The Comics Curmudgeon

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October 23, 2025

Soapy Thursday

Judge Parker, 10/22/25

I don't know if I've actually spelled out the current Judge Parker situation, but it goes like this: April vanished after her Norwegian spy encounter and Randy vanished after going off in search of her, leaving their daughter Charlotte in the care of her increasingly drunk and depressed grandparents and, once they got too drunk and depressed, Neddy. Charlotte has been rather shy and withdrawn under her semi-competent care, until she got wind that Neddy and Sophie had a pet squirrel at one point in their youth (possibly in their foundling days before Sam and Abbey took them in, this is deep lore from before my time) and went absolutely berserk. You never know what's going to trigger a child who's experienced significant emotional trauma, but that face in panel two is one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen in the comics. I assume that Neddy is holding onto her temple because Charlotte's shrieks are growing so intense that she's afraid her skull is going to shatter like an eggshell.

Mary Worth, 10/23/25

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