Post Content

Beetle Bailey, 11/13/22

This is an actually pretty good Beetle Bailey, in my opinion. It uses the longer Sunday format to interesting effect: taking what should be a sharp shock — an NCO plans to set a vicious dog onto one of the soldiers under his command in a grotesque abuse of power — and smooths it down into rambling day in the life story about the dog. He doesn’t want to do any harm. His heart’s not in it. It’s just a job, really. But never let it be said that he won’t do his job.

Mary Worth, 11/13/22

Mary seems pretty eager for gossip — “So, changed your mind about any marriage proposals after your boyfriend almost died in the stupidest way possible lately?” — but frankly Iris has been checked out from the Charterstone buzz factory so much lately that Mary’s probably not even up to speed enough to wonder about that. I’m guessing she’s actually angling for more info on whatever “items” Iris just dropped off for Tommy. The California electorate may have decided that citizens are allowed to smoke whatever they want, but the Charterstone condo board still has some standards.

Post Content

Beetle Bailey, 11/12/22

Holy shit! It’s Keith Haring, back from the dead and painting a mural on the outside of the Halftracks’ house! I’m not sure what the General is so upset about, as this is about to immediately make their home an incredibly valuable work of art. On the other hand, there’s no way he can actually see any of the outside of the house from where he’s standing, so maybe he’s upset about something unrelated, like ghost Keith Haring’s parking job or something.

Family Circus, 11/12/22

I honestly find Lenny’s overall attitude very funny. “It’s nothing personal, sir, I just think vibes are off in here.”

The Lockhorns, 11/12/22

By far the funniest thing about this panel is that there’s a fairly elaborate birthday party in progress, complete with a cake and a sign and a party hat, and there are no other guests, just Leroy and Loretta, who don’t even really like each other. I can’t decide if Leroy planned this whole thing just so he could do this leaf blower gag, or if inspiration struck him just in the nick of time.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/12/22

I’m really enjoying the tension playing across Rex’s face here in panel two. Like on the one hand, he likes it when doctors’ position of preeminence in society is reinforced in spectacular fashion in front of an appreciative crowd, but on the other he finds doing stuff extremely annoying.

Post Content

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/9/22

Oh, sorry folks, I haven’t been keeping you up to date on the antics of “Mud Mountain Murphy!” Well, after doing some mild flirting at the diner, Mud Mountain Murphy ate a truly superhuman amount of food — and, like, I mean that, it was cartoonish, no real person would or could eat that much — with seemingly no ill effects. I say seemingly because that hesitation and those beads of sweat say that we might, in fact, be in store for some ill effects! It would be easy and juvenile to make a joke about a “mud mountain” in Mud Mountain’s pants, but honestly that’s a best case scenario for him, especially given that Rex Morgan, M.D., occasionally remembers the M.D. in its name and we might be about to see a massive on-stage coronary event.

Beetle Bailey, 11/9/22

Sure, Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries appears to be one of the few newspaper-adjacent entities still comfortably in the black, but I think it shows some hubris to do a whole newspaper comic strip where the joke is “Newspapers are literally garbage, good only for wiping up spills, and everyone but doddering old men know it!”

Gil Thorp, 11/9/22

In an earlier time, when only a few major media outlets dominated small markets like Milford, it was easy for Gil to cement his dominance and protect his career: he simply had his allies in the press publish stories proclaiming his victory in games he had lost! You begin to see why Marty Moon acts like he’s such a crusader for truth: you may not like his methods, but at least he’s offering an alternative voice out there.