The Comics Curmudgeon

Mostly unpleasantly horny Tuesday

$ · June 21, 2022

Mary Worth, 6/21/22 One of the minor world-building things in the Star Wars movies that has always bothered me is how languages work. The humans speak...

You never want to miss a spit take

$ · June 20, 2022

The Lockhorns, 6/20/22 A fun thing to do with the comics (for certain limited definitions of “fun,” but those limited definitions are pretty important for a...

Normally I say "shoot your shot," but even I have limits

$ · June 19, 2022

Dustin, 6/19/22 Earlier this year, my faithful readers were treated to what I assume was an enlightening etymological journey in which they learned that the...

Saturday quickies

$ · June 18, 2022

Dustin, 6/18/22 "What I'm trying to say, kid, is that when you get old, your body goes to shit. But also, you stop feeling inconvenient emotions. So it...

Metapost: Please, my comment of the week, it's very funny

$ · June 17, 2022

Your comment of the week ... has ARRIVED: "Hoping for three solid weeks of Curtis trying to drum up a whisper campaign for what is clearly his webcomic. 'Oh...

Friday is for naked butts (NOT A METAPHOR) (TRIGGER WARNING: NAKED BUTTS)

$ · June 17, 2022

Funky Winkerbean, 6/17/22 Hi, guys. Happy Friday. It’s been a tough week and I hope you’re all looking forward to the weekend. To celebrate, here’s Funky...

They ordered the piranhas on the Dark Web, maybe

$ · June 16, 2022

Dick Tracy, 6/16/22 Oh, right, I guess I never mentioned that the owl guy had, pre-owl-stuff, been seen using hypnosis (?) to convince people to hand over...

Breakin' the law (of common decency)

$ · June 15, 2022

Gil Thorp, 6/15/22 “Look, I’m only asking this because one of my dumb students put me up to it, but: were you guys in the mob or what? It’s ok, you can tell...

MORE MURDERS DAMN IT

$ · June 14, 2022

Blondie, 6/14/22 The first panel of today's strip sent me into an emotional state that, if you're a frequent reader of this blog, you know I experience far...

Monday is for callouts

$ · June 13, 2022

Crock, 6/13/22 Crock has been in perpetual reruns ever since its creator died and his son decided that doing the thing so many people in this industry do...

Soapy TWISTS!

$ · June 12, 2022

Mary Worth, 6/12/22 The thing about Mary Worth, the character, as well as Mary Worth, the strip, is that they are both very moralistic in tone but their...

Saturday is for pain

$ · June 11, 2022

Six Chix, 6/11/22 It’s not quite “guy in a gimp suit gets eaten alive by rats” but “guy in cargo shorts gets eaten alive by [squints] giant mosquitos, I...

Metapost: Comments? Of the WEEK? In THIS economy????

$ · June 10, 2022

It’s here, everyone: your top comment of the week. "Objection! The defendant is using his hat like a stupid prop! In fact, it looks like he's trying to...

Rustic horror

$ · June 10, 2022

Pluggers, 6/10/22 I have been writing this blog for far too many years, and a trend that I have noticed over that entire period is that syndicated newspaper...

What if we just make him bad in the sense that the kids mean when they say something they like is "bad"

$ · June 9, 2022

Blondie, 6/9/22 We all talk a lot about how Dagwood wears a full-on tuxedo every day to work, which none of his coworkers do -- Mr. Dithers doesn't even wear...

Wednesday quickies

$ · June 8, 2022

Dennis the Menace, 6/8/22 Damn, Dennis is trying to talk Joey into pulling off some Munchausen syndrome by proxy ... by proxy? I guess that would just be...

Also survived by a dog and a duck

$ · June 7, 2022

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 6/7/22 I assumed that the distant “Newnited States government” to which Hootin’ Holler owes vague allegiance long ago...

Nice begloved butt swat in panel two

$ · June 6, 2022

Gil Thorp, 6/6/22 Look, folks, I’ve never claimed to be particularly “baseball savvy,” so I apologize for failing to follow Saturday’s disjointed jargon...

WalkerBrowneMento

$ · June 5, 2022

Hi and Lois, 6/5/22 I think telling stories out of chronological order has gone from being an innovation to something of a crutch or gimmick at this point,...

Praise Jared from whom all blessings flow

$ · June 4, 2022

Mary Worth, 6/4/22 Whenever Jared appears in this strip, he inspires intense loathing in both me and, based on your comments, all of you, and one of the...

"We'll see what we can do" is definitely something you want to hear from the cops when you're being held captive

$ · June 3, 2022

Mary Worth, 6/3/22 You know, Dawn, you rally ought to listen to your friend Cathy. She’s got a lot of common sense! Thanks to faithful reader Rita Lake who...

Soapy Thursday

$ · June 2, 2022

Gil Thorp, 6/2/22 So Gregg wore his dumb mask, the opposing team figured out he was blind and peppered him with bunts, and now he’s real depressed and giving...

Flops and sweat

$ · June 1, 2022

Six Chix, 6/1/22 Look, I’ll admit that I’ve spent quite a bit of time on this website – too much time, really – inflicting my musings about mermaid biology...

[A voice devoid of any emotion whatsoever] Ho ... ho ... ho

$ · May 31, 2022

Dick Tracy, 5/31/22 I apologize for my commentary yesterday in which I claimed that Dick Tracy would not want to get to the bottom of this whole non-violent...

Always remember >>>>>> never forget

$ · May 30, 2022

Beetle Bailey, 5/30/21 Hope you’re having a happy somber and meaningful Memorial Day, everybody! Beetle Bailey, America’s #1 only military-themed comic...

