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Archive: Hi and Lois

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A very fun store, no doubt

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Hi and Lois, 2/27/05

My fiancée says that Hi’s bug-eyed, sweaty expression in the last panel is his “having fun” face. I say he’s out of his mind on helium. Look at Lois’ expression in the rightmost panel in the middle row: she knows that trouble’s brewing; clearly Hi has a longstanding “problem” whip-its and the like, and she’s been down that light-headed, squeaky-voiced road before. I don’t mean to blow the cover off the seamy side of an ostensibly family-friendly strip like this, but obviously substance abuse is the only logical explanation here: nobody has that much fun just blowing up balloons.

Also: Hi seems to have purchased his drug paraphernalia at a “Fun Store,” surely a euphemism for a head shop if I’ve ever heard one. Also also: Lois appears to be wearing black lipstick in the final frame, which both complements her skeletal visage and signifies her S&M lifestyle.

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St. Valentine’s Day horror

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Hi and Lois, 2/14/05

When I read this installment of Hi and Lois in the newspaper, I thought that there could be no greater horror than the sight of Hi making what appear to be “bedroom eyes” at Lois. Then I downloaded the colorized version of the comic, only to be confronted with inky blackness of the heart-shaped candy box that Hi has purchased, which I presume signifies some sort of S&M relationship between the two of them. I’d cry “But what about the children?” except that I’m reasonably sure that no children actually read Hi and Lois.

Trying to avert my mind away from the vision of Hi and Lois in fetish gear, I note that I’m not the only person with a home-based business who’s sometimes still wearing a robe when their partner comes home from the office. Of course, in Lois’ case, it just makes it all the easier to quickly change into … damn it, that didn’t work.

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Ooooh, wow

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Hi and Lois, 11/7/04

The list of comics strips that have not used drug lingo is a bit shorter today. I have to admit that Hi and Lois’ place on that list, just above Hagar the Horrible and just below Family Circus, always seemed pretty secure to me, but apparently I was wrong about the extent to which drug culture has infiltrated the funny pages. For the record, the word that’s really alarmed me here is “peaking.” All the other stuff could be derived third-hand from bad movies like Flashback, but “peaking” … it arouses suspicions. I’m just saying.

(Note to my mom: I only learned about the word “peaking” from other kids myself, not from personal experience. Really. Winners don’t use drugs. I’m my own person!)