B.C., 5/14/11
If you’re not a regular B.C. reader, you might at first be a little confused as to why the man talking to the one-legged man is standing in some kind of pit. Fear not — there’s a completely reasonable explanation! As you can tell by the fact that the one-legged man is wearing a baseball cap and is addressed as “coach,” our characters are actually in the middle of a baseball game, and the pit is actually a dugout, which is “dug out” of the ground! Ha ha, get it?
If you’re not a regular B.C. reader, you might now expect to me explain literally every other aspect of this cartoon to you. But I can’t! Because it doesn’t make any sense! With the shock collars and … and “your little game of dodge the raptor” … and … buh?
Ziggy, 5/14/11
In other news, an abstract concept seems to have left a literal turd on Ziggy’s doorstep.
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 08:19 am and is filed under B.C., Ziggy. | 249 responses to “” John C FremontMay 14th, 2011 at 8:25 am [Reply]
Would one of you guys hurry up and comment? I can’t take this kind of pressure!
(Maybe I’ll just go back and comment at the end of the old thread. Safer that way.)
A3G – Speaking of Iron Eyes Cody, was he really crying because of pollution, or was he just crying because someone threw their trash at him? That’a always bugged me. That’s why Paul’s crying, right?
MT – Hey, that’s Aldo’s line, dammit!
FW – Oh, for the love of… I have to leave for work now. If you happen to be in the general area of Omaha and you see a guy yelling angrily in his car as though he’s some sort of lunatic or mad prophet, it’s probably just me thinking about today’s Funky Winkerbean.
Government CheeseMay 14th, 2011 at 8:32 am [Reply]
MW: Dr. Drew, lost in his thought bubble, narrowly misses leaning on the counter. However, he recovers quickly by sheer MWesqe rage at not being able to extract himself from Nurse Femme Fatale. Who picked his suit anyway, his dad? He looks like a mattress salesman.
Doctor HandsomeMay 14th, 2011 at 8:48 am [Reply]
I’m pretty sure “Dodge the Raptor” involves it not putting the lotion on its skin.
Doctor HandsomeMay 14th, 2011 at 8:55 am [Reply]
It’s pretty creepy when a pantsless bachelor refers to the neighboorhood teens as “Opportunity.”
Doctor HandsomeMay 14th, 2011 at 8:56 am [Reply]
*neighborhood
SpundeMay 14th, 2011 at 9:04 am [Reply]
FW: I’m still trying to figure out this whole “letting Hollywood get their hands on ‘Lisa’s Story.’” I’m pretty sure the only thing “Lisa’s Story” has that about a hundred Lifetime Original Movies don’t is the bad joke of someone naming their kid “Les Moore.”
JessyMay 14th, 2011 at 9:18 am [Reply]
BC: What???
Scott BotMay 14th, 2011 at 9:18 am [Reply]
FW – Ok, that’s it. I’ve threatened this before, but it’s official now, I’m not reading this strip anymore. I have pretty much reached my maximum nausea level for the year.
JP – Good, we’re back to the four boobs on the roof rather than the two boobs in the taxi.
MT – The expert woodsman bends over, gets poked in the butt with a stick, and falls in a trap? Stuff like this is the reason I love this strip so much.
Pluggers – It’s a pretty simple concept, but the plugger here seems somewhat confused.
Cheap MattressesMay 14th, 2011 at 9:20 am [Reply]
@Government Cheese (#2): Hey, what’s wrong with the way my salesmen dress?!
LorneMay 14th, 2011 at 9:35 am [Reply]
“Dodge the Raptor” means “Masturbate”, right?
bbofunMay 14th, 2011 at 9:41 am [Reply]
In what universe is the thing on the coach’s head a baseball cap? MAYBE it could be one of those caps 1930’s NYC cabbies wear. Or maybe a plane (the type used in shop class, not the type that flies).
Or maybe it’s a Rorschach blot. What do YOU see?
AnonymousMay 14th, 2011 at 9:41 am [Reply]
Mark Trail: Mr. Genius Smarty-Pants ex-military commando. Does he take an action from the SEAL Team 6’s Big Book of Sneaking Up on Targets and Taking Them Out In a Dramatic Way? No, he did something the sheepdog does to the wolf in a Looney Tunes short. I can even hear the “Poink!” when the stick makes contact.
Mark Trail, emotional thought: Oh. My. God. The last panel is the greatest scene in Mark Trail since Mark punched the hair off a man’s face.
Mark Trail, once more: Could that be the barky stick that what’s-his-face hit himself with?
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 9:44 am [Reply]
Frazz: made of win.
A&J: true DAT! you go, Arlo!!!
