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Family Circus, 7/4/13

Happy Birthday, America! Here is one of your most beloved comics characters with a terrible gift: the knowledge that Romantic-era views of national patriotism are fundamentally incompatible with advanced 21st century capitalism. Your sacred flag is just another corporate brand to today’s media-raised children!

Mary Worth, 7/4/13

Oops, sorry, that got a little dark. Let’s focus on your real birthday present: Mary Worth is going on vacation, to some lovely Tucson spa resort! I am so excited for her adventures that I can’t even stand it. What fitness and spirituality class will she take — Zen aerobics or shamanistic spinning? Will she enjoy a pool party besides a non-Charterstone pool? Will Dr. Jeff expect to come with her, and then be gently rebuffed, and then sulk passive-aggressively? Will there be a person or persons at this resort who will have a problem that can be solved by application of Mary’s sensible advice? Will Mary be bitten by a rattlesnake while she hikes through the Sonoran desert? Will that rattlesnake wither and die?

Spider-Man, 7/4/13

Aww, isn’t that sweet! Peter Parker overheard this little brat demanding a private jet, just like his heroes the Avengers, so he decided to change into his spider-duds to show that some superheroes are losers who have to fly coach just like him! Remember the last time he did something to coax a kid into doing something that normal people do all the time? Remember how that worked out for him? Not that I think this is part of a nefarious villain’s scheme or anything, but I am looking forward to the part where Spidey actually gets to the front of the security line, which I imagine will go something like this:

TSA AGENT: Spider-Man! Wow! Are you … are you going on this plane? I … do you have, uh, a ticket, or some ID?

SPIDER-MAN: [Looks down at ticket and ID, both of which have “PETER PARKER” printed on them prominently]

SPIDER-MAN: [Runs away in a panic]

Marvin, 7/4/13

So Marvin has been doing this thing this week where Marvin and a bunch of other babies are at some kind of sleepaway camp for babies, and I’ve been trying not to let my soul-searing hatred for Marvin draw me into a boring, pedantic “This isn’t realistic” riff, seeing as how it also isn’t realistic for a baby to think in complete sentences or shit his pants for explicitly spiteful reasons. Still, it’s hard to ignore today’s punchline. Taking toddlers hiking is a bad idea, what with their inability to walk more than a few steps without falling down, talk, pay sustained attention to anything, or follow complex directions. Probably instead of thought-ballooning stereotypical hike complaints, Marvin and his fellow toddlers should all be on the ground, crawling in random directions, and crying.

Apartment 3-G, 7/4/13

Oh hey this “The Governor of New York is having someone give Lu Ann a makeover” plot is still happening, apparently! As usual, Lu Ann’s panicked semi-comprehending reactions to things are priceless. I’m assuming in the final panel she’s worried that the governor will end up with naughty pictures of her in a state of undress and this will be a political scandal somehow, but I’m hoping that she thinks the he just ordered her very soul to be digitized and sent over the airwaves via sinister telephone magic.

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Momma, 7/2/13

If you somehow encountered this Momma comic in complete isolation, not being familiar with its characters or narrative conventions, you’d probably be pretty confused by it, right? I was pretty confused by it myself, at first. I guess it’s supposed to mean that Momma has been answering the phone, and Ed thinks that Momma is an answering machine, because … he’s a moron? Which I guess means that Marylou lives with Momma? I suppose that I’m one of the very few people in the world who ought to know the living arrangements of the characters in Momma for his job, but I confess that I actually am pretty surprised by this. We all know that Francis lives in a disgustingly filthy apartment and Thomas and his wife live in their own house where they can have sex with each other in private, or so they think. I guess I always just assumed that Marylou had her own place. I think … I think there ought to be more Momma-and-Marylou-drive-each-other-crazy jokes to be gotten out of her still living at home? No, wait, I don’t mean to suggest that Momma do more of any specific kind of joke, or indeed any jokes at all. Forget I said anything.

Better Half, 7/2/13

Hey, everyone, Stanley just read his credit card number aloud, right here in the newspaper/on the Internet, where everyone can see/hear it! Why not try buying things with it? Just change a digit or two! Sure looks like a credit card number to me!

Mark Trail, 7/2/13

Mark Trail … in disguise? Mark Trail in disguise. Mark Trail in disguise you guys OMG OMG

Family Circus, 7/2/13

“But sometimes when you hurt inside it’s because you’re bleeding internally, and then hugging makes it worse. You can tell which is which by the screaming!”

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Spider-Man, 6/30/13

Sadly, Crankshaft’s plane ride is now over, but, if today’s narration box is any indication, I think we’ve got a solid week or more of Peter Parker suffering various airplane-related indignities to look forward to! First up: airport security.

Family Circus, 6/30/13

Oh my goodness, that look on Ma Keane’s face is everything. “Is anyone looking? I could just … I could walk away, right now. Nobody would know. I’d be out of the county in an hour. Two states away by nightfall. I could eat this whole ice cream cone, take as long as I wanted. I could keep buying ice cream cones every time I got off the highway. They’d be mine. They’d all be mine.”

Panels from Rex Morgan, M.D., 6/30/13

“One minute she was standing before me, a living human being, and the next Sarah had turned her into a pile of unfeeling glop that she scooped up triumphantly in her little fists! It was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. Wait, can … can she hear us? Oh God don’t let her hear us“