Archive (Page 9) • The Comics Curmudgeon • Buttondown

$ · November 9, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 11/9/24 I know it's just because of basic newspaper comic strip art hackery, but it really bothers me that Beetle's shirt here looks exactly...

Metapost: Today is the day for the comment of the week

$ · November 8, 2024

It is Friday: the day of the week when I showcase the top comment that were posted on my website. Here is my choice for this week! "The relative superiority...

"Speaking of narrative" ... you fool, if you're speaking of narrative, there's already narrative happening

$ · November 8, 2024

Intelligent Life, 11/8/24 I can't believe I'm saying this about Intelligent Life, a comic strip that's usually about unpleasant bug-eyed people saying fandom...

Josh says some nice stuff

$ · November 7, 2024

Flash Gordon, 11/7/24 The new-ish iteration of Flash Gordon got a shout-out from Uncle Lumpy a few weeks ago, but I'm here to give it my full-time blogger...

One-panel Wednesday

$ · November 6, 2024

Hagar the Horrible, 11/6/24 Not really sure what to make of the wordbuilding behind this one. Are we meant to believe that a wily group of forest Finns are...

Dark Tuesday

$ · November 5, 2024

Dustin, 11/5/24 The thing about Dustin is that it's a perfect machine of hateability, in the sense that there isn't a single recurring character that I have...

Monday is for cyber, and murder, and love

$ · November 4, 2024

Alice, 11/4/24 A thing I think about a lot is that the guy who the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory inspired to shoot up Comet Ping-Pong in the aftermath of the...

Bench II: Return to the Bench

$ · November 3, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 11/3/24 Every once in a while, you do have to wonder how much anyone at Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries LLC knows about the actual...

Century Boulevard ... we love it

$ · November 2, 2024

Blondie, 11/2/24 The Blondie creative team is usually very locked in to whatever big calendar full of real and fake holidays that's clearly hanging up in the...

Metapost: 1st of the month, 1st COTW of the month

$ · November 1, 2024

Happy November, all! And there's nothing happier than the comment of the week! "The robot looks like he's been waiting a long time to squeeze this question...

Wilbumiliation

$ · November 1, 2024

Mary Worth, 11/1/24 Aww, who came to Dr. Ed and Estelle's last-minute, let's-make-it-legal-before-we-have-another-dumb-fight wedding? Well, from left, we...

Spooky, soapy, etc.

$ · October 31, 2024

Gil Thorp, 10/31/24 Oh, huh, Gil Thorp as a vampire is gonna be a cherished annual tradition now? I'm not complaining, mind you. Far from it! I do question...

Classic enemies-to-lovers arc

$ · October 30, 2024

Hi and Lois, 10/30/24 Never mind Trixie's baby brain being incapable of parsing this metaphor. What kind of fool's paradise have Hi and Lois been living in...

Doc Pritchart has never heard of Pagliacci and wouldn't recommend this costume

$ · October 29, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/29/24 No. Sorry. Call me a coastal flatlander elitist if you must, but I do not buy today's Barney Google and Snuffy Smith...

I wish ill upon the New York Yankees, and urge others to do the same

$ · October 28, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 10/28/24 Dennis lives unbothered by the linear flow of time, existing in an eternal "now" from which there is no escape. When Margert...

I'm not afraid of these little guys!!!!

$ · October 27, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 10/27/24 The Sunday Dennis the Menace strips always come with a title in the first panel, and usually it offers little pun or light...

Gettin' old and crusty

$ · October 26, 2024

Blondie, 10/26/24 Look, clearly I'm not as young as I was when I launched this blog back in 2004, and if I had a chance to tell that 29-year-old what what...

Friday is for ladies who deserve better

$ · October 25, 2024

Crock, 10/25/24 Of all the characters in the comics, few are subject to as much indignity as Crock's Grossie. I mean, forgetting the fact that she's named...

Metapost: Quick COTW

$ · October 25, 2024

Here it is! Your comment of the week! "You know land lines are becoming archaic when even comic strip artists forget how you're supposed to hold a handset...

Honestly curious about Hagar's and Helga's relative social positions before they married

$ · October 24, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/24/24 If I know Mary Worth, and I'd like to think at this point that I do, I'm reasonably sure that Estelle and Dr. Ed will, in fact, end up...

Soapy boredom

$ · October 23, 2024

Dick Tracy, 10/23/24 Dick Tracy has spent a lot of this week getting into the architectural history of Neo-Chicago and the state of local landmarked...

Tuesday downers

$ · October 22, 2024

Gil Thorp, 10/22/24 Oh hey, remember the new guys introduced this year on the Mudlark football team? Well, I forgot to mention that one of them has this...

Out of the past (in various forms)

$ · October 21, 2024

Crock and The Phantom, 10/21/24 One of my longest-running bits on this blog is pointing out strips where the colorists have very clearly not read the comic...

High-falutin' Sunday

$ · October 20, 2024

Hi and Lois, 10/20/24 It's a bold choice to have Hi and Lois make direct eye contact with you, the reader, in the final panel here. This isn't just a cute...

