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I won’t pretend that it’s an easy life, reading the comics so you don’t have to. But every once in a while, I get an encouraging note from a dedicated reader that makes me realize that I’m making a difference in people’s lives. I received one such e-mail yesterday that I’d like to share with you. It’s unedited, except that I’ve obscured the e-mail address of my correspondent.

From: “Doc Martian” (docmartian @xxxx.com)
Date: October 20, 2004 3:46:30 PM EDT
To: (blogfrontp @jfruh.com)
Subject: ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP! ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

ANDY CAPP!

Doesn’t it bring a tear to your eye? There’s not much I can add to it, except to say: Yeah. Andy Capp.

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Willy ‘n Ethel, 10/21/04

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Here’s what I want out of you, Willy ‘n Ethel: Jokes about the many reasons that and ways in which Willy gets fired, jokes about how fat and/or unpleasant Ethel’s sister is, jokes about how stupid Willy is, jokes about how lazy Willy is, and jokes about how Ethel can’t believe she’s married to Willy. I also want passing mentions of the names of Willy and Ethel’s pets (Bondo and Dogmeat), and strips in which Willy attempts to teach his nephew something and only ends up illustrating his own ignorance. (I know this last type of joke falls into the category of “jokes about how stupid Willy is,” but I like these strips and feel that they deserve a separate mention.)

Now, here’s what I don’t want out of you: Jokes about feeding mountains of corpses, or perhaps still-living condemned human beings, into hellish industrial machinery in order to reprocesses the very flesh and bones of our fellow men and women into some mysterious end-product that we either knowingly or unknowingly consume, implicating each one of us in this awful crime and transforming existence into a ghastly cannibalistic deathscape.

I don’t really think that’s a lot to ask, honestly.

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B.C., 10/20/04

OK, so I keep trying to make sense out of the continuing B.C. presidential race and keep failing. Is it just “ha ha, politicians are stupid and/or funny?” Or is it supposed to be a metaphor for ours? Obviously the current candidate who most fits the “linguistically challenged” category is Bush; so is this an attempt to link Kerry with “elitist grammarians,” possibly the most hated group in America today? Does the interrobang represent Kerry’s oft-mention flip-flopping ways? Or … or … what the hell?

Still got all those birds in the background, though. B.C.’s always got the background birds covered.

Not to sound like a despised elitist grammarian myself, but I defy anyone to explain the punctuation in the second panel to me — particularly the ellipsis and the em dash.