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Hey, it’s the Comics Curmudgeon Fall Fundraiser — your contributions help keep this site strong and independent!

Click the banner above to contribute any amount — and receive your “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet with our thanks! Full details here.

Thanks to the many readers who managed to contribute despite yesterday’s annoying server problems! Generous and persistent — what’s not to love about Comics Curmudgeon readers? I’m assured the servers are back to ‘normal’ (which, alas, does not mean ‘fixed’), so readers and contributors should have an easier time today.

Special Request: Once you’ve received your “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet (the first ones should be arriving today!), would you please forward a photo of it on your wrist for me to post here? The address is uncle.lumpy@comcast.net — cellphone pix are fine. Thanks!

Crankshaft, 9/24/09

After the endless wallow of Lisa Moore’s final illness in 2007, it’s a relief to learn that the author can dispatch a character promptly, with grace and dignity, in this quiet image of a promise there was no time left to keep. God bless you, Ed, and farewell.

Hey, a guy can dream.

Luann, 9/24/09

“Darlin’ if you got the bucks, you can do whatever you want. Words to live by. Remember how quick your parents caved for a cheesy gift card? Lesson learned, right? Now listen, put this on and stand over there – nobody’s gonna watch. Close your eyes and keep quiet – there’s a twenty in it for ya! Snap!”

Operation H-Town update: Mary Worth, 9/24/09

With Officer Colleague down, Detective Scott steps up, takes his shot — and earns another day standing! How long can he hold out? Place your bets here, and track your progress here! Join in the carnage at “Scott’s Drug Bust Pool”, created by faithful reader 8th Man Fan — thank you! Pool Party!

Margo Moments — a Fall Fundraiser special, part 4

Apartment 3-G (panels) — 9/7, 9/9, 10/18, 10/20, 11/1, 12/10/2007, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6/2008

What would Margo do? Contribute to The Comics Curmudgeon today, and know for sure! Every contributor to the Comics Curmudgeon Fall Fundraiser receives “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet — so add a little Margo to your mojo, and let humanity beware!

— Uncle Lumpy

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Family Circus, 9/17/09

Grandma knows that she’ll only be given time to tend to her methodical clothes-folding in peace if she manages to say something so confusing to whatever idiot grandchild is jabbering at her that they’ll wander off in despair. Fortunately for her, her grandchildren are very easy to confuse.

Funky Winkerbean, 9/17/09

Ah, yes, why not just have the text push out the boring pictures entirely from here on in, so we can sit back and enjoy panel after panel of self-justification?

Luann, 9/17/09

The inside of Brad’s head is even more troubled than I could have imagined. For one thing, he apparently believes his parents’ marriage to be a loveless sham.

Gil Thorp, 9/17/09

Say what you will about Marty Moon, but you can never doubt his total commitment to his job. Today, for instance, he bravely continues his play-by-play of the Milford football season opener, despite the fact that he’s clearly been abducted and sealed up in a wooden shipping crate.

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Spider-Man, 9/11/09

Just how spectacularly irritating is Spider-Man? Consider this. Over the past few days, Spidey’s been trying to come up with some vaguely plausible story that would explain why Mary Jane barged in on the sexy three-way he and Wolverine had going with Doc Ock but not reveal the shocking truth: that Spider-Man was some schlubby reporter nobody cared about. Since Spidey is not what you’d call “quick-witted,” or even “posted-speed-limit-witted,” the only thing he could think of was to suggest that MJ had actually burst onto the scene because she was following Wolverine. Wolverine is also not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but you could at least see the gears beginning to turn, which promised some kind of tedious, irritating love triangle, which is the exactly the sort of thing that I bitch about in Spider-Man all the time.

And yet I found myself being actively disappointed in today’s strip, in which our studly mutant sweeps aside all thoughts of any such plot points with a meaty paw and barges his way out of the newspaper Spider-Man strip, presumably forever. This is not because I’m secretly a fan of superpowered romantic intrigue; rather, I’m a fan of the basic constraints of traditional narrative, which, postmodernism be damned, are there for a reason. The only thing worse than unlikeable characters beginning the machinations of an unbearably lame plot are unlikeable characters beginning the machinations of an unbearably lame plot before deciding not to proceed with said plot, because eh, why bother. And yet that very failure in storytelling is newspaper Spider-Man’s major contribution to the world of literature. At least this plotting feint lasted a whole three days; the legendary “intercom fake-out” incident got it done in two.

Luann, 9/11/09

And with that single word, Mrs. DeGroot has provided the most sensible idea anyone has had in the entire 5+ years of the Brad-Toni arc. So can it be over now, please?

SPECIAL JOSH ABUSE OPPORTUNITY! Hey Baltimore-area kids! Would you like to hurl balls at a target and cause me to drop into a large bucket of water? You can, this coming Sunday, September 13, between (UPDATED) 3:30 and 4 pm, at the Abell Avenue Street Fair! The fair is on Abell Avenue (duh) and proceeds from my dunking will benefit our community association. There will be many other fun activities, though obviously my ritual humiliation will be the highlight. (Note that I had originally said I’d be there from 12 to 1, but have just been disabused of that notion.)