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Pluggers, 12/5/19

Finally, folks, finally, at long last, Pluggers has weighed in on the trend of wearing baggy pants that sag low enough to expose your underwear, the trend that (according to the impressively detailed and cited Wikipedia article) began over 20 years ago in the mid 1990s, long enough ago that many who were young and hip when it started have since aged into pluggertude, long enough ago that the trend has had time to mostly peter out and then be revived, and here is what Pluggers has to say about it: pluggers simply do not care for it. They do. not. care. for. it. Congratulations, Pluggers, on producing possibly the least surprising Pluggers panel in the entire history of this feature.

Mark Trail, 12/5/19

IMPORTANT NATURE TIP FROM MARK TRAIL: Does it feel like it’s gotten colder? This may be because of a change in the seasons or natural temperature variation; but it’s also possible that you’ve moved to a higher elevation. Be sure to stay vigilant and aware of your surroundings!

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Mark Trail, 12/4/19

Wait, is that … a snow leopard right there, in the foreground of panel two? I honestly can’t tell if it’s a snow leopard or a regular leopard or what, and I need to know so I can assess how ironic Dr. Camel’s dismissal of Mark’s hopes is supposed to be. Anyway, I’m enjoying Marks’s subtle act of rebellion as he expresses his desire to photograph a snow leopard, a real but elusive animal, and not a yeti, the fake animal that is the ostensible reason he was sent on this assignment in the first place.

Mary Worth, 12/4/19

Zak continues to obliterate all competition in the ongoing worldwide Boyfriend Of The Year contest by being young, hot, wealthy thanks to his own hard work, sexually solicitous — and, now, for offering to take many mundane tasks off his girlfriend’s plate, such as monitoring the behavior of her troubled adult son. “What’s up, brah?” the hunky millionaire will ask as he swings by Tommy’s menial supermarket job. “Still fighting off the demons of addiction backed up by the power of Christ? Radical!” Some finger-guns will complete the successful parenting-by-proxy session.

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Beetle Bailey, 11/23/19

Real Beetle Bailey-heads know that General Halftrack has a driver, and his name is Julius, although I don’t think he’s appeared in the strip in a while; the only place I can find him in my archives is here, in what appears to be a gay panic dream sequence from 2004. A mere gap of 15 years is of course nothing to the deep lore of Beetle Bailey continuity, though I suppose it’s possible that he was reassigned to a more important job as part of Pentagon budget cuts; still, I assume that mostly this joke is about how the folks Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries LLC finally heard about Uber and could’t wait to use it as a punchline.

Blondie, 11/23/19

Speaking of hilarious tech punchlines: you guys heard about this bitcoin thing? It’s electronic moola! You could buy [tries desperately to think of a cool high-tech thing a kid would like] a … drone? … with bitcoins, that’s for sure! Helpful tip: if your joke hinges on something being a high-tech novelty, but that thing was already a punchline in Snuffy Smith four years ago, it is no longer particularly novel.

Crankshaft, 11/23/19

Here it is, Thanksgiving weekend, and the boys are “enjoying” some good old-fashioned football! Remember when Crazy Harry laid out the rules of happiness in the Funkyverse, which are that you can’t ever feel happy because if you do the universe will make you regret it? I thought about that watching Jeff clinging anxiously to that unopened bag of chips there. A normal person would open the chips and eat them to enjoy time with their family. But that sounds like fun, and fun is the one thing none of these sad sacks is allowed to have.

Mary Worth, 11/23/19

Ha ha, how cool and fun would it be if your friend set you up with someone, and then that person got really drunk before a date and made just a complete theatrical ass of himself, and when you told your friend about it, they were just like “Oh, wow, yeah, that definitely sounds in character for him, this person I suggested you become romantically involved with!” Would you stay friends with this person? Would you ever speak to them again?

Mark Trail, 11/23/19

BAD NEWS: Mark Trail and company have still not encountered even a single yeti.

GOOD NEWS: Mark Trail and company are fleeing from a landslide while wearing … snuggies? Let’s say snuggies. More on this development as events warrant.