CdS: there’s some truth here. also, love the juice-box joke.
IP: and thus ends your typical ‘crossover miniseries’.
Lio: *FLIPTAKE!* o, this is WONDERFUL! Mr. Tatulli, a marvelous culmination of a very fine weeks worth of strips. *applaz*
Mutts: and another weeks arc ends, somewhat less successfully.
OBH: ummmmm. I’m uncomfortable with this.
Zits: at least Pierce is self-aware.
Baka GaijinMay 14th, 2011 at 9:50 am [Reply]
@Anonymous (#12): That’s me. Victim of the Cookie Monster again.
Écureuil ÉcumantMay 14th, 2011 at 9:51 am [Reply]
MT: OK, guy wants to dig his latrine in the middle of the trail and camouflage it, what’s wrong with that? It’s the high country, ain’t it? Gotta keep that situational awareness honed when you’re out in the wilderness.
Ziggy: That wasn’t a knock, it was a fart. And that’s not rain on your windowpanes, either.
Baka GaijinMay 14th, 2011 at 9:54 am [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#13): You know what’s better than today’s Lio? Today’s Lio en Español!
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 9:55 am [Reply]
@carlag8r (#y88): AS is lame. That’s usually the answer, except when the answer is outright plagiarism of Gary Larson.
@Katy (#y55):
I knew you were. *happy*
Baka GaijinMay 14th, 2011 at 9:59 am [Reply]
Pluggers: It seems Reed Hoover has a nom de plume.
Sally Forth: Not surprised. Not surprised at all unless an Autobot, Decepticon, or wookie doesn’t appear in this sequence.
Spiderman: The last panel will be Mary Worth and Liza in a week or so towards a pair of cowering Corey doctors.
monsieurjohnMay 14th, 2011 at 10:01 am [Reply]
If only I had special forces training, so I could learn how to dig holes and then poke people into them with sticks.
RustyMay 14th, 2011 at 10:03 am [Reply]
BC: I’ve always been disturbed by Wiley’s wooden peg reaching up into his caveman kilt. Show me a little thigh, so I know that thing is at least usable as an extremity. As is, it looks like a kickstand.
Lengthening the kilt for all the guys to at least mid-thigh would also be helpful from an aesthetics standpoint.
TaggedMay 14th, 2011 at 10:05 am [Reply]
Doonesbury: Called it…Ray’s going home whether he wants to or not. And he really, really, really doesn’t want to. Next week, the fallout.
nescioMay 14th, 2011 at 10:07 am [Reply]
“As you can tell by the fact that the one-legged man is wearing a baseball cap…”
You can tell that? It looks more like Opportunity left a turd on Wiley’s head.
JupiterPluviusMay 14th, 2011 at 10:08 am [Reply]
@nescio (#22): Opportunity seems to need a big dose of Immodium or something.
TheDivaMay 14th, 2011 at 10:15 am [Reply]
BC: If Johnny Hart was still in charge, I would assume this is some sort of coded message to that guy who claims the world’s going to end at sunset next Saturday (possibly trying to confirm if that’s Eastern or Pacific time). As it is…well, the best I can figure out is that Dugout Guy has been doing stupid things like velociraptor-baiting, and Coach Guy is “looking out for” Dugout Guy by fitting him with a shock collar to prevent him from doing stupid things. Where a caveman got a shock collar from, or what function the baseball setting serves, or why anyone would think any of this is funny is beyond me. In any case, this has already caused me to think about BC more than I care to, which is to say I thought about it at all.
9CL: …..I fuckin’ hate this strip.
C’shaft: Your grandma is a sour-faced sex criminal? Wow, small world innit?
FW: Poor Cayla. She’d just gotten to the point where sex with Les was no longer a paranormal menage a trois, and now she has to start over from square one.
Marvin: Okay, I call foul. Marvin’s babysitter is at most in her early twenties, meaning she was born in the late 80s at the earliest and sticky-tab diapers would have been common. (Then again, the crazed expression on her caregiver in panel three suggests she’s using diaper pins for the sadistic thrill of it.)
MT: So John Thrasher’s plan was to sneak up behind Mark and spook him into the pit, no doubt following the tactics of that famed survivalist the Road Runner. But hey, can’t argue with the results.
MW: Don’t be hard on Liza. She’s just desperate to find love before the rapid-aging disease she’s contracted takes its toll.
RustyMay 14th, 2011 at 10:15 am [Reply]
FW: This story arc should conclude with either Les being unable to “talk” with Susan ever again because he has finally move on; or his court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. Having Les sitting on the bench in his cardigan (the only 50 year old man in America wearing one, btw) waiting on Lisa’s ghost is either pathetic or Batiuk has become a meta master.
