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Mark Trail, 10/22/11

WELL I GUESS WE ALL FEEL KIND OF SILLY NOW, don’t we? Yes, Mountie and Mother McQueen aren’t just living in paranoid fear that someone will stumble upon their bible banding operation; they’re living in paranoid fear that someone will stumble upon their Eden-like valley, where they’ve convinced all the animals to live in harmony with one another (if by “all the animals” we mean ducks, moose, and beaver), using some combination of divine favor, perverted science, and devil magic. Obviously the bible bands are some key part of the mysterious process by which this miraculous scene was created, with the possibility that the geese would bring visitors to see the Canadian Neo-Eden being only a harmful side effect, not the actual purpose of the banding. Anyway, with this shockingly insane revelation, this storyline has just gone from “enh” to “wow,” and will shoot all the way up to “holy moly” if Mark ends up punching someone in the face.

The bright green water in this scene indicates that algae may also be among the organisms forced into pan-biological harmony by the McQueens’ eerie witchery.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/22/11

I’m glad to see that Hootin’ Holler’s grinding poverty will now be the source of this strip’s humor, rather than just its unsettling background. Today, we learn that the Smifs are too poor to afford cheese, ha ha!

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So ends the Fall 2011 Comics Curmudgeon Fundraiser — thank you one and all for your generosity and/or patience. GOOSETRAX will remain up into November for all your extended goose-tracking requirements, and you can check for fundraising banners you might have missed here.

Dick Tracy, 10/15/11

Dick Tracy is running a retrospective — a perfect excuse to revisit classic villains and antique themes like this “woman in peril” sequence featuring Tracy’s wife-to-be, Tess Trueheart. Why can’t we see stuff like this in other “new-old” throwback strips? I’m lookin’ at you, For Better or For Worse.

Apartment 3-G, 10/15/11

OK, Lu Ann here has parents and a torch-carrying childhood sweetheart (Cody Stiles, indistinguishable down to the neckerchief from cousin Blaze) back in South Dakota. We haven’t seen the mother lately; her relationship with her father is “complex”, but — like Lu Ann herself — only in the sense that it’s incoherent. Meanwhile, her Texas cousin Ruby seems to have forgotten that Lu Ann is no novice at this wedding business — Powers is her name from a marriage to a Vietnam-era fighter pilot who died in combat. Maybe Ruby doesn’t pay any more attention to Lu Ann than anybody else does?

Mark Trail, 10/15/11

Andy, unheard, is saying, “When Kelly Welly is the brains of your outfit, it’s time to find a new outfit.”

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/15/11

Her improbably-coiffed swain may have kept Kelly waiting, but like a gentleman took the time and trouble to steal a car suitable for a lady. And now: POOL PARTY!!!

Mark Trail’s Greatest Hits – a Fall Fundraiser special, part 6

Mark Trail — 3/24, 3/25, and 10/22/10

This concludes Mark Trail’s Greatest Hits — until next time. Lordy, that duck’s the size of a Cessna.

— Uncle Lumpy

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Click the banner to contribute and receive a Commemorative Comics Curmudgeon Bible Bird Band! Details here.

Interesting … these Comics Curmudgeon Bible Bird Bands look like they are made of gold!* Find out for sure — make a generous contribution, and receive your own!

* They are not.

Mark Trail, 10/12/11

Hey, the gang’s back together again, and Kelly’s in full vixen mode: look how she line-jumps poor Andy to plant one on Mark. Kelly, you want to get with this guy, take a tip from Andy and use a lot more tongue.

Apartment 3-G, 10/12/11

“Yes, don’t forget his family — his creepy, intrusive, controlling family who will live right next door to you in New Jersey. Because I’m pretty sure they’re won’t forget you, what with the 24-hour surveillance and all.”

Family Circus, 10/12/11

Dolly, don’t taunt others for developmental conditions beyond their control. It sets a precedent you may regret.

Luann, 10/12/11

“Still other times I’d stand astride you with a whip shrieking ‘Grovel, worm!’ while you groveled, like a worm. Seriously, Knute — how are you not getting any of this?”

Fundraiser update

Bible Bird Bands for all contributions received by Tuesday 5:00 PM EDT are in the mail — First Class, just like you, generous readers! Once you’ve crafted yours into some uniquely personal objet or form of adornment, why not send Josh a picture for a future Metapost, at bio@jfruh.com?

In a brazen attempt to capitalize on the wave of Bible Bird Band enthusiasm sweeping the Internet, Audubon has teamed up with 20th Century Fox to promote the new birding movie The Big Year with a contest they call Birding the Net. In the words of the press release, “The game will go viral….” Whoa!

Well, no worm for you, Audubon! Wrong Century, 20th! The game have already gone viral, and the Net has already been birded by generous Comics Curmudgeon contributors! Check it out right here on GOOSETRAX — the fully-interactive Google Maps-based goose tracker. Double-click or use the slider to zoom in, click and drag to reposition, click icons to see their tags, and pull the little golden man onto the map to see Street View where available. No matter what your question, GOOSETRAX has your Anser.

GOOSETRAX (full details and Privacy Policy here.)

Put yourself on the map, with a generous donation to The Comics Curmudgeon!

Mark Trail’s Greatest Hits – a Fall Fundraiser special, part 3

Mark Trail — 11/22/06, 1/14, 2/25, 4/19, 5/21/08

— Uncle Lumpy