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Funky Winkerbean, 3/1/21

What’s the worst thing going on here? Is it that Les thinks it makes him sound sympathetic when he says his first reaction to his wife’s cancer diagnosis was to become the smartest cancer knower that ever lived, rather than attempting to comfort her or whatever? Is it that Les made a joke about Dick Tracy “investigating” things, even though as readers of this blog well know, Dick rarely does any real detailed research and mostly just shoots at weirdos? Is it that this lady thinks that Dick Tracy is some obscure comics character known only to trufans and obsessives, rather than one of the most famous comic strip characters in the world? Is it that, right or wrong about that, she thinks that shouting “Got the reference!” at this reading of a sad cancer book will make her sympathetic? WRONG, TRICK QUESTION: the real answer is that the worst thing going on here is that Les is still, years and years after his wife’s death, doing endless publicity tours for his book about her illness, rather than writing another book or spending time with his daughter and his current wife or, like, doing literally anything else. Anyway, he and “Got the reference!” lady will definitely be having an affair by the end of the week.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 3/1/21

Oh, did you think we were done with Buck? You fool. You idiot. You sweet summer child. This plotline is going to consist of some very mild failure to adhere to diabetes protocols, some very swift compliance to said protocols in response to extremely minimal consequences to said failure to adhere, and endless, endless praises. All hail Buck! It’s good that your numbers look like that, Buck. Let’s all hear it for Buck!

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Rex Morgan, M.D., 2/26/21

“Say,” you’re almost certainly wondering, “What’s going on with Rex Morgan’s True Tales Of The Newly Diabetic Lifestyle?” What’s going on is that Mindy made a diabetic-friendly breakfast of delicious frittatas and Buck has declared that he will never, ever deviate from the program again. So everything’s fine! Everyone’s happy and well adjusted! So happy and well adjusted that Mindy completely bites the head off of her stepson for making an extremely mild joke about diabetes. Welp, I guess there’s no underlying emotional issues at play here and we can move on to whatever storyline is next in this strip! Enjoy your healthy frittatas, everyone.

Marvin, 2/26/21

I have zero interest in engaging in the actual content of this strip, but I do want to say that Jeff staring heavy-lidded at his laptop, numb to the world around him, as if hypnotized by the steady tap-tap-tap of his own fingers on the keys, is something that I find distressingly relatable.

Dennis the Menace, 2/26/21

Look how pleased Alice looks! Dennis has finally mastered the concept of metaphors, which means she and Henry can finally talk shit about their friends in front of him without him unknowingly repeating their shit-talk and making social encounters awkward! Unless … he’s known how metaphors work all this time, and is actually just an asshole? More on this story as it develops.

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Family Circus, 2/19/21

I’m not too proud to admit that I’m extremely terrified of my brain slowly (or perhaps not so slowly) dulling as I age, and so when I’m confronted with something like today’s Family Circus, which like all Family Ciruses seems simple enough but which today I nevertheless cannot quite parse — well, I start to worry. Like, Jeffy’s “too” implies that he’s reacting to something, but what exactly? Ma Keane telling him that she can’t carry him because she’s tired? But the “nobody is carrying ME” part would only make sense if someone was carrying her. Does he want to be carried like the boxes from her shopping trip? Does … does Jeffy think the boxes are tired? Anyway, all that aside, you know I enjoy a good Jeffy meltdown, and I like the composition of the panel, with Jeffy kind of hidden from the hustle and bustle of the street by this wall. Nobody can see him, Thel. You could just start walking away, and then keep walking. Nobody would ever know. Nobody would ever know.

[UPDATE: ah ha yes Thel is the one delivering the line, actually, the puddingification of my brain is proceeding apace]

Rex Morgan, M.D., 2/19/21

So after Buck binged on fast food and had to do some mild exercise to fix his blood sugar, and then he got very mildly and passive-aggressively sassed by his nutritionist, he seems to have resigned himself to his fate. And, look, I slag on Buck a lot here, because I consider him unlikeable and irritating, but that said I find his current predicament extremely relatable! I don’t have a great diet and I like greasy fried food in (what I tell myself is) moderation, and so I truly feel the pathos in his facial expression in panel one as he contemplates what might constitute a “tasty diabetic-friendly chicken recipe” and whether a swift death as he rides the high of an insulin spike would be preferable.