Comment of the Week

I'm really uncomfortable with the way Truck is breaking the fourth wall here. 'Are you this guy's father? You, the reader? Well, if I remember my Roland Barthes then, yes, indeed, you could be described as a metaphorical parent to both of us...’

Spunky The Wonder Squid

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Gil Thorp, 10/16/06

You might have noticed that i haven’t really been paying attention to Gil Thorp lately. That’s because it stopped being about homoerotic love channeled through chainsaw work and more about Sean Pettibone, everybody’s least favorite goody-goody. You may remember Sean from last season, when he scored the winning touchdown in the final game of the season but then negated his team’s victory by admitting unprompted that he had stepped out of bounds on the play; later, he broke cultural barriers by dating one of Milford’s token African-American students and alternately amused and horrified her parents with his well-meaning cracker antics. This year he’s voluntarily dropped out the student body vice-presidential race in order to placate student strife, and today he has single handedly pulled this unconscious fellow from flaming disaster and appears to be supplying the “breath of life” through his left nipple. Presumably soon he will come up with a plan to rescue Social Security, bring peace to the Middle East, and lead the Mudlarks to victory in the football playdowns. Everyone will still hate him.

The question remains: who or what is responsible for reducing this once-mighty light utility vehicle to a pile of flaming wreckage? Maybe these two punks have graduated from cherry bombs to roadside IEDs. “Mail call, SUV-boy!”

Apartment 3-G, 10/16/06

Aw man, see, this is why you gotta have a roommate like Margo. She tells it like it is! And by “tells it like it is,” I mean “puts the spin on things most likely to negate whatever positive emotions you might be experiencing at any given moment.” And by “gotta have a roommate like,” I mean “must change the locks while she’s out.”

For Better Or For Worse, 10/16/06

As noted, it’s been a while since Phil’s appeared in the strip, but I really don’t remember him being so, um, mustachtic. No wonder his own father doesn’t recognize him. Jim probably thinks he’s the dude from the Pringles can. “Did you bring the sour cream and onion kind? I love those!”

Six Chix, 10/16/06

I’m pretty sure that this is about monkey sex somehow, and I’m pretty sure that I don’t approve.

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Without further ado: Your funny funnies from the past seven days!

“I don’t think these people know the meaning of the word ‘closure’ any more than they know the meaning of the word ‘intervention’. For ‘intervention’ read ‘attack’, and for ‘closure’ read ‘satisfaction’.” –ragthetiger

“It seems to me that Mark Trail’s Molly also has the remarkable ability to change size; she’s shrunk from a full-sized behemoth to little more than a teddy bear when visiting her trainer in the hospital. Next week Mark should be able to stow Molly in the pocket of his flannel shirt and keep her fed with a peanut a day.” –Nicky Newark

“This morning in MW, Wilbur sez, ‘I hope we won’t be asked to say anything…’ Apparently Wilbur hasn’t noticed that no one’s ever asked him to say anything, ever.” –jules

“I guess the rules of responsible pet ownership, much like the laws of physics, don’t apply in Lost Forest.” –MossMoses

“Why no freshly dug grave? After that wreck, they probably decided to save money and just injected Aldo’s remains into the earth using a Popeil Solid Flavor Injector.” –Trent

“And Ian: Making a joke at Aldo’s funeral. I can’t wait to see you have a heart attack on the toilet.” –smacky

“Seriously, you read that last dialogue balloon too many times, all hope in the universe dies.” –Zack

“Personally, I’m hoping we get a tearful confession from Toby. ‘It was my fault! In my concern for my friend, I created the confrontation that drove Aldo to his death! Also, I paid a guy to cut his brake lines.'” –Splinky

“And that’s when I realized Family Circus is where humor goes to die.” –treedweller

“FooB: This strip has degenerated into the boringest thing ever. It is a glorification of the dull. I imagine everyone wearing shades of beige and grey, the sky behind them the color of a hangover, and the vague scent of a papermill in the air.” –pelagius