UncleJeffMay 14th, 2011 at 10:21 am [Reply]
Phantom: Sorry, kid. The “Jungle Patrol” ain’t coming. All you’re getting is a masked man in stripey Spanx doing anything he can to “get away from The Wife” for a weekend.
MT: Mark seems to be doing a lot more stunts: falling off boats, sailing into the air on a snare, falling into pits. Mark should consider looking for JackElrod rather than John F. Thrasher. Thrasher will find him, eventually.
Funk: I’m beginning to think I like “Creepy Les” better than “Mopey Les”. I’d prefer “Less Les.”
Écureuil ÉcumantMay 14th, 2011 at 10:24 am [Reply]
BC: Nice beret, shades and goatee there, Coach. I hate to break it to you, though, but you lack the wherewithal to be hip. The best you can hope for is half hip.
JupiterPluviusMay 14th, 2011 at 10:26 am [Reply]
@UncleJeff (#26): Funk: I’m beginning to think I like “Creepy Les” better than “Mopey Les”. I’d prefer “Less Les.”
I’d accept No Les.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 10:28 am [Reply]
the hazards of having tea with an Australian Shepard.
those of you that follow the news will probably get a kick out of this. I certainly did.
not playin’ possum.
more of Norm’s baby pics.
adorbable Lab pup.
Griffyndog.
epic kewt. *dies*
a bonus happy for Katy. [*] :-)
CanuckDownSouthMay 14th, 2011 at 10:28 am [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#17):
But does today’s AS earn special lameness points for depicting curious, strategizing zombies? The mythos is towards “brains… braainnnsss…” or straightforward obedience to the zombie-maker.
Rocky StoneaxeMay 14th, 2011 at 10:31 am [Reply]
5-14 Weird Sound Effects:
Dog Eat Doug — FWOOOSH!
Safe Havens — TAP TAP TAP
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 10:31 am [Reply]
@TheDiva (#24): if the Sunday’s MT features road runners, I will plotz.
BEEP – BEEP! :pbpbpbpbpbpb
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 10:32 am [Reply]
@CanuckDownSouth (#30): not lookin’. hate the strip. Hate, HATE, HATE it.
JessyMay 14th, 2011 at 10:46 am [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#13): OBH: Yes, me too. What was Detorie thinking?
commodorejohnMay 14th, 2011 at 10:53 am [Reply]
A3G – Okay, seriously, Bolle, you’re pulling our collective leg, right? Or has Paul here just never learned the difference between “amazing” and “great-Grandma’s nightgown?”
A.D. – …yeah, I got nothin’.
Bizarro – REJECTED.
Crankshaft – I just watched Eegah! last night. It features Arch Hall, Jr., creepy rape-fetish overtones, unsettlingly non-filial chemistry between the heroine and her dad, Richard Kiel licking shaving cream off his face, and Arch Hall, Jr., and it still wasn’t as squicky as today’s Crankshaft.
Crock – …if i don’t try to comprehend it it can’t eat my brain
Curtis – You know, you’d think if you were writing a storyline about how obnoxious mandatory cable bundling is, you wouldn’t write a scenario in which the cable company actually does offer a package that serves the customer’s needs, and thus make your heroes look like a bunch of dumbasses who didn’t even bother to look past the marketing spiel.
DT – Oh, that’s nice, Milligan has put on his baker’s cop cap for the occasion.
FC – “Sky-diving camp? Sounds terrific. Be sure and tell them you don’t need a parachute.”
FW – “Ha ha!” says Tom Batiuk. “You thought that Les getting laid might have been the end of this, didn’t you? Well Dead Lisa will never go away! Never ever! Or at least not until I get my Pulitzer. All I want is what’s coming to me! All I want is my fair share!”
JP – She’s entered a holding pattern. Better hope they have enough booze and peanuts to keep the Judge busy until the plot can land.
Liō – Win.
Luann – WHAT.
MT – Even with this, Mark is still less pathetic than Spider-Man.
MW – “Did you hear what I said?” Oh, that’s a good one, Drew. Have you not realized that Liza doesn’t work that way? She only hears what she wants people to have said. Right now, for instance? You probably just promised to make up the loss of one weekend with an extended week-long stay at some kind of sex resort from which to send sarcastic post-cards to her supervisor at the hospital. Have fun!
Phantom – A sapient house? I’d ask when The Phantom turned into Mark Trail, but nobody in Mark Trail ever uses thought balloons.
SF – I love this strip so much.
SM – You’ll have to excuse her, Spidey. She’s been drugged, so it probably seems halfway plausible that you’d have rescued her.
