Post Content

Click the banner to contribute to the Comics Curmudgeon. Details here.

Update: Out of Margo bracelets as of 5/15/13 early morning. Thanks again, generous readers!

It’s the Comics Curmudgeon Spring 2013 Fundraiser! Contribute $15 or more to receive a copy of one of Josh’s favorite recent comic-strip panels, signed, matted, and suitable for framing. Thank you, generous readers!

Action a-plenty in the midweek comics — let’s dive right in!

Judge Parker, 5/15/13

Ho ho, quite the little geopolitical economist our Sophie, eh? Here the economy of Niger is portrayed as a giant Ponzi scheme, substituting modern easy-to-trade firearms for old-timey low-liquidity postal reply coupons. Next step is to formalize it as a multi-level marketing enterprise, recruiting unclaimed hostages as kidnappers to build the downline and create a never-ending upward spiral of guns, hostages, and ransom money. Then fire up the sales team by giving everybody a logo t-shirt with the slogan: “Guns go ‘POW’ — ask me how!”

Spider-Man, 5/15/13

Hey Spider-Man! Take a tip from lawyer Matt Murdoch on the first rule of questioning a witness: “Don’t ask a question if you won’t like the answer.”

Mark Trail, 5/15/13

Oops.

Slylock Fox, 5/15/13

Pluggers, Jr. meets The Daily Jumble. As a plugger himself, dog-man is merely alarmed by his neighbors’ atrocious table manners. Out-of-town visitor parrot-man, on the other hand, is downright disgusted. Guy looks like he’s ready to KORF his ROPTAR all AELTP the RNCO — and that NIKAPN ain’t gonna help much.

Dennis the Menace, 5/15/13

OK, is it me, is it cartoonists, or is the Bad Girl really always the hottest in the room? And we’re talking about a room shared with Alice Mitchell, so SRSLY! Dennis, cut the crap and pay some attention here — you won’t be 5 forever.

Oh, ha ha — I forgot. You will be 5 forever. Kindly resume the crap.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 5/15/13

Payback time at the Morgans’. I hope Sarah has more success with her little project than June had with Rex.

— Uncle Lumpy

Post Content

Click the banner to contribute to the Comics Curmudgeon. Details here.

Update — Well, we ran out of JP and RMMD magnets mid-afternoon EDT on Tuesday, May 14. Thank you generous (and fast!) readers! Contributors at the $15 level will now receive a favorite Josh panel from the last few months, matted for framing and signed by Josh, or at their option a Margo bracelet. Thanks again!

Hey, it’s the Comics Curmudgeon Spring 2013 Fundraiser! It’s your hard-earned money — squander it here, and receive a one-of-a-kind Judge Parker or Rex Morgan, M.D. refrigerator magnet for contributions of $15 or more. Thank you!

Apartment 3-G, 5/14/13

“You don’t understand, Margo: I don’t want to be transported to the frontiers of ecstasy in the masterful hands of some handsome Italian Lothario — I want to have FUN. With my MOM.”

Meanwhile, Lu Ann sees herself in a mirror!

Momma, 5/14/13

Ah, but some daughters know what fun is, and a mother’s role in it. As Sonya speaks, Marylou Hobbs imagines herself tanned and radiant in half of her revealing new swimsuit, striding confidently toward her lover across the deck of his yacht lying at anchor in azure waters gleaming under a benevolent Mediterranean sun — her mother nowhere aboard, in mind, or accessible even in the deepest reaches of her memory.

Sonya’s bullying logic shocks her from her reverie, and she struggles to respond:

Heathcliff, 5/14/13

Heathcliff’s campaign to bend mice to his will is well documented, but only now does its purpose become clear. The mice are but pawns in his scheme to scare the neighborhood elephant into wreaking Heathcliff’s terrible vengeance upon the hated dogs. Who will be next? Are we humans safe? I don’t think we’re safe.

Gil Thorp, 5/14/13

Gil Thorp spices up its spring baseball story with a little constitutional law. You know, to make it interesting.

Wizard of Id, 5/14/13

Id spearchuckers have terrifying asses.

— Uncle Lumpy

Post Content

Click the banner to contribute to the Comics Curmudgeon. Details here.

Keeping the Comics Curmudgeon fresh and up to date is hard work! So twice a year I host a fundraiser to thank Josh for the time, effort, and talent he puts into giving newspaper comics every bit of the attention and respect they so richly deserve. And this time, we have a limited number of unique rewards for especially generous contributors — behold:

These are individual panels from Judge Parker and Rex Morgan, M.D. comic strips, lovingly selected, trimmed from daily and Sunday newspapers, and handcrafted into beautiful (and useful!) refrigerator magnets by faithful reader and comics panel hero Matt Crowe, who highlights a new classic panel every day on his Twitter feed, which you should totally check out. Thanks, Matt! The sensitive curation of this collection is apparent from even this small sample: many of the panels feature beloved JP and RMMD characters a) acting like entitled dicks and b) getting hit on the head with stuff.

Because of their limited availability, magnets (or at the contributor’s option, Margo bracelets from the Fall 2009 fundraiser) are available for contributions of $15 or more. If we run out of both, $15 contributors will receive a signed copy of one of Josh’s favorite panels from this year’s comics, matted and suitable for framing. Of course, contributions of any amount are warmly appreciated, and every contributor will receive a personal thank-you note from Josh, and our sincere gratitude.

To contribute by credit card or PayPal, click the banner at the top of the page and follow the instructions on the secure PayPal site. To contribute by check or money order, email uncle.lumpy@comcast.net and I’ll reply with an address. Full details here, along with an index to the banners in rotation at the top of the page and from previous fundraisers — almost 400 in all!

Thank you, generous readers!

— Uncle Lumpy