Herb and Jamaal, 8/17/05
Jamaal’s last name is apparently “Jamaal.”
Beetle Bailey, 8/17/05
Mall-based makeover artists now apparently sell breast implants and mustache extensions.
Hagar the Horrible, 8/17/05
And, most traumatically, Helga and Hagar are apparently into sploshing.
Beetle Bailey, 5/15/05
Here’s what offends me about today’s Beetle Bailey: the joke is not only par-for-the-BB-course lame, but could have very easily been made into a daily strip (just take panels three, four, five, and eight) without reducing the meager humor content at all. C’mon, Walker (Walkers?): while you were idling on the links, Bill Watterson was fighting tooth and nail to get you extra non-fungible Sunday space! The least you can do is take advantage of it. Since Beetle Bailey has a well-known affection for single-panel strips that presumably take less time to draw, you’d think the strip could at least offer mega-panel Sunday editions that would allow more loving detail to be lavished on Miss Buxley’s breasts.
Here’s what doesn’t offend me about today’s Beetle Bailey: the idea that Sgt. Snorkel is going to be disappeared into to some Abu Ghraib-style hole, locked in a cage, forced to wear a dog collar, and interrogated by military intelligence until he begs for mercy. That’s just good clean fun. Go easy with the glow-sticks, boys!
I do have to say that the center panel reminds me that I like the shoes in Beetle Bailey. It’s like the Keep On Truckin’ Guy joined the army and moderated his stride a bit. Also, General Halftrack’s over-the-phone thought balloon joins Mary Worth’s earlier soundless sound in the annals of cartoon oddity:
Beetle Bailey, 4/15/05
Normally, I try to avoid just calling out comics artists on their failings, on the logic that they’re human too, etc., but really, Walker brothers (or whoever you are): this is just pitiful. I’m sorry. What the hell is this supposed to be? Were they Camp Swampys mangled up by the sign dropping on them? Is the “construction” to fix the severe damage that they’ve already suffered, or is the construction process actually the cause of their current distressed state? What’s with the bomb — has Camp Swampy actually come under attack? What the hell? I mean, really, what the hell? The only even vaguely clever thing is the little bandage X on the cloud. Still, the whole thing smacks of “Uh oh, tee time rapidly approaching!” On the other hand, there’s a very slight chance that that’s the top of a NUDE MISS BUXLEY sticking up from behind that sign.