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Marvin, 10/30/21

I’ll say this for Marvin: when it introduced its new fish characters a few weeks back, it could have played it safe and just used them as another type of creature to make piss and poop jokes about. And, let’s be real, there are plenty of piss and poop jokes involving them — this is still Marvin, after all — but there are also lots of jokes about how these two fish constantly irritate one another, but are nevertheless trapped in a bowl not much larger than themselves, forever, and honestly those I quite enjoy.

Daddy Daze, 10/30/21

Wait, does the Daddy Daze baby use “ma” for his monosyllabic babble with his mother, and yet “ba” rather than “da” for his father? Perhaps this recurring snub is what’s driven the man to his current state of madness, in which he insists on treating the baby’s nonsense noises as if they encoded complex semantic meaning that only he can parse, rather than simply acknowledging that the baby likes his ex better.

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Hi and Lois, 10/5/21

I’m not sure when, strictly speaking, we can say that untucked shirts came into fashion, but I’m going to say that it’s been … pretty much my entire adult life? And I’m 47? Anyway, I like how absolutely thrilled Hi looks in panel one. He never thought he’d live to see the day when a man might untuck his shirttails and still retain his dignity, but that day has arrived, and his life has been transformed.

Marvin, 10/5/21

There are two big narrative problems with this strip. One is that Bitsy’s character model includes full-time collar wearing — he’s got one on in this very strip — so it’s weird for the fish to imply that it’s a potty-specific accessory. Maybe this should’ve said “leash”? Two, fish “go potty” in their own bowl, turning their very environment into a stew of their own wastes, which is surely more shameful than however you want to think about what dogs have going on this department. The thing I hate about Marvin is that it makes you think about pissing and shitting on several narrative layers at any given moment.

Pluggers, 10/5/21

Look, when pluggers are all smug about how down-homey and real-American they are, I enjoy getting riled up about it. But when they’re wracked with shame about their strange, man-animal bodies? That’s a lot less fun, in my opinion. Please, pluggers, get your act together so you may remain a worthy antagonist for me!

Mother Goose and Grimm, 10/5/21

Jokes on you, Grimm! That guy’s not a man at all! He’s a bird!

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Mary Worth, 9/20/21

Oh my god, everybody, it’s really happening, where by “it” I specifically mean that Wilbur is going to go to the animal shelter to get a dog for all the wrong reasons! Not sure if he’s going to lead with “I’m a real piece of shit and my dumb old neighbor says one of these mongrels will make me marginally more tolerable” or “I’m horny and I hear ladies like guys with dogs,” but I hopefully we’re going to learn that they do not, in fact, give out pets to just anybody.

Marvin, 9/20/21

I have to admit that I find the image in panel one, with a very tiny baby just sitting there outside Marvin’s front door, very funny! The fact he’s alone out there is part of it. He looks like he’s too young to walk or even crawl, and so you have to assume that his parents just plopped him down there and then abandoned him, possibly forever. Anyway, Bitsy probably isn’t going to maul him to death, but if he wanted to, who’s going to stop him? An adult? No adults care about these babies! If the dog doesn’t get them, something else will!