Archive: Pluggers

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Blondie, 6/20/25

Imagine how much funnier this strip would be if Blondie had spent any of the past 90 years or so developing the characters and backstories of Dagwood’s coworkers. Instead, we’re left staring blankly at the antics of the guy who apparently thinks he’s fat, doesn’t-want-to-be-upside-down guy, and Garfield lady, DithersCo’s #1 Garf superfan. Honestly the most intriguing person to me is the guy Dagwood runs into in the elevator, who is absolutely seething at the idea of an office having “funny t-shirt day,” a proposal that is simply wildly out of step with the current sociopolitical climate. How dare they!

Mother Goose and Grimm, 6/20/25

Look, I get that when you have comics with dogs in them, you’re gonna do some jokes where the punchline is “a fire hydrant or a tree is for them what a toilet is for us!” and that’s fine. But please, I’m begging you to fully think through that metaphor when you do strips like this. Would you draw a person lurking in a room of giant toilets thinking “I’ve died and gone to heaven!”, the message clearly being that they love pissing? Of course you wouldn’t. They’d put you on a list and they’d be right to do it.

Pluggers, 6/20/25

It’s very distressing to me that this plugger is wandering around outside, with no visible houses or any other kind of structures to be seen. If he were in his living room, I would be like, “Ha, pluggers do be losing track of stuff! Relatable!” But as it is, I feel like we need to issue a Silver Alert post-haste.

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Pluggers, 6/18/25

“Wrongo!” my brain basically shouted at me the moment I read this panel. “Pluggers would not shop at Trader Joe’s, which is for young, hip urbanites! They would obviously choose Aldi’s side in the Brothers War!” But upon reflection, I’m not actually sure if that’s true. Trader Joe’s is a relatively cheap grocery store with whimsical decor. Sure, lots of people my age like it, but, let’s be real: I am beginning my sixth decade on this planet and that is prime plugger age. Many pluggers probably enjoy their various products! Certainly the ones in California! One must learn to adjust one’s knee-jerk opinions in the face of evidence, lest one become a plugger oneself.

Marvin, 6/18/25

It honestly would be pretty bleak if the “I [HEART] DADDY” mug that Jeff is drinking out of had actually been picked out for him by the son that he’s currently in the process of demonstrating his boundless contempt for. Fortunately, Marvin actually fully reciprocates this loathing; the mug was no doubt purchased by Jenny — not, sadly, as a sex thing, but rather in a last-ditch attempt to forge a bond between her husband and her son, neither of whom she feels particularly warmly towards herself.

The Lockhorns, 6/18/25

Aw, man, Leroy looks kind of sad here. He was honestly looking forward to getting all elaborately dressed up, burning some steaks, and then serving them up drenched in hard liquor for him and Loretta to eat outside together. But I guess yet another attempt to have a good time with his wife has failed to live up to her standards.

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Pluggers, 6/10/25

Pluggers already did a version of this bit in 2007, only back then the joke was “When a plugger gives you directions, all the landmarks he uses will be stores that long ago went out of business, because his mental map of the world stopped changing at some point as he aged.” Now it’s “Wouldn’t it be cool if your phone, possibly using some kind of advanced AI, gave you directions using long-closed stores as landmarks so as to better match your mental map of the world, which stopped changing at some point as you aged?” This is, I think you’ll agree, significantly more depressing.

Blondie, 6/10/25

Speaking of old people and technology, I appreciate Blondie’s ongoing mission of educating us on how old people use technology. You ever log into a website with two-factor authentication turned on, and it asks you if you want to receive your access code as a text or a phone call, and you think to yourself, “A text, obviously, who on earth would ever choose phone call, that sounds terrible”? Well, it turns out that the ones choosing “phone call” are the writers and, presumably, the readers of the syndicated newspaper comic strip Blondie.

Mary Worth, 6/10/25

I guess it’s only Tuesday so there’s probably a bit more to come but I do love that Wilbur and Dawn are just speed-running their way to pretending the Belle Episode never happened and pushing all the associated emotions they might have about it deep down inside. Are we going to unpack what “someone like Belle” means in this context? Nope! Are we gonna acknowledge that Belle’s brother was just Tall Wilbur? Absolutely not! La la la everything is fine just fine in Westonworld, just as it always has been, aside for a few minor bumps we don’t think about, ever!

Herb and Jamaal, 6/10/25

“That’s an interesting philosophical take, Herb, and I appreciate it! So, uh, are you going to help me … operate this restaurant that we both own, or are you just going to spend the rest of the day doing this conceptual art project or whatever it is?”