Metapost: Wintry COTW

$ · December 8, 2023

As we move deeper into December, zip up your winter jacket (or, if you live in Southern California like me, get into the cardigan section of your closet) and...

Friday quickies

$ · December 8, 2023

Mary Worth, 12/8/23 Just from the standpoint of hard-hitting social drama, I think "Young Sonia is seduced to leftism by a guy in a dumb hat" is like a...

A fire hydrant but no explicit piss joke? Will wonders never cease

$ · December 7, 2023

Marvin, 12/7/23 Man, if you're embarrassed about people (and dogs?) seeing the picture of you in the hat why are you ... wearing the hat outside where all...

You could just, like, give him a new head, right. Is that now how Frankenstein's monsters work

$ · December 6, 2023

Bizarro, 12/6/23 A fun fact is that while "Frankenstein," in the sense of a story about creature sewn together from corpses and reanimated via forbidden...

Brad stays "hot headed" and radical by wearing a dumb hat

$ · December 5, 2023

Marvin, 12/5/23 I actually really enjoy the implication of this cartoon, which is that Bitsy doesn't understand the idea that having your picture taken...

They live in California, it's not practical headwear

$ · December 4, 2023

Mary Worth, 12/4/23 Oh, wow, it turns out Sonia isn't the only disrespectful person in Kitty's life, and her smooch with Keith was actually interrupted by...

Panels and more

$ · December 3, 2023

It's Sunday, folks, the day when newspaper comics include a couple of panels that can be excised based on the vagaries of print layouts. Taken in isolation,...

Hot and cold

$ · December 2, 2023

Crock, 12/2/23 Today's Crock is just a real rollercoaster and I feel like I have to document my approximate emotional state as it unfolded: PANEL 1: Wait, a...

Metapost: Decembrist COTW!

$ · December 1, 2023

New month, old week, best comments: "The idea that Gil Thorp is the 'most beloved man’ in Milford is both baffling and sad. Doesn't this town have a...

Also, nobody thinks candy canes are "yum[my]," c'mon

$ · December 1, 2023

Rex Morgan, M.D., 12/1/23 I like how Rex and June are talking fairly seriously about Rene, a longtime criminal whose various cons have bedeviled them for...

Her cheekbones are weird, but they could be MUCH weirder

$ · November 30, 2023

Dick Tracy, 11/30/23 I have to admit that it's a little discomfiting to learn that X. Libris, a wealthy, sinister rare book collector who dresses in a severe...

Sure hope Ditto eats all the cookies before they get the jar off

$ · November 29, 2023

Dick Tracy, 11/29/23 The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I stayed on campus to do an independent study and worked part time at the...

It bugs me that "Ochoa" is almost but not quite an anagram for "coach"

$ · November 28, 2023

Gil Thorp, 11/27/23 Happy postprandial Monday, all, and welcome to The Misdirect, Chapter 4 of the Barajas Era of Gil Thorp, America's #1 newspaper comic for...

If my marriage were this miserable, I would simply not rant about it to strangers

$ · November 27, 2023

Dennis the Menace, 11/28/23 I guess the joke here is that Dennis is too stupid to know what "Uncle Sam" means, and has mistaken this metonym for America and...

Sexy Sunday

$ · November 26, 2023

Panel from Slylock Fox, 11/26/23 CASSANDRA [bursting through the studio door]: Quick, Kopy, I need a favor. Put this portrait up on your easel and act like...

They also clear-cut the yellow wood to build the mall they're driving to

$ · November 25, 2023

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/25/23 Well, the Harwoods are going to feel pretty foolish when they learn that it wasn't Rene's high-powered lawyers that got him sprung...

Metapost: Gobble gobble COTW

$ · November 24, 2023

As you slowly digest your Thanksgiving meal, enjoy a hearty chuckle at this week's comment of the week! "I figure he'd rather stay out of jail than cause us...

Please do not tell pluggers what kids in the '90s meant by "cyber"

$ · November 24, 2023

Pluggers, 11/24/23 Pluggers remember when Black Friday was the day when President Grant's brother-in-law caused a Wall Street panic in an attempt to corner...

Be sure to remember your humble comics bloggers in the thanks you give today

$ · November 23, 2023

Mary Worth, 11/23/23 Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! How will you be spending the day? Will you be enjoying a meal in the company of a bunch of other people...

Varying degrees of thankfulness

$ · November 22, 2023

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/22/23 Well, well, well, it looks like what's increasingly obviously Buzzy and Rene's co-grift is coming along nicely, with Rene being...

There's only four women for the six men, bad news for somebody

$ · November 21, 2023

Gil Thorp, 11/21/23 Hey, remember earlier this year, when Gil Thorp did a ripped from the headlines story about about a player who got terribly hurt during a...

Rekindling romance, horsily

$ · November 20, 2023

Mary Worth, 11/20/23 I regret to inform you that Keith and Kitty's date redo went really well, and now she's accepted Keith's invite to help him sensually...

If you think I'm updating you on the Judge Parker "plot" or whatever, forget it

$ · November 19, 2023

Judge Parker, 11/19/23 Way back in the early days of the War on Terror, "black site" was an ominous phrase used to describe grim, secretive locations in...

Giving thanks for everyone leaving me the heck alone!!!!

$ · November 18, 2023

Six Chix, 11/18/23 One of my all-time favorite activities is to bring a book to a restaurant I really like and enjoy a meal by myself. There's something...

Mmm ... buns

$ · November 17, 2023

Pluggers, 11/17/23 Look, I've said a lot of pretty mean things about Pluggers over the years, so let me say something nice: this is a very cute drawing a...

