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For Better Or For Worse, 1/17/05

You know, I’ve been on plenty of long, dull car trips with my mother, and I’m pretty sure that she’s never subtly encouraged me to pursue someone else’s spouse. Mostly we just play word games (“My name is Cathy, and I live in Cleveland and I sell … canaries!”).

I’ve been told (and as usual am too lazy to do the actual research to back this up) of a charming tradition in Mexican telenovelas: when the series is about to end, all the stops of these usually ever-so-subtle programs are pulled out, and all the main characters meet melodramatic, often fiery and violent, deaths. For Better Or For Worse is in fact going to wrap up in the near future, and perhaps that’s the plan for the strip. Elizabeth ends up in a vicious catfight with the hugely pregnant Thérèse for Anthony’s love. Michael and Deanna are pursued through the Northwest Territories by the Mounties after finally killing Deanna’s mother in a fit of wholly justified rage. John starts prescribing himself potent opiates and spends most of his days staring at his train sets in a blissed-out haze. And Ellie and April join forces to finally track down Kortney and give her what’s coming to her.

Elizabeth’s paper coffee cup is a nice visual touch. Presumably they’ve taken time out from plotting adultery to make a quick layover for supplies at the Stop N’ Go/Arrêtez Et Allez.

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The Boondocks, 1/16/05

Did you ever notice that whenever Martin Luther King, Jr., appeared in public, he almost always wore a suit? Well, Aaron McGruder (or a member of the team of artists over at Boondocks Enterprises) apparently did. I’ve always noticed that as well, which is why this cartoon amused me as much as it did with its departure from the seemingly iron-clad halo-and-wings-and-flowing-robes conventional cartoon depiction of the dearly departed. The contours of the suit make the fanny-shaking in panels two and five all the funnier.

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Curtis, 1/15/05

If you weren’t convinced by Barry’s reckless use of the word chutzpah, here’s more evidence for you that Curtis is actually written by an elderly Jewish man. In fact, I’m not even sure that actual elderly Jewish men exclaim “Oy!” repeatedly in response to lower back pain these days.

This strip summoned up from somewhere deep in my primal pop-culture consciousness memories of novelty rap group 2 Live Jews and their hit single “Oy, It’s So Humid.” In retrospect, it’s kind of amusing to think that there was a time when the group that 2LJ (as I’m sure their fans called them) spoofed, 2 Live Crew, was not considered a novelty group. Remember when the most dire threat offered against Western civilization was a song called “Me So Horny”? Good times!