Post Content

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/11/13

Happy Veterans Day, everybody, and let us never forget that once, long ago, Private Snuffy Smith helped defend the free world from the menace of fascism, as depicted in live action films in which Snuffy was played by little person Bud Duncan wearing a shockingly true-to-cartoon fake nose:

A few years back I linked to 1942’s Private Snuffy Smith, in which Snuffy enlists in the army in order to avoid trouble with the revenuers. In the intervening time, the sequel to that film, the Holy Grail of Snuffiana, has been uploaded to YouTube, the film with the most amazing title of any movie ever made: Hillbilly Blitzkrieg.

The plot involves Nazi spies trying to steal Snuffy’s moonshine formula and use it for rocket fuel, I guess? I only made it through about three minutes of it! Let me know what I missed, if anything.

Mary Worth, 11/11/13

“Neither would I. If not for me, I wouldn’t be here today. I create myself whole from within myself. I am the alpha and omega and nobody, least of all me, can escape me.”

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/11/13

Guys, were you worried that the Morgans might not be extracting maximum revenue from Sarah’s drawings of horsies? Well, their highly compensated lawyer will see about that.

Post Content

Spider-Man, 11/10/13

Aww, poor Spider-Man once dreamed of having his name in lights, either as “Spider-Man” or “Peter Parker,” either one, I’m having a hard time parsing out exactly what he means in that first panel, but the important thing is that he feels an overwhelming sense of personal failure, which makes me happier than I can describe. Still, it’s not like Peter doesn’t still know how to enjoy himself in the crumbling ruin he calls a life! For instance, as long as he manages to distract his hugely successful wife so that she screws up in a very public manner, his day is a little bit brighter.

Mary Worth, 11/10/13

Ooh, it looks like Shelly’s award dinner is at New York’s historic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel! Let’s take a look at Google Street View to see how accurately the strip managed to depict this landmark’s stunning art deco facade:

Yup, they pretty much nailed it! I couldn’t find any pictures of the hotel’s luxurious ballrooms, but I’m sure they all feature the hideous drop ceiling shown in today’s final panel as well.

Post Content

Mark Trail, 11/9/13

New adventure in Mark Trail, everyone! This week we’ve seen that it’ll revolve around the most hoary Mark Trail MacGuffin — Indian artifacts, and the stealing thereof, a staple of this strip that I’ve been detailing since the very earliest days of this blog. Still, I’m enjoying the pleasingly noirish setup here: two ex-cons, one literally just hours out of prison, drinking frosty mugs of beer, discussing their Last Big Score. The sad faces and the five o’clock shadow and the hunched shoulders make for nice atmosphere and maybe we’re even getting some foreshadowing that Jared will turn away from a life of artifact-napping before it’s too late (seriously, can you really believe anyone named “Jared” would be an unredeemable hardened criminal), but personally it’s the frosty mugs of beer that I’m fixated on here. I’m all the more fixated because a colorist’s error in panel two has made Jeff’s sleeve blue instead of brown, which makes it look like Jared’s arm is twisted around at an impossible angle, all the better to slosh beer foam everywhere, I guess.

Dennis the Menace, 11/9/13

Dennis and his awful band of child thieves are going to seal Mr. Wilson’s gold teeth right out of his head.