Post Content

Mary Worth, 8/27/04

Much, MUCH more alarming that subtle changes in Rex Morgan, M.D.’s artwork is the presence of this freakish she-man in Mary Worth. The deliberate cultivation of gender ambiguity as an expression of one’s innermost self or as a cultural critique is one thing, but I think this is just some seriously crappy drawing. The diagonal folds towards the beltline of that too-small tank top made me think that it was actually a woman’s leotard at first (and there’s a challenge to all you Photoshoppers out there if I ever heard one).

I’m assuming that this individual is the ne’er-do-well son of the object of Wilbur’s affections. Actually, now that I look at him more, I have to say that he most resembles what He-Man (a cartoon figure with his own set of fascinating gender issues) would look like if he stopped using steroids.

I have to say that I’m really “digging” his mental use of hip drug lingo. Now that I’m back, I urge any Mary Worth-ites out there to take up my challenge and summarize the series of fascinating events that brought us here, or to the present moment in any of the soap opera strips. I’ve got a couple entries already, but I’ll wait a day or two before posting them to give others time to play along.

Post Content

Mary Worth, 8/7/04

Hey, kids! Remember nearly four weeks ago, when Wilbur was about to ask out lovely widow Iris? Been wondering what’s happened in the month since then? While no doubt entire relationships have come and gone since then in the real world, in Mary Worth, we’ve had exactly one extremely long and tedious first date (if you can call it a date when you bring your college-age daughter along). At this rate, Wilbur and Irma might actually get busy sometime in 2009.

Anyway, just thought I’d keep you posted, in the spirit of the title of this blog. Also, I’d like to point out the loving detail that the artist has put into the hair that coats the back of Wilbur’s hand and peeks out at the top of his chest — as well as the three lonely strands that are lovingly combed across the top of his head. I think you’re counting your chickens before they’re hatched, there, Wilbur.

Post Content

Mary Worth, 7/12/04

This strip contains what may be the first use of the phrase “Wilbur makes an overture” in the history of the English language. I can’t stop reading Mary Worth, just like I can’t stop looking at a train wreck. The petty shenanigans of its plotlines, combined with its glacial pace, mark it out from the other soap opera strips. I remember an unpleasant dinner party that once lasted six weeks.

This storyline is still in its embryonic stages. Surely a monkey wrench will be thrown into this budding romance, or this plot will be even duller than time that the 12-year-old kid let the air out of the slightly cranky professor’s tires.