The Comics Curmudgeon
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Should've prescribed this jerk a "chill pill" years ago in my opinion
January 14, 2025
Dennis the Menace, 1/14/25 Now, look, today I'm not really interested in litigating whether this is wildly non-menacing ("Aww, I need to show all the parts...
Soapy Monday
January 13, 2025
Judge Parker, 1/13/25 A comics tic meant to telegraph character emotional state that I always find a little odd is when they rub the back of their neck in...
She needs to "duck" more so she doesn't hit her head on things
January 12, 2025
Mary Worth, 1/12/25 This Mary Worth storyline is sadly all too realistic in its depiction of emotional abuse and manipulation. But it's extremely unrealistic...
The clam screams endlessly, it did not consent to becoming a weapon
January 11, 2025
Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/11/25 Oh, I'm sorry, did you find the recent week's worth of Rex Morgan, M.D., Characters Talking On The Phone boring? Well, did it ever...
Metapost: Smoldering, patreonizing comments of the week and change
January 10, 2025
Hello all! I have this week's comment of the week for you, but before that ... a couple of notes. A few of you inquired about my safety in the current LA...
Is Dennis wearing Santa pants? Not comfortable with that either
January 10, 2025
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 1/10/25 Ha ha, can you imagine? The Smif and Barlow families would be lined up opposite each other, and Steve Harvey would...
I also refuse to "get out" or "live it up" under any circumstances
January 9, 2025
Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/9/25 I regret to inform you that we are almost to the end of the week one of "Kelly is in college, now" and it appears we never did make...
Being able to distinguish objects and surfaces from their surrounding space? Real nerd stuff
January 8, 2025
Dustin, 1/8/25 I think I speak for insufferable pedants everywhere when I say that I immediately clocked this as not being an actual line from Confucius --...
Soapy Tuesday
January 7, 2025
Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/7/25 Look, I get it, soap opera strips are a slow-moving medium, you can't count on people reading every day so you have to repeat stuff,...
The comic strip "Marvin" has also outlived many of its rivals, sadly
January 6, 2025
Judge Parker, 1/6/25 Detective Yelich has been Sam's inside man on the police force since the Great Judge Meth Caper of '23, which, you may recall, included...
You're not drunk until you're TV golf drunk
January 5, 2025
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 1/5/25 Lord knows I've spent enough time contemplating the economy and politics of Hootin' Holler, so I might as well take...
I'm not sorry if it offends, actually, never apologize for pedantry
January 4, 2025
Blondie, 1/4/25 Yes, I still read the newspaper comics strip Blondie every day, and I actually learn things from it! For instance, Herb saying "mega-...
They don't use cell phones because coverage is so bad, because of the hills
January 3, 2025
No comment of this truncated week, folks -- we'll let pugfuggly have the place of pride till next Friday! Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 1/3/25 OK, Barney...
RETURN TO COMICS BLOGGING IN THE FAR-OFF FUTURE YEAR 2025: MOSTLY MARY WORTH EDITION
January 2, 2025
Hello, faithful readers! Did you have a good Christmahanukkwanzaa? Are you ready for a return to comics blogging form, here on your favorite website,...
Metapost: Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good truncated COTW
December 24, 2024
Folks! It is once again time for me to take my long winter's nap, by which I mean a week or so off from posting on the site so that you can take a break from...
Various Christmas miracles
December 24, 2024
Rex Morgan, M.D., 12/24/24 Fellas! Did your asshole doctor tell you that the reason you feel like shit is because you spend all your time on the couch...
Holidays loom ominously
December 23, 2024
Judge Parker, 12/23/24 Aw, isn't that nice? Sam is going to let Alan enjoy the holidays and wait until the new year until he yells at him for sheltering his...
Ho ho NO
December 22, 2024
Pardon My Planet, 12/22/24 One of my least favorite genres of "Images You Can Buy On A Poster Or T-Shirt" is "Two Dead Celebrities Dressed In Vaguely...
O come to the bowling alley and let us ADORE him
December 21, 2024
Hi and Lois, 12/21/24 Hmm, Ditto, interesting: canonically, in the Bible, Joseph doesn't have any lines (in the sense that no direct speech is attributed to...
Emotional roller coasters
December 20, 2024
Judge Parker, 12/20/24 Last night I had the pleasure of waiting for the bus next to a guy who was doing whip-its on the street corner, and when I say "had...
Take the middle way, neither ho ho ho nor humbug
December 19, 2024
Dennis the Menace and Curtis, 12/19/24 Well, I guess yesterday's Curtis is the start of an arc about how the kids today celebrate holidays differently, using...
Not enough people appreciate a good void these day
December 18, 2024
Mark Trail, 12/18/24 Mark Trail can of course never be an anti-hunting strip per se, but it has always adhered to a strict moral code when it comes to the...
Heresy, hats, etc.
December 17, 2024
Beetle Bailey, 12/17/24 A thing that fascinates me is that deep in the DNA of the daily comics is the idea that their artists conceive of them as a black-...
Space continues to not be the place
December 16, 2024
Gasoline Alley, 12/16/24 So the whole point of these uncanny children going to space in the first place was so that they could write a school report about...
Indignant Sunday
December 15, 2024
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 12/15/24 Geez, man, what kind of weird Slylock Fox-ass riddle-telling meteorologist do these Snuffy and Lukey listen to....