“It seems Abbey now has a permanent seductive ‘let’s boink’ expression regardless of what she’s talking about, including hordes of mice. I think she should become a local news anchor.” –Poteet

“And as for you people who want Liz to get together with Paul — what did Paul ever do to you? I like Paul, and he deserves much better than Liz. He should marry that nice girl that replaced Liz. And they should adopt a pet bear, named Molly, who is A Very Good Bear with Very Bad Luck.” –Summerhouse

“The majority of Gil Thorp takes place after something has happened: ‘Well, we lost that game!’ ‘Hey, I saw someone tearing down posters!’ ‘I dropped out of the race!’ It’s an interesting creative choice to concentrate solely on the conversations that take place between the rare moments of excitement.” –smacky

“Between Molly and Barfy, there’s been a lot of cross-species making out going on lately, and I for one am excited…er, disgusted.” –Pozzo

Family Circus actually is on target today. I’d much rather be licked by a dog or rat-eating cat than have any close contact with a child.” –Frank Drackman

“How are these mullet-tops going to make money with a trained bear, anyway? Take her to a national park and have her steal pick-a-nick baskets?” –Randy

“Granthony hasn’t made a tough decision since he was at Tim Horten’s and it was a choice between frosted or unfrosted cinnamon rolls. (BTW, he chose frosted and has had serious doubts ever since.)” –Justafoob

“Oh, and yesterday? When she said she felt like she wasn’t ‘accomplished’ next to Anthony? I assumed she was just being polite…try to make the poor lug feel better since, you know, his life is shambles and whatnot.” –Cafangdra

“Lu Ann is caught between the moon and New York City. It isn’t pretty, but it’s true.” –Dingo

“I will be the first to admit that I am nothing if not inept when it comes to identifying the various Judge Parker characters. My excuse — and I think its a good one — is that I really don’t give a damn who they are. I believe the blonde JP kid is called ‘Sophie’. Why she is called that, well, that’s anybody’s guess.” –Fred P.

“I can’t believe Mark Trail called Molly ‘it.’ ‘It?!’ Listen, Mark, Molly is a BUAP : Brown Ursa-American Princess. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself, because pretty soon the strip is going to be called Molly and Mark and then just Molly. We’ll see who’s an ‘it’ then.” –Summerhouse

“I’m too urbane and witty for Pluggers, not quite literate enough for 9CL. I’ll always have Mark Trail.” –dramashoes

“The more Anthony burbles on at Liz, the more I realize what a truly unsung heroine — possessed of patience and strength beyond that of we mere mortals — Thérèse must have been to have prevented herself from brutally clubbing him to death with his telescope before she left.” –Jennifer

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Mary Worth, 10/15/06

Can I confess something to you? Like Toby, I’m looking for closure: Closure on the Aldo storyline. Sadly, I think this may be as close as we’re going to get. I think the best we can say about Mary’s thought-balloon trip here, which is redolent of an old Burma Shave ad, is that it’s short and to the point. At least she’s trying to make a good show of things: her moronic trio of friends are just openly gawking at her, as if they’d never seen an act of human kindness before in their lives.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/15/06

I was going to say that Rex contemplating whether or not June should quit her job without actually, you know, asking June is a bit retrograde, but then I realized that this is coming from the same creative team that’s having June parade about in a towel for our titillation.

It’s interesting that Rex is encouraging the only other medical professional who works in his practice to quit, especially since he recently agreed to help out at a free clinic for uninsured children. Maybe he finds being around his wife such a distasteful reminder of the heterosexual façade that is his life that he’s looking for any way to minimize his contact with her. “Yes, honey, you stay home with little Sarah, while I work at our practice … and the children’s clinic … I’ll be home … next week … maybe …”

Of course, it’s possible I’m misreading this and that Rex is talking about quitting his job for a while. In which case, I’m actually looking forward to the adventures of Rex Morgan, Unshaven and Unemployed Layabout.

Dennis the Menace, 10/15/06

In an attempt to recapture his “menacing” cred, Dennis assumes the powers of divine judgement and condemns Margaret to everlasting hellfire!