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Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 2/19/12

You know how I pedantically insist on calling this strip “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” even though original main character Barney Google hasn’t appeared in it in years, having long ago helped it transition from “Roaring Twenties City Lowlife Humor” to “Depression-Era Hillbilly Humor”? Well, hold onto your hats because Barney’s back, baby. He isn’t named here but you can tell by his goo-goo-googly eyes (and a quick Google Image search).

I was thinking that Barney’s visit to Hootin’ Holler would be a happy occasion full of mischief and hijinks, but then it occurred to me: how bad must things be in the flatlands to get a fancy fellow like Barney to flee up to this impoverished rathole? He’s probably just a few hours ahead of the roving cannibal gangs. And the rest of Sunday’s comics weren’t that much cheerier!

Panel from Slylock Fox, 2/19/12

Like, things are getting pretty grim down at the trailer park! With the nearby forest having been stripped bare (you can see one of the sad few remaining trees in the background), the local mobile home denizens have resorted to burning their own furniture for heat. Or, in Reeky’s case, other people’s furniture.

Six Chix, 2/19/12

Over in Six Chix, a child’s penchant for thoughtless violence has angered a species of advanced aliens with the capability of interstellar flight. Best-case scenario: Our conquest and enslavement. Worst-case scenario: Earth vaporized by a powerful space-based death-ray.

Curtis, 2/19/12

And in Curtis, we learn that Gunther’s spacey bonhomie masks a deep and unshakeable longing for death.

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Apartment 3-G, 2/18/12

Nina appears to be trying an advanced variation on the “smoke yourself thin” technique. Remember, everyone, a low baby birth weight means fewer stretch marks and shorter labor for you! And a host of health problems and cognitive deficits for the baby, but, whatever, let’s focus on the important things here.

Mary Worth, 2/18/12

Ha ha, Toby’s eyes are little pinpoints of rage and disbelief in the second panel. “‘Unhappy childhood?’ Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve spent most of my adulthood married to Ian Cameron, but you give me a 20-minute lecture if I use the wrong fork.”

Pluggers, 2/18/12

Pluggers know that dwelling on how old you are is no way to steer the conversation to a desperate drunken hookup that might stave away the loneliness for a little while.

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Your COTW soon, but, first, an update. After the untimely death of Dingo, a much-beloved character and commenter around these parts, Uncle Lumpy organized many Comics Curmudgeon readers to help buy some flowers and donate money to the Art Institute of Chicago in Dingo’s name. Now Uncle Lumpy passes on the touching note from Dingo’s mom, which you should definitely read. It sounds like his family very much appreciated him for who he was.

And now: your comment of the week:

“‘So Crazy Harry is 52,’ Mrs. Winkerbean says as if Crazy Harry isn’t directly in front of her. She had learned long ago to never engage him directly in conversation. Best to only give lip service to occasion and then for the rest of the night passive-aggressively nod at the restraining order tacked to the wall.” –David Willis

And your runners up! Very funny!

“Nina’s a sucker for giving away free oxygenated blood and nutrients to a tiny helpless fetus that will likely never repay her; no wonder Margo’s making the ‘L for Loser’ sign.” –ratnerstar

“People in the Funkyverse celebrate birthdays only as a sign that Death has been cheated of a prize for another year; for gifts, their friends simply leave them essays on why the victory is ultimately meaningless. But hey, cake! Oh wait, it’s just that sub-par pizza? Fuck.” –Dagger

“Excuse me gentlemen but my breasts are down here. Seriously what is the point of flaunting my big breasts if you guys aren’t going to look at them.” –Liam

“I don’t think that Ed Crankshaft actually participated in the military action against the Nazis and the Empire of the Rising Sun that kept the world safe from tyranny. Rather, I think that WWII is being used here as a metaphor for when Crankshaft got married (a catastrophe that took the lives of 27 million people).” –Nekrotzar

“What? What is this? It is as if someone took a tape and crushed it into a flat disk. The joke is on you, Kaz! This will not work in a VHS player! Ha ha!” –hogenmogen

Spider-man: “MJ’s transforming — into someone else! Oh, no — what if it’s someone who won’t put up with my shit?!” –Dono

“I was going to complain about how often Mary Worth tries to pass off ‘?’ as a line of dialogue, until I realized that I respond like that to the strip every day, verbatim.” –Doctor Handsome

“I sure wish we could freeze time now, before Mary exposes Nora’s behavior as a product of her unhappy childhood/first romance/professional lethargy/childlessness/free will.” –A New Day

“Either these guys seem to have a poor understanding of the statute of limitations or the authorities in the Mark Trail universe have very short attention spans. Officer One: ‘Hey aren’t those guys the bank robbers who made off with 200 grand?’ Office Two: ‘That’s so last week. Let’s solve some more recent crimes.'” –Bobdog

“I hate to think that we might never get to see the movie Blind Butch: The Blind Hunting Dog Who Is Blind and Cannot See, Because He Is Blind. It would have been a surefire ratings winner, on the Stupidity Channel.” –seismic-2

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