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Spider-Man, 9/27/16

Using Spider-Man as a lens through which to satirize the contemporary media landscape is one of my running jokes that I am reasonably sure is primarily for my own enjoyment, though, you know, if I’m wrong, please contact me about doing a J. Jonah Jameson-centered Marvel Cinematic Universe Netflix series called Bugle! Anyway, one strand of said show would involve Spider-Man’s awkward position in being both a superhero and someone who profits from the public’s hunger for superhero-themed content. And just as news outlets’ coverage decisions are more and more influenced by web traffic and Facebook sharing behavior, what’s to say Spider-Man won’t start engaging in clickbait superheroics? If he determines that, say, photos of Spidey battling Doc Ock get more pageviews than photos of him sparring with the Shocker, will he allows the latter to commit crimes unmolested? Will his dignity allow him to follow through on the implications of the viral success of Buzzfeed’s “Top 10 Spider-Fail GIFs We Can’t Stop Laughing At”? The thing that, in the long run, will save him from falling into this trap is probably his total incompetence as a journalist; he can’t even figure out that hiding a tiny point-and-shoot camera in a tree forty feet away from the house where he’s about to confront a not terribly photogenic opponent is a bad idea, so presumably he’s completely incapable of getting useful data out of the Daily Bugle’s Chartbeat analytics dashboard.

Blondie, 9/27/16

Elmo is, in his quiet way, the most unsettling character in Blondie: an elementary-school-age child who seems to have few friends and no family and just hangs out a lot at the home of an adult non-relative. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but for me today’s revelation that Elmo also apparently spends time with Dagwood’s next door neighbor and best friend definitely makes things substantially weirder.

Dick Tracy, 9/27/16

Let’s give a big shoutout to the Colvard Institute, D.C.’s #1 think-tank for providing anti-extraterrestrial talking points to elected officials on both sides of the aisle! I certainly hope that, after they had their summer intern multiply two times three and get six and then multiply six by three thirteen times, they decided that was the equivalent at least ten billable hours.

Beetle Bailey, 9/27/16

I gotta say, if you had asked me what Beetle Bailey character was running an underground pharmaceutical ring, I would’ve guess Cosmo, or maybe Killer. Plato wouldn’t have even been on my list of suspects!

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Beetle Bailey, 9/25/16

“Beetle and/or Sarge and/or sometimes one of the other characters dangle helplessly from a tree branch protruding from a cliff” is a common trope in Beetle Bailey, but to my knowledge we’ve never seen what happens before those hilarious hijinks … until now! Apparently they trip over a rock. Or “the rock.” There’s just the one, so well known that it can be used as a landmark. You’d think they’d be better about not tripping over it, to be honest.

Mark Trail, 9/25/16

Look, Woods and Wildlife Magazine has to boost circulation, and they’re going to do it the only way they know how: by upping their Swimsuit Issue to three times a year. If you know a better way to get people to renew than to have Mark and Cherry pose sexily while keeping you up to date on important nature facts about, uh, sand or whatever, let’s hear it.

Spider-Man, 9/25/16

Peter’s married now and long out of the dating game, but it’s great to see he hasn’t forgotten classics like the old “Ooops, I ‘forgot’ my wallet” maneuver!

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Rex Morgan, M.D., 9/16/16

Wait whoops it looks like I personally haven’t talked about Rex Morgan, M.D., on this site since July? Maybe it’s because it’s honestly been kind of dull; artist Terry Beatty, having taken over the writing duties, seems to be quickly wrapping up some storylines (as covered by Uncle Lumpy) while the new ones haven’t quite gotten into gear and/or been ludicrous enough for me to feature here. That changes today though, as Rex is gravely concerned by some extremely mild flirting between Nurse Carter and Jordan The Avery Family’s Manservant, for obvious reasons. (The reasons are that Rex finds genuine human emotional connection repugnant and doesn’t like it when other people “ram it down his throat.”)

Spider-Man, 9/16/16

Be careful, Jonah! Sure, it may seem like helping Ant-Man is your shortcut to seizing back control of your beloved Daily Bugle, but just think: if you do this, you’ll help set a precedent that it’s somehow “wrong” for the publisher of a major daily newspaper to kidnap or otherwise harm a superhero! This would be a grievous blow against our nation’s sacred First Amendment, as well as several of your active vendettas.

Funky Winkerbean, 9/16/16

We make fun of the gloom of the Funkyverse around here, but I think it’s worth pointing out that the actual conflicts in the strip tend to be not amongst the actual main cast, but against unstoppable, impersonal forces like “cancer” or “the war,” or strawman outsiders or designated villainous recurring characters like Becky’s mom; our heroes generally have a sort of we’re-all-in-it-together solidarity. But now, Comic Book John, a long-standing “good” character, has pieced together the plot of Starbuck Jones from publicity stills and posted it to the internet, which interferes with the publicity plans of the creators of the movie, some of whom are also long-standing “good” characters. I am very excited for the new, Hobbsean phase of Funky Winkerbean, the war of all against all, in which the misery will be flying fast and furious from all sides, dished out and suffered in equal measure.