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Blondie, 8/14/10

As is often the case, I find some of the incidental details in this Blondie to be much more amusing than the supposed punchline. For instance, although this establishment has the extremely generic name “Ice Cream Parlor,” we can see that the management has not only made the clever decision of outfitting a child in a banana suit to harass passersby, but has given this mascot a name, “Banana Bob,” establishing a brand identity that can be leveraged across media platforms. (Could they be behind the locked Bananabob Twitter?) Even better, the store’s flagship product is something called a “Sundae Maniac,” which really strikes me more as a description of someone who likes to eat sundaes (or possibly garnish sundaes with the blood of their victims), rather than a good name for a sundae proper; still, I always root for any commercially sold product with the word “maniac” in the name.

Apartment 3-G, 8/14/10

People have been doubting Margo because she refuses to engage her enemies Kat and Kitty directly, but like any crafty warrior, she knows how to win a fight against a more powerful opponent. Here we can see that she’s engaging in guerilla warfare, draining her enemies’ coffers until they can no longer afford to imprison her in a fancy midtown hotel. Do not underestimate the Margo! In panel two her eyes are crossing in delight as she contemplates her cleverness.

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Shoe, 8/13/10

This diner patron has suddenly realized that the ambiguities of the verb “serve” could be deadly in a world of talking animals. We already know that the birds in the strip eat other birds, so why wouldn’t Roz just kill her bird-man customer and feed him to a fish-man? No reason. No reason at all why she wouldn’t. Better tip big, bird-man!

Family Circus, 8/13/10

The whole “Keanes go to the beach” storyline we’ve been enjoying (for certain limited definitions of “enjoying”) over the past couple of weeks is, as several readers have pointed out, a repeat from the ’70s or ’80s. Certainly that was a more innocent time, when Jeffy’s brazen nudity was merely implied and not rubbed in our faces.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 8/13/10

“No, yore paw is passed out, from th’ likker.”

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Apartment 3-G, 8/12/10

Well, it looks like I Dressed In The Dark has a little-known sister show, called I Allowed My Hair To Grow In Its Natural Color In The Dark, And Also During When It Was Light Out. I’m not sure where this little scene is supposed to be playing out — I suppose it’s on the IDITD set, and the Monocolored Creepy Staring Background Guy, of the sort well known in this strip, is one of the grips or something. Still, it’s weird that the cameras aren’t rolling, as this sort of moment — Kat’s eyebrow arched cruelly, Lu Ann goggle-eyed with terror — is pretty much what reality TV is for.

Mary Worth, 8/12/10

Oh, look, Mike’s dad exists after all! I was beginning to suspect that perhaps he had died years ago, and Fred was keeping his mouldering corpse in his bedroom and cashing his Social Security checks. Actually, based on today’s strip, that might still be the case: the expressionless face, the shuffling walk, the tattered, colorless clothes, and Mike’s expression of sheer terror all point to Lonnie here actually being a zombie reanimated through dark magic.

Blondie, 8/12/10

The weirdest thing about Alexander’s outfit is that, with its bow tie and giant buttons, it’s sort of a less dignified version of Dagwood’s usual work outfit. But, as this strip demonstrates, dignity has never been particularly high on Dagwood’s priority list.