Hi and Lois, 4/19/26

I get that "cartoon dad must escape from his nagging family" is a time-honored trope, but I think the specific gripes of the Flagston clan are just way too dark for the way he nopes out of there to be comical. Lois is at the end of her rope, spending all day showing beautiful homes to her clients and then coming home to a collapsing hovel; Chip has suffered some otherwise undocumented heartbreak and is still devastated; the twins, who should be each other's best friends within the family, have become implacable nemeses; and Trixie, like all addicts, can no longer get satisfaction from the sun as it is and demands a hotter and brighter star no matter what destructive effects that might have on our planet's ecosystem. Based on Hi's huge grin and rosy cheeks in the final panel, I assume that he's "getting what he needs" thanks in part to a bottle of bourbon he keeps stashed in the glove compartment.

Blondie, 4/19/26