The Comics Curmudgeon

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Well, I must admit, I have never seen 'yikes' used in a cartoon that conveys so exactly and accurately the reader's impression of the panel in which it occurs. I mean, yikes.

—Chance
167

The fish skeleton I just accept. There’s always a fish skeleton in these

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Slylock Fox, 9/10/25

This is one of the most baffling Six Differences cartoons I’ve seen in quite a while. Why does the horse have a butt wound? Why does he look high as a kite? Why does the kid look so smug? Why does the cow look so sad? Where are the birds leading the horse and the kid? Are they leading them to their deaths? None of these questions are meant as criticisms, obviously, they’re a series of delightful unsolvable mysteries that I will enjoy contemplating, unlike the question of whether the clouds in the two panels actually look different from one another.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 9/10/25

How much of Jughaid’s flesh do you think Sukey would eat before she realized he wasn’t actually a giant carrot? Would it be little enough that the lad would survive the procedure?

Shoe, 9/10/25

“No, he has a gang that sells drugs and stolen property out of ice cream trucks. He killed six people by burning down their house once. It’s really quite grim and I’m not sure why you’re making light of it.”

222

She’s flying AWAY from New York, she should be singing “California” by Phantom Planet

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Mary Worth, 9/9/25

Mary Worth’s use of bold font is … let’s say, unconventional, but I do think that Olive’s word balloon in the second panel being entirely boldfaced strongly suggests that she’s started belting out “New York, New York” at the top of her lungs, right? Fun fact: the song she’s singing here, which is performed in the 1944 musical On The Town by Gene Kelly, Jules Munshin, and Frank Sinatra, is called “New York, New York,” while the “start spreading the news” song is technically called “Theme from New York, New York,” and was originally sung by Liza Minelli in Martin Scorsese’s 1977 musical before Sinatra did a cover version that became iconic. Kinda weird, right? Where was I going with this? Oh, right: if I were on a plane and a child started loudly singing “New York, New York” (either of the two, frankly), I would attempt to open the emergency exit mid-flight so I could jump out and plummet to my blessed death.

Mother Goose and Grimm, 9/9/25

So, uh, Mother Goose is just kind of … standing around in the middle of the Y and, uh, swinging her interlocked fists around while wearing a bikini? And she’s judging the people doing yoga, who are, to be fair, three people standing so close as to be touching one another doing downward dog (?) without any kind of mats or anything? Not sure if anyone involved in the production of this comic has seen someone do yoga, or ever been to a gym, or watched videos of anyone exercising. I guess that “Twister” zinger was too hard to resist, though!

Archie, 9/9/25

Damn, I never had Dilton pegged as an Archie hater. Is he just doing it to appease Reggie? It’s sad when you see a man of science succumb to peer pressure like this.

187

A real force of alcoholic nature

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The Lockhorns, 9/8/25

Now, one of Loretta’s running gripes with Leroy is that he doesn’t make enough money for her tastes, so we can be certain that her shoe spending allowance could not have been the difference between profitability and insolvency for this store. We must assume that this is Leroy doing yet another bit as part of their long-running marital conflict. Not sure if we’re meant to understand that she’s just off-panel, seething, or if she’s not even there and he’s just doing what needs to be done to make sure there’s a baseline level of anti-Loretta sentiment in the community.

Andy Capp, 9/8/25

Are you, an American, worried that you’ll attend a snooker tournament at some point in the future and you won’t be up on the lingo? Fear not: thanks to Andy Capp, you now know that you can casually say to a companion, about someone doing well, “Boy, he [or she, I assume women are allowed to play snooker] can sure pot those balls!” The comics really are a source of cultural enrichment and must be protected as a medium, possibly with a generous government subsidy.

Mary Worth, 9/8/25

“I too would enjoy the trip, but not so much that I’m going to make up any kind of specific reason why I can’t go. See you whenever!”