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Folks, I have been pushing myself to the LIMITS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE here at SXSW by trying to fit in show-going and schmoozing and blogging here and elsewhere and writing my show diary for ITworld.com, and reading and collecting your comments has fallen by the wayside! I have only this rather short list of comments, which mostly date from before I left on my trip. They are very funny, but I’m sure there were many funny ones I missed, and I apologize! At any rate, though, here’s the top comment out of the ones I collected:

“Long ago I used to occasionally fantasize about being a beautiful free spirit. The dream is dead.” –Poteet

And the funny runners-up!

“Ha ha, death! Am I right?” –Muffaroo

“It’s now clear what Wilbur and Kurt were up to during the happy days of frolicmania: re-enacting the erotically charged game of accidental touching Wilbur and Abby used to to play in the woods. Kurt took off when Wilbur’s instructions about how to drape the summer dress and how many bangles to wear became too creepily specific.” –Tim Cavanaugh

“Phantom: Those folks on the speedboat — what objects are they holding up? Is this just a rowdy post-Oscars celebration that’s about to turn tragic? Best Sound Mixing co-winner Ray Beckett — nooo!” –Walker of Dog

“Toni’s wording in the first panel makes it sound like something is hanging out of her. This is the grossest romance this side of a Cronenberg film.” –skullcrusherjones

“I finally figured out that the dialog in Mark Trail is written by a third grade girl. I’m not sure why this is happening, but it is. Maybe she doesn’t charge much.” –mustang

“Every time Mark opens his mouth about politics I can’t help but notice that the perspective is so terrible in the strip that there must have been a missing second and third panel in which Go-Lar, Tyrant Lord of All Tortoises ate the entire cast in one bite, only to be punched open from the inside by a half-dozed yet perfectly clean man still rambling about senators.” –Black Drazon

Big thanks to everyone who put cash in my tip jar! And here is where we would give thanks to our advertisers, were there any to thank! To find out more about how you could be thanked in this spot — and how you could be the launch advertiser for our new RSS feed sponsorship — click here.

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Judge Parker, 3/15/10

And so the Mike Manley era begins in Judge Parker! I think we are all looking forward to seeing his work, and he’s got some big shoes to fill. It looks like he’s beginning with a pretty Barreto-esque style, which is natural for a transition, but I hope in the coming months he makes the strip his own, as his predecessor did. My only real complaint is the font in the dialogue balloons — I’m virtually certain that every font on the comics page these days is computer-generated rather than hand-lettered, but this one looks a bit more obvious that I’d like (though, hey, at least it’s not Comic Sans). I do note with some amusement that Sam seems to have the slim, willowy hands of a young Ted Forth.

Family Circus, 3/15/10

I’m sure the intended joke here is that the little melonheads don’t really understand how time and the calendaring process works. Obviously Daddy is supposed to be older than Mommy, as this is the natural order of things, what with Adam having been older than Eve and all. Still, since, the occasional birthday notwithstanding, the Keanes all live in some kind of endless, eternal present. They never age, but the seasons do change (and therefore the months must advance). Is there really any other way to determine age, then, other than location within the only calendar they’ll ever need?

Beetle Bailey, 3/15/10

Ha ha, Beetle prefers the finger to the fist! Seriously, most days this stuff just kind of writes itself.

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Panels from Blondie, 3/14/10

Sunday’s Blondie as a whole, in which Dagwood chases (or is chased by?) a tiny owl that may or may not be a figment of his imagination through his own house is itself a worthwhile bit of fine entertaining madness. Still, I have to say that the two throwaway panels on their own constitute a delightfully weird bit of art that deserves to be showcased in isolation. Dagwood’s just trotting along, presumably from the couch to the refrigerator, or from bed to the bath, hands in pockets, when he gets WHOO’d at. I love that his immediate reaction is not fear or panic at this unfamiliar sound, but just a mere and casual “what?” as if he could work this whole thing out if only he could hear it better.

Panel from Mary Worth, 3/14/10

Mary Worth’s epigraphical madness continues, as she’s moved beyond indie rock darlings like Leonard Cohen and Daniel Johnston to late 19th/early 20th century radical Emma Goldman.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH???

If it turns out that all of Mary’s seemingly petty meddling has been part of a long-term plan to further the cause of anarcho-syndicalist revolution, I for one will be very impressed.