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Dick Tracy, 10/16/15

Wait, what? Beloved Dick Tracy sidekick Sam Catchem is suddenly a crazy-eyed, murderous dirty cop now, for values of “murderous” and “dirty” outside even the Tracyverse’s rather expansive ideas of police power? This is a guy who Dick spends Hanukkah with, so he’s gonna feel extra betrayed. Unless … normally Sam wears leprechaun green, but today he’s wearing a purple version of his usual outfit, which could mean this is an “evil twin” situation, or that the colorists just forgot. Sam was impersonated by Putty Puss in the ’80s, and Putty Puss showed up in Current Iteration Dick Tracy back in 2011, but I can’t remember if they caught him or not. Anyway, clearly I am hoping that Things Are Not What They Seem, because as a representative of the Chosen People it would greatly sadden me if yet another comic strip gave in to the stereotype that Jews are all freckled, bowler-hat-wearing policemen working on the side as mob enforcers.

Gasoline Alley, 10/16/15

Oh, good, Skeezix’s stove problem has been fixed by Walt Wallet, a senile World War I veteran. This strip has long faced the difficulty of aging its cast in real-time even though they’ve been in newspapers since the Harding administration, so I commend its creative team for deciding that, instead of having each die in turn of old age, they’re just going to wipe them all out at once in an enormous gas explosion.

Apartment 3-G, 10/16/15

Little-known fact: your thyroid is where your body stores your anxiety about your parents’ relationship. That’s its main function. Think twice about arguing in front of your children, if you care about their glandular health.

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Apartment 3-G, 10/9/15

Oh man, kind of a bummer that Margo’s mom’s psychic Latina (?) powers worked to save her daughter’s dumb roommate but not her daughter! Though maybe that’s because, as you can tell by comparing that strip from 2007 to this one, Margo’s mother has been replaced by someone else entirely.

Funky Winkerbean, 10/9/15

Gotta assume that Mason is towards the depressive end of his bipolar cycle, and was just overcome with exhaustion and ennui such that he had to pause for a few seconds between the syllables “bipolar” to gather his energy. Because otherwise Cindy would’ve just blurted something out in mid-word, and that doesn’t make any sense at all!

Pluggers, 10/9/15

Pluggers don’t just give companies money in exchange for goods or services; they construct an identity by conspicuously displaying loyalty to their favorite brands. Pluggers, so silly, amiright? (Haha, just kidding, we all construct our identities out of our relationships with corporate entities to one degree or another. The matrix of capitalism is inescapable!)

Hi and Lois, 10/9/15

Haha, fellas, turns out if you want to have a romantic relationship with someone you have to do things that interest them! Women, whaddyagonnado?

Heathcliff, 10/9/15

As that coin hit the water deep in the wishing well, all across the world, all at once, the innumerable cloacae of innumerable birds squeezed shut forever. A few hours later, the birds began to explode in bursts of guts and feces and feathers — at first just one here and there, then more and more frequently, until everyone on the planet was deafened by the awful, repulsive noise.

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Shoe, 10/8/15

There’s something profoundly unsettling about how much closer together everything in the frame is in panel two than in panel one. I guess this is supposed to be a result of the “camera angle” changing, but it looks more like the Shoeniverse is collapsing in on itself, possibly representing the Perfesser’s confused mental state. The doctor’s look of mounting anxiety in panel two indicates that he too is troubled by his surroundings. Wasn’t … wasn’t I further away from him before? he thinks. How did he get right up behind me? “My memory,” the Perfesser says. “My memory.”

Rex Morgan, M.D, 10/8/15

“Relax, mom … I’m just ordering a teenager to literally become nothing more than an object I can use to improve my own skills and career prospects! She has to obey me, because I’ve made her my personal servant with the help of a wizened old criminal who has recognized in me a fellow sociopath. But she won’t be naked. I already know that female bodies like mine are a source of great shame!”

Apartment 3-G, 10/8/15

As usual, Apartment 3-G keeps the most interesting developments in this storyline off-panel. I mean, did Eric just pantomime knocking on a nonexistent door as he encountered Martin in the street, maybe saying “knock knock!” aloud? Or did he literally rap his knuckles on his beloved’s father’s face?