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She had won the victory over herself. She loved Mary Worth

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Mary Worth, 10/14/24

“You’re right, Mary! I made a decision meant to avoid pain of the type I had suffered before, but now, under your careful guidance, I’ve learned that was a mistake. I’m ready to marry yet another emotionally unavailable workaholic! I’m ready to be a widow twice over! Thank you, Mary, for breaking my spirit!”

Intelligent Life, 10/14/24

Sure, this comic strip conflates the zoot suit, popularized by African- and Mexican-Americans in the 1940s, with a suit cut in a totally different style that was worn by the Joker as portrayed by Cesar Romero, a man of Spanish and Cuban descent, which isn’t great. On the other hand, it got me to do a little Googling and discover that for a mere $950 you could be the owner of a genuine “Jokers Wild Purple” zoot suit, so who’s to say if it’s good or bad?

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/14/24

I kind of love Silas’s emotion affect in the second panel here: he’s both pleased and a little puzzled. Have Snuffy and his fellow primitive denizens of Hootin’ Holler finally developed the ability to understand and even sympathize with the emotions of others? Silas had never thought he’d see the day, but his store is the lone outpost of globally-scaled free-market capitalism in this otherwise backwards region, and he’s ready to profit off this local development with the sale of some of the sympathy cards he ordered a while back, just in case.

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Reading (the constitution of a destroyed society) is fundamental

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Panel from Slylock Fox, 10/13/24

The animal revolt that destroyed human dominance of the planet and put the newly sapient beasts in charge was no doubt commanded by a revolutionary vanguard that ultimately evolved into the dictatorial Forest Kingdom apparatus that Slylock serves. However, the new regime has, as is so often the case, laid the foundations for its own undoing, by encouraging its subjects to become literate so that they could learn about themselves and the societies that came before them. Reeky’s sister is apparently already exploring the concepts of constitutional law and the benefits of a limited government, and, sure, today the logic “Well, you lied about one thing, that eliminates all reasonable doubt and you are GUILTY” will pass muster in an owl-run courtroom, but as the political understanding of the animals advances, the arc of the universe will, eventually, bend towards justice for Reeky and all the rest.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/13/24

Most people in this strip are inexplicably Truck Tyler fanatics, so I kind of like the reminder that Yvonne, specifically, is a Mud Mountain Murphy stan, so dedicated to his signature hit “Muddy Boots” that she’s willing to be polite when he’s clearly deep in his cult era, or willing to refer to an on-stage simulated pants shitting as “stage fright.”

Mary Worth, 10/13/14

Mary, of course, loves being the advice giver and unlicensed counselor around Charterstone, loves it more than is seemly. Even so, do you think she ever gets a little exasperated by how dumb these people are? “So … job stress as a police officer took Jimmy from you before you could retire together … [long pause] … so do you think that with Ed … [even longer pause] … who you’re always mad at because he works too much … [long, exasperated pause] … at his stressful job … look, do I have to draw a diagram for you or what???”

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It is, quite literally, the freakin’ weekend

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Mary Worth, 10/12/24

God, I hope Jimmy is with Estelle in spirit. I hope he’s been following her around for her whole dating journey, and I hope that when she got to Wilbur he recoiled in disgust. He died while on the job so I assume he still has all his cop stuff with him as a ghost, and I hope that every time Estelle and Wilbur began to have sex he reached his ghost hand for his ghost baton, only to realize that as a mere shade he could never break open the man’s bald head with it, so what’s the point. Instead he just has to sit (float?) there and watch. His spectral but furious presence would explain a lot of the bad vibes around that relationship.

Hi and Lois, 10/12/24

I love that the first panel is a bedtime story and the second is happening at least a day later, which meant that the twins have had to time to discuss this. “He’s talking about Mr. Thurston, right?” they presumably asked each other after Hi shut the door. “He’s the tortoise in this situation?” I also like the fact that leaves are beginning to pile up on Thirsty’s inert form. He’s dead, kids! He’s been dead for hours!

Hagar the Horrible, 10/12/24

Hey, guys, want to read a Hagar the Horrible where some people walk into Hagar and Helga’s house and just start fucking? Well, uh, here you go. Happy weekend, everybody!