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Gasoline Alley, 7/10/23

Obviously the art in Gasoline Alley is not what you call realistic — see for instance, Rufus’s whole [gestures vaguely at his grotesque face] deal. So while it’s common in real life for a loose-fitting hospital gown to slip down the shoulder of a supine patient still groggy from a head injury, in this context it’s a deliberate choice — a choice to make Rufus look sexy. I don’t care for it. Don’t care for it one bit!

Hagar the Horrible, 7/10/23

Oh, man, for all those years of Lucky Eddie dating a mermaid, he’s been saying “Oh, it’s not that weird, she still has a human top half, ha ha,” when all this time she’s just been a gateway romance leading to much more extreme sea life-fucking.

Gil Thorp, 7/10/23

Just a year ago, the Barajas Era of Gil Thorp began with Gil receiving the Jack Berrill Coach of the Year award. Now Year 2 B.E. is underway and Gil is … receiving the Jack Berrill Coach of the Year Award. What, you thought someone else was going to get an award named after the guy who created the strip? Get real.

Mary Worth, 7/10/23

Hey, everyone! Please add “carrying a leash while stepping into or out of a van” to the list of activities that could get you shot in the back while “resisting arrest.”

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Curtis, 7/9/23

As part of my mission to say nice things about comics when I enjoy them, I really enjoyed this Curtis! Basically I spent the whole strip thinking “Is he visualizing an eye roll or is he just thinking the words ‘eye roll’?” only to get the payoff in the next to last panel. A fun little game played with the conventions of comics and the nature of cognition itself (can we even say for sure if thinking involves words rather than concepts?). Kudos for Curtis!

Mary Worth, 7/9/23

You know who doesn’t get any kudos is me, because while I showed you vigilante Mary yesterday, I failed to show you Friday’s strip, which made it clear that she’s enjoying on one of her own blueberry muffins during her stakeout. Thank goodness for the Sunday strips, which recapitulate such important information for occasional readers! Anyway, what do you think happened to that half-eaten muffin between panels 5 and 7? Did Mary carefully place it on the napkin she had previously unfolded on the passenger seat, or, in her haste to grab her binoculars, did she let it tumble to the floor at her feet? (The floor mats in her car are of course immaculate, so even in the latter case she’ll be free to pick it up and continue her noshing at her leisure.)

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Mary Worth, 7/8/23

Huh, I guess the way that Mary is going to help out the police is to take to the streets herself as a cold-hearted vigilante who doesn’t abide by “the rules” that say it’s illegal to feed Lyle Lovett to his own fighting dogs while he begs for mercy. I’m not sure we ever expected to see Mary go stone cold killer in this strip — she usually passive-aggressively gets others to do her dirty work for her — but nobody ever messed around with people’s dogs before in her presence. (Mary would kill for dogs, but would never be so gauche as to actually have one in her home, due to all her delicate knickknacks and furniture coverings and such.)

Dennis the Menace, 7/8/23

I’m loving how Dennis took something insanely wholesome — enjoying some quality time with his dad at an old-fashioned soda fountain — and made it at least moderately menacing. What about nutrition, dad? Did you ever think of that? Eh? Early onset type 2 diabetes? Eh? Eh?

Crock, 7/8/23

What do you suppose that Crock (the character) and/or Crock (the creative team behind the syndicated newspaper comics strip) think a migraine is? Discuss.