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Mary Worth, 10/11/24

Big news, everyone! Estelle’s beloved dead husband was a heroic cop, and in classic fashion he died just days before his planned retirement — not, in classic fashion, in some dramatic shootout, but from a heart attack, due to overwork. This is clearly Estelle’s trauma plot that explains why she finds Ed’s workaholism so triggering, which, boooooring. I do find the details interesting in terms of the “how old is Estelle exactly” question, though. I think we have to assume from context that Estelle was widowed years ago, since she’s subsequently had time to move to Charterstone, get elder scammed, and date and break up with and get back together with Wilbur multiple times until she finally got permanently sick of his shit. If someone joins the force young, they could retire relatively early, but still, Jimmy has to be at least in his mid 50s in this story, right? Was Estelle on the lower end of a problematic age gap? Where’s that trauma plot, huh? I guess that explains why she doesn’t spend much time hanging out with Iris and Zak socially, though I guess the fact they were present for probably the most embarrassing evening she’s ever had might have something to do with it.

Rex Morgan, M.D., 10/11/24

I just want to remind you that Mud Mountain Murphy didn’t actually shit himself onstage at Lou’s establishment; he merely pretended to do so, so he could promote himself from opening act to headliner. But his simulated act of defecation was so lifelike that Lou vividly remembers Mud “making a mess.” That’s the quality of performer you want if you’re in the entertainment business, honestly.

Dick Tracy, 10/11/24

Imagine if you were sick with worry and guilt about your beloved brother, and you burst into a scene where he lies dead on the ground, and the first reaction from one of the cops there is to cartoonishly pantomime disgust at your B.O.? I honestly am really enjoying this new “Sam Catchem is a monstrous asshole” characterization.

The Phantom, 10/11/24

In other news, not-Elon Musk‘s robot rover has decided to commit suicide rather than listen to more ponderous lecturing from the Phantom. Most relatable thing it’s done, honestly!

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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.