JamesMay 14th, 2011 at 10:53 am [Reply]
Ziggy should not be drawn head on
Effluvius ErratusMay 14th, 2011 at 10:56 am [Reply]
Crankshaft: Not a bad smirk, Lawnboy, for a beginner, but need to dial down the good-natured playfulness and dial up the condescension and martyrdom if you want to eye-roll with the big boys. That said, you still managed to shame Rose for being an old person with sex feelings, and without even trying, so I see bright future for you in Westview.
FC: Thelma stood at the sink, hands floating lifelessly in the sudsy water, as she stared, dead-eyed, out the window. The bright technicolor world outside shown through like a Pissaro hanging on a museum wall. She could look at all day if she wanted, but never touch it, never enter, never live in such a bright, vibrant world. Then Billy came in running and screaming, “Mommy, how does sky-diving camp sound as a good summer activity?” Like a stone falling down a deep well, it took a moment before the words quite reached her. Finally, she said, “Sky-diving sounds good, Billy. Real good.” A distant splash echoed from the depths of her dark, watery soul. “But I don’t think you need to go to a camp for it.”
SideshowJonMay 14th, 2011 at 10:59 am [Reply]
Marmaduke’s sinister profile gives us a hint of the gruesome death awaiting Dick Tracy’s villain du jour.
The RidgerMay 14th, 2011 at 11:01 am [Reply]
@Jessy (#34): Me, too. (Plus, how would he know what the queen’s name is, anyway? It’s stupid as well.)
Effluvius ErratusMay 14th, 2011 at 11:01 am [Reply]
Get Fuzzy: There you go, Satchel, always getting racial.
Mark BMay 14th, 2011 at 11:08 am [Reply]
I never noticed the resemblance between Mark Trail and Wile E. Coyote before now. I guess the fact that he buys all of his camping equipment from ACME should have tipped me off.
Mark BMay 14th, 2011 at 11:10 am [Reply]
Weird coincidence: today both Rex Morgan MD and Mark Trail involve poking someone with a stick.
Joe BtfsplkMay 14th, 2011 at 11:14 am [Reply]
Ziggy – Well, Opportunity’s only doing what everyone else in Ziggy’s neighborhood does daily, probably on a rotating schedule. He should be adapted to constantly picking up doorstep turds by now, given that his shoulder joints have actually migrated to the front of his torso to make it easier for him.
Mark BMay 14th, 2011 at 11:18 am [Reply]
I have to say, Mark Trail’s ability to sense danger behind him rivals Spider Man’s. I mean, your dog just fell into a trap, you think you might just try to be a little extra alert, wouldn’t you?
ElkMeadowMay 14th, 2011 at 11:27 am [Reply]
As re. today’s Ziggy, one of my friends looked out her bathroom window and saw a cougar. Another neighbor found a dead deer that the cougar had hauled to her yard. So, if opportunity scratches at the door….
NightRavenMay 14th, 2011 at 11:29 am [Reply]
Hmm.. my take on the B.C.-strip:
Maybe the caveman in the pit, for some insane reason, thought it’d be fun to release a live raptor into the game area, and shout “Dodge the Raptor!!”.
The coach and this guy were the only survivors, and he put the collar on him so he can’t escape the raptor still roaming the field.
Or the writers are just pulling up random words from the “Caveman Dictionary”, I don’t know.
May 14th, 2011 at 11:45 am [Reply]
Luann: Quill is either gay or a 60 year-old monk masquerading as a high-school student. For a straight male teen, if a girl, ANY girl, practically spreads her legs in front of your face, you aren’t too concerned about emotional aftermaths.
MT: Is Mark being tickled with that stick so hard that he collapses in a fit of giggling?
Doctor HandsomeMay 14th, 2011 at 11:51 am [Reply]
Holy shit, John Thrasher has true vampire powers!
RhekaridMay 14th, 2011 at 11:52 am [Reply]
Since his victim has escaped attempts to feed him to dinosaurs, the coach has decided to simply electrocute him to death. Doing it as he stands in his own open grave just saves time.
bourbon babe, unbuckledMay 14th, 2011 at 12:01 pm [Reply]
MT: Clearly, John Thrasher has retained his Special-Forces bolding abilities. But not so fast, John: Take a look at that last panel; never try to out-bold the master-bolder!
SM: So what were Morbius and Martine doing while Spidey was untying MJ? Another costume change? This plot has more holes than Morbius’s neck.
A3G: I’d cry, too, Paul, if I had a date with someone wearing that outfit.
Curtis: I know you’re only, like, 12, Curtis, but marry this girl now. Any girl who’s willing feign interest in that story is worth keeping.
