The Comics Curmudgeon

Cancelled riff Saturday

$ · January 25, 2025

Shoe, 1/25/25 I was going to go on a riff here about the circumstances under which a lawyer might have to quickly shift from shoes-off relaxation to...

Metapost: Friday = COTW day

$ · January 24, 2025

Greetings, fellow humans. It is Friday, which means it's the day I share with you my favorite comment of the week from this weblog: "You are among at least...

Plato's cave comics

$ · January 24, 2025

Tina's Groove, 1/24/25 A thing about being a monarch is that nobody can stop you from doing all sorts of awful sicko stuff, and usually this takes the form...

This is a sport that got its start in bootlegging, and look what it's become

$ · January 23, 2025

Gearhead Gertie, 1/23/25 Today's Gearhead Gertie is actually a pretty great commentary about how modern fandoms of all stripes have slowly transformed from...

That head's way too big, honestly very unsettling

$ · January 22, 2025

Rex Morgan, M.D., 1/22/25 So with Kelly out of the house, Summer has been whining about being bored and lonely to everyone she knows, and by "everyone she...

Gloomy Tuesday

$ · January 21, 2025

Marvin, 1/21/25 I really have to respect Marvin for playing the long game and getting me to publicly praise it for turning away from shit and piss jokes and...

This guy's favorite fast food chain is "Clown Burger," c'mon

$ · January 20, 2025

Blondie, 1/20/25 The joke here really ought to be that we all know that there are plenty of cereal varieties with marshmallows out there sold in boxes with...

Bad news from bad dudes

$ · January 19, 2025

Mary Worth, 1/19/25 "Josh," you're probably wondering, "how can this storyline about Dawn's relationship with her new emotionally volatile bully of a...

Animal spirits

$ · January 18, 2025

Shoe, 1/18/25 It's true: closed captions aren't just for the hearing impaired. They also help viewers in a variety of contexts where speech may be difficult...

Metapost: You're commenting, I'm listening

$ · January 17, 2025

Ready for your comment of the week? Ready? Ready???? Here it is! "As an Xer, I find Joey's Thom Browne-inspired skinny jeans and exposed ankles look...

It's a weird chin, man. Not right for the head. Not right at all

$ · January 17, 2025

Family Circus, 1/17/25 OK, I know comics are, by their nature, cartoonish, and there isn't always that much variety between faces so other characteristics...

Polysemy ... Sarge's greatest weakness

$ · January 16, 2025

Beetle Bailey, 1/16/25 I actually am curious about the chain of thought that determined which secondary Beetle Bailey character got the punchline said at him...

Out of the past

$ · January 15, 2025

Marvin, 1/15/25 The thing about writing a blog post a day, every day, forever, is that you can definitely find yourself caught in some ruts, which makes me...

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...