Notice how far away Henry is standing. He wants no part of this

September 24, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 9/24/24 Despite being a resident of California for more than a decade, I'm not a woo-woo person who talks about a situation's "energy"...

Sad, unsettling Monday

September 23, 2024

Pluggers, 9/23/24 An oft-noted source of malaise in American life is a rise of loneliness, as "third spaces" -- places where people socialize that aren't...

TRIUMPHANT RETURN COMICS

September 22, 2024

Hello everyone! I am back from my vacation! Did you miss me? Did you realize you liked Uncle Lumpy better? Did you not even notice any changes? Feel free to...

Mostly gripes

September 21, 2024

Daddy Daze, 9/21/24 How it started. Blondie, 9/21/24 How it's going. Archie, 9/21/24 Veronica tries a little too hard to sell Archie's lame observation—not...

What happened to Ol' Bessie, that's the real story here

September 20, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 9/20/24 Oh no! In this rustic retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, Jughaid traded Ol' Bessie for a handful of beans. The...

Menace decay, and not Dennis this time

September 19, 2024

Curtis, 9/19/24 Derrick and Onion are canonically the bullies in Curtis, but their game has been slipping steadily for a long time. Way back in '06 they were...

Pity party

September 18, 2024

Arctic Circle, 9/18/24 This strip has been fixated on environmental catastrophe so long it's jarring to see it suddenly switch gears. Or has it? After all,...

Search-engine pessimization

September 17, 2024

Six Chix, 9/17/24 An image search for "batman cat images" yielded mostly AI, fanart, and creepy photos of pets in Halloween costumes. So I'm guessing the...

Shorties

September 16, 2024

Six Chix, 9/16/24 Hey lady, if you want to shut down all the chit-chat, repeat after me: "I'm a Cross‑Fit vegan; let me tell you about my fur‑babies!" On the...

World of Animals VII

September 15, 2024

"Well helloooooo, ladies! … and gents!" "Welcome back to World of Animals, an occasional feature—I'm your beloved host, Carl. My how the time does fly; let's...

More Les, more or less

September 14, 2024

Heathcliff, 9/14/24 One of the hazards of the Backup Comics Blogger business is that you start musing about the interior lives of comic strip characters. To...

When you call me, you can call me AI

September 13, 2024

Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options. Oh my gosh it's the last day of the Comics Curmudgeon fall fundraiser! Hurry! Phantom,...

No one will be seated during the thrilling "Parker sits" sequence, except of course Truck

September 12, 2024

Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options. Please support the Comics Curmudgeon with a generous contribution! Gearhead Gertie,...

The horror! The horror!

September 11, 2024

Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options. Your generous contribution supports the Comics Curmudgeon in its third decade!...

Hey Truck, is that Lisa's bench you're monopolizing?

September 10, 2024

Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options. Celebrate two decades of quality comics mockery with a generous contribution! Blondie,...

It's the 2024 Comics Curmudgeon Fall Fundraiser!

September 9, 2024

Click the banner to contribute by PayPal, or here for other options. The twentieth anniversary Comics Curmudgeon Fall Fundraiser is here! Celebrate two...

Magnets, how do they work? Thorin knows!

September 9, 2024

Dustin, 9/9/24 Deckhand on an Alaskan crab boat. Choker setter for a logging crew. Apprentice roofer. C'mon, Dustin—get it over with. Dick Tracy, 9/9/24...

Sad Sunday

September 8, 2024

The Phantom, 9/8/24 Phantom was growing increasingly vexed That the proles would identify him as John X. So by making up missions and playing a role He set...

Weekend wisecracks

September 7, 2024

Gil Thorp, 9/7/24 Best. Gil Thorp. Ever. Flash Gordon, 9/7/24 Ergon, leader of the Power Men who maintain the capital's tunnels, negotiates concessions from...

Marital mirth

September 6, 2024

Luann, 9/6/24 I won't trouble you with the months-long "Brad and Toni consider having a child, then reconsider after caring for Toni's niece Shannon"...

Metapost: Early vacation-heralding COTW

September 5, 2024

FOLKS!!!! It is time for me, your faithful blogger, to take one of my occasional vacations from the comics and from this site, so you know what that means:...

Thursday quickies

September 5, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 9/5/24 Sarge is correct: his men are extremely vulnerable to the range weapons that are fated to kill them when they finally enter combat....

Jokes and japes for the aged

September 4, 2024

Beetle Bailey, Blondie, and Shoe, 9/4/24 Look, we'd all like to believe that works of art spring from the pure, isolated genius of their creator's mind, but...

Soapy Tuesday

September 3, 2024

Gil Thorp, 9/3/24 I always joke about how the population of the Milford and the greater Valley Conference catchment area at large are completely crazed over...

Don't even get me STARTED on why we don't celebrate on May 1 like everyone else

September 2, 2024

Gil Thorp, 9/2/24 Happy Labor Day, everybody! I guess it's now an annual tradition for a continuity strip character to appear as Rosie the Riveter to promote...

Don't want my furniture talking or even thinking. Sorry if that's not "politically correct"

September 1, 2024

Mary Worth, 9/1/24 Hey guys! Sorry I didn't keep you up to date on the big drama at the Santa Royale Veterinarians Convention, which is that Dr. Ed ran into...

