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This week’s fine comments of the week in a moment, but first, I have something very special to share with you all, courtesy of faithful reader mon-ma-tron, who designed the Aldomania logo and is part of the braintrust behind Raised by Squirrels. She writes:

The husband and I were at FallCon last weekend, in conjunction with visiting some old friends in St. Paul. There was a gallery section at the show, “Celebrating 60 Wonderful Years” of Wonder Woman. Lots of pinup illustrations from famous and not-so-famous comic book artists.

Including one by Joe Giella. His was one of the few in color (most were black and white), and the ONLY ONE not actually OF WONDER WOMAN.

For those of you who don’t know, Joe Giella, who is 80, had a long career as a comic book artist and inker before taking over the duties of drawing Mary Worth. It’s a not uncommon career trajectory, and when I contemplate an artist in his position, I often wonder to myself, “Is his heart really in it?” Well, mon-ma-tron has offered hard evidence that Joe Giella’s heart is very much in it.

So! Let’s move on, as if the world can ever be the same again after seeing that, and enjoy the COMMENT OF THE WEEK!

“He’s always taking things he’s not supposed to. Like clumps of my hair.” –Joe Blevins

And the runners up! Quite a collection, this week…

“Why is Brad so pissed off? His doughy body is all oiled up like he just rescued a box of terminally ill kittens from a flaming bathhouse on the Lower East Side and he’s holding an ax!” –AeroSquid

“So far the photo shoot in Luann is a little more reserved than I had hoped it would be … Brad’s just grumpy and shirtless. Still, it’s only Monday; hope springs eternal. Maybe by Friday he’ll be naked and really pissed off. Just the way I likes ’em.” –Bribaby

“This whole ragging on an museum exhibition of clocks for two days is just strange. Is Peter Parker some sort of art history purist who objects to the inclusion of decorative arts in museums? He’s probably more disappointed they don’t have an exhibition of televisions.” –steve

“It’s useless to lock Marmaduke out of the house. He’ll just phone for a lock service. Or maybe use the library computers to send for one via the Internet. He’s just that goddamn wacky.” –Muffaroo

“I believe Lu Ann, Tommie, and Ruby are still in the studio. A catfight of epic proportions cannot be far behind. Ruby is going to drop Haley like third-period French.” –boojum

“Pluggers do not move through life. Life does not move through pluggers. Pluggers sit, inert, while confusing and frightening and often nature-violating events occur around their sad man-animal hulks.” –Cranky

“So how did Genesis Corp. hurt Brace’s feelings? ‘We have reviewed your application for Director of Mad Scientists. Although your skills are impressive, we have no available positions for a person of your qualifications because Genesis is a rock band. We wish you success in your continued journey. Sincerely, Phil Collins.'” –Hogenmogen

“The storyline I really want to see now is Alan and Albert Pinkham Ryder ectoplasmically slugging it out over who gets to haunt the studio, before they settle into an after-life Odd Couple arrangement with hijinks.” –lesles

“So the guy has a thing for CLOCKS? Could any affectation be more boring? I say the villain o’ the month here should at least have a name we can have fun with, the snickerability quotient being inversely proportional to the lameness of the villain, a la The Shocker. How bout the Clocksucker? Too subtle?” –Uncle Ritzy Fritz

“Thank heavens that Ian is home. With Mary, all Toby could do was whine on the bench. Now, she has a bosom to cry on. A heaving bosom. A hairy, heaving bosom of arrogance and moral superiority. Scented with Chicago.” –Dingo

“You’re a plugger if you have made no effort whatsoever to keep pace with societal trends and norms, to the extent that you are befuddled and upset by what everyone else correctly regards as the reality of modern life. Oh look, I seem to have inadvertently written a caption for every Pluggers ever.” –Muddtallica

“Comparing Blondie to 1984 is especially apt, as that’s actually the last year a new Blondie strip was written.” –Lithros

“I don’t buy it. ‘I still respect you,’ I mean. Like Ian, or anyone, has ever respected Toby.” –Mac

“Listen up, Herb and Jamaal, if I wanted to see an expressionless round-headed character stare at the reader while thought-ballooning a lame joke awkwardly stretched over two panels with an ellipsis, I already have Garfield.” –Xenocrypt

“Oh brother lady, you don’t know. Sam Driver will keep his shirt on all right. You’d better believe it!” –Saluki

“The good news: A moronic storyline in MW ends! The bad news: A moronic storyline in MW begins.” –Mibbitmaker

“The past few weeks of Judge Parker have been like watching the main character from a 1950s industrial film (‘Vests Are For Everyone’ or ‘The Wonderful World Of Contract Negotiation’ or ‘Understanding Small Dogs’ or whatever) inexplicably starring in a Cinemax After Dark erotic thriller. Nearly every panel is fraught with potential for sexy adventure, but stolid old Sam just sits there in the living room between the hot detective in leather pants and the bikini-clad exotic dancer, wondering what all the fuss is about.” –Trilobite

“Despite the destruction of his jacket, shirt, and quite likely most of the muscle and skin on his forearm, it’s the loss of a perfectly good mustard stain that most upsets Dagwood.” –late2theparty

“So I guess Lisa’s Legacy is that she married a dumbass who waves around a box full of money and then leaves it unattended. My guess is that Funky stole the money as he is planning to use it to buy Les’ teenage daughter.” –Digger

“I can only assume that Maria’s dead, half-eaten lobster will manage to outwit Spider Man before this story arc is complete.” –Naked Bunny with a Whip

“Dr. Jeff is back ! Yay! I can’t wait to see what humiliating position he will be put in this time. I can’t wait to root for him once again to get some balls and stand up for himself, only to be crushed under Mary’s iron, calcium-deficient fist; walk away defiantly, with his arms crossed, standing up to ‘the biddy,’ only to come crawling back, begging, on his knees, like a dog. It’s going to be so wacky!” –Howabominable (aka Lindsey ^_^)

Huge thanks once again to everyone who’s put money in my tip jar! I’ve gotten my thank yous out to everyone who gave during the fundraiser … but some of your addresses bounced back! So if you haven’t heard back from me, that’s why!