RA: If you won the lottery, Lizzie, you could find someone to draw you as though you didn’t have a mutant sea creature affixed to your head—and with the leftover money, you could find a writer who would put something worth reading into your speech balloons.
MW: You gotta love the fact that Drew gets all dressed up to let Liza down easy; it’s his special “go to dumpin’” suit, with that brown/blue color combo to set off his eyes.
And on the non-ironic comics love front: Trudeau can still tell a story and create characters as well as, or better than, just about anyone else on the comics page, and Richard Thompson is a pomegranate, mango, kudzu-swilling god. And I’m not a big Darrin Bell fan usually, but this last week has been pretty darned great—more of this, and fewer vampires, please.
UncleJeffMay 14th, 2011 at 12:01 pm [Reply]
DT: Ah yes, Officers Milligan and Doherty are back assisting Detective Tracy and Former Police Chief Lizz is back doing what all little girls should be doing — showing up occasionally as a half-naked plot point.
Sure n’begorrah, things are back to normal in ol’ Dublin….err, wherever Tracy’s police department is located.
May 14th, 2011 at 12:04 pm [Reply]
Three days of ZOMBY:
1. Zomby knows how gross he can be and really does regret it.
2. An offer Zomby can’t refuse but should.
3. Zomby asks a question, and that question is answered.
GregMay 14th, 2011 at 12:08 pm [Reply]
FW: Les is conferring with the spirit of Clovis. I know that doesn’t make any sense now, but it will in a few weeks.
bourbon babe, unbuckledMay 14th, 2011 at 12:10 pm [Reply]
@Rocky Stoneaxe (#y53): I used to be buckyswife, but when I stopped being Bucky’s Wife, the good people on this site helped me come up with my new identity; it was very much a group effort!
Day-after congrats to everyone on the various and sundry floats, too!
PipMay 14th, 2011 at 12:16 pm [Reply]
BC: I think it’s a highly symbolic jab at the Creators Syndicate. Look at the second panel, which contains the “Distr. by Creators Syndicate.” The creator (here represented by the non-coach guy) foolishly believes that the Syndicate is looking out for his own interests while the Syndicate-coach is arrogantly looking down upon him! In the third panel, “dodge the raptor” is a euphemism for hiding material (whether it be innuendo, violent background imagery, whatever) that would normally be considered inappropriate in the comic strip. Whenever a creator sneaks something inappropriate into the comic, he/she plays a game of “dodge the raptor”; you and the syndicate desperately hope that the eyes of easily-incensed would-be censors “dodge” the content, here represented by a violent raptor. With that in mind, the message of the third panel seems to be that the syndicate is saying “You should have thought about the possibility that I would threaten to drop you from the comics page before you tried to have your little fun on MY PAGE.” As if to invite those of us who would be outraged at the syndicate’s tyranny, the artist puts in his web address in the final panel.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 12:17 pm [Reply]
Crock – Traditionally, lazy and apathetic cartoonists have phoned it in, rather than giving a crap about doing a good job. Crock brings this tradition of not caring to the 21st century by tweeting it in.
Family – Thel isn’t listening, Billy. She’s silently thanking God for colorists, without whom her face would be drifting away on the breeze by now, like so many little dandelion seeds.
Smirky – Awww, that’s sweet! Les has to go sit under his wanking-over-my-dead-wife tree.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 12:20 pm [Reply]
Gasoline – Everybody who was surprised by this turn of events, well, please send ten dollars to my Paypal account. (Hell, if they fell for that, they’ll fall for this.)
Luann – Christ, what a loophole!
Mark – Look out, Mark! He’s got a stick! Did you remember to bring your elderberry?
DesmondMay 14th, 2011 at 12:20 pm [Reply]
BC – One hesitates to correct our genial host (especially because I’m almost positive I brought this up during a previous discussion of BC and baseball), but I’m positive–to the point of near-complete metaphysial certitude–that the baseball players standing in the hole are a visual pun meant to represent their team finding itself perennially in last place: i.e., “in the basement” or “in the cellar,” in common parlance. I’m almost equally positive that the joke was actually spoken by the eyepatch-wearing fellow (thus removing any ambiguity) in the first such appearance, back in the mists of my youth.
(I’d also point out that this interpretation is much more charitable to Johnny Hart–however unfashionable such an attitude is–than the “dugout” thing, which is not actually a joke. There’s no pun there; a dugout is a hole in the ground–that’s why they call it a dugout.)
Doctor HandsomeMay 14th, 2011 at 12:21 pm [Reply]
“Rescuing you is still a work in progress! Sure, my main superpowers are my agility, speed, and mobility, so you’d think we could just leave, but no! Morbius and Martine are lumbering awkwardly towards us like Tor and Vampira in Plan 9! We’re clearly fucked!”
