The Comics Curmudgeon

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January 28, 2026

Things that are and are not new

Blondie, 1/28/26

Oh, man, I was all ready to go on a riff about how this is clearly a joke about the idea of a celebrity "hall pass," e.g., the idea that a monogamous couple would give permission to each other to sleep with specific celebrity crushes, safe in the knowledge that it's never going to actually happen, but then got sanitized down to the idea of "dining" with a celebrity, even though "dining" is transparently not what this is about, but then I got to the last panel and discovered that the Blondie brain trust is aware of the existence of Sydney Sweeney, and I'm sorry, that's way too contemporary a reference. Nobody in Blondie should know about anything that's happened after, oh, let's say, 2013. "Is Emily Ratajkowski on their list?" is a punchline I'll allow for this one. Anyone newer than that? No thanks.

Mark Trail, 1/28/26

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