"Geez!" You tell 'em buddy

$ · May 29, 2022

Rex Morgan, M.D., 5/29/22 This is definitely one of the on-purpose funniest Rex Morgan strips in years, made funnier by its sort of shambolic, shaggy dog...

Did we ... did we forget about the "Dad doesn't want to be photographed" plot entirely?

$ · May 28, 2022

Gil Thorp, 5/28/22 Welp, the gig (gigg?) is up for our boy Gregg, whose blindness was was discovered by Coach Thorp, and after briefly taking the position...

Metapost: Laff! At the Clubhouse (plus COTW)

$ · May 27, 2022

Summer's coming, folks, and you know what that means ... time to head down to the beach and enjoy your laptop, and also head to the Clubhouse in Los Feliz...

Walker-Browne shocking conclusions

$ · May 27, 2022

Beetle Bailey, 5/27/22 I'm trying to figure out what "cave" would even mean in this context, in which they've clearly all been marching so long that it's not...

Thursday quickies

$ · May 26, 2022

Dennis the Menace, 5/26/22 The only thing menacing here is that Dennis is six years old and should only have the vaguest idea of what "radio" is, and he...

You guys are going straight to JANI-JAIL (a closet)

$ · May 25, 2022

Rex Morgan, M.D., 5/25/22 Exciting developments in Rex Morgan, M.D., everyone! It turns out that vigilantism is not only bad for your rotator cuff, but it's...

Me, though? I'm VERY owl-friend (in a wholesome way)

$ · May 24, 2022

Dick Tracy, 5/24/22 Aww, it looks like this rat dinner is actually just a li’l treat for an adorable li’l owl sidekick to this owlish (?) dude, who I’m...

Mostly distasteful Monday

$ · May 23, 2022

Mary Worth, 5/23/22 This upcoming storyline can’t possibly be about Dawn and what’s-his-face, the Star Wars nerd whose name the narration box can’t even be...

Two nices and a nasty

$ · May 22, 2022

Family Circus, 5/22/22 There's "I increasingly find Pluggers relatable” old and then there's "I unironically find the Family Circus funny" old, but I have to...

Saturday quickies

$ · May 21, 2022

Daddy Daze, 5/21/22 I generally think of piles of leaves as pretty ephemeral things, but apparently the one next to the Daddy Daze Daddy’s house has been...

Metapost: Weekly comments for your enjoyment

$ · May 20, 2022

The comment of the week? It’s coming sooner than you think. "What's the angle here? Shady Shrew sinks his boat to collect the insurance money which, by...

Feel like if you refer to your clothes as a "getup" you already have misgivings

$ · May 20, 2022

Shoe, 4/20/22 Look, Roz, I know you had to come up with an insult on the fly here, and so I guess I should be impressed by the extremely labored pun your...

Comics deal with the future (i.e., the present)

$ · May 19, 2022

The Lockhorns, 5/19/22 I’m pretty sure the first legacy comic to do a cryptocurrency joke was, shockingly, Snuffy Smith way back in 2015, although they just...

Sexually unpleasant Wednesday

$ · May 18, 2022

Mary Worth, 5/18/22 Oh, wow, not only has l'affaire HelenCal ended with Ian and Toby's past and potential future (respectively) student entanglements safely...

Tuesday is for jerks

$ · May 17, 2022

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 5/17/22 Wow, I guess we really are going to get “Snuffy is cruel to his family/Snuff is poor” bits for the rest of the week,...

'There's a HOLE in your story' Sly smirked as Shady was hauled off to the torture chamber

$ · May 16, 2022

Slylock Fox, 5/16/22 My intense study of the post-animalpocalypse world of Slylock Fox has been ongoing for sixteen years now, but every day we are still...

We can't see how it's progressing, but I certainly hope the tongues are out by the final panel

$ · May 15, 2022

Blondie, 5/15/22 There are, as you might guess because you’re reading these words on a website called “The Comics Curmudgeon,” a number of things that...

Grim Saturday

$ · May 14, 2022

Hi and Lois, 5/14/22 As readers of this blog well know, I like that Thirsty has in recent years been allowed to once again be the moderately functional...

Metapost: Weekly comments of the week

$ · May 13, 2022

Like sands through the hourglass, so go the very funny top weekly comments. Here’s this week’s! "My favorite part of this is the narration box: 'As Toby...

Ian should NOT be this eager about ANYTHING

$ · May 13, 2022

Shoe, 5/13/22 Sometimes a long running comic strip will dip deeply into its well of accumulated goodwill among its readers and craft a gag that reflects its...

You're going to be doing the voice in your head for at least a week

$ · May 12, 2022

Blondie, 5/12/22 You ever stare at a sentence for a long stretch of time and become increasingly convinced that it doesn’t really make sense as something a...

Josh contemplates human frailty with varying degrees of sympathy

$ · May 11, 2022

Pluggers, 5/11/22 The historian Ronald Syme wrote that the Emperor Augustus, who died at 77, "outlast[ed] the friends, the enemies, and even the memory of...

I would go more for a "HACHI-MACHI!" myself

$ · May 10, 2022

Dick Tracy, 5/10/22 I’ve apparently lived my life either correctly enough or incorrectly enough that I’ve never worked anywhere that’s been subject to a...

Leroy complains about the meals Loretta cooks, but he's buying baguettes at a 7-11

$ · May 9, 2022

Funky Winkerbean, 5/9/22 Happy Monday, everybody, Funky Winkerbean is starting up the week with a funeral, obviously. I'm pretty sure Mary Sue isn't someone...

[shameless attempt to boost my social media followers voice] FOLLOW MY INSTA TO SEE MORE CAT PIX

$ · May 8, 2022

Family Circus, 5/8/22 Wow, Family Circus did not need to go this hard for Mother’s Day, reminding us that, no matter how much your human litter loves you,...