The Comics Curmudgeon

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Archive: Shoe

130

Monday is for the birds

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Alice, 12/22/25

One of the distinctive features of Alice comics is the little … title? caption? … that goes in the bottom margin. Usually it just sort of adds to the vibe, but sometimes it’s important for the narrative. For instance, real Alice fans (which I assume include all of you) know that just a few weeks ago she was declaring that new cars don’t need “all that stuff,” and it’s making them too expensive. So you’d be tempted to angrily declare “Alice! I can’t believe you’re backsliding on all the features new cars have!” except then you look down at the bottom of the panel and see the word “backsliding,” so you know she’s being self-aware about it.

Shoe, 12/22/25

Speaking of real fans, real Shoe fans instantly recognize “Madame Zoo Doo,” the strip’s resident psychic, just from her character design. I personally don’t think it’s realistic that she’d bring her crystal ball with her to lunch at Roz’s diner. It’s not necessary and frankly a little insulting to think that we wouldn’t recognize her without it. I demand that my relationship with this syndicated newspaper comic about depressed bird-people be grounded in mutual respect!

Mary Worth, 12/22/25

Wait, is Toby changing her plans because she wants to spend more time with Sunny, and she can’t at her friend’s opening? Because “A semi-professional art gallery in a small California college town has a strict no-birds policy” is actually one of the less realistic propositions Mary Worth has ever offered us.

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Friday is for birds (non-Toby edition)

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Pickles, 11/28/25

“Ha ha, I sure hate my mother-in-law!” is of course a time-honored bit for hack humorists everywhere, so naturally it has repeatedly found its way into the comics over the years. I guess I have to respect Pickles for leaning into its setting (a household made up of old people) and doing a version that’s “Ha ha, I sure hated my mother-in-law! She’s dead now.”

Andy Capp, 11/28/25

I personally am a little miffed that we’re only hearing about this incident second-hand. Wouldn’t you love a strip where we see Andy wandering around the pub with a mangy old pigeon in his hands, thrusting it at various drunks demanding they give him enough for it so he can buy one more pint? I’d accept either a version where’s he’s maudlin and pathetic about it or one where he’s really belligerent. Neither scenario would be “funny” per se, but neither would be less funny than what we have here, so why not go for it.

Shoe, 11/28/25

No! No!! You can’t just start acknowledging that your characters are all bird people and then show them feasting on eggs! This is a nightmare!

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Thanksgiving horrors

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Shoe, 11/27/25

Well, I guess we just live in a world now where the Shoe bird-men will acknowledge without shame that they are in fact bird-men. Kind of insensitive to do a joke about turkeys today of all days, though. “…I would’ve hired a turkey! Of course, it would be hard to find one. Most are being dismembered right now and the rest are in hiding.”

Hi and Lois, 11/27/25

The second best thing about this panel is that everyone looks pleased about the Thurstons joining the Flagstons’ Thanksgiving dinner except Hi, who honestly seems pretty put out that he’s going to be spending the day with his ostensible best friend. The best thing is that, alone out of the family, Dot has clocked Hi’s expression, and is learning some stuff about the emotionally complex world of adulthood.

Barney Google and Snuff Smith, 11/27/25

Hey, guys, did you know that the Smifs are into age play? I personally am not thankful to have learned this. Not thankful at all!