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Spider-Man, 3/6/13

We make fun of Newspaper Spider-Man as a character here a lot, and for entirely justified reasons. But we must save some pity for the other characters exiled to the Newspaper Spider-Man universe as well! Take for instance the Kingpin, whose main villainous super-characteristic seems to be his bulk. In a fair comic-book universe, he might be expected to display his displeasure by, say, theatrically bending an iron bar in half or something; instead, he’s reduced to busting up his entirely ordinary white-collar workstation. Tune in tomorrow when Ted King, assistant director of the accounts receivables department, must sheepishly ask IT for a new keyboard!

Mary Worth, 3/6/13

I think we can say with a certain degree of confidence that Nice But Nervous-Looking Lady Moving Into 3E will end up helping Tom Harpman forget his ex-wife and love again, despite the arbitrary disapproval of Mean-Faced Old Lady Also Moving Into 3E Who Is Probably Nice But Nervous-Looking Lady’s Mother. Still, I think it would be great if this were an entirely new storyline, and the Tale of Tom Harpman were at nine days the shortest Mary Worth plot on record. “Turns out the guy keeps to himself because he’s sad and divorced. Likes soup, though. Let’s never talk about him again. So, how about Apartment 3E, right?”

Edge City, 3/6/13

I have significantly less tolerance for dwelling on Edge City’s obsessive neurotic antics than Uncle Lumpy does, but I do admit a certain queasy fascination with seeing how explicit this “the characters explore B&D” storyline will get, so, here you go: obsessive neurotic Abby Ardin tops from the bottom.

Pluggers, 3/6/13

Plugger diversity is when a bunch of different brands of tires are owned by white people.

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OK KIDS HANG ONTO YOUR HATS because I have some things to share with you, some of which are TIMELY, others of which are just interesting:

• Don’t forget that if you live near Baltimore you can see me doing improv monologues with the Baltimore Improv Group at Magooby’s Joke House! Here’s info and ticketing, except (sigh) they have “Tim Hoeckel” named as the monologist (he did it the last time). But it’ll be me and it’s funny and you should come! Apocalyptic snowstorm? What apocalyptic snowstorm! The place to be during a big snow is a comedy club, where there’s lots of booze and fried food and and funny people (who you can eat when the inevitable descent into cannibalism happens).

• Do you live near Los Angeles? Maybe you would like to see a play based on certain characters from a certain beloved comic strip. (Hint: It is Peanuts.)

• Also if you are in Australia, you might enjoy this exhibit of Peanuts characters mashed up with rap lyrics.

• Also also I have been meaning for a long time to give a totally unsolicited plug for King Features’ DailyInk site, if only because I still get emails asking where to go for a build-your-own comics page site now that the Houston Chronicle shut theirs down. Yes, it’s a pay site, but it costs less than $2 a month. Did you know they’ll also deliver vintage strips, like the Judge Parkers below from 1969, which describe Sam and Abbey’s meet-cute? Obviously there are hippies involved.

And, finally, I wanted to remind all of you that don’t know that you can get updates about when I post to this site, as well as other things I write, public appearances, and dumb hilarious jokes, on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Google+!

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Family Circus, 3/5/13

You know, the Family Circus has a reputation for being all about kids being unbearably adorable and cute, but it almost as often focuses on kids being obnoxious, irritating, and unsanitary. Which is pretty much what raising actual kids is like, I guess! Anyway, last week’s running plotline, which now appears to be continuing indefinitely, was that Big Daddy Keane was home sick in bed, and every day the kids annoyed him, and he looked increasingly miserable. In today’s panel the kids appear to have been barred from Daddy’s bedroom, just as they have been barred from even rudimentary information about where babies come from.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 3/5/13

Well, also, you need money to buy things to eat, ride in, and read! But sure, Heather, tell Sarah that money is mostly a way to keep score against other people, that won’t turn out badly at all.

Apartment 3-G, 3/5/13

Ugh, when Margo falls in love it’s the worse. “Yes, I was betrayed by my lover, who was secretly working for my rival and who may have conspired with her to try to kill me, but somehow I can’t get worked up about it.” MURDER, MARGO, YOU SHOULD BE THINKING OF NOTHING BUT MURDER AND VENGEANCE, STOP MOONING OVER GREG AND START PLANNING YOUR KILLING SPREE