Dawn will absolutely never learn anything about herself, are you kidding
December 14, 2024
Mary Worth, 12/14/24 OK, reading this almost sent me into a downward spiral -- and here I will pause to tell you that after typing that, I thought, "Hmm, is...
Metapost: Friday the 13th COTW
December 13, 2024
Don't be nervous about this unlucky Friday the 13th! Just like every Friday, we pick one lucky commenter and acknowledge them as the top commenter ... of the...
Friday quickies
December 13, 2024
Judge Parker, 12/13/24 "I mean, we haven't seen a panel showing anyone below the shoulders for weeks now, but I'm pretty sure there's no bed in here and...
Also, the patient very much is uncrustable, so the whole premise is faulty
December 12, 2024
Six Chix, 12/12/24 OK, I get the impulse to turn a bitten-out semicircle on this pastry-shrink into his mouth, but the execution is very uncanny. Like I...
Wednesday is for dumb kids
December 11, 2024
Hi and Lois, 12/11/24 Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold the damn phone, six months ago Hi seemed genuinely depressed to not receive golf gifts for Father's...
Maybe she's fallen in with Sonia, or, worse, Brad
December 10, 2024
Mary Worth, 12/10/24 I guess (for once) Wilbur leaving town is providing us with an opportunity not to see what Wilbur gets up to outside of town but rather...
Lotta carnivore action today
December 9, 2024
Suburban Fairy Tales, 12/9/24 I was going to give you the deep lore behind today's strip but I think it's pretty obvious from context, right? Third little...
Is blogging cringe? We investigate
December 8, 2024
Mary Worth, 12/8/24 Hello, fellow young people! Like me (a young person), you have no doubt been using the word "cringe" in its relatively new slang sense,...
Ha ha, it's funny because the old men hate their wives
December 7, 2024
Marvin, 12/7/24 Black Friday? Enh. Small business Saturday? Whatever. Cyber Monday? Who cares. The real biggest shopping day of the year, as anyone tapped...
Metapost: Keep on COTWing on
December 6, 2024
It's Friday? And that means it's COTW time? You know it's COTW time. "Dr. Jeff notices Mary eating her dessert with a canapé fork and immediately calls 911...
Mostly soapy Friday
December 6, 2024
Judge Parker, 12/6/24 Oh, yeah, my prediction that Judge Parker Senior has his fugitive daughter Anne living in his basement turned out to be correct, much...
Love a newspaper headline that eschews proper nouns
December 5, 2024
Crock, 12/5/24 If these two guys have names, I don't know what they are -- the Wikipedia Crock article just calls them "the men of Outpost 5," and they don't...
No AI could come up with ideas as "complex" (polite euphemism) as "Alice"
December 4, 2024
Slylock Fox, 12/4/24 An extremely fond memory I have from my youth is seeing Fugazi playing an outdoor show in San Francisco sometime around the turn of the...
He shouldn't be alive -- and I for one think it's time to do something about that
December 3, 2024
Mary Worth, 12/3/24 It can be hard to remember sometimes that Wilbur doesn't dedicate his full energy to being a sad loser with a host of emotional problems;...
The dog smells the chicken and wants to eat it, simple as
December 2, 2024
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 12/2/24 I had never really thought about it, but if you had asked me before today, I would've told you I was pretty sure that...
Mary is about to enter her shut-in era and I'm here for it
December 1, 2024
Six Chix, 12/1/24 Often after reading the daily Six Chix comic strip, I use this weblog to express opinions along the lines "I have no idea what the fuck is...
I could be wrong, it could just be a bunch of skeletons or ghosts or something
November 30, 2024
Judge Parker, 11/30/24 Hey, remember at the beginning of this year, when we found out that the Judges Parker had a secret daughter (to Judge Parker...
Metapost: Progressing pilgrims at the COTW
November 29, 2024
Just as the Mayflower Contract was an important early example of constitutional self-government in the North American British colonies, I have an unwritten...
Maybe they just want to make sure he picks the poop up. Lotta people don't
November 29, 2024
Rex Morgan, M.D, 11/29/24 Oh, hey, it turns out that Rex's cranky old patient is Merle Lewton, who we met a few years ago after he got scammed by Miss...
Thanksgiving quickies
November 28, 2024
Hagar the Horrible, 11/28/24 What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Personally, I'm thankful to learn that, in the Hagarverse, the imported Near...
Charterstone will be empty by the afternoon
November 27, 2024
Mary Worth, 11/27/24 Oh, man, this is incredible, we're now on day three of Mary's dinner guests making it very clear that they don't mind at all that...
Can't believe the French are stealing our Thanksgiving. How dare they
November 26, 2024
Crock, 11/26/24 The thing that's great about this Crock strip (and that's a phrase I never thought I'd write) is that Barlow is covered with feathers, which...
Hat Ghost: The Ghost Who Wore A Hat
November 25, 2024
Blondie, 11/25/24 A common development in all sorts of open-ended narratives (comic strips, TV shows, what have you) is that ancillary characters are...
Do the bird-people's tree(?)-houses have roofs?
November 24, 2024
Shoe, 11/24/24 If told you to imagine a local TV news report about a city clerk being appointed, you'd probably think, "Wow! Can't get duller than that!"...
Good thing it's not Princeton, because I'd have some harsh words
November 23, 2024
Mary Worth, 11/23/24 Big news everyone. Huge news. Incredible news. Mary is coming down with COVID or the flu or maybe just a bad cold, who's to say, but the...
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