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Gasoline Alley, 3/24/18

Ha ha! It’s funny because alcoholism is a serious condition that can ruin lives!

Pluggers, 3/24/18

Ha ha! It’s funny because a few European countries used to control much of the world, imposing their political systems and even new names on subject peoples, but that phase of history is over now and pluggers simply don’t care for this new state of affairs!

Mary Worth, 3/24/18

Ha ha! It’s funny because Wilbur and Mary have nobody to hang out with except each other, and they’re each trying to make the other think they’re happy about it!

The Lockhorns, 3/24/18

Ha ha! It’s funny because Leroy’s … dead? I’m pretty sure the implication here is that Leroy’s dead, guys.

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Family Circus, 3/23/18

The image of Jeffy wandering cheerfully around the house, having somehow gotten access to a dangerous implement like a hammer, is of course something you don’t forget, so I was pleased to find justification for the déjà vu I felt seeing today’s Family Circus panel: this is basically just a zoom-in on a panel from six years ago, though I accept that the original art is probably much older than that, dating from an era when it was socially acceptable to just leave blunt instruments lying around the house where your toddlers could find them. Anyway, the 2012 version featured Jeffy offering to “play doctor” with Big Daddy Keane, by which I mean threatening to smash his kneecaps with a hammer; in today’s installment, Jeffy announces that anyone who tries to reduce the volume of his ruckus will get a hammer to the face.

Pluggers, 3/23/18

One of the most dangerous times for any monarchy is when the monarch dies, especially if there’s no clear successor in place, or if the heir to throne is hostile to the old king’s courtiers and advisors. There are at least two famous historical monarchs — Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, and Numerian, a Roman emperor who briefly reigned towards the end of the chaotic third century AD — whose deaths were kept secret for weeks by their ministers until a succession to the throne that suited those ministers’ liking could be arranged, with their royal bodies left to rot unburied in the meantime, which is a thing that occurred to me for no particular reason when I read today’s Pluggers.

Six Chix, 3/23/18

OH NOTHING MUCH JUST A MAN’S FACE TWISTED IN AGONY AS HIS VERY MIND DISSOLVES INTO A CHAOTIC FLOOD OF PURE MATHEMATICS

HE SCREAMS OUT NUMBERS AS HIS PHYSICAL FORM TRANSFORMS INTO ABSTRACT INFORMATION, AND A LADY IS SMILING AND CHATTING ON THE PHONE JUST A FEW FEET AWAY

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Spider-Man, 3/17/18

This Spider-Man storyline hasn’t exactly been covering itself with glory when it comes to even vague gestures towards scientific plausibility, what with the limb regrowth and the blood transfusion musical chairs. And this is of course a strip that routinely refers to spiders — the species at the core of its whole shtick — as insects. Even so, I’m particularly appalled by today’s installment, which appears to imply that Bruce Banner is a reptile. Why, just because the Hulk is green? First of all, not all green life forms are reptiles, or vice versa, and second, Bruce isn’t even green right now, jeez.

Pluggers, 3/17/18

Ha ha, remember that old guy who always refused to buy a cell phone and said “Why would I need to spend the money on one of those things? I’ve got two dimes in my wallet!” Anyway, he’s dead now. He ran out of gas and he died of exposure on the side of the highway.