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Herb and Jamaal, 2/12/05

Ever since last year’s terrible comics cull, I’ve found my job (and I’m using the word “job” loosely here) of reading the comics so you don’t have to a little tougher. I’ve finally come to the conclusion that, though the best of the serials went into my Houston Chronicle custom comics page right away, my art (and I’m using the word “art” loosely here) suffers from the absence of even those crappy comics that I didn’t think I’d miss. So now they’re all back in the rotation, including such longtime non-faves as Dennis the Menace, Marmaduke, Ziggy, and, of course Herb and Jamaal.

So here it is: did ya miss it? Maybe it’s just because I saw Bad Education last night, but all I have to say about this comic is that you’d think we’d be a little less cavalier these days about depicting priests praying to be “filled with … worthwhile stuff.” Aaaah, hatin’ on poor old Herb and Jamaal: it’s good to be back.

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I know it’s been a while, but I do have some winners in my Pick A More Appropriate Poem For This Herb and Jamaal Comic contest. First off, the multitalented Dalton provides a lovely bit of blank verse that he composed itself. It makes significantly more sense now:

I also have to give Jim Treacher credit (or, as they say in Herb and Jamaal, “props”) for creating a version that makes even less sense than the original, but is still funnier:

I’m just little weirded out that they both used the same font.

It’s been a while since I’ve done Unnerving Search Term watch, so here’s a big batch: “Hagar the Horrible insurance,” “couldn’t think of anything funny zing,” “asians in doonesbury comics of 1988,” “george soros james bond supervillain,” “what is a passive aggressor,” “skewered tits google search,” “comic strip beetle bailey stupid jerk” (that’s telling ’em!), “12 gauge mp3 and donkey butt,” “crystal meth poem” (“I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as a big brown paper bag full of sweet, sweet meth”), “self reliance sue for alimony gaining freedom” (um, I hope you found another, more helpful site), “rex morgan nude,” “comic strip yogurt priceless,” and “jack elrod shouting.” Also, some linkbacks go to salieri, Bill Peschel, My Brilliant Mistakes, winneroftheSAT, the archenemy blog, and Cyber Chocolate. And finally, apologies to the poor soul who somehow came here from Allsexwebcams.com, and who was no doubt very, very disappointed.

Oh, also! Very important! Because I’ve been so slack in posting, I almost didn’t have a chance to point you to the Baltimore Sun’s new comic ballot! Go to http://www.baltimoresun.com/newcomics and vote for five comics that you might want to see in the Sun (and, by extension, in IRTCSYDHT). I don’t have any guidance for you this time, except that I like Get Fuzzy. But you should clearly pick whatever you want to see mocked. Today (Tuesday, November 16) is the last day for voting, so hurry!

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Herb and Jamaal, 11/3/04

Herb and Jamaal loves to do strips in which poetry by African-American writers accompanies some moment in the lives its characters. Which is all well and good, if potentially infringing certain copyrights. But usually there’s some at least vague connection between the poem and the action in the strip. Here, all I’m getting is: “Herb’s mother-in-law: she exists, and she lives in this house.” Which doesn’t have anything to do with the poem, as near as I can tell.

So, here’s my challenge to you, IRTCSYDHT readers: come up with some poem that fits this strip better than this one! I’ll take the best ones and Photoshop the new text in (or, more likely, ask Photoshop blackbelt Dalton to do it). We’ll show that we can beat Herb and Jamaal at its own copyright-infringing game.

(You know, now that I’m looking at it again, Herb’s mother-in-law is looking oddly … busty … in that last panel. You don’t think “walk a high wire” is some kind of wire bra reference, do you?)