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Gil Thorp, 4/19/23

Oh, were you upset that Gil Thorp seemed to have dropped the Great Vape Caper storyline? Well, it seems Toby and his pals are still out there perpetrating their elaborate and largely innocuous vape fundraising scam, and now Toby’s worried that Gil has gotten wind of it (the metaphorical wind in this case blowing a huge metaphorical cloud of cotton candy-flavored vape into Gil’s face). Anyway, I guess the whole point of this awkwardly worded exchange is to give Gil a chance to plant a seed of doubt in Toby’s mind and also declare that he’s fully straightedge, but I do wonder what exactly happened during this hospital visit in what appears to be the middle of the afternoon that has Toby thinking Gil may be too fucked up to drive.

Mary Worth, 4/19/23

The way Wilbur phrases things in panel two, it sounds like Estelle rejected him down via text before he even had a chance to once again shoot his shot, which I love. Like I certainly hope that the moment the desire to “get back with Stell” had formed in his mind, his ex felt the hair go up on the back of her neck, texted him “I’M VERY HAPPY WITH SOMEBODY ELSE RIGHT NOW WILBUR”, and then immediately blocked his number.

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Folks, we need to start off on a sad note: Dennis Lien, who for many years posted in the comments here as Shrug, passed away last week under hospice care. He was a great force for good vibes on this site and he will really be missed!

Blondie, 4/17/23

Dagwood can tell Alexander is “getting serious” romantically because he’s wearing “clothes that fit,” like a monocolored t-shirt that he carefully tucks into his belted khakis. The extent to which this comic doesn’t understand teenagers manages to go even beyond the extent to which it doesn’t understand adults, which is really saying something.

Gil Thorp, 4/17/23

MILFORD GEOGRAPHY ALERT: today we establish definitively that Milford is in the “pop” zone, and while this encompasses a broad swath of the United States, from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains to Rockies to the Pacific Northwest, it seems to definitively cut out other commonly cited location possibilities, like Connecticut. Sadly, Hoo Dad’s Root Beer does not appear to be a real regional product that we could use to narrow things down further, but I will provide more data on this as it comes in.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 4/17/23

If you’re curious about what educational and intellectual life in Hootin’ Holler is like, I’d like to point out that Jughaid is thumbing through what appears to be an unbound six-page leaflet about volcanos, which I assume has been written by hand.

Crock, 4/17/23

Oh look, today’s Crock rerun is a joke about, uh, children getting married to adults? Here’s hopin that this is what it finally takes to get Crock cancelled (I will accept either the modern “cancel culture” sense of the word or the more traditional “they stop running it newspapers” sense, whatever it takes).

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Daddy Daze, 4/13/23

As you know, one of my favorite things to speculate about is the backstory on the relationship between the Daddy Daze daddy and the Daddy Daze mommy, who clearly broke up almost immediately after (or maybe even before?) the Daddy Daze baby was born. I think it’s pretty clear who initiated the breakup (her) and why (see the entire run of Daddy Daze from January 30, 2020, to the present, and probably before that too but that’s when I started reading it), and you have to assume that at some point she expects to come into her ex’s house and find him dead, right? Like, that’s just kind of a given, and she’s just hoping the baby makes it? Anyway, I assume that’s why she reacts to the truly disturbing scene in panel one with a mild “oh dear,” instead of the panic and weeping you might expect.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 4/13/23

OK, fine, is that too dark for you? Well, we’re getting dangerously close to the end of the week and are seeing no indication that Mud Mountain Murphy’s strange transformation is anything other than the result of him experiencing personal growth and finding true happiness under the guidance of an eccentric but benevolent guru. I hope your dreams bring you joy and peace! What more could any of us ask for?

Gil Thorp, 4/13/23

Uh oh! Will Coach Hernandez’s quest for revenge end with [SPOILERS FOR A MOVIE FROM 2006] dozens of dead Hernandez clones floating in tanks in the basement under the Milford High auditorium? Here’s hoping!