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Andy Capp, 10/21/25

I, a guy who has run a blog about comic strips for the better part of two decades now, am, as you might imagine, a huge nerd. Nevertheless, I have significant reservations about the way that nerd culture has more or less taken over the world, dominating the entertainment industry while fans still endlessly complain that their superhero pals don’t get the respect they deserve. That’s why I’m glad to see that there’s still one outpost in the comics willing to make fun of the nerds, and it makes sense that it’s the home of America’s favorite working-class British alcoholic. (Intelligent Life also makes nerds look ridiculous, but I’m pretty sure that’s not on purpose.)

Dustin, 10/21/25

You know, I focus a lot on this blog about how Dustin is constantly persecuted by the other members of his family, but let’s not forget that, in his absence, they’ll also turn on each other, with virtually every intrafamilial interaction landing on a spectrum somewhere between “passive aggressive” and “cruel.” They’re not nice people!

Hi and Lois, 10/21/25

Oh, I guess the Flagston family is OK with the library now, because they need a third place to go when Lois and her book club friends start getting drunk and belligerent and their home is no longer safe.

Heathcliff, 10/21/25

Oh yeah? Well, I like it better when you’re standing either inside the house or outside the house, rather than the MC Escherian simultaneously-inside-and-outside thing you’ve landed on here, but you don’t see me complaining about it.

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Marvin, 10/16/25

Lately, when I bring up Marvin as an example of a strip that loves talking about peeing and pooping, some people in the comments will try to gaslight me about it, claiming the strip really hasn’t done much by way of toilet humor since 2023 or so. Well, look at this! Bitsy the dog is like, “I love to defecate and I want to do more of it,” and that’s the punchline! Don’t try to deny what I can see with my own eyes!

Mary Worth, 10/16/25

Have you enjoyed the last 87 years of “Mary Worth meddles gently in the lives of her friends and acquaintances?” Well, that’s over now. Get ready for “Mary Worth has an unshakeable belief that many people are capable of ESP, and has a new mission to find them and Awaken the Gift inside them.”

Dustin, 10/16/25

Meg, this is no time to crack wise! Your brother has experienced a serious head injury and appears to be in some distress!

Archie, 10/16/25

Sorry, Dilton, I’m going to be straight with you: put the glasses back on. You don’t look very good at all without them! Don’t give in to peer pressure!

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Luann, 9/11/25

Many years ago, when I was a TA in grad school, I had a very precocious undergraduate student who used to come to office hours to hang out and shoot the shit with me. The final exam was three essay questions, and I graded them blind without looking at the name on the front until I was done, and I was disappointed to see that he had completely biffed one of the questions, and it was enough to drag down the A+ he had going into the final to an A-. But if I was disappointed, he was enraged, and after grades came out, he tracked down my home phone number and yelled at me about this, telling me at one point that his father said sometimes teachers give a bad grade to students they felt intellectually intimidated by, and because I had at that point already quit grad school, I got to just laugh at him and hang up. Anyway, I don’t really have the energy to go into the dynamic here between Bernice and [squints] “Alan,” but mostly what I’m trying to say is that if any student of mine included an unsolicited 12-minute animated graphic as part of their assignment, they would not be getting five bonus points, and it wouldn’t be because of my intellectual envy, I tell you what.

Dustin, 9/11/25

Wait, is Dustin’s dad saying he’s good at sex, or not good at sex? Or is he saying that having kids despite not having had sex very often or for very long is evidence that he’s good at sex, because I do not think that claim holds up to scrutiny. In conclusion, I hate this strip a lot, because it’s difficult to parse and in the process of attempting to do so I have to think about Dustin’s parents having sex, which — and I’m sure you, being in the same boat as I am now, agree with me on this point — is a profoundly unpleasant experience, for me, and, I assume, for them.

Family Circus, 9/11/25

God, I love Jeffy’s facial expression here. His brain isn’t hungry at all! He doesn’t know anything, but the important thing is that he doesn’t want to know anything, and he doesn’t care that he doesn’t want to know anything. He is nothing but true to himself.