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Crankshaft, 10/26/25

Mr. Crankshaft, I know Dagwood Bumstead. Dagwood Bumstead is a friend of mine. He puts together comically large foodstuffs that no ordinary human could even get their mouth around, let alone chew. Those are just normal-ass pastries you bought at a gas station. Mr. Crankshaft, you’re no Dagwood Bumstead.

Pardon My Planet, 10/26/25

I love the contrast between the blond guy at the bar and the bartender as this strip’s beloved (?) Bitter Late-Middle-Aged Man unloads a monologue that’s dark even by Pardon My Planet standards. The young man sees how grim this is and is genuinely disturbed; the bartender, who spends his existence serving up brain-numbing hooch to the hateful drunks who populate the PMPiverse, has long ago become numb to this sort of thing.

Marvin, 10/26/25

“Hello neighbors! I want to offer you nothing but love and compassion. Anyway, it’s come to my attention that some of you are leaving the hallways smeared with feces.” Perfect Marvin strip, no notes.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/26/25

Writing a syndicated newspaper comic strip is of course a great way to write off the cost of a cruise on your taxes as “research,” but remember, you don’t always have to aim so high. Do you want to draw an almost perfectly realistic plate of delicious pad thai? Well then, you’d have to order some delicious pad thai, wouldn’t you? You know, for professional reasons! It sure does look great, doesn’t it, Augie? Just like the real thing!

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Pluggers, 10/25/25

Pluggers are exhibiting signs of senile dementia, and it’s beginning to have a negative impact on their day-to-day life. Look at this guy, he’s staring at the side of his watch as if that’ll tell him what’s going on. It’s very sad!

Judge Parker, 10/25/25

Speaking of forgetting things, I breezily posted “Pet squirrel? Before my time” in response to Neddy telling Charlotte that she and Sophie once had a pet squirrel, sort of, only to have many faithful readers point out to me that, in fact, this storyline was from late 2014 and early 2015, which was very much during my time, as it happens! The short version is that the Spencer-Drivers got an RV but squirrels attacked the engine, and Sophie adopted one that she called “the Dude,” and it got lost but then later found. Now, none of that is very likely to happen in real life, but I have to say it’s infinitely less likely that a child Charlotte’s age would only pretend to go into paroxysms of glee over getting a pet squirrel, then later say with an eerily calm demeanor that her little meltdown had simply been a test to see if the adult caring for her was honest and forthright. I don’t think that’s the sort of thing that happens at all, if I’m being honest.

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Many comments were posted on joshreads dot com, the Comics Curmudgeon, this week. Of the ones I saw, this was my favorite:

“These are hate handles, so I’d better draw them in a way I’m sure the audience will hate.” –pachoo

A number of others also merited recognition, in my opinion, due to their humorousness.

“You’re a remarkable girl, Olive. Unlike all the dullards I’m surrounded by here. Hey, you! [in the third panel] Go stand in the corner.” –Hibbleton

“Oh, Mary, you’ve really outdone yourself here — lecturing at someone with your thoughts, when you know she’s the only person who can hear them! Olive, meanwhile, is turning up her noise-canceling headphones on the plane, but nothing can cancel the cacophony of a long-winded lady’s psychic signals. If nothing else helps, she’ll have to try to drown them out with some of that Zeppelin and Creedence and Stones music, which all the Boomers at Charterstone kept trying to convince her is better than Taylor.” –BigTed

“Yes, you CAN buy a shepherd’s crook online. These are wonderful times we live in.” –MKay

“As someone who has skydived (for realsies, twice, and I appreciate the opportunity to bring this up) the utter lack of concern Sarge has for Beetle’s safety was shocking to the core until I remembered that he has broken every bone and damaged every organ in the private’s body on multiple occasions and the dude keeps bouncing back, more or less, so Snorkle has no reason to believe that the main parachute failing in any way would be a death sentence for the private. The years of concussions would also help explain how Bailey is able to sleep standing up.” –Tabby Lavalamp

“In panel one, Thel suddenly notices that her son has no forehead. In panel two, she massages one into existence. Ain’t claymation wonderful?” –Peanut Gallery

“Mother Goose and Grimm is totally fine today. Everyone knows that gravity pulls stuff towards the ground and Hell, being below the ground, has opposite gravity.” –Earl

“I respect the use of an ancient trope, and I feel that I am somehow deprived in that I have never actually been told to ‘Shhhh’ by a librarian. That tears it! To the library! The liquor store is on the way!” –A Grave Mind

“Chip is not in the library, since he’s busy sniffing glue or smoking pot. Your parents can’t see your eyes are red if they cannot see your eyes!” –Ettorre

“If the nerds can handle Eric, a presumably drunken man wearing a purple pinstripe suit and a gravity-defying hat, I’m sure they can handle a little window-tapping.” –Guts Dozier

“The worst thing is, I’m pretty sure this counts as foreplay for the Kudlicks.” –Schroduck

“Mary thumbs through the Guinness Book to see if there’s a record for slowest speedboat Jeff can break.” –Hex Killhouse, on BlueSky

“You know, like calling on animals to rescue her and her friends from a hot air ballooning accident. Just normal, everyday stuff!” –pugfuggly

“Sounds like someone we can all learn from. [steers boat directly into supertanker, resulting in a fiery explosion]” –I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV

“I would like Mother Goose and Grimm to consider trying out a facial expression that says ‘I am delivering a wacky zinger’ instead of ‘I am experiencing existential dread.’ Just once. See how it feels.” –Dan

“I love how the two of them just stare straight ahead during this scintillating conversation. Jeff must be thinking ‘If I look at her, I’m going to start laughing, and no accidental boob graze tonight.’ Mary is thinking ‘Yes Olive, I will tell him how special you are.’” –Maltmash3r

“A few days ago, I said that there might be a strip that could realistically portray alcoholism, but Judge Parker was not that strip. I now confidently predict that JP will also prove unable to depict the problems with trying to make a wild animal into a pet.” –Ken

“I love how quickly Dr. Jeff 180s on the whole psychic powers thing. His initial skepticism was merely a test to see if Mary was serious. Now that she’s reaffirmed her belief, he is eager to share his medical perspective on the strange human abilities he has witnessed and the copious notes he has collected but dares not publish for fear of his reputation.” –BananaSam

“I imagine that Mother Goose and Grimm’s first panel went through multiple iterations of specificity, each time getting sent back to the author by the lawyers because they didn’t have permission to use ‘Sears’, ‘K Mart’, ‘Walmart’, or, somehow, the words ‘department store’ in the strip.” –RoofPig, on Patreon

“Mother Goose looks so affronted when asked what credit card she would like to use. ‘As a mythical creature of nursery rhymedom I should not be forced to participate in the modern economy! Isn’t it enough that I consented to contact you through this 1970s landline?’” –matt w

“Plugger chairs don’t need doilies, they need Febreeze.” –nescio

“‘Shopping’ isn’t saying what Ma Goose is doing; she’s talking to Bradley Shopping, her regular high-class male escort.” –TheDiva

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