The Comics Curmudgeon

Main Menu

Social Media

Archive: Family Circus

Comments are closed

Does the Icarus myth even work with actual birds?

Post Content

Shoe, 7/29/13

So, here you go: Shoe finally takes a stab at acknowledging that its denizens are sentient bird-men and -women, with puzzling results. First of all, I can’t believe I never made the flappers-bird connection before, and am reasonably sure that there’s some elaborate sentient-bird-women-as-flappers fan drawings out there, possibly on DeviantArt, possibly in the context of an all-sentient-bird Great Gatsby graphic novel. And yet the whole potential crossover is wasted, for the most part. Instead, Loon just tells a weird story about how his aunt used her unremarkable-in-this-context power of flight to … transcend to a higher plane of existence? Like in Jonathan Livingston Seagull? Or maybe she just died of exhaustion/oxygen deprivation? Anyway, if there were ever a situation where Shoe’s patented goggle eyes of horror would be appropriate, it’s this one — “let me tell you a fun story about my aunt that ends in her disappearance and probable death” — but instead the Perfesser just stares straight ahead with dead-eyed numbness. He stopped listening to Loon hours ago. He just says “Yeah?” during conversational lulls to feign politeness.

Gil Thorp, 7/29/13

It may be no Gail Martin mystery, but this summer’s Gil Thorp storyline has been zany in a low-key way, involving an amiable, Alzheimer’s-stricken ex-pro-wrestler and his also ex-pro-wrestler son wandering the nation on the dad’s whims. Today, our senile king of the squared circle is going to teach One-Armed Steve some wrestling moves! Steve seems amused and convinced this will all be in fun, about which he may turn out to be mistaken.

Family Circus, 7/29/13

I guess the tattered state of Jeffy’s blanket is meant to indicate that it’s a well-loved security object for him, but I prefer a different interpretation: it’s decayed during his multi-decade, Rip van Winkle-style nap. No, I’m not sure why Jeffy hasn’t gotten older or why his clothes and house are still intact, even though his family long since moved away and/or died. The important thing is that Jeffy has been thrust alone into a world he no longer understands, OK? Just … just give me this.

Comments are closed

“Now his fortune is MINE, ALL MINE, er, I mean, I was very sad, yes, sad”

Post Content

Archie, 7/22/13

Wow, I thought Jughead was a compulsive eater because he needed to fill the hole inside him where emotional intimacy should be, but apparently there’s this whole other twisted sadism angle to it too! Notice that Jughead isn’t just condemning this delicious burrito to a gory execution in his mouth, but rather to indefinite detention and torture in his digestive tract, casting himself in the role of some kind of mobile Sarlacc Pit. Does he chuckle to himself, imagining the poor burrito slowly being dissolved in his stomach, screaming in agony and begging for a quicker death? The long string of saliva dribbling from his mouth in panel two adds to the horror. Archie and Betty are right to leave him alone during this disturbing episode.

Family Circus, 7/22/13

I think the thing that bothers me most about Billy’s latest smug-bomb is not that he believes his thoughts are actually valuable, but that he’s dropped the first syllable from “economy,” like he thinks that’s cute or something. “Sorry, grandma, but in this ’conomy we don’t have time to pronounce ‘economy.’ There are valid reasons for this, but if you want to find out what they are, you’re gonna have to pay me.”

Mary Worth, 7/22/13

Hey, Mary, I don’t want to tell you how to live your life or anything, but when you’re saying “I remember when I became a widow … it seems like it was only yesterday,” probably you shouldn’t be rubbing your hands together gleefully.

Comments are closed

Though in the case of his publisher Andy Clark, Harry genuinely does not give a crap

Post Content

Herb and Jamaal, 7/19/13

Wow, I’ve been reading Herb and Jamaal for something like ten years now and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Herb make any comments about his wife’s inability to cook. But whatever, it’s an infinitely relatable joke (as are jokes about hot airline meals, which haven’t been served on domestic coach flights since 2005 or so) so why not just drop it in here? Haha, women, am I right? They can’t cook, even though they’re the ones who are supposed to cook! Herb and his live-in mother-in-law run a restaurant together and presumably have some degree of culinary skill, so it totally makes sense that Herb has been seething with resentment over the dinners his wife makes them for years now.

Family Circus, 7/19/13

I genuinely, non-ironically love the dubious way Jeffy is regarding the business end of that golf club. He knows that thing’s coming for him, coming for his big, tempting, oversized target of a head. He doesn’t know if it’ll happen now or a week from now, doesn’t know if it’ll be on purpose or just because Billy likes swinging things around and doesn’t really care who or what he hits, but he knows trouble’s brewing.

Funky Winkerbean, 7/19/13

“You can let even one of your dearest friends believe that you’ve ever spent a single solitary second caring about whether he lives or dies! He’ll think you’re ‘funny.'”