Post Content

Pluggers, 4/23/07

Not much of interest to say about today’s Pluggers, except that “Greg Harruff” is actually faithful Comics Curmudgeon reader gh, who, having seen this feature many times on this blog, realized that the easiest way to get his submission accepted would be to go down the oft-trod “Pluggers are obese” route.

Greg wrote me to say that the Chief Plugger never responded to his submission, which he sent in six weeks ago or so, and that he only found out it had been accepted when he saw it live and in the ink today. Greg also requested that the thanks go to his pseudonym of “GH”, which request was, as you can see, not honored. This, I have to say, is Not Classy. You might think based on the content of TDIET that Al Scaduto is tightly wound ball of hate-filled rage, but in fact he sends a cheery and gentlemanly response to everyone who submits ideas to him, whether he uses them or not; and if he does make a cartoon out of your submission, he’ll send you a copy of it, and he’s happy to credit it to “No Name Please” or “Many Husbands Across the U.S.A.” or (as in today’s) “Fed-Up Wifey” if that’s what you want. I guess pluggers are simple folk who just don’t expect to be treated with an ounce of consideration.

Apartment 3-G, 4/23/07

The Apartment 3-G Lu Ann storyline continues to be deathly dull, and this is about the fourth iteration of essentially this girl-ghost confrontation, but I just had a brainstorm this morning when I read it: what if “Albert Pinkham Ryder” is actually Eric Mills in an elaborate disguise? (Not that it would have to be particularly elaborate to fool Lu Ann.) It would explain his mysterious absences, and we’ve already seen that he has some horribly misguided belief in Lu Ann’s artistic talent; presumably he’s trying to generate more revenue for himself as her impresario by forcing her to churn more mediocre fern paintings out. It’s possibly the most moronic and inefficient use of his time to get rich that I can think of, but he also apparently believes that he can toy with Margo’s affections (among other things) without ending up eviscerated by her razor-sharp claws, so he’s clearly not very bright.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 4/23/07

Boy, for a while there Rex Morgan was all about plane crashes and rescue squads and corporate intrigue and family drama. Thank God we’ve moved on to something really exciting.

Slylock Fox, 4/23/07

Oh, goody! Let’s have a double date! We’ll nestle on the couch by the fire, drinking hot tea and eating cookies. We can look at Slylock’s collection of antique clocks and car-shaped trophies (he’s so proud of the one he won for FIRST), and we can have ever so much fun challenging each other with brain teasers! Then, after about an hour of that, the orgy will start.

Post Content

Rex Morgan, M.D., 4/20/07

Uh oh, it looks like June and Pete’s plan to take advantage of a man’s death and seize control of a multi-billion dollar corporation has hit a snag: Rex’s sense of right and wrong, by which we of course mean Rex’s petulant refusal to do what his wife tells him to. I note that June skips quickly from the “we need to help our dear friend in her hour of need” angle to the “insider stock price manipulation” angle.

Ziggy, 4/20/07

Yes, every day our once free nation becomes more and more of a police state by degrees, and who notices? Only Ziggy, apparently. If only more people cared about free speech and civil liberties. And about Ziggy.

The Lockhorns, 4/20/07

When I first saw this caption, I read “antidepressant” instead of “antiperspirant.” Frankly, I like my version much better.

Post Content

Apartment 3-G, 4/18/07

I am desperate to know more about Margo’s assistant Sam, and not just because I can live out through him my longstanding fantasy of scrambling to carry out Margo’s imperious orders. Look at that wide-eyed wonder in panel two: “Ladies in New York get married? GAWRSH!” I think Margo just stood outside the Port Authority bus station one day, waiting for someone attractive and not-too-bright to step off a Greyhound with small town hopes and big city dreams, and hired him on the spot before he learned the details of typical New York pay scales. However, his cynical look of disbelief at the word “love” in panel three indicates that New York is already wearing down his soul.

For Better Or For Worse, 4/18/07

There’s always an ongoing struggle for the coveted title of “Unintentionally Creepiest FBOFW Character,” but Deanna is making a good bid for it today, with her near-orgasmic musings on replicating her in-laws’ family in photo-perfect detail. This of course is someone whose greatest act of initiative was to get pregnant “accidentally” by “forgetting” to take her birth control pills, which Elly probably bribed her to do somehow. Maybe the house itself is the promised reward.

On the other hand, as several commentors have pointed out, the ravine that she’s waxing about so rhapsodically is the same one where April notoriously almost drowned, with only noble Farley saving her from a watery death. Since the junior Pattersons don’t own any skilled rescue beasts, perhaps Deanna is hoping that a couple quick drownings, Mike’s subsequent suicide, and a sale at market rates of a house they bought at a steep family discount add up to her ticket to sweet, sweet freedom.

Gil Thorp, 4/18/07

Ah ha! See, “Mr. Rickey” is Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager who famously helped break baseball’s color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson (whose major league career started sixty years ago this week). I’m telling you, this amiable old black man is going to explain to these young white people how Jackie Robinson blazed a trail of opportunity for them.

Judge Parker, 4/18/07

We’ve all been assuming that this mysterious figure is Canadian Cedric the Super Butler, though he appears to not be wearing Cedric’s trademark glasses, so who knows. As a commentor or two pointed out, the shadowy stranger’s use of the word “scum” echoes Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate in this coming weekend’s French presidential election, who famously and controversially used the term to describe rioting youths in Paris’ poor suburbs when he was Interior Minister in 2005. Perhaps Sarko is wearying of the hand shaking and baby kissing and has decided to embark on a little side campaign of his own … a campaign of vigilante justice. Since his intervention will deny Judge Parker readers the opportunity to see Neddy and Abbey sexily fight off their attackers with lead pipes and flamethrowers, this will just give Americans another reason to hate France once he’s elected.

Incidentally, the fact that Cedric/Sarkozy/whoever hears the punks speaking English indicates that the English we’ve been seeing in the word balloons isn’t just a translation of the execrable French for our benefits: they’re actually switching back and forth between English and execrable French. Hee.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 4/18/07

OK, Rex Morgan, we all know that it’s fun to look at June’s breasts, but there’s a little something called “subtlety.” I mean, Jesus.

By the way, if I were Heather, I wouldn’t be all that heartened by the magical thinking of a preschooler with a hideously misshapen head. Now, if Abbey the Wonderdog had barked her vote of confidence at me, I’d feel reassured.

The Lockhorns, 4/18/07

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here. Was Leroy attempting to hold out on Loretta by squirreling away a portion of his meager paycheck for his own use? Is Loretta upset that he would cut their already cramped budget down further? It’s hard to tell whose moment of triumph this is supposed to be because they look so damn depressed. Because in the Lockhorns, nobody ever wins.