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Spider-Man, 12/7/11

I’ve been staring at MJ’s hair for a long time now trying to figure out what exactly is so wrong with it. Is the back of her skull now disproportionately bulbous? Is her ponytail just sort of sticking out of a huge, matted mass that’s starting to border on white-girl dreadlocks? Whatever it is, Peter can now get over the fact that he’s been emasculated by his wife’s high salary. “Ha, Mary Jane may be the main breadwinner in this family, but at least my hair doesn’t look like that.”

Actually, MJ may soon be the family’s sole breadwinner, seeing as Peter has overslept on his first day of work.

Family Circus, 12/7/11

There are so many delicious reasons for Daddy to look depressed here that I can’t settle on my favorite! Is he sad because he wanted to play the hero and deliver on Billy’s extravagant gift desires, only to have the kid go over his head to his mother? Is he sad because Billy has figured out that there is no Santa Claus, and more to the point that his parents are cheap bastards who would never be able to fulfill his Christmas wishes? Is he sad because work is his refuge from his family, but today’s he’s going to have to spend precious moments scanning and emailing Billy’s gift list, time could be spent more pleasantly on spreadsheets and such? Is he sad because in all likelihood this is a recycled panel from the ’80s in which Billy originally wanted him to fax the list to grandma, and he realizes that he’s doomed to repeat the same dumb gags forever with only the technology updated every decade or so?

Crankshaft, 12/7/11

Crankshaft, meanwhile, is sad because he has to pay for medical services! I can’t wait to see how sad he’ll be when he finds out he has prostate cancer.

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Dennis the Menace, 12/6/11

Dennis is bad at eating, inevitably ending up covered with half-masticated food, misaimed condiments, and slobber.

Mary Worth, 12/6/11

Mary has now completely forgotten about the missing Emily Smith, and has ironically become fixated on the idea that she might be losing her memory instead.

Six Chix, 12/6/11

Due to her family’s poverty, this little girl isn’t going to college, and indeed will probably die of malnutrition long before she has a chance to graduate from high school.

Pluggers, 12/6/11

Pluggers like to swing with other couples from their church.

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Luann, 12/5/11

Wasn’t there some zany plot a few years back where various De Groot family members and hangers-on wanted to know what TJ did for a living, but never could figure it out, largely because for mysterious reasons they refused to just ask him? I feel a sense of pride in the fact that I can’t actually remember how this worked out, and I refuse to look it up, but I’m definitely intrigued by his decision to charm his way into Anne Eiffel’s employ here, by describing how he caused a competing fast food restaurant to unwittingly violate child labor laws. Presumably he’s planning to bring Weenie World down from the inside, but all of TJ’s schemes inevitably backfire horribly, so perhaps he’ll accidentally triple hot dog sales and help Anne get promoted to CEO? Whatever the potential outcome, let’s all enjoy panel two, which illustrates the fact that TJ, who means well but is always plotting something, is forever perched on the seam between light and darkness.

Gil Thorp, 12/5/11

If I didn’t know any better I’d think that Brody Abro had his Asperger’s so thoroughly cured that he grew a little chin-tuft and let some soul-patched tattoo artist hover beefily over him. But I do know better, so probably the beard is supposed to indicate that this is shaggy-haired blond fellow with a face almost exactly like Brody’s is not actually Brody, but rather some new Mudlark with a silly name who we’re supposed to get attached to over the course of basketball season.

So, yeah, it’s an exciting new storyline! Involving tattoos! Just a tip: it’s not really that reassuring when you feel compelled to explicitly tell your customers that you follow the basic rules of hygiene for your profession. It’s like a waitress putting your food in front of you and saying, unprompted, “Don’t worry, the kitchen staff have all washed their hands today, and none of them have any open sores.” Maybe this attitude was OK in your prison tattoo business, Mr. Soul Patch, but you’ve rented a venerable Milford storefront now! Time to kick your professionalism up a notch.

Mary Worth, 12/5/11

Looks like Mary is going to be haunted by this missing child poster forever! Eventually her grinning face will be all Mary sees, every day. What could be the cause of this descent into madness? I’m hoping that Mary’s the real kidnapper, and that the haunting poster always floating at the corner of her vision is her version of the tell-tale heart.

Apartment 3-G, 12/5/11

“I’ve been there! By which I mean I totally made out with your dead husband. Back when he was alive, obviously! Did I forget to tell you this?”