Jeepers, creepers, makin' commentary about peepers

$ · November 16, 2023

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/16/23 Wow, did Buzzy always have such dreamy cerulean eyes? Also, did he always have such a slavish devotion to the guy who locked him...

That's <i>former</i> prison woman to you, lady

$ · November 15, 2023

Hi and Lois, 11/15/23 The sun won't blast off its outer layers, forming a planetary nebula and leaving only a tiny white dwarf behind, for another seven to...

Turkey Tuesday

$ · November 14, 2023

Blondie, 11/14/23 I confess that I find the idea of a butcher who thinks about individual animals (whose carcasses he plans to eventually sell to people who...

[checks Wikipedia] Mint City! City of Trees!

$ · November 13, 2023

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/13/23 You know, at first I thought this was about the eternal struggle between the modern scientific method, as...

I'd like to think that Dustin's parents were just driving around aimlessly to avoid their kids

$ · November 12, 2023

Blondie, 11/12/23 You ever notice how most of the women in Blondie have pretty normal-looking eyes but most of them men have these inky black stretched out...

Mr. Wavering still has his bayonet, Ditto, keep your distance

$ · November 11, 2023

Pluggers and Hi and Lois, 11/11/23 Happy Veterans Day, everyone! Do you think the United States is on the verge an apocalyptic war for national survival that...

Metapost: Delightful comments from you, my beloved readers

$ · November 10, 2023

It's this week's top comment, and it's here for you to laugh at, and with: "Otto will not be distracted: the grave has been dug, only one of them can have...

Friday quickies

$ · November 10, 2023

Beetle Bailey, 11/10/23 I find the "this" in "this army," intriguing, as it implies that if Beetle doesn't get what he wants out of the U.S. Army, he might...

Hootin' Holler is a "hidden valley" of sorts, I suppose

$ · November 9, 2023

Barney Google and Snuffy, 11/9/23 OK, whew, good news everybody, Sparkplug’s Grandson Li’l Sparky doesn't need to participate in market economics in order to...

I don't know what zoomers think of Brad Pitt, and feel like I don't need to know honestly

$ · November 8, 2023

Dustin, 11/8/23 There's a lot of reasons to dislike Dustin, and one of the biggest is that it was cooked up with the premise of "Ha ha, these lazy...

It's Tuesday and these strips are mostly nothing, not gonna lie

$ · November 7, 2023

Six Chix, 11/7/23 I guess the joke here is that these are actual aliens? And this dude has mistaken them for people in costumes? Feel like we're not getting...

Funny (?) faces

$ · November 6, 2023

Slylock Fox, 11/6/23 One thing I've never really considered about the post-animalpocalypse Slylockverse: what do the other sapient animals think about the...

Keith could also be a coward. Mary's playing with fire here

$ · November 5, 2023

Mary Worth, 11/5/23 Wow, I guess all it takes is a little rejection from from his hitherto unknown daughter and long-ago ex girlfriend to get Keith to start...

Saturday emotional roller-coasters

$ · November 4, 2023

Six Chix, 11/4/23 I love that these guys only reveal this wisdom back at home, probably hours later, when the other couple is well out of earshot. Figure it...

Metapost: To every week (turn, turn, turn) there is a top comment (turn, turn, turn)

$ · November 3, 2023

As the seasons change, the comments of the week continue. And here's this week's: "Is this Gil fantasizing about Bartender Gal (I forget her name and I don't...

What is "real life," really, when you think about it

$ · November 3, 2023

Crock, 11/3/23 A fun dynamic on this blog is that if I ever post anything to the effect of "Wow, this really makes no sense whatsoever, who on earth would do...

Thursday mostly quickies

$ · November 2, 2023

Rex Morgan, M.D., 11/2/23 Oh, fine, I guess Buzzy and Mud aren't boxing Rene out of the profits from his own brainwashing scam, or are at least using a stock...

Legacies (good and bad)

$ · November 1, 2023

The Lockhorns, 11/1/23 This has, from the very beginning, been a pro-Lockhorns blog, but I really feel like this strip has kicked it up a notch in recent...

Welcome to the Comics Creep-mudgeon at Josh Screams Dot BOO

$ · October 31, 2023

Beetle Bailey, 10/31/23 Maybe I'm overly into the holiday spirit today but I genuinely enjoy the pathos of today's strip. General Halftrack is so mad, and...

BOO! It's Monday

$ · October 30, 2023

Blondie, 10/30/23 I had a conversation with a friend the other day about those haunted houses you can go to at amusement parks and such for Halloween, and...

Creepy Sunday

$ · October 29, 2023

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith and Family Circus, 10/29/23 You know, I was about to go on a whole rant here about how the fact that Hootin' Holler's only...

Spooky, scary, etc.

October 28, 2023

Blondie, 10/28/23 Over the years, the syndicated comic strip Blondie shifted from the story of a carefree flapper and the dissolute failson who gave up his...

Metapost: Let's get COTWy in here

$ · October 27, 2023

It's weekend party time, so get "crunk" with this week's top comment: "An erudite bear (not so vicious)/ Mistakenly used 'meretricious'/ For you see, those...

"Honh honh honh," I whisper to myself, sadly

$ · October 27, 2023

Crock, 10/27/23 If, like me, you have constructed a professional life that requires you to read the syndicated newspaper comic strip Crock every day, you...

Etymology follies

$ · October 26, 2023

Gasoline Alley, 10/26/23 I don't usually get a chance to deploy my classics degree, but when I do, it's usually to make a joke about the etymology of some...