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Mary Worth, 9/27/06

Well, well, well. We see how little time it takes for the murderous co-conspirators to turn on one another. Shockingly, it’s supposed know-it-all Mary herself who’s deepest in denial. I love the way that the dialogue says “reasoned exchange of views” but the body language says “impending martial arts duel.” I’ve warned Toby about angering Mary before; here the Meddling One looks like she’s going right for the eyes as her first move — a gutsy choice.

Apartment 3-G, 9/27/06

I’m not sure what’s the most important fact to be gleaned from this strip: that Margo never gets drunk at business meetings, or that she always gets drunk on dates.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 9/27/06

Oh, she’ll be stuck at the DMV all day? Someone here finds that pretty hilarious. Rex Morgan: Husband. Father. Doctor. Asshole.

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Mary Worth, 9/25/06

I know I’m no Uncle Lumpy, but, here’s “Aldo’s Blues”, with apologies to W.H. Auden:

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent old bags from meddling with a weighty tome,
Silence the chinbeard and with muffled drum
Bring out the car wreck, let interveners come.

Let Dr. Jeff’s plane circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message “Aldo’s Dead.”
Put crepe bows round old “Ask Wendy’s” booty,
Fire traffic cops for dereliction of duty.

He was our North, our South, our East and West,
Our two-tone week and color Sunday rest,
Our noon, our midnight, our talk, our song;
We thought that Aldomania’d last forever: we were wrong.

The booze is not wanted now; put it all away,
Pack up the Johnny and dump out the Bombay,
Man’s inner life we know to be a mystery;
And if drinking’s involved, his outer life’s history.

How powerful was the grip of Aldomania on the land? Well, I logged on at 8:30 this morning and found not one but two Aldo Kelrast memorial videos uploaded to YouTube. The first is from faithful reader jonnya:

And the second from faithful reader the Angry Black Woman:

I urge you to use the comments thread on this post to work through your very understandable anger and pain. But don’t drink and drive off a cliff, no matter how upset you might be! And please do not use this thread to discuss Toby’s obvious camel toe, as this would be unbecoming to the dignity required in the situation.

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Apartment 3-G, 9/23/06

Ah, Eric Mills, engaging in a little art discussion with Lu Ann! Say, is something looking a little … different about this art impresario and Hat Man since last we saw him?

I know, I know, it’s the coloring mules’ fault, but I prefer one of the following explanations instead:

• Eric Mills realized that he’s got to stay “young” and “hip” if he wants to get involved in the New York avant-garde art scene. Signing Lu Ann and her faux-Victorian fern drawings is a good start, but if he wants anyone in the art world to take him seriously, he’s got to dye his hair blonde. Unfortunately, he’s too cheap to go to a salon and tried to do it with nobody’s help but Miss Clairol, which resulted in that sort of orangey color that really dark hair gets when its been inexpertly dyed.
• Eric Mills is a chameleon shapeshifter. His hair changes color to match the tresses of whatever young lady he’s trying to bed. Today’s strip indicates that Lu Ann and Margo’s fight over him is pointless, as he’s really after Tommie.
• Eric Mills has “mood hair.”

Anyway, Margo is sure not winning any points with her ludicrously petulant behavior. What with her pouting, her bossiness, her demands for attention, and her lack of the sort of social skills that most of us learn in kindergarten — well, she’d better hope that Eric Mills is into four-year-olds. Wait, that came out wrong.

Mary Worth, 9/23-4/06

Now … now see here, people. Aldo is not dead, OK? He … he can’t be dead. I’m sure he’s just … terribly injured. Terribly, terribly, passive-aggressively injured. When the jaws of life pulled his shattered body out of his smashed, smoldering car, I’m sure the first words out of his mouth were “Mary … Worth,” which is why the cops called her. His second words were “Where’s … my … booze?”

Saturday’s strip also offered a revealing look at the home life of Professor and Mrs. Chinbeard. Grading papers, snotty putdowns, bumper sticker quotes, endless hair brushing to avoid getting into bed with that smug bastard … it all goes a long way towards explaining Toby’s emotionally deadened look in Sunday’s final panel.

For Better Or For Worse, 9/24/06

This made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.