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 12:21 pm [Reply]
Mary – “Blah blah blah Liza? Blah blah blah blah blah!”
“(Wow! He really digs me! I hope he brought ‘protection’!)”
Phantom – “Well, the Jungle Patrol was a-makin’ their rounds
So he fired a tweet just to bring ‘em down
And a big purple Phantom grabbed his mouse
And said ‘Why’d you do it?’…”
Prickly – “But as long as I have you around, Carmen, I never feel insignificant.
…by comparison.”
May 14th, 2011 at 12:24 pm [Reply]
Slylock – Uh oh, the stone-age garbage disposal has gone berserk! “WILL-MAAA! STOP THIS CRAZY THING!!”
Zits – Ho ho! What slobs! But seriously, aerosol addiction is no laughing matter, kids. The More You Know!
Noms – I started off as Kip W, while I contemplated my possibilities. “Hatlo’s Hat” was a finalist, but the apostrophe was too much of a ///liability, so I went for “Old Man Muffaroo.” After a while, I thought it was safe to drop the “Old Man,” but discovered that people, for reasons I’ll never understand, thought “Muffaroo” was a girl’s name, so “Old Man” came back, in brackets. I also post as “Italian Shoes”, “term papers”, and several brands of sunglasses.
TerrapinMay 14th, 2011 at 12:25 pm [Reply]
Crankshaft: There was a time in my life when I wanted to be a cartoonist. I even sent samples of my strips to the syndicates. I like to think that if I had gotten as far as laying out, inking and lettering today’s ‘Shaft, I would have looked at it, said “Man that’s creepy.” and tossed it in the can.
FW: Poor Les. Even the squirrels shun him.
LIO: Funny. But there are bigger yo yos I think.
MW: Uh oh! Drew gots his angry eyes on. Who’s the psycho now, huh? Huh?
Ziggy: Think how lucky you are, Zig. If opportunity had knocked twice, there would be flaming poo tracked from the front door to the back.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 12:25 pm [Reply]
@Mr. O’Malley (#y78): I’ll keep my ears peeled. Wait, I’m assuming it was radio — was it video? Anyway, the Chris Marlowe detective show sounds like it has potential. (Any resemblance to the Continental Op?)
@Desmond (#58): For a while, Hart carefully labeled it “DUGOUT,” just in case anybody’d missed it.
bourbon babe, unbuckledMay 14th, 2011 at 12:26 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#60): re: MW—That reminds me of that Far Side comic about what dogs hear when we speak to them: “blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah Ginger. . . .” Maybe that’s Liza’s communication level; Drew should try throwing a raw steak to the other side of the room and then hightailing it out of there when she goes to chase it.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 12:32 pm [Reply]
@bourbon babe, unbuckled (#64): Went to a friend’s house once, and he introduced me to their dog, Ginger. I said, “Blah blah blah, Ginger! Blah blah blah!” And he (the friend, not the dog) said “That’s the first time somebody got that!”
bourbon babe, unbuckledMay 14th, 2011 at 12:34 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#65): That particular strip has a firm place in my memory because somewhere in my teaching career, someone posted that comic in the teachers’ lounge, with “dogs” crossed out and “students” written in.
cheech wizardMay 14th, 2011 at 12:46 pm [Reply]
Luann – Wow, what a dilemma! Tell you what – why don’t you kids just get it on for the next few weeks or the coming year or whatever. Then when Queek or Quisp or whatever his name is goes back to Australia, you can just pretend that he’s gone off to college. Then when he writes you six weeks later to say he’s met someone else and it’s time to break up, it’ll be just like ending any other high school romance. How’s that?
commodorejohnMay 14th, 2011 at 12:49 pm [Reply]
Oh, we’re talking about usernames? “commodorejohn” has been my primary alias since just about the time I got on the Internet back in 2000. (I have one other I use in *ahem* certain other communities, but this is my primary identity on the Interwebs.) And, if you hadn’t picked it up in passing by now, it’s for Commodore home computers, not the naval rank.
pugfugglyMay 14th, 2011 at 12:49 pm [Reply]
@NightRaven (#46): Yeah, I think sometimes that comics like B.C. are written by reviewing the results of a focus group.
