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Archive: Barney Google & Snuffy Smith

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Rex will be his sidekick, “Vaguely Irritated Man”

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Rex Morgan, M.D., 4/10/22

Oh, man, big shoutout to Rex Morgan, M.D., for coming up with a plot I never saw coming: Dr. Morgan’s latest patient is a wanna-be superhero, but the old-timey kind, who wears a dashing overcoat and a trilby rather than some gauche skin-tight circus costume, and also he doesn’t have superpowers! Anyway, I have to admit that I’m intrigued by a storyline that’s going to outline the consequences of some light comics-themed vigilantism, both medical (rotator cuff injuries) and nonmedical (getting arrested).

Curtis, 4/10/22

One of my ongoing quests is to make sure that everyone understands that, as the father of an 11-year-old, Greg Wilkins is Gen X at oldest and may well be a Millennial. He would’ve grown up listening to that “rap junk” he despises so much and he also has been using computers his whole adult life and would definitely know what the extremely basic sets of initials on internet posts discussed here stand for. Now, would he be puzzled by TikTok? Probably. Would I enjoy a series of strips where Curtis explains various TikTok cultural phenomena to his father? Almost certainly. Am I going to launch a GoFundMe campaign to pay Ray Billingsly whatever it takes, including a research budget, to produce such a series in time for Kwanzaa this year? Stand by while I consult with my lawyer.

Panels from Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 4/10/22

I mean, it seems likely that Snuffy has screwed up at some point in a way that resulted in an E. coli outbreak, so Loweezy’s question is on point.

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Slylock Fox And Fun Scams You Can Try At Home For Kids

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Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 4/4/22

This strip has honestly sent me into a tailspin trying to figure out what the relationship is supposed to be between actually existing Appalachia and the faux-hillbilly cultural biome of Snuffy Smith. The fact that Snuffy is obviously envious of the level of infrastructural development in West Virginia ought to make that state’s inhabitants feel something approaching pride, or maybe relief. It’s also sad to see that Hootin’ Holler does not share real-world Appalachia’s rich heritage of songcraft, because these lyrics do not scan at all.

Slylock Fox, 4/4/22

The operation of law enforcement and the court system in the Forest Kingdom, and where Slylock stands in relationship to either, is always something of a mystery to me, but today’s strip seems to imply that Sly can just drag anyone into court on a whim, and will there serve simultaneously as prosecutor and sole witness. I sincerely hope that he spotted Slick Smitty’s little trick and then immediately arrested him, and that his date is still sitting at the restaurant waiting for the check while this sham of a trial rushes towards its pre-ordained conclusion.

Mother Goose and Grimm, 4/4/22

Absolutely loving the spit-take in the final panel here. This woman is shocked, shocked to learn that women can have jobs now! What’s next, voting?

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Grandma is WAY too excited thinking about that super-old dude

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Family Circus, 3/27/22

I actually think this is a pretty clever strip, though I would argue that, just as the strip sometime updates old art to acknowledge that flatscreen TVs exist, it could’ve improved things by maybe updating some of the fashion choices on these imaginary old people, since those constitute a pretty important aspect of what you think an old person looks like and how others perceive how old they are! But the funniest thing to me is the quip from Big Daddy Keane that sets this off. Can you imagine someone bringing up a mutual acquaintance and your first reaction is “That guy? Oh yeah, he’s old. He’s old as shit. Doddering motherfucker with one foot in the grave. Wears adult diapers, probably.” Anyway, I would type out more terms of abuse here, but then it occurred to me that the typical person whose oldest child is 7 is probably younger than I am by as much as a decade so I’m gonna go have a nice lie down for a few hours.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 3/27/22

And I’m back! With this one I mainly want to point out the “I still don’t know what this is!” in the right panel in the second row. That’s called an author’s signature, Sarah! It’s how you know who drew this comic! I can’t believe after all you’ve been through you’re still sneering at people’s attempts to establish their ownership of their intellectual property!

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 3/27/22

Kind of surprised it’s taken almost two years for the comics to engage with the “30-50 feral hogs” meme, but the specific strip that was the first to do so is not a surprise at all.