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Dick Tracy, 11/12/26

BIG REVEAL IN DICK TRACY: That weird tiny old man who gets carried around everywhere is a Marine who fought in a battle that took place 76 years ago, which means he’s in his early-to-mid 90s at this point. Presumably back then he was a weird tiny young man who got carried around everywhere, so I’m not sure how effective he was in combat. You’d think this big reveal would’ve been more appropriate for Veterans Day, but I guess Dick Tracy has agreed to cede that holiday to Pluggers, which I respect.

Mother Goose and Grimm, 11/12/26

The composition of this strip bothers me so much! Why do we need Grimm to say the title of the book, and Attila to react to it, when we can also see it printed on the cover? Like it should’ve been Grimm’s dialogue in panel two and then the visual of Ralph in panel three. That’s all you need! Maybe the artist thought, “Oh, I have to have him say it out loud, because some people only listen to the dialog and never read anything,” which doesn’t make sense but makes more sense than anything else.

Luann, 11/12/26

I decided to free myself from reading Luann daily around 2014, and then, for reasons I cannot really articulate, I decided to start inflicting it upon myself again in 2025. All sorts of horrible things happened during that lacuna, I’m sure, most of which I blessedly have no knowledge of, but I am vaguely aware that there was some tragic non-romance storyline between Bernice and a tortured artist type. I was not aware that there were sexy (?) shoes involved in her abortive seduction attempt, and I probably would’ve happily gone to my grave never knowing, but now I will always be cursèd by this particular bit of knowledge. I wouldn’t have bought shoes with that backstory either, mysterious off-panel stranger!

Alice, 11/12/26

BIG REVEAL IN ALICE: That email that Alice was waiting for? It was a thank-you email! STAKES: RAISED

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Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/10/26

There’s a whole social media trend of young people posting images of food service on airlines in the days of yore accompanied by captions like “RETVRN” or “THIS IS WHAT THEY TOOK FROM YOU,” and I hate to point out that these are mostly (1) ads for (2) first class service in an age when (3) even coach class was much more expensive than it is today, accounting for inflation. It seems that this kind of rhetoric has filtered down to the young people of Hootin’ Holler who are (both literally and, in terms of their ability to afford air travel, figuratively) miles away from the nearest airport, so I’m here to tell them: you still get snacks! They’re still handing out little bags of pretzels or whatever. Maybe not on Frontier or Spirit, but Spirit went out of business, so maybe handing out snacks is here to stay. Keep hope alive!

Dick Tracy, 11/10/26

Dick and his partner standing at crazy dutch angles relative to everyone else, somehow, while odd shadows falling from no obvious light source make everything very dramatic? Mysterious femme fatale emerging from an incongruous corner doorway? I do not regret to inform you that Dick Tracy has, to use a technical term, gone “full-on German Expressionist.”

Hi and Lois, 11/10/26

Wow, Thirsty gets a new pillow every year? I’m gonna say it: that seems like it’s pretty often. More often than I get one, for sure. Seems like something you’d only do for someone who’s doing horrible stuff to/on/near his pillows, and now I wanna know what.

Mary Worth, 11/10/26

“It’s because I keep spreading vicious false rumors about people and it alienates everyone! Uh, I mean, about other people, people not in this room, that’s it.”

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Crock, 11/6/26

The thing about wars — even low-level wars of colonial occupation, like the interminable one the Foreign Legion is fighting in Algeria — is that they’re dangerous. Even if you’re not shooting at someone, or getting shot at, you’re living in a milieu where there’s a constant baseline of violent chaos. There are weapons around, along with just a general sense of disorder, with civilians finding that their needs and safety take a backseat to those of the occupying forces even in their own homes. It’s the sort of place where a baby could crawl into an artillery piece and get blown up, is what I’m saying, which is one of several good reasons not to fight wars.

Dick Tracy, 11/6/26

I have no idea if Dick Tracy strips in the year 2026 accurately depict old-timey police jargon, or even current police jargon, so I can’t tell if this lady referring to a home that police investigated without coming up with any leads as a “dry hole” is realistic, but I am comfortable saying that it’s gross. I don’t want to hear about dry holes! It’s a very upsetting phrase! Also, I have a problem with Dick’s “different hole” line in the last panel here; for one thing, it’s somehow even grosser, and for another thing we’re clearly looking at two holes and also there’s zero blood or even bloodstains on this white nurse’s uniform, so this is yet another unsettling dry hole situation, in fact.

Mary Worth, 11/6/26

“So, Nelly, dear, are you going to tell me why you spread that rumor? Remember, you’ve already eaten the muffins, and only I have the antidote.”