The Comics Curmudgeon

Can't believe the French are stealing our Thanksgiving. How dare they

$ · November 26, 2024

Crock, 11/26/24 The thing that's great about this Crock strip (and that's a phrase I never thought I'd write) is that Barlow is covered with feathers, which...

Hat Ghost: The Ghost Who Wore A Hat

$ · November 25, 2024

Blondie, 11/25/24 A common development in all sorts of open-ended narratives (comic strips, TV shows, what have you) is that ancillary characters are...

Do the bird-people's tree(?)-houses have roofs?

$ · November 24, 2024

Shoe, 11/24/24 If told you to imagine a local TV news report about a city clerk being appointed, you'd probably think, "Wow! Can't get duller than that!"...

Good thing it's not Princeton, because I'd have some harsh words

$ · November 23, 2024

Mary Worth, 11/23/24 Big news everyone. Huge news. Incredible news. Mary is coming down with COVID or the flu or maybe just a bad cold, who's to say, but the...

Metapost: Pre-prandial comments of the week

$ · November 22, 2024

I'm not a scientist, but I'm pretty sure that laughter is the best way to expand your stomach in preparation for your upcoming Thanksgiving binge. And what...

Unpleasant Friday

$ · November 22, 2024

Gasoline Alley, 11/22/24 Oh, sorry kids, looks like you're going to slowly suffocate to death as your spaceship goes dark and circles Mars in an erratic...

What's next, CRANBERRY SAUCE out of CAN?????

$ · November 21, 2024

Mary Worth, 11/21/24 This whole week has been about everyone ("everyone" being Toby and Dawn, admittedly) getting jazzed as hell about Thanksgiving, because...

Quick takes on still more babies and other terrible children

$ · November 20, 2024

Marvin, 11/20/24 Good news, everyone! Marvin? The terrible baby? The one who does all the pissing and shitting? Well, he doesn't know about sex yet. Yet....

Mostly babies

$ · November 19, 2024

Hi and Lois, 11/19/24 See, here's an example of why Hi and Lois absolutely should stick to its post-punchline vibes: today's strip does have a punchline, and...

What about my inner adult, why isn't anyone concerned about him

$ · November 18, 2024

Gasoline Alley, 11/18/24 Is that really true, Arty? Have today's children seen a lot about Mars on TV? Is there actually a lot of Mars content out there, on...

The shirt ... it is stripy ... honh honh honh

$ · November 17, 2024

Panels from Hagar the Horrible, 11/17/24 "OK, we want people to know she's a prostitute, so we'll give her torn short shorts and fishnet stockings ... but...

Animal-people and people-people

$ · November 16, 2024

Pluggers, 11/16/24 Big news for people tired of reading my typed words and interested in hearing my voice: if you fall into that category and you are...

Metapost: Let's all enjoy some comments of the week

$ · November 15, 2024

This week's top comment! You know it, you love it, etc. "Of all the people in the world, I would most expect Mary to caution us all about swimming within an...

Downer Friday

$ · November 15, 2024

Dustin, 11/15/24 Yes, sir, Dustin sure is a strip where one of the main characters is a lawyer! Ha ha, that is undeniable. And "class action"? You'd better...

Soapy quickies

$ · November 14, 2024

Gil Thorp, 11/14/24 I don't know why but it infuriates me that Marty is casually dropping "P.I.O." into his patter. We get it, Marty, you know that they're...

Does having a tragic backstory and being rich and going to NYU make you "cool"? Sound off in the comments

$ · November 13, 2024

Gil Thorp, 11/13/24 Oh yeah, remember Coach Perm Gerads, who briefly seemed like he might be Gil's new nemesis but then he got beat up by his own students?...

Blast (?) from the past

$ · November 12, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/12/24 As we move inexorably into a post-newspaper world, we do have to ask ourselves: who are the comics, as a genre and...

Sweet memories

$ · November 11, 2024

Blondie, 11/11/24 Remember just weeks ago, when Dagwood dismissed the pumpkin spice concept, now in its second decade, as a mere passing craze? Well,...

Josh has some questions

$ · November 10, 2024

Rhymes With Orange, 11/10/24 Hey, everybody. Have you ever wondered if demons, the dark angels who have turned their back on God and now live in Hell, where...

Saturday is for cheap love

$ · November 9, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 11/9/24 I know it's just because of basic newspaper comic strip art hackery, but it really bothers me that Beetle's shirt here looks exactly...

Metapost: Today is the day for the comment of the week

$ · November 8, 2024

It is Friday: the day of the week when I showcase the top comment that were posted on my website. Here is my choice for this week! "The relative superiority...

"Speaking of narrative" ... you fool, if you're speaking of narrative, there's already narrative happening

$ · November 8, 2024

Intelligent Life, 11/8/24 I can't believe I'm saying this about Intelligent Life, a comic strip that's usually about unpleasant bug-eyed people saying fandom...

Josh says some nice stuff

$ · November 7, 2024

Flash Gordon, 11/7/24 The new-ish iteration of Flash Gordon got a shout-out from Uncle Lumpy a few weeks ago, but I'm here to give it my full-time blogger...

One-panel Wednesday

$ · November 6, 2024

Hagar the Horrible, 11/6/24 Not really sure what to make of the wordbuilding behind this one. Are we meant to believe that a wily group of forest Finns are...

Dark Tuesday

$ · November 5, 2024

Dustin, 11/5/24 The thing about Dustin is that it's a perfect machine of hateability, in the sense that there isn't a single recurring character that I have...

