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Dennis the Menace, 10/10/24

Not to brag, but I’ve eaten some tamales in my day, ranging from pretty good to great. For those not “in the know,” a tamale is made up corn meal, often stuffed with cheese or meat or the like, steamed inside a corn husk, and while it’s almost always served inside the husk, you have to unpeel it to get to the actual delicious tamale. I usually eat one with a fork, but you can partially unpeel the husk and eat it by hand, sort of like a banana, or you can just bite right into the husk like Gerald Ford did, which would be gross and unpleasant and will make you look stupid. If you completely take it out of the husk and try to hold it in your hand like Joey and Dennis are doing here, it will just crumble apart, so I … assume they’re doing the “bite through the husk” thing? Because it doesn’t look like they’re peeling back the husk? And Joey doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe the bad mouth sensation that’s resulting, so he’s just calling it “hot,” in the way that some languages only have three color words and call anything that’s not black or white “red”? I dunno, I’m just spitballing here. What the heck are they actually holding, do you think? Are they churros? Do the Dennis the Menace artists not know the difference between tamales and churros?

Shoe, 10/10/24

Yes, we all like to make fun of old people for eating early. By “we all” I mean, like, society, mind you: I myself embraced the “lunch at 11, dinner at 5:15” lifestyle for workdays in my mid 40s and am never going back. But still, yes, “Haha, old people and their early dinnertimes, amiright?” is a joke that reliably elicits a chuckle. Unfortunately, by its nature it invites ridicule of those older than the chuckler, and the median age of a newspaper comics reader is distressingly high, which means you get punchlines like this. “Haha, centenarians and their early dinnertimes, amiright?” is no doubt something literally hundreds of healthy, active 70-year-olds are saying to themselves before chuckling and turning to the sports page.

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Blondie, 10/9/24

I have to admit that, not being an artist myself, I’m sometimes a little hesitant to criticize comics art, especially when it comes to making sweeping statements about how exactly that art was produced when I realize I don’t have that much insider knowledge. I am, however, reasonably sure that, to create two panels of an open book just kind of sitting on the couch and resting (?) on a person’s thigh, the normal book-reading configuration we all know and love, one or more pieces of clip art may have been involved. It’s too bad, too, because it really distracts from a killer joke where a dad asks his daughter what she’s reading and she tells him but then it turns out she’s lied about it, I guess, and has actually tucked a phone inside her book, the normal phone-using configuration we all know and love.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/9/24

I like Lukey and Snuff’s shock and horror in the second panel and refusal to play along with the Sheriff’s jape in the third. Hootin’ Holler may be a notorious haven for criminals of various types, but they draw the line at stealing horses, possibly because it seems very ambitious and who wants to put in that kind of effort.

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Dick Tracy, 10/8/24

New Dick Tracy story, everybody! It’s with a guest writer and guest artist but in keeping with the vibe of present-day Dick Tracy, it’s name-checking a beloved villain from the past, who despite being named “Arson” was a guy who used nitroglycerine to blow up safes. Anyway, I like the final panel, where Sam Catchem is grotesquely leering over Jay Scarborough’s corpse. I’m assuming we can’t see most of the vic’s face because it’s been hamburgerized by one to several bullets, and Sam is contemplating the limits of facial recognition AI.

Gasoline Alley, 10/8/24

Speaking of AI, who would’ve thought that Gasoline Alley, that most ancient and hoary of comic strips, would feature not one but multiple artificial intelligences? We’ve already met ART, the Automatic Robotic Tech-nurse, and today we encounter his (?) son (???), Arty, an AI doll, whose main purpose seems to be to compete against, and perhaps defeat in combat, evil magic dolls like Ida Noe. I say let ’em duke it out! I will be more than willing to pledge allegiance to the winner.

Gil Thorp, 10/8/24

While Gil is laid up in bed, the Mudlarks fight on, led by Assistant Coaches Martinez and Ochoa in his absence. Anyway, turns out Assistant Coaches Martinez and Ochoa suck ass! “I’m struggling out there, coach.” “Right, that’s because they know Coach Thorp isn’t here! They’re exploiting our weaknesses, especially our coaching weaknesses! Now get out there and win, or you’re personally failing Gil!”

Mary Worth, 10/8/24

Wait, did we know that Estelle was a widow? Did she murder Jimmy, because he didn’t pay close enough attention to her? I’m very much looking forward to this flashback, because I assume it’ll answer these questions, and I also assume it’ll take place in the ’90s and I want to see what the Mary Worth team thinks grunge fashion looks like.