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Hi and Lois, 1/20/11

All week I’ve been trying to figure out what if anything to say about the distinctive shift in art in Hi and Lois this week. I can’t decide whether it’s a sort of simplified version of the previous artwork representing a move to a more digital process, or if it’s just a new hired hand taking over at Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries LLC coming up with a more stylized take on the characters (which, I have to say, I kind of like). I was about to trouble my pretty little head more about it, but then I realized that I was troubling my pretty little head about Hi and Lois, which really hasn’t earned the trouble. Any artists out there who have better insight into how cartooning actually works should compare today’s strip to, say, this and give us your expert opinion. Or, you know, don’t! Lord knows we won’t hold your refusal to think about Hi and Lois against you.

Apartment 3-G, 1/20/11

Ha ha, Lu Ann has known that the couple that raised her weren’t her biological parents for maybe an hour or two now, and already she’s calling them by their first names rather than “mom and dad.” She is so done with Ken and Vera, you guys.

Ziggy, 1/20/11

Oh, man, those environmental regulators: overzealous, amiright? But seriously, no matter what your opinion on the EPA and the Endangered Species Act and the spotted owl and what have you, I think we can all come together and celebrate the fact that Ziggy is going to prison.

Marmaduke, 1/20/11

It had been a long time coming, this moment. Phil had watched so many innocent souls go down Marmaduke’s gullet, heard so many screams for mercy, saw so much carnage, so much blood. Years ago he knew that he couldn’t be just an observer in the awful process forever, that one day the demon-hound would come for him. “Hungry?” he asked. There was no fear in his voice, only sadness, and a small bit of relief. The huge, gore-soaked paw on his chest was almost gentle.

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Mary Worth, 1/19/12

“They seem like good people! I think she’ll be all right! But of course you can never be too careful. I suppose that horrible kidnapper seemed like a good person, at first! My only choice is to monitor the situation to make sure that her parents aren’t kidnappers too. I might have to rescue Emily from them! Then I’ll be a hero twice!”

Luann, 1/19/12

OK, I take it back, this might be interesting after all. Haha, TJ, always the hilarious trickster! Remember, the best pranks are the ones where you leave a paper trail behind you that can lead to your arrest and imprisonment.

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I know I am a little late on this, but: today (Wednesday) is a day when Websites everywhere are protesting SOPA and PIPA, two very bad proposed laws that would do bad things to the Internet. By “bad things” I mean “breaking the basic infrastructure of the Internet, and taking away the due process rights of Web site owners, in an attempt to stop piracy, and also those attempts to stop piracy won’t work.” If you want a silly cartoon explanation of the issues, check out today’s The Oatmeal. If you want a more serious explanation, just head on over (today only) to Wikipedia, which has blacked itself out for the day in protest, and also offers you a method to contact your Senators and Representatives (assuming you live in the U.S.). Anyway, do those things!