Monday is for cyber, and murder, and love

$ · November 4, 2024

Alice, 11/4/24 A thing I think about a lot is that the guy who the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory inspired to shoot up Comet Ping-Pong in the aftermath of the...

Bench II: Return to the Bench

$ · November 3, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 11/3/24 Every once in a while, you do have to wonder how much anyone at Walker-Browne Amalgamated Humor Industries LLC knows about the actual...

Century Boulevard ... we love it

$ · November 2, 2024

Blondie, 11/2/24 The Blondie creative team is usually very locked in to whatever big calendar full of real and fake holidays that's clearly hanging up in the...

Metapost: 1st of the month, 1st COTW of the month

$ · November 1, 2024

Happy November, all! And there's nothing happier than the comment of the week! "The robot looks like he's been waiting a long time to squeeze this question...

Wilbumiliation

$ · November 1, 2024

Mary Worth, 11/1/24 Aww, who came to Dr. Ed and Estelle's last-minute, let's-make-it-legal-before-we-have-another-dumb-fight wedding? Well, from left, we...

Spooky, soapy, etc.

$ · October 31, 2024

Gil Thorp, 10/31/24 Oh, huh, Gil Thorp as a vampire is gonna be a cherished annual tradition now? I'm not complaining, mind you. Far from it! I do question...

Classic enemies-to-lovers arc

$ · October 30, 2024

Hi and Lois, 10/30/24 Never mind Trixie's baby brain being incapable of parsing this metaphor. What kind of fool's paradise have Hi and Lois been living in...

Doc Pritchart has never heard of Pagliacci and wouldn't recommend this costume

$ · October 29, 2024

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 10/29/24 No. Sorry. Call me a coastal flatlander elitist if you must, but I do not buy today's Barney Google and Snuffy Smith...

I wish ill upon the New York Yankees, and urge others to do the same

$ · October 28, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 10/28/24 Dennis lives unbothered by the linear flow of time, existing in an eternal "now" from which there is no escape. When Margert...

I'm not afraid of these little guys!!!!

$ · October 27, 2024

Dennis the Menace, 10/27/24 The Sunday Dennis the Menace strips always come with a title in the first panel, and usually it offers little pun or light...

Gettin' old and crusty

$ · October 26, 2024

Blondie, 10/26/24 Look, clearly I'm not as young as I was when I launched this blog back in 2004, and if I had a chance to tell that 29-year-old what what...

Friday is for ladies who deserve better

$ · October 25, 2024

Crock, 10/25/24 Of all the characters in the comics, few are subject to as much indignity as Crock's Grossie. I mean, forgetting the fact that she's named...

Metapost: Quick COTW

$ · October 25, 2024

Here it is! Your comment of the week! "You know land lines are becoming archaic when even comic strip artists forget how you're supposed to hold a handset...

Honestly curious about Hagar's and Helga's relative social positions before they married

$ · October 24, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/24/24 If I know Mary Worth, and I'd like to think at this point that I do, I'm reasonably sure that Estelle and Dr. Ed will, in fact, end up...

Soapy boredom

$ · October 23, 2024

Dick Tracy, 10/23/24 Dick Tracy has spent a lot of this week getting into the architectural history of Neo-Chicago and the state of local landmarked...

Tuesday downers

$ · October 22, 2024

Gil Thorp, 10/22/24 Oh hey, remember the new guys introduced this year on the Mudlark football team? Well, I forgot to mention that one of them has this...

Out of the past (in various forms)

$ · October 21, 2024

Crock and The Phantom, 10/21/24 One of my longest-running bits on this blog is pointing out strips where the colorists have very clearly not read the comic...

High-falutin' Sunday

$ · October 20, 2024

Hi and Lois, 10/20/24 It's a bold choice to have Hi and Lois make direct eye contact with you, the reader, in the final panel here. This isn't just a cute...

Mild Saturday enjoyment

$ · October 19, 2024

Shoe, 10/19/24 To be sure, the human heart is a mystery, and nobody can say why anyone does anything, really, but that hasn't stopped me from wondering why...

Metapost: C-O-T-W-T-O-G-O

$ · October 18, 2024

It's Friday, it's COTW time, let's get all comment of the week up in here! "Gasoline Alley is really adamant about stating and restating Ida Noe's central...

Walker-Browne strips to kick off your weekend

$ · October 18, 2024

Beetle Bailey, 10/18/24 This Beetle Bailey honestly feels kind of grim to me, as banal as it seems on the surface. Sure, Sarge is joking around with Beetle...

Thursday is for phones

$ · October 17, 2024

Dick Tracy, 10/17/24 One of the subtler conundrums created by the "comic-book time” phenomenon is the question of how the characters themselves experience...

Space is the place!

$ · October 16, 2024

The Phantom, 10/16/24 The Avarice AI's suicide attempt was actually a murder-suicide attempt, but it failed in both respects ignominiously, so now the poor...

Tuesday quickies

$ · October 15, 2024

Gasoline Alley, 10/15/24 Wow, I guess I see why Sophie has a different teacher than the other two girls! I've been trying pretty hard to avoid learning any...

She had won the victory over herself. She loved Mary Worth

$ · October 14, 2024

Mary Worth, 10/14/24 "You're right, Mary! I made a decision meant to avoid pain of the type I had suffered before, but now, under your careful guidance, I've...