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Family Circus, 1/27/26

Look, we’re pretty mean to Jeffy on this website, and for obvious reasons: he’s pretty stupid, he’s very annoying, etc. Sometimes, though, we lose sight of the fact that he’s three years old, and those are in fact qualities that most three-year-olds share, so maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on him. On the other hand, he’s extremely smug. Look at that face! What have you got to be so proud of, kid? The finger thing? It doesn’t even make sense. It’s just not something you should feel good about saying. We definitely don’t feel good about hearing it.

Mary Worth, 1/27/26

Oh wow. That “go on” says volumes. This whole parrot business has been an excuse to force Ian into a struggle session about his many shortcomings. Additional parrots will be introduced into the situation until Ian’s mind is completely shattered and Toby can begin the long process of building him back up as someone who’s vaguely bearable to live with.

Blondie, 1/27/26

“I routinely suffer physical abuse that no worker should be forced to bear in a free society! Don’t you read this strip?”

Curtis, 1/27/26

That’s right, Curtis! You’ve killed your beloved! Now you must live with the guilt and shame … forever.

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Mary Worth, 1/19/26

Last week, the main conflict of this Toby storyline — “Toby got a bird and Ian hated it” — was resolved as Ian submitted to Sunny’s charms. Now we can move on to the next storyli–wait, what’s this? Another bird has arrived? Bird number two? The bird drama continues, with two birds instead of one? This is an intriguing development! Will each new bird have to save Ian’s life in turn in order to be accepted into the flock?

Judge Parker, 1/19/26

Oh, hey, remember Randy’s long-lost sister Ann, who showed up in everyone’s lives again not that long ago only to eventually get sent to jail? Well, it looks like she’s once again reappeared in dramatic fashi–hold on, I’ve just read panel two, and it turns out that the fashion of her reappearance is not as dramatic as all that. Ah, well! Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Hi and Lois, 1/19/26

I’m really digging the dramatic change in Hi’s facial expressions between the two panels here. “Oh man, this is great! Wait, I’m supposed to be sober for whatever this is? Absolutely not.”

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Mary Worth, 1/18/26

Good news, everyone! Ian didn’t become some soft-hearted sap just because a parrot saved his life or whatever. No, he recognized that this destructive bird was also intelligent, which meant that his behavior could be molded and guided by someone clever and patient enough. That’s why Ian is showing Sunny Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds: he’s planting the “seeds” (get it?) so Sunny will eventually unleash his violent impulses on an outside world that never fully appreciated Ian’s genius, and hopefully recruit his bird friends along the way.

Dennis the Menace, 1/18/26

One of my several comics pet peeves is when strips don’t make use of the full set of space allotted them on Sundays to do something interesting and special. Margaret going to town on the ivories and Dennis standing nearby saying “She puts the no in piano” would be a perfectly serviceable daily panel. But this is a punchline that does not benefit from six panels of setup, and showing Dennis doing a passive-aggressive “Let me check my schedule” bit does not in any way add to it.

Herb and Jamaal, 1/18/26

I stand with Jamaal here. You wouldn’t question Dagwood Bumstead’s sandwich consumption, would you? What is the point of being a comics character, if you cannot devour foodstuffs in comical quantities and qualities?