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Mark Trail, 10/13/21

Interesting, interesting, it seems that despite my taunting Mark may have fought in a war after all. Or … did he? He does seem quite cagey about the details as soon as friend starts pressing him, doesn’t he? Maybe he realizes that Cliff isn’t going to consider his lifetime of efforts punching hippies to be a “tour,” even though his handlers from the CIA assured him he was on the front lines of the most important war America would ever fight.

Slylock Fox, 10/13/21

Hmm, we’re seeing a lone walrus warily eyeing those polar bears, but the quiz answer assures us that walruses are almost invariably found in massive herds of hundreds or even thousands of walrus companions. We have to assume this isolated individual is a scout for a vast walrus army that’s preparing to attack and overwhelm the arctic’s most powerful predators. I’m pretty sure we’ve never seen Slylock and his pals interact with sapient polar bears or walruses, presumably because they’re locked in a brutal war thousands of miles north of the Forest Kingdom.

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Blondie, 10/11/21

Is it just me, or does Lou look a little downbeat in that last panel? “I thought he’d say that,” he’s thinking to himself. “But a guy can hope, can’t he? Would it have killed him to give me a little specific feedback on the historical accuracy of my Columbus Day special? Or maybe just praise my creativity and craftsmanship? But no, he’s just going to start shoveling food down his gullet, just like every other time he comes here. I might as well just set out a trough.”

Lockhorns, 10/11/12

Gotta respect the way the Lockhorns keep their marriage fresh by constantly coming up with new extremely petty bullshit to criticize each other over. At first I thought that stick of butter meant Leroy is doing the “bulletproof coffee” thing, though I guess that’s for his … single tiny pancake? very flat English muffin? bread disk? Whatever, I’m sure Loretta has something to say about that too.

Mark Trail, 10/11/12

I thought maybe this forest fire bit was a callback to some deep Mark Trail lore, but the last time there was a forest fire in this strip it involved some chump named Wes, so maybe not. Anyway, Mark, Cliff went and fought in a war since last you saw him, what have you done, huh????

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/11/12

TIRED: Jordan and Michelle’s wedding reception is ruined when the shadowy band of soldiers of fortune that Jordan used to run around with decide that he’s a potential liability who must be eliminated

WIRED: Jordan and Michelle’s wedding reception is ruined when Michelle’s dad meets Buck and the two of them just absolutely will not shut the fuck up about roots country legend Truck Tyler

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Family Circus, 9/10/21

A lot has changed for me, both in my life and vis-à-vis my relationship to the comics, since I started this blog in 2004, and definitely the one change I would’ve been least likelty to predict is that I would come to have an occasional grudging admiration for the Family Circus. And I didn’t even have to become a parent for it to happen! Yes, the strip is like 75% darnedest-thing-saying and reused art by volume, but every once in a while you get a great image like today’s, when Daddy has very clearly just had the epiphany that he could be doing literally anything else right now.

Curtis, 9/10/21

Curtis is doing a thing this week where our title character confronts rival mobs of pro- and anti-mask parents in front of his school and I have literally no interest in engaging with it, but I do want to say that “Look, everyone, a child wearing his hat backwards wanting to speak!” is definitely the funniest thing I’ve read this week.

Mark Trail, 9/10/21

A lot has changed for Mark Trail over the years, too, but I’m happy to report that there is one constant in the Trailian multiverse and that is that Mark is absolutely ripped.