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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.

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Folks! Next week is the second Friday of the month, and that means … the Internet Read Aloud, my live comedy show, is BACK and better than ever in Los Angeles! It’s free, so please come (at 8:30 pm, I forgot to put that on the poster, whoopsie). Here’s the FB event!


Also, it’s a Friday, so you know what that means: it’s COMMENT! of the week time:

“The fact that Greta’s bow tie made it through her ordeal makes me think her dognapper couldn’t have been that bad. Unless he meant it to be part of her ring outfit, like Rowdy Roddy Piper’s kilt.” –Pozzo

And the runners up are also very funny!

“For a brief, brilliant moment, I thought that ‘Kate’ was supposed to be Kate Middleton, and this strip was all about how Mr. Wilson flew all the way to London just to rub our 247-year old independence in the first British Royal’s face he saw. A shitty and pointless move, to be sure, but aside from the effort involved, totally fits with his brand.” –The Mighty Untrained FOOZLE

“Did … Sarah not know what a ‘graduation’ was? With the ‘smarts’ she’s displaying here, I don’t think she’ll have to worry about the ceremony or her presents anytime soon, if you catch my drift.” –2+2=7

“The into panel is a master class in half-assing a legacy strip. There’s enough detail to the stars, and enough of them, that it was probably supposed to be some design — then after 30 or so and realizing how many states there are in this country, just calling it a day. Let freedom ring!” –Quiggle

“The skies have opened and countless tentacled monstrosities from nightmarish dimensions beyond our universe have poured forth to devour the inhabitants of earth. It’s the grand finale for the human race, and the decapods are fully on board with this.” –Schroduck

“I’ve always thought Kangaroo Lady was too young and photogenic to be in the Pluggers cast. All the other characters are grandmas or late-50s men, and the art doesn’t downplay their flaws. Kangaroo Lady plays ‘put-upon mom’ or ‘annoyed wife’ roles, but there’s no ‘young husband’ equivalent to her. Scenes like today’s just make her look like she married an old guy. So stop bitching and make sure his will is current, Kangaroo Lady. You know what you signed up for.” –Banana Jr. 6000

“The barkeep is in his own personal hell, trapped with three guys who want nothing more than blast after blast of cheap bourbon while he’s thinking, ‘But I make a killer elderflower-and-lime martini!’” –jvwalt

“Okay, comics, I can suspend my disbelief on a lot of things, but if you expect me to think that Leroy Lockhorn is the type of guy who would step away to make a phone call so as not to bother other people, you expect too much!” –Old Man Shadow

“Loretta is trying to get Leroy interested in men in uniform, so that they can finally do one of her fantasy night suggestions. So far, results have been mixed.” –pugfuggly

“Zero is doing his patriotic duty of selling new lawnmowers, which many hardware store ads have assured me is part of 4th of July tradition.” –Philip

“Looks like Dagwood fell asleep as Elmo was talking. I imagine Elmo stood there for a few awkward minutes, as Dagwood’s snores began, wondering if the conversation was over. Eventually he wanders off, ruing once more his own inability to make friends his own age. 10 minutes later, Dagwood emerges from his slumber, unaware that any time has passed, and mutters his punchline before dozing off again. Perfect, 10/10, no notes.” –Truckosaurus

“Maybe Saul and Mary inferred a bit too much but wait and see what will happen when the news will report of all those people found dead in an abandoned warehouse allegedly housing dog-fighting. All of them killed by small but precise and merciless bites.” –Ronconi Riccardo, on Twitter

RMMD knows its target audience doesn’t like being told what to do so it publishes its PSA warnings after the fact. Freedom!!” –Where’s Rocky?

“I don’t care about Trixie transitioning into wearing a bikini, as long as she doesn’t transform into a baby whose parents pay attention to her. I can’t take that much change.” –nescio

“So, Brigman has never seen a T-bone steak? That looks like a cube steak that somebody hammered a bare bone into. Saul likes to play tricks on his wiener dog. ‘Heh heh … she thinks I gave her a thirty dollar piece of beef, but I’m only five bucks out of pocket.’” –Ukulele Ike

“‘Hmmm … maybe I can make their job easier’ = the Meddler’s Creed.” –Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women

“Look, I can accept that this abomination of a Six chixen has weirdly spindly robot legs, that’s par for the course, but what I can’t accept is that I have to — in admittedly a backhanded way — compliment the artist on this one, as they managed to make me think that every single letter in this panel is written backwards, even though they are all facing the right way.” –els

“Dog-fighting is a barbaric and terrible amusement, of course. But if we’re dealing with animal cruelty in Mary Worth, let’s start with its most common and ongoing form. I’m talking about scaring the bejeezus out of the neighborhood doves.” –I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV

“It’s a couple houses down. Working couple. Predictable schedule. Always out of their house from 8 to 6 during weekdays. No security system. Key under the flower pot at the end of the porch. Ugly interior decorating. Fireworks left all over kitchen counter where anyone could tamper with the fuses. Don’t really know them.” –jroggs

“The best part of this is that Rex gets to do his favorite doctor gag. ‘How many fingers am I holding up? More than you currently have.’” –Artist formerly known as Ben

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