Mild Saturday enjoyment

$ · October 19, 2024

Shoe, 10/19/24 To be sure, the human heart is a mystery, and nobody can say why anyone does anything, really, but that hasn't stopped me from wondering why...

Metapost: C-O-T-W-T-O-G-O

$ · October 18, 2024

It's Friday, it's COTW time, let's get all comment of the week up in here! "Gasoline Alley is really adamant about stating and restating Ida Noe's central...

Walker-Browne strips to kick off your weekend

$ · October 18, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 10/18/24 This Beetle Bailey honestly feels kind of grim to me, as banal as it seems on the surface. Sure, Sarge is joking around with Beetle...

Thursday is for phones

$ · October 17, 2024

Dick Tracy, 10/17/24 One of the subtler conundrums created by the "comic-book time” phenomenon is the question of how the characters themselves experience...

Space is the place!

$ · October 16, 2024

The Phantom, 10/16/24 The Avarice AI's suicide attempt was actually a murder-suicide attempt, but it failed in both respects ignominiously, so now the poor...

Tuesday quickies

$ · October 15, 2024

Gasoline Alley, 10/15/24 Wow, I guess I see why Sophie has a different teacher than the other two girls! I've been trying pretty hard to avoid learning any...

She had won the victory over herself. She loved Mary Worth

$ · October 14, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/14/24 "You're right, Mary! I made a decision meant to avoid pain of the type I had suffered before, but now, under your careful guidance, I've...

Reading (the constitution of a dead society) is fundamental

$ · October 13, 2024

Panel from Slylock Fox, 10/13/24 The animal revolt that destroyed human dominance of the planet and put the newly sapient beasts in charge was no doubt...

It is, quite literally, the freakin' weekend

$ · October 12, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/12/24 God, I hope Jimmy is with Estelle in spirit. I hope he's been following her around for her whole dating journey, and I hope that when...

Metapost: Commentin', commentin', let's keep commentin'

$ · October 11, 2024

It's Friday and let's get right into it ... and by "it" I mean the comment of the week! "OK but BARNEY in that first panel. The eldritch horror of Barney....

Soapy Thursday (JUST KIDDING IT'S FRIDAY I KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS HAHA)

$ · October 11, 2024

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...

Delicious Wednesday

$ · October 10, 2024

Dennis of 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...

Crimes against art, and against livestock

$ · October 9, 2024

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...

Another Tuesday, more soaps

$ · October 8, 2024

Dick Tracy, 10/8/24 New Dick Tracy story, everybody! It's with a guest writer and guest artist but in keeping withe vibe of present-day Dick Tracy, it's...

If Curtis starts talking about blogs, it's over

$ · October 7, 2024

Curtis, 10/7/24 While we all like to see a syndicated newspaper comic keep up with times, I'm afraid the occasional bit in Curtis where Curtis faithfully...

Sunday is for lore

$ · October 6, 2024

Judge Parker, 10/6/24 You might recall my earlier irritation that both Sophie and Neddy were involved in family romance drama structurally similar enough...

We all want to do this when our computers make us mad, honestly

$ · October 5, 2024

The Phantom, 10/5/24 One of the more, uh, problematic aspects of the Phantom lore is that the Phantoms have been resident in Africa for 23 generations but...

Metapost: It's Friday, I'm in love (with the comments of the week)

$ · October 4, 2024

There's nothing I enjoy more than reading your funny comments and selecting my favs! Speaking of which, here's this week's top contender: "Those are some odd...

Friday is for the elderly

$ · October 4, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/4/24 Look, Stell, you're clearly a vibrant, attractive woman with an active romantic and sexual life. Nevertheless, you're a woman of a...

I should relate to Gertie's pencil-neck husband, but all I feel for him is endless contempt

$ · October 3, 2024

Gearhead Gertie, 10/3/24 Now, I might be an Ivy League-educated coastal elitist, but the Ivy League school I attended was in fact located in the Finger...

Sexy beasts

$ · October 2, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 10/2/24 Hello, faithful readers! You might recall that last week I opined that Beetle Bailey had abandoned the spirit, though not the letter,...

Soapy Tuesday

$ · October 1, 2024

Gil Thorp, 10/1/24 Ah, well, it seems that Gil's airborne lovefest under old artist Rod Whigham was some kind of hallucination he was having during a massive...

Food for thought

$ · September 30, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 9/30/24 Today, most food service in the U.S. military is outsourced to contractors, and one of the military's most awesome powers is the...

Josh rattles off some lists

$ · September 29, 2024

Mary Worth, 9/29/24 I'm going to remain neutral on some the big moral questions being raised by this storyline for the moment (Is it fair to fall in love...

I always cry at endings

$ · September 28, 2024

Gil Thorp, 9/29/24 As Uncle Lumpy noted last week, longtime Gil Thorp artist Rod Whigham is retiring from the strip, with today being his last entry. I've...

Metapost: New comment of the week, at long last!

$ · September 27, 2024

Shoutout to --2+2=7's long reign at the top, but after my vacation respite, it's finally time to crown a new COTW: "I just realized that I have no idea what...