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Mary Worth, 4/30/22

Yes, Toby and Ian certain seem to have a good marriage, Mary! Say, remember the time Ian made Toby pretend to cook dinner for his boss while she was trying to work on her art show so she briefly left him and had to lay low at your place until you got tired of that and convinced her to go back? That’s definitely the sort of thing that happens when you have a strong relationship bond! Unlike you and Jeff, who barely speak to one another.

Gil Thorp 4/30/22

Speaking that of things that are good and strong, check out Kaz’s mullet! Truly resplendent. Resplendent and unmoving. Seriously, that swoop is holding at an almost identical angle in both panels one and three, just king of hovering off his neck in the latter. Has he hairsprayed it so vigorously as to render it immobile? Or is the whole thing just an elaborate styrofoam headpiece?

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Pluggers, 4/28/22

One of the most controversial takes I’ve ever unleashed on Twitter is that the Lockhorns are Millennials. Conversely, reporting that pluggers are almost certainly now Gen X makes my 1974-born heart heavy, but I don’t think I’m really going to get any pushback on that, and it’s true that I’m probably among the lower end of the age range that actually had to worry about paying a long distance bill. Speaking of pluggers and phone stuff, a thing that wife and I constantly chuckle about is that her dad moved to a new city a while ago — several years ago, but, you know, well into the era when nobody pays for long distance anymore — and even though he had a perfectly good phone cell phone number, he jumped through all the hoops to get a new number with his new local area code, which strikes me as something that would work for Pluggers, maybe? I don’t really have a punchline here, I’m just pitching a Pluggers idea, which makes sense because I’m Gen X, like, as noted, most pluggers are.

Mary Worth, 4/28/22

Ian Cameron is also probably supposed to be Gen X, but he’s no plugger! He put on a suit and tie to go loom menacingly in the shadowy doorway of his ex’s (?) office (?) like he’s in some German expressionist film because that’s the kind of classy and sophisticated man he is. Are he and Helen going to kiss? I sure hope so! I sure hope he maintains that glowering facial expression throughout the entire process, too!

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Mary Worth, 4/26/22

Oh snap, shocking twist! Young Helen used to be young Ian’s … student? Coworker? It’s honestly not clear to me how old either of them is supposed to be now, or whatever the age that each of them is supposed to be is the same as the age the other one is supposed to be, or if they’re 10 or 20 years apart or what. But the point is that clearly she and Ian have some unfinished emotional business, as hinted at on Sunday. I can’t decide which possibility I like better: that the two of them had a torrid pre-Toby relationship, or if Helen was a student who had an unconsummated crush on Ian and is so upset with Toby now because she can’t stand to see another smitten young person being emotionally toyed with by yet another Professor Cameron.

Also, it’s worth (ha!) noting that Ian and Toby moved into Charterstone relatively recently, by which I mean 42 years ago but also they appeared to be roughly the same ages then that they are now. So I certainly hope that Helen moved across the country from wherever she lived before and got this community college gig specifically for Ian-stalking purposes.

Shoe, 4/26/22

Ha ha, yes, it’s funny because Roz is experiencing significant financial difficulties, but mostly I want to point out that her last name doesn’t appear on either the Shoe (comic) Wikipedia page or her character page on the official Shoe website. Either there’s some real deep lore held securely at MacNellyCo HQ that only the strip’s highly paid team of gag writers are allowed to access, or today’s gag writer just decided to call an audible and BAM! “Roz Specklehen” is canon now! Who says you can’t make your mark in this world?