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Dick Tracy, 10/16/15

Wait, what? Beloved Dick Tracy sidekick Sam Catchem is suddenly a crazy-eyed, murderous dirty cop now, for values of “murderous” and “dirty” outside even the Tracyverse’s rather expansive ideas of police power? This is a guy who Dick spends Hanukkah with, so he’s gonna feel extra betrayed. Unless … normally Sam wears leprechaun green, but today he’s wearing a purple version of his usual outfit, which could mean this is an “evil twin” situation, or that the colorists just forgot. Sam was impersonated by Putty Puss in the ’80s, and Putty Puss showed up in Current Iteration Dick Tracy back in 2011, but I can’t remember if they caught him or not. Anyway, clearly I am hoping that Things Are Not What They Seem, because as a representative of the Chosen People it would greatly sadden me if yet another comic strip gave in to the stereotype that Jews are all freckled, bowler-hat-wearing policemen working on the side as mob enforcers.

Gasoline Alley, 10/16/15

Oh, good, Skeezix’s stove problem has been fixed by Walt Wallet, a senile World War I veteran. This strip has long faced the difficulty of aging its cast in real-time even though they’ve been in newspapers since the Harding administration, so I commend its creative team for deciding that, instead of having each die in turn of old age, they’re just going to wipe them all out at once in an enormous gas explosion.

Apartment 3-G, 10/16/15

Little-known fact: your thyroid is where your body stores your anxiety about your parents’ relationship. That’s its main function. Think twice about arguing in front of your children, if you care about their glandular health.

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Gil Thorp, 10/15/15

This Milford Reality Show storyline has so far managed to avoid the Gil’s Wife Vs. Gil’s Kind Of Famous Ex Who Has Returned To The High School Where Gil And His Wife Work To Film A Reality Show drama that any actual reality show would be leaning on pretty hard. Mimi is helping project a united Thorpian front of disdain for the whole project — but at night, while Gil’s asleep, she’s doing some secret viewing! Is she just unable to turn away from the raw drama that she knows will be at the heart of Welcome Back Carter? Or is she merely using her DVR to follow that ancient dictate of Sun Tzu: know your enemy? (I’m assuming this is DVR’d. Otherwise this seems like a lot of to-do for a show that’s being broadcast at 2 a.m.)

Crankshaft, 10/15/15

I like the contrast between the mayor’s look of steely determination in panel two, as if he’d just displayed Strong Leadership, with the pathetic results in panel three. We’re learning that the mayor isn’t necessarily evil or neglectful; it’s just that there’s only so much power an elected politician has against the intractable bureaucrats of the Deep State. Perhaps this storyline will end with Ralph being elected, only to discover the essential futility of attempting to bring about change through electoral politics. This is the grimmest possible ending for this plot, which, seeing as this is the Funkyverse, makes me suspect it’s what we’re going to get.

Blondie, 10/15/15

Look, Dithers, he’s trying to give you plausible deniability here. What sort of evil boss are you that you can’t take a hint?

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Mary Worth, 10/14/15

Oh, poop, it looks like this whole week is just going to be Toby and Ian apologizing to each other and reaffirming the majesty of their love. Bummer! At least we get a good closeup on Ian in panel one so we can see his various textures. The thick matt of arm hair poking out from the ends of his sleeves; the undulating chinbeard hair; the bristly, astroturf like consistency of his suit jacket — it’s like you can reach out and feel him. Comics need this sort of totally immersive experience if they’re going to compete against other entertainment media in the modern marketplace.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/14/15

I like the knowing glance Snuffy is giving the reader, as he sits next to the hand-cranked ice cream maker that has for years met his family’s dessert needs but will now be immediately abandoned in favor of Silas’s fancy softserve machine. “Eh?” he seems to be asking us. “Eh? Modernity?”

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/14/15

Welp, looks like the “Morgans get steeply discounted stuff” phase of this storyline is done with, and now Rex is faced with the humdrum reality of family practice medicine: dealing with patients and their eager buttholes.

Spider-Man, 10/14/15

THANKS A LOT DEBLASIO