Sammy, stand up for yourself. We're on a deadline here

August 31, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith 8/31/24 You know, I've been doing this blog for two decades now, and yet somehow until today I've never paused to ask myself...

Looks like somebody got ... [puts on sunglasses] ... burned

August 30, 2024

Gil Thorp, 8/30/24 America yearns to know: What's up with the beloved new character "Torch" in Gil Thorp? Have we figured out if "Torch" is his first name,...

Somebody else planned this convention, so no, you'll actually find it considerably more difficult

August 29, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 8/29/24 I was going to say that Beetle's whining here is unrealistic, as well as being literally, legally insubordinate, but you know what?...

There's not a MONOPOLY on violence exactly, but those IOUs are essentially legal tender

August 28, 2024

Dick Tracy, 8/28/24 I guess the woman in the final panel is supposed to be looking up at a big screen, but it really looks like she's rolling her eyes in...

Tuesday quickies

August 27, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 8/27/24 Ha, get it, you thought she wanted Ernie to stop smoking tobacco, a dangerous and expensive habit ... but in fact,...

Space is the place ... for love

$ · August 26, 2024

Dick Tracy, 8/26/24 Someone who's had some weird romance arcs in his time is Junior, Dick Tracy's son in the comic strip Dick Tracy. Long ago he was married...

Karaoke wedding band ... you heard it here first

$ · August 25, 2024

Pardon My Planet, 8/25/24 Ha ha, you guys, you know how Superman has heat vision, right? Well, what if -- hear me out -- what if he was out with his...

Ed's talking like a man who wants to get outflanked by an armored division at his own wedding

$ · August 24, 2024

Marvin and Hi and Lois, 8/24/24 Jeff ... Hi ... you morons. You idiots. You absolute fools. You're already looking ahead to the passage of time, to the day...

Metapost: The week is done, the comments are here

$ · August 23, 2024

Friday = comment of the week day, LET'S DO THIS: "Mary pounding at the window, desperate to hear more about this estranged cousin situation. Former best...

Libya was an ITALIAN colony, you imbecile machine

$ · August 23, 2024

Crock, 8/23/24 An interesting phenomenon in the daily comics is that often during the strip's genesis, the creators come up with an odd conceit or bit that...

It really is fun. The comics are fun!

$ · August 22, 2024

Mary Worth, 8/22/24 Oh, he's listening, Estelle -- he's just horrified that you would think that, as a vet, he'd be OK with a zoo themed wedding. He has to...

Hey, have we established whether Estelle has ever had a real job

$ · August 21, 2024

Judge Parker, 8/21/24 You know, back in the day, young Sophie was real nerd who used to spend a lot of time on laptops analyzing grim data about wars and...

Bad scenes

$ · August 20, 2024

Rex Morgan, M.D., 8/20/24 Look, I've been to plenty of comedy open mics in my time, and the thing you have to keep in mind about them is that they are...

Estelle's really yelling "ESTRANGED" to try to pique Ed's interest and it's not working

$ · August 19, 2024

Slylock Fox, 8/19/24 Slylock is not alarmed because he knows about the square cube law, which dictates that this unnaturally enlarged mosquito's body will...

The Ghost Who Metas

$ · August 18, 2024

The Phantom, 8/18/24 A fun running bit in The Phantom is that we sometimes see original Phantom creator Lee Falk going about his day in pre-war Manhattan,...

Saturday nightmares

$ · August 17, 2024

Bizarro, 8/17/24 Hey, have you heard of the concept of "burial at sea?" Well, get this, what if there's a sort of cool party guy -- you know, the kind who...

Metapost: Highway to the COTW zone

$ · August 16, 2024

It's Friday morning, and you know what that means: your comment of the week has arrived: "Folks said please and thankee! That's it! Folks only knew two...

Mmm ... slop

$ · August 16, 2024

Blondie, 8/16/24 This strip may on first read seem entirely incoherent, but I actually think it nicely captures many people's instinctive take on generative...

Thursday emotional roller coaster

$ · August 15, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 8/15/24 Spent a long time ... no, that's a lie. I spent like 30 seconds trying to figure if there was a "joke" here per se. Like, is it...

Dennis should be into Charlie XCX, he's been in his brat era since 1951

$ · August 14, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 8/14/24 Despite the fact that she's a long-running fixture in a 73-year-old comic strip, I don't think Margaret has a particularly...

Sandwiches? More like SEXWICHES, amiright [everyone gets mad at me] sorry, I will try to do better

$ · August 13, 2024

Six Chix, 8/13/24 "Hey," you're probably wondering, "What's going on with the Tuesday Chik in Six Chix, who last we saw was in a romantic and sexual...

Orwellian Monday

$ · August 12, 2024

Sam and Silo, 8/12/24 Man, for a brief and shining moment, I thought we were going to start the week with a truly exciting Sam and Silo moment. "Now what?"...

Swift resolution Sunday

$ · August 11, 2024

Six Chix, 8/11/24 Honestly, to me, this didn't seem like a very desperate measure at all! It seems like she just mentally recited a nursery rhyme and that...

Lesser soaper Saturday

$ · August 10, 2024

Dick Tracy, 8/10/24 It looks like Dick Tracy is finally getting back to the "How is B-tier villain Silver Nitrate doing in the joint?" plot they teased us...