“Hmmmm….results say that males 15-35 find baseball jokes ‘unfunny’, but ‘Raptor’ scored high on the list of prehistoric creatures that the demographic looks favourably on, and of all the short videos we played them, ‘Man getting tasered at Phish Show’ got the highest laugh quotient. So, Mason, if you want to do another baseball joke, it’s going to have to include a raptor and one instance of someone being electrocuted or threatened to be electrocuted. Think you can work with that?”
cheech wizardMay 14th, 2011 at 12:56 pm [Reply]
MW – I’m hoping Liza’s response will be “But this is working for me! I don’t want to be just friends! Don’t I get any say in this relationship? Aren’t we supposed to be equal partners? You think you can just make all the rules? Tell me that, huh?” All of which will leave Drew’s head spinning so badly the fog won’t lift for several weeks, during which time he’ll be only dimly aware of slipping a ring on Liza’s finger and muttering “I do” as his friends and family look on in dismay. It won’t be the first time it’s happened.
John MichaelsonMay 14th, 2011 at 12:58 pm [Reply]
Opportunity might have left Ziggy many things besides flaming bags of poo, like a do-it-yourself vasectomy kit, a chilled glass of hemlock extract, or some of that “factory-direct chili” from the strip a couple days back, for example.
mollificentMay 14th, 2011 at 1:08 pm [Reply]
9CL: BARF.
Doonesbury: Hah! See, this is the kind of nuance other political strips generally can’t touch. (YMMV, of course.)
FW: See my 9CL statement above.
(Though it’s interesting, and telling, that Les’ daughter assumed that Susan was the one he needed to talk it over with.)
Luann: Today’s comics are wreaking havoc on my esophagus, SERIOUSLY. (My only consolation is that I successfully stopped reading Marvin a couple years ago.)
MT: …and then Mark Trail comes along and saves the day with sheer awesomeness. :D
PmP: What. The. FUCK. Should I just give up now?
DT: Is that…Scooby-Doo??
kkarenbMay 14th, 2011 at 1:13 pm [Reply]
@Anonymous (#12):
But it pales in comparison to the one in which Hirsute Bad Guy kicked the baby deer in the ass.
Crankshaft: “She’s a mean-spirited, unpleasant old prune, too!”
MW – This woman is a nurse, seriously? Someone responsible for the lives of other people?
FW – DIE! DIE! DIE!
Baka GaijinMay 14th, 2011 at 1:23 pm [Reply]
@kkarenb (#73): That was a good one too, but I thought it happened before the de-bearding. The one with Mark flying out of the boat because Kelly Welly (snicker) untied the wrong one was a good sight but Mark getting shoved into the pit by a stick? Priceless.
Kelly Welly is a good name for a stripper.
Mark BMay 14th, 2011 at 1:26 pm [Reply]
It looks like Drew’s options are limited to moving away and leaving no forwarding address. I don’t think he could get out of this by pretending to be gay, because Liza would just get a sex change and continue the pursuit.
cheap yankees hatsMay 14th, 2011 at 1:37 pm [Reply]
I sometimes post as Uncle Lumpy. I’m very conflicted about my work.
dakratMay 14th, 2011 at 1:56 pm [Reply]
Family Circus – That’s not fear for young Billy’s life you see in Ma Keane’s cold, soulless eyes. She’s thinking, “if I just had two minute’s more patience today! A sky diving accident would have been much easier to explain than Jeffy drowning in this dishwater.” I, however, will not be so hard on her lack of forethought. Hindsight is always 20/20.
This GuyMay 14th, 2011 at 2:18 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#35): RE FW: You know, it’s funny you should reference A Charlie Brown Christmas like that. The girl playing Sally couldn’t read yet and had to be cued her lines when they were recording, but I’m sure she, as an illiterate child, could’ve written circles around Batiuk or Les.
Bill ThompsonMay 14th, 2011 at 2:25 pm [Reply]
FW: Why does everyone guess wrong about who Louse will see? Because he’s an artist, damn it, and his tragedy is that nobody understands him!
MT: Trail escapes the pit, remarks to And on their close call and boldfaces his bewilderment at how that might or might not have been Myson John with the ambush stick. Then he stumbles into the next trap: a steel beartrap, baited with pancakes.
Vince MMay 14th, 2011 at 2:40 pm [Reply]
@TheDiva (#24): MT: That would’ve had Thrasher popping up behind Mark and going “Meep-Meep!” – though it would have been funny, I don’t know if I would’ve laughed any more than I did (funniest strip of the day!)
CrankenstankMay 14th, 2011 at 2:50 pm [Reply]
This time, the panty-a-month club delivered a white thong to the Zigster! And it’s NOT EVEN MEMORIAL DAY!
Artist formerly known as BenMay 14th, 2011 at 3:04 pm [Reply]
Ziggy: No Ziggy, that was Importunity. They get mistaken all the time, but Importunity gets really nasty if you let him keep knocking.
DT: “Ruh-roh. Ris is righ rade rose randy.”
JP: “Okay, on four. 1 2 3 4. Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner…”
MT & BB: While his shrubbery impersonation is somewhat smoother, I’m still starting to suspect that John Fucking Thrasher is Beetle ten years later.
