Archive: B.C.

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Apartment 3-G, 6/3/10

I’m assuming that Martin and Gabriella are sneaking into 3-G to find and dispose of Roberta’s Chekovian gun, but wouldn’t it be great if Martin has lost all of his money in the recession and the two have been forced to launch a spree of actual breaking and entry? They start with Margo’s apartment — that’s a gimmie, since she gave them a key and all — and then they’ll work their way up to homes where they actually have to break the locks, bickering comically all the while!

Spider-Man, 6/3/10

Some time ago I berated the newspaper Spider-Man strip for just giving up and embracing camp. Now I long for the days when at least I’d have campiness to entertain me. This most recent plot development, in which Sabretooth and Wolverine battle each other endlessly until simultaneously passing out from exhaustion, while Spidey scratches his head like a moron and cracks wise, is some sub-Three Stooges shit.

B.C., 6/3/10

Hey, remember three days ago, when B.C. made a joke with exactly this structure? It was 10 years out of date, but at least you knew what the hell it was supposed to be about. With this one, I’m not sure if we’re supposed to understand that capitalism is a dagger thrust through the heart of humanity, or if it harnesses the opposed forces of love and hate to work together, or what, exactly. I do know, from looking at the two strips next to each other, that no art has been reused; the two identical-looking scenes have been completely redrawn. You have to admire the dedication that shows, I suppose, but I can’t say that the baffling jokes merit the extra work.

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B.C., 5/31/10

With Johnny Hart’s grandson Mason Mastroianni firmly at the helm of the strip, at long last it can shake off its lassitude and take principled stands on current issues. For instance, there’s a major energy company whose sins of omission and commission have angered millions of Americans of late, and that company is … Enron? Eh, sure, why not. Logo’s sure easier to draw, right?

Apartment 3-G, 5/31/10

At least one employee of the Mills Gallery has the appropriate attitude for working there (i.e., constant, debilitating mortal terror). “NO, DON’T TALK TOO LOUDLY! SHE CAN HEAR US! SHE CAN ALWAYS HEAR US!”

Family Circus, 5/31/10

Ha ha! It’s another adorable malapropism from little Jeffy! Clearly the word he meant to use is “unemployable.”

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Mark Trail, 5/14/10

Even I’m not so heartless as to crack wise about sassy getting hit by a car yesterday. However, now that we know Sassy is STILL ALIVE and about to be taken to the vet by this overalled hero, I do want to hold up for derision Mark’s increasingly callous dismissals of Rusty’s wholly justifiable fears. Could this storyline finally reveal Mark as the unfeeling monster that he is? “Relax, Rusty, she’s probably trying to dig that old rabbit out of a hole! Or digging her own grave, because she’s going to die soon, alone and in pain! One of the two. Ha ha, this horse has a soft nose!”

B.C., 5/14/10

This might seem hard to understand in the setting of the strip, but remember that this is caveman times, and the tiny band of eight or so human characters we see in the strip are the only representatives of H. sapiens on the planet. Britain hasn’t even been invented yet, so pretty much all you have to do to create it is write “British pub” on a rock.

Luann, 5/14/10

“Come on, you don’t plan a thing like that! You just push down obsessive, intrusive thoughts about it and swear to yourself and everyone else that you’ll never do it, until you finally just let yourself get carried away in the moment and do it without protection with someone you’re not really comfortable with! It’s like you don’t know anything about how sex works, Tiffany!”