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Rex Morgan, M.D., 3/2/18

You know, occasionally I like to remember that before Kelly was a bland nice girl who wore boring normie clothes accessorized with pieces from the Hillary Clinton Hairband Collection circa 1993, she was a scantily clad bad-ass goth delinquent who sassed her mom and dated a 25-year-old with a mohawk named “Spider.” She’s reformed now, of course, but every once in a while we see her old nature peeking out, like today when she acknowledges that Justin is her boyfriend’s best friend, but, like, why does he have to hang around with us all the time? Especially given that scene he made at lunch — reminding us that we’re all biological human bodies and someday, maybe someday soon, we’re going to sicken and die! I don’t care how much you like him, I don’t wanna think about that! No thanks, buddy!

Dick Tracy, 3/2/18

[Fifteen hours later] “OK, I’m giving him twelve more hours, and that’s it.”

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Shoe, 3/1/18

I can imagine a couple possible genesises (geneses?) for this strip that are vaguely interesting as backstory. For example, this could be an instance of a huffy “look what these DEGENERATE LIBERALS are teaching OUR INNOCENT CHILDREN in GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.” On the other hand, the fact that Shoe is full of bird-people might mean that the “polly”-“parrot” joke is meant to be understood in that context, and this is a shoutout to Shoe’s hardcore base of bird-o-sexual perverts who will be pleasuring themselves tonight to a vision of getting double-teamed by two brightly colored birds who can mimic human speech, including erotic talk.

Sadly, though, my actual assumption is that this strip has the exact same origin story as every other Shoe strip with the loose structure of “a teacher asks Skyler a question that he responds to ‘humorously’”: it’s an excuse to shoehorn in a joke or a bit of wordplay someone thought up, or maybe heard from somewhere else, and that’s it. Skyler’s expression of profound self-loathing in panel three is a chilling reminder of how everyone involved in the production of this strip feels about it, and themselves.

Mary Worth, 3/1/18

Mary Worth is of course a master of the fine points of etiquette, so I guess roast chicken is the official meal for letting your boyfriend know his friend tried to rape you!

Pluggers, 3/1/18

Pluggers’ bodies are breaking down so gradually that, when they do eventually die, it’s gonna take a while for anyone to notice.

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Mark Trail, 2/28/18

Because I am an effete city boy, only child, and inside cat, I’ve never actually broken a bone. But you know what? From all reports I’ve heard, it hurts, a lot! Like, you generally have to go to the hospital to get it dealt with and everything. So I’m going to just say for the record here that if any of my bones are broken — even if it’s just a few of them — feel free to speak of it. Go ahead, tell people, “Josh suffered some broken bones, and he’s in a lot of pain and really didn’t like it. He’s not gonna die but he’s unhappy about it. Why don’t you stop by and see him, maybe sign his cast? It’ll really cheer him up!” Anyway, right in between panels one and two is when the acid Mark and Cherry took kicks in, I guess.

Beetle Bailey, 2/28/18

This is pretty heart-rending, what with Sarge’s own dog disavowing him and his fellow soldiers scowling at him with withering contempt, but you also have to remember that Sarge routinely violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice by dishing out violent and arbitrary punishments to subordinates, so don’t feel too bad for him.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 2/28/18

“I’ve always wanted to barf up some latte and biscotti onto a coffeehouse floor and then just walk away and leave it for someone else to clean up. I’ll be there!”