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Crock, 10/16/22

I’ve been reading Crock for … let’s just say “many” years now, so I am of course well familiar with all of its terrible running gags, one of which is that Crock’s mother (never actually seen in the strip) is in a nursing home somewhere and she’s very, very mean, even meaner than her cruel son. But in all that time, I always assumed (quite reasonably, I think) that the nursing home she was in was back in France. Algeria is a colony under military occupation, which is the very reason Crock and the Legion are there in the first place! It’s no place for old French civilian ladies! But no, it turns out that she’s been in the Maghreb all along, which really raises a lot of questions about (a) whether the creative minds behind Crock ever really had a handle on the geopolitics behind Beau Geste or if they just liked the aesthetic, and (b) why Crock never visits his mother if she’s actually so close.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/16/22

Ha ha, wow, looks like Hank Jr.’s impulsive marriage really was meant to be. They’re both fans of roots country legend Truck Taylor! Who could’ve guessed? Not Hank Sr., he’s not going to the concert because he clearly hates that shit, but he’s making nice to keep the pancakes coming.

Panel from Slylock Fox, 10/16/22

No real notes here, just want to say that I am in love with Koppy’s sarcastic greeting here. They might not have invented a Bill of Rights for animals yet, but nothing can stop Koppy from firing off the subtle yet sick burns! Except getting punched in the mouth by Slylock, probably.

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Hi and Lois, 10/15/22

My first thought reading this was “Wow, who funded this strip?” because I refuse to believe that any ordinary person would just place pro-in-person-banking propaganda in dozens of newspapers just on a whim. It’s certainly not the banks themselves, who have been trying to shed the labor and facilities costs associated with bank branches since the ATM was invented. My guess is that the money trail either leads back either to the Communications Workers of America, the union that has organized tellers at bank branches in a number of cities, or some lobbying group of old people who absolutely refuse to figure out how to set up direct deposit for their Social Security checks.

Marvin, 10/15/22

So some guy who’s never been in the strip before? Just came out of the bathroom at Marvin’s house? And I guess he had never even heard of the concept of a bidet? So he just disassembled a fairly substantial plumbing appliance?? In somebody else’s house??? This is definitely one of the more puzzling ways for the great Marvin bidet caper to wrap up, and I must reluctantly respect it.

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No fuss no muss just COTW!

“At that age, you should only have two possible items on your bucket list: either ‘not dying’ or ‘dying.’” –Ettorre

The runners up? Also very funny.

“I think every Mary Worth strip ought to take time to include Wilbur’s POV, as they do here in panel 6.” –Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women

“It figures that animalist propaganda would depict the Weirdly family as degenerate hippie communist stock. Anything to discredit the Human Resistance.” –TheDiva

“If you look closely, you’ll realize that it’s not the robot that’s plugged into the wall, but the chair it’s sitting on. So it’s sitting on an electric chair — not the execution device, but simply an electric version of what appears to otherwise be a typical desk chair. Also, it takes three plugs, kind of like a desktop computer hooked up to the internet would be. None of this helps with actually understanding the comic — the opposite, in fact — but it’s important to note.” –Westing1992

“Just remember kids, it’s only a problem unless you win the football game for your school. That makes you good for exactly one week.” –Kevin On Earth

“You should see this speech bubble, Guy! The one I’m pointing at!” –made of wince

“Well, I know what I’m most surprised by, and that’s the weird, unsettling effect of a mostly-realistic character plopped down next to another, more classically cartoonish one. Mr. Scanarelli has refused to allow his readers to settle into a comfortable visual groove for years, of course, but then the strip has refused to allow Walt a dignified death for decades, so why should we be any different? Dying, I mean. It’s the only way out of the Gasoline Alley universe, and not for the characters.” –pastordan

“Photographing sharks under water seems much more doable than photographing them above water.” –But What Do I Know?

“I want to know what horrible pre-death activity Walt wrote that made Gertie elide over it with a polite, if shocked, ‘oh my!’ Was it sexual, scatological, or blasphemous?

• I shall make war on God in Heaven and tear down His eternal city.
• I want to [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] of [some 1920s silent movie vamp none of us have ever heard of].
• I’m gonna poop on Patton’s grave.” –Voshkod

“The Sea-Preme Court’s overturning of Row vs. Wade has made it illegal for mermaids to terminate their pregnancies under any circumstances, ending the arrangement with carnivorous birds like storks to take care of devastating genetic abnormalities in the population.” –Philip

“I don’t know if Susan Konar planned to throw in so many disturbing questions about mermaid reproduction that the putative joke of the stork wanting to eat the baby would get buried, but that’s what she’s wound up doing.” –Artist formerly known as Ben

“In panel 1, Manley has really managed to capture that moment when you’re trying to stifle a burp mid-sentence. ‘I was on the phone with Steve when _ _ (mumph!) _ _ when it happened.’” –Hibbleton

“If number three on a list of ten reasons is ‘It’s a talking point with your friends’ I can’t imagine what horrors the list descends into by number ten. Probably it’s ‘There’s a whole community of bidet-owners and, let’s face it, they’re your only chance at having friends if you think it’s normal to sit around talking about shitting.’” –Spunky The Wonder Squid

“Yeah, I have known young musicians who were sadly hung up on the ‘27 club,’ but they always included Kurt Cobain. The writers of the strip, though, know that they are taking a chance by assuming that their readers have heard of Jimi Hendrix.” –Rube

“The reasoning behind this Beetle Bailey is more simple than it appears. The writer just shouted into his phone, ‘Siri what is a famous fictional dog I can put in my comic strip please?’ And he took the first answer given without checking its source. The secret ingredient is not caring!” –Chance

“Marley had her eyeballs removed to play Sandy, hope the Bony was worth it.” –nescio

“I also like the weird expression Curtis’ mom is drawn with in the imaginary panel, as if she’s cursing her own dummy thiccness.” –ectojazzmage

“At least Curtis is classy enough to say ‘young lady‘ instead of some horrible sexist epithet. He must have picked that phrase up from his father, who regales Curtis with stories about ballroom dancing to the music of Glenn Miller.” –Peanut Gallery

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