Oh, and our advertisers must also get some thank-yous:

• How To Be An Explorer Of The World: From Keri Smith, creator of Wreck This Journal. This colorful, interactive guide invites you to look at the world as if you’ve never seen it before. Suspend your disbelief, complete unusual tasks, and see the inanimate as alive!
• The Truth is Finally Revealed!!! From his bloody campaigns and his great friendships to his erotic affairs, Aias was admired by Alexander the Great as his mentor, true friend, and military hero. Even the women of Greece passionately adored him, but he was mysteriously removed from Alexander’s journal. Why?
• Josh teams up with MST3K alums! Enjoy MST3K-style ribbing of the weepiest Spider-Man ever — with Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, and your very own Comics Curmudgeon!

To find out more about advertising on this site, click here.

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Sorry for the non-comics related metapost here, everybody, but: I’m writing a feature about superstitions IT workers (defined broadly … programmers, sysadmins, architects, tech support, etc.) and their superstitions. I know techies have a reputation for being a rationalist bunch but I’ll bet some of you rub a lucky rabbit’s foot before an OS upgrade or knock wood every time you commit code into Subversion. I’d love to hear about anything slightly irrational that you take to your tech job — charms, muttered incantations, lucky socks, you name it. Feel free to email me at bio@jfruh.com if you’re interested in sharing.

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Hey, everybody! I want to begin this post by paying collective homage to everyone who was kind enough to put some money in my tip jar while I was away, and for Uncle Lumpy and his cast of dozens of rotating banners for urging you to do so. Everyone who contributed will be getting a personal thank-you from me sometime in the next week, but I do want to collectively say thanks now before you all. I also want to thank Uncle Lumpy for just plain being an awesome pinch-hitter, and for making me laugh on multiple occasions when I checked in from my Undisclosed Location.

Anyway, before I get to the CsOTW, I need to approach one strip that I didn’t discuss today, but which held a very special resonance for me.

Luann, 9/6/08

Soooo … remember a ways back when I mentioned that I had been nominated for the Hot Blogger Calendar? Well, thanks the gratuitous ballot-stuffing on your parts that followed, part of my week off involved a bus trip to New York to get my picture taken. I shall say no more now, except to note that I was a lot more into the experience than poor Brad. More information as I get it, but: brace yourselves.

And you know who else was an official Hot Blogger? None other than Sally Forth scribe/Medium Large creator/all-explaining blogger Francesco Marciuliano!

This pic of the two of us was taken the night before the photo shoot. You can barely tell, but those are firemen on the fire escape on the building behind us, peeling big chunks of vinyl siding off of the building that my head is mostly blocking, because it was on fire … as a result of our hotness? Probably!

Anyway, take a moment to calm down and enjoy the comment of the week!

“The Funky-doesn’t-lose-weight plot is one of the most boring things I’ve ever witnessed, and I read Spider-Man.” –Tweeks_Coffee

And the runners up!

“Only a plugger would spend three and a half hours repairing a $9 toaster? I’m no economist, but if he managed to scrape $9 worth of Pop Tart icing from the inside it was probably worth it.” –gh

“Wait a minute! Alan used to be alive?” –Muffaroo-who-brunches

“My name is Margo Magee. You called me ‘li’l lady.’ Prepare to die.” –blueberrygrrrl

“When it came time to break the heartbreaking news to my wife, I tried this: Me – ‘There were some fraudulent charges on one of our credit cards. The bank wiped the charges and will issue us a new card.’ My wife – ‘OK.’ Hopefully this tip will help Toby with her terrible ordeal.” –Worthinator

“Maria! Jameson! For the love of God, DON’T REPRODUCE!!” –Mibbitmaker

“I’m on tenterhooks with Mark Trail. Hopefully the titular hero will show up, punch out blondie, and rescue the poor alligator.” –Bribaby

“And the lesson of the day is ‘There is a right place and a wrong place for heels.’ Take it to heart while Mr. Alligator does his part for our gene pool.” –Artist formerly known as Ben

“I’m thrilled that Toby deals with her fear of Ian being angry because she hid her credit card problem by hiding her credit card problem.” –Lithros

“Jeeze, look at Ian stomping his paunchy ass away there. He looks like Marlon Brando chasing a wheelbarrow full of Big Macs.” –jake!

“‘But the inch-long youngsters, once they hatch, have no family loyalty.’ Hey, Jack Elrod’s kids! Would it kill ya to call your old man once in a while?” –gleeb

“Pardon My Planet = Pluggers for Hipsters.” –Beatrice

“…the best thing about this strip is the Crimestopper’s Textbook panel, in which some weepy stocky kid has found where the sidewalk ends.” –commodorejohn

And let’s give it up for our advertisers, who are the very hottest.

• The Truth is Finally Revealed!!! From his bloody campaigns and his great friendships to his erotic affairs, Aias was admired by Alexander the Great as his mentor, true friend, and military hero. Even the women of Greece passionately adored him, but he was mysteriously removed from Alexander’s journal. Why?
• Josh teams up with MST3K alums! Enjoy MST3K-style ribbing of the weepiest Spider-Man ever — with Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, and your very own Comics Curmudgeon!

To find out more about advertising on this site, click here.