Fundraiser! The only good thing about this year!

Six Chix, 9/8/20

I’ve come to see Six Chix as a puzzle feature and not a comic strip. Every day, it presents a collection of images and words, and implicitly asks the reader, “How is this a joke?” I’ve gotten pretty good at it — I can find one or two a week now! But today they upped the ante and added “How is this a chart?”

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 9/8/20

I like fill-in-the-blank puzzles, too! Just imagine how other strips would handle this joke:

Rhymes with Orange, 9/8/20

We are all in very serious trouble.

Sally Forth, 9/8/20

Good luck, sweetie!

The shutdown has been a fascinating time for logistics geeks, as established supply chains broke down and became reëntangled in novel ways. For example, there was always plenty of toilet paper — but in bicycle-wheel-sized rolls of single-ply locked up in the storerooms of shuttered office buildings. And food — in March, I scored a ten-pound bag of chicken quarters for three bucks. They were chilled (freezer space was overwhelmed almost instantly), restaurant-sized (retail chickens are usually much bigger), butchered in-store in a hurry (bandsaw marks, bone fragments), and priced to move. It was probably diverted from the commercial channel by foodservice distributor and logistics prima ballerina Sysco, which turned on a dime to supermarkets once the bars, restaurants, and corporate cafeterias closed.

So a strategic sourcing specialist like Ted ought to be right in his element, puzzling all this out and planning how his company will avoid it next time. Certainly nobody’s going to fire a guy with skills like that at a time like this. But Sally is clearly conflicted about going back to her team of scatterbrains, and who can blame her? Maybe the strip will make a 180° turn and become the story of a happy, well-adjusted stay-at-home mom, her hardworking, sensible husband/breadwinner, their lovely family, and neighbors who still fence in their front yards in case the Forths revert.

— Uncle Lumpy

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Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options.

Faithful readers, it’s time again for the Comics Curmudgeon Summer Fundraiser!

This has been just an awful year for a lot of us, cut off from work, friends and family, and normal routines. If Josh and the Comics Curmudgeon have helped lighten your days — and you’re not financially strapped — I hope you’ll consider supporting the site in whatever way works best for you.

There are so many ways to contribute, it’s nuts:

• By credit card or PayPal — Click the banner at the top of the page, then follow the instructions on the secure PayPal site. You don’t need a PayPal account to use this option, just a major credit card.
• By mail — Email uncle.lumpy@comcast.net; I’ll reply with an address for your generous check, money order, or in-kind contribution.
• As a Comics Curmudgeon Supporter — Join the ranks of Comics Curmudgeon Supporters for just $3 per month, and enjoy an ad-free online and mobile experience, plus an enhanced comment editor. Full details are here.

“Hey, it’s the thing!“
• Through a Patreon sponsorship — If you’d prefer to support all of Josh’s artistic/comedic efforts on a recurring basis, visit his Patreon page for complete details of this option.
• New! By Venmo — I don’t know what this is, but I’ll bet you do! Venmo (is that a verb?) Josh some green at @jfruhlinger!

Full details, terms, and conditions are here.

The banners at the top of the page are selected automatically on a randomized basis. If you’d prefer to browse a directory rather than hit-or-miss by refreshing the page, you can find one here, along with a ridiculous number of banners from past fundraisers.

And as always, thank you, generous readers!

— Uncle Lumpy

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Arctic Circle, 9/7/20

Oscar brushes past “Right to Repair” and a common consumer gripe to set up a visual pun that … doesn’t quite work. First, Oscar has to hint at the joke: bad sign. Second, even with the hint, you might not know that’s an emperor penguin. And third, it’s hard to see the emperor penguin as naked when he’s wearing that sweet tux.

Curtis, 9/7/20

For a New York City straphanger whom we’ve never seen drive a car, Greg seems pretty damn excited about driverless cars! And Curtis is somehow Ted Forth?

Rex Morgan, M.D. 9/7/20

I was going to make a crude joke about Hank Jr. going at his Hulk Hogan doll with a vibrator when I thought, “Hey, are character model kits really a thing?” That set me off on a magical Internet adventure to learn about Bandai Hobby, Moebius Models, and LEGO Star Wars, convincing me in the end that yes, it is totally plausible that Hank Jr. is going at his Hulk Hogan doll with a vibrator.

Sam and Silo, 9/7/20

Lots of websites monetize their communities by introducing dating services, so here goes:

ED CRANKSHAFT — MEET YOUR SOULMATE, ONLY $29.95 PLUS TAX!

— Uncle Lumpy