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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

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Crankshaft, 10/13/15

You might remember the Crankshaft strip from last month in which our heroes jammed an inflatable kangaroo into a pothole for a campaign commercial. I found it completely baffling, but several commenters patiently explained that it was a joke about the potholes being so deep they reach all the way to Australia. At least one person pointed out that the more typical metaphor would involve “digging a hole to China,” which is indeed the theme of today’s strip/commercial, going back to that same well. I’m honestly not sure if the fact that Ralph’s one-note campaign is just repeating itself endlessly is itself supposed to be the joke or if we just get one of these a month because, you know, why not.

Six Chix, 10/13/15

Hey lady, relax: Talking Heads broke up in 1991, with a fair amount of acrimony among the band members. If by some chance they did reunite, they’d probably do a reunion tour, or maybe even record a new album, but at any rate they’d be much more focused on music than telling you that coffee’s bad for you, OK? If David Byrne says it solo, it doesn’t count, so don’t worry about that.

Judge Parker, 10/13/15

Let’s not forget that Neddy’s big plan for this factory is literally to hire old people who are already on Medicare and Social Security so she doesn’t have to pay for their health insurance or retirement. This seemed like a great money-saving scheme at the time, but she hadn’t factored in the need to build elevators to accomodate the dozens of rascal scooters that would soon be whirring all over the factory floor.

Beetle Bailey, 10/13/15

Remember, if only straight men work on building sex robots, then a huge potential market will go untapped.