Post Content

Since the King Features servers are holding all that syndicate’s comics hostage, I can’t do Sunday or Monday’s comics yet. To distract you, here’s another adorable merch picture. Today’s model is faithful reader Em Stone. Her ursine friend isn’t a lovable size-changing tame bear, but he or she will have to do:

More Molly the Bear merch is of course available from CafePress.

You might remember Em’s awesome Mark Trail fan art that I pointed to here a few months back. She’s also recently broken into the exalted ranks of comics professionals, drawing a series of horror comics called Hack/Slash for Devil’s Due Publishing. Look for it when it arrives in May!

(Oh, and thanks to everyone for your suggestions on my merch sales situation. I’m going to assess them and figure out what I’m doing by the end of the week.)

Post Content

Sunday comics coming Monday morning, but let’s start off your week with the best of the comments of last week. First off, this week’s COTW:

“Brad’s black walls don’t do much for me, but the fact that he and TJ managed to paint half the room in 10 minutes is pretty damned impressive. I’d let ’em both paint my living room … but only in the very literal sense of the phrase.” –Cornwhacker

And the CsalmostoftheTW:

“LuAnn, I think ‘genius’ is spelled c-r-y-s-t-a-l m-e-t-h.” –AdamBa

“Why has no one commented on ‘I missed you too, Mary!… and the wise advice you dispense!’ Terrible. ‘I missed you too, [name]!… and [your primary character attribute]!’ ‘I missed you too, Reggie!… and your IS JERK!'” –Foobar

“I’m sorry, ‘litter bugs?’ That’s it, Family Circus, I don’t know why, but that’s it. I am now going to do everything within my power to stop you from being syndicated nationwide. Of course, that pretty much just includes this blog comment, so you’re off the hook. THIS TIME!” –Joe

“Did anyone comment on the look on Wally’s face at the end of the Saturday FW? It was like ‘Dead? If only.'” –gh

“What about June’s giant mammary cones of persuasion? She’s got a time machine hidden somewhere around the house or clinic, because the only place to buy bras like that is 1956.” –Squid Countess

“Jeez, not the ‘I am energy’ line. Seriously, I’ve never seen a ghost work harder to get into a woman’s pants. We get it! You’re a sensitive dead artist who can turn into cocaine! Now just bed her already!” –Lettuce

“I thought I was channeling an artistic genius once, but I was just light-headed from my roommate repeatedly farting in our tiny apartment.” –smacky

“If I were Arfo, I’d be more concerned about my exact duplicate, sitting just a few seats down. Maybe he’s Bizzaro Arfo! ‘Me love urban living! Me rent one-bedroom apartment in downtown high rise! Me want to live in culturally diverse area!'” –Lyman Returns

“I’d like to know what Dennis the Milquetoast did to deserve being put in the chair. As usual, all the actual misbehaving takes place off stage. It’s like watching Apocalypse Now with no guns and no Robert Duvall.” –dramashoes

“Why the hell does Dr. Cory’s daughter look just like Mary? Wouldn’t that be creepy? I mean creepier than dating Mary would be normally.” –reader-who-posts

“(DT)GT: This story line reminds me of an episode of Veronica Mars, if Veronica Mars was interminably slow and acted by ugly people.” –Mumbles

“I can’t wait to find out what Elvis shot. My guess is that he shot off one of his toes; what makes this funny is that he probably didn’t have 10 toes to begin with.” –The Avocado Avenger

“So, in conclusion, you’re a plugger if you are producing somewhat awkward syntax.” –Skullturf Q. Beavispants

“I don’t get the joke which, with Crock, is the best thing you can possibly hope for.” –King Folderol

“Yes, Pluggers has a Webpage. And yes, I was on it. WHO WANTS TO TOUCH ME!?” –Prehumous

“If anybody ever wondered what former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney would look like in excessively fabulous drag, today’s Dick Tracy will answer your question.” –monkey.dave

“Brad hasn’t been in that house more than two hours before he screwed up his end of the lease. And people say today’s young people aren’t motivated!” –andreavis

“I’m sure Tom Armstrong knows ‘like that popular toy’ is a ridiculous thing to say but gritted his teeth and wrote it that way because he didn’t want to date his comic with a short-lived cultural reference. No doubt he wants future generations to be able to appreciate the message of his comic just as well as our generation. (That message, of course, is ‘babies don’t know how to make jokes.’)” –Francis

“Dan’s scheme is fool-proof; an insurance company wouldn’t drag the lake since it is, in actuality, a near-bottomless plot hole filled with rain water.” –steven

“Having lived in the Cape Fear area for quite some time, I am familiar with things that one might say around large bodies of water. ‘COME ON, DAN, COME TO THE SURFACE!’ is not one of those things.” –uncle balustrade

And of course we must do our weekly offer of gratitude to our sponsors:

• Pixelgirl Shop Loves You!: Hot gifts for you & the ones you love!
• The Structure of Man: Drawing the human figure from your mind: An anatomy training course.
• The NY Pundit: A New York point of view, in exile in Northern New England.
• The Abandoned: She came to Russia for the secret of her past. Now she can’t escape it. In theaters everywhere now.

To find out more about advertising on this site, click here.

Finally, I would be deeply remiss if I didn’t point that the fine Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has offered up a point-counterpoint debate on whether or not Mary Worth is a decent human being. The case against is written by Bob Braughler, aka faithful reader and commentor Smitty Smedlap (who also has his own fine blog). There’s also an insane defense of Mary Worth’s virtue and an intriguing interview with Mary Worth writer Karen Moy. (Fun fact: Before Moy took over, plotlines routinely lasted eighteen months or more; the current three-stories-a-year pace is breakneck speed by historical standards.)

Post Content

Herb and Jamaal and Wizard of Id, 3/3/07

OK, cartoonists, white and black alike, we get it, we get it. Rap music is a defining genre for a generation of young people, black and white alike, but you just don’t care for it. Feel free to intersperse your rants against rap among your rants about the fact that young people don’t seem to find the comics relevant anymore.

At least the admonishment in the Wizard of Id makes some vague sort of sense, since it takes place centuries before the birth of hip-hop. Presumably the rap aficionado is a time traveler from the future, being urged to keep quiet about his aesthetic choices lest he somehow alter the timeline and create a twentieth century Earth ruled by Hitler, or possibly by KRS-One.

Gil Thorp, 3/3/07

More proof that Marty Moon is from Mars and the Lady Mudlarks are from Venus. “Nothing seems to bother the girls”? Jeez, Marty, do you think they always look like a bunch of numb-eyed, emotionally stunted zombies? Oh, wait, this is Gil Thorp, I suppose they do.

Mark Trail, 3/3/07

Mark’s doing exactly the right thing here. When I took a swim safety class in high school, they taught us that you can save a drowning person just by believing in their abilities hard enough. Also, in a situation like this, you should never leave your breakfast unattended, because your bacon might get cold.