MW: “Well of course, silly. I don’t work for you, I work for the hospital. If you have a very forgiving definition of the word ‘work’.”
6C: Looking beyond the “Women love to shop amirite?” punchline, you see the much more unsettling fact that the jar lady doesn’t notice her friend’s two foot growth spurt between the first and second panel.
SFx: Cross the Sesame Street Gang and you’ll find yourself being snuffed by Snuffy.
Popeye: Um, take another look at those arms and then get a gander at your own arms, Pops.
RMMD: Rex one week from now, “Well, so far it doesn’t look like you have the ticket. Just to be sure, I’m going to do another strip search. Oil up, friend.”
S-M: For most heroes, this wouldn’t be a really grueling rescue. Morbius and Martine are too busy voguing like it’s 1991.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 3:07 pm [Reply]
@Artist formerly known as Ben (#82): Um, take another look at those arms and then get a gander at your own arms, Pops.
Well, that’s what Olive’s laughing about. She’s not only his beard, she’s also his lampshade.
May 14th, 2011 at 3:07 pm [Reply]
@This Guy (#78): Writing entirely in fingerpaint would be an improvement, I’ll grant you.
MibbitmakerMay 14th, 2011 at 3:12 pm [Reply]
MW: Even Nurse Ratched was concerned about Liza’s place in such a caring profession. Or recognized her as a patient of hers once. One or the other.
A3G: Margo’s thoughts continued: “God, what a wimp!”
Crank: Yeah, no kidding, perv granny!
Doones: Yeah, because 9/11 didn’t have something to do with it or anything (applicable to Afghanistan. Iraq was an oopsie).
ECity: The man’s clearly not seen any news in the last few decades.
Marm: Not the ones I read!
Artist formerly known as BenMay 14th, 2011 at 3:18 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#61):
After a while, I thought it was safe to drop the “Old Man,” but discovered that people, for reasons I’ll never understand, thought “Muffaroo” was a girl’s name, so “Old Man” came back, in brackets.
I guess the “muff” syllable made them think along cetain lines. I’m recurring, of course, to Little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet.
My own username has a pretty mundane origin. When I first found the site I posted as “Ben.” But I saw other comments from another Ben. While this hasn’t been a regular occurrence, I figured that some embellishment was needed. Ergo, the Prince reference. Of course by this time the Purple One’s legal troubles with Warner Brothers had been resolved and he had gone back to using his name, but AFKAB stuck.
MibbitmakerMay 14th, 2011 at 3:23 pm [Reply]
Popeye: Look who’s talking, Elephantitis the Sailor Man!
Mutts: Payoff!
HotC: Hey, maybe when Heart grows up, she can be the regional manager at Dunder-Miflin-Sabre’s Scranton branch!
Best Third Panel of the Week: Today’s Mark Trail, for its sheer hilarity. Think how funny Elrod could be on purpose!
Worst Third Panel of the Week: Today’s Funky Winkerbean, Winning the “Fuck You” award for its creator. !972-1992 is weeping right now (again!).
Stroker AceMay 14th, 2011 at 3:32 pm [Reply]
BC should be retitled WTF? & Gasoline Alley WGAS? (Who Gives A Shit?)
Maggie the CatMay 14th, 2011 at 3:39 pm [Reply]
@Stroker Ace (#88): Here here!
JessyMay 14th, 2011 at 3:58 pm [Reply]
@Pip (#55): I don’t know if you are correct on this or not. What I do know is that if you don’t have your Ph.D. in English literature yet, you have missed your calling. :)
Old School Allie CatMay 14th, 2011 at 4:10 pm [Reply]
Gilthorp- You know, it makes me a little nervous that Mimi and Gil aren’t spending as much time together these days. Has he drifted? Has she strayed? Or is it just too hard to fit four people into a panel unless they’re in a booth at The Bucket?
Other than that, I’m so not into the funnies this week… except, I can’t wait to see Ray (of Doonesbury) go home.
VioletMay 14th, 2011 at 4:13 pm [Reply]
Upon reading today’s B.C. I promptly removed the flask from the interior pocket of my overcoat, shook my head ruefully at it, tossed it over my shoulder, and stumbled brokenly away.
Pseudo3DMay 14th, 2011 at 4:42 pm [Reply]
DT – Definitely not plaster of paris.
FW – You see, Les isn’t talking to his dead wife. He’s waiting for his father, who abandoned him years ago.
S-M – Two! Two incredibly silly-looking vampires! Ah ah ah…
Mr. O'MalleyMay 14th, 2011 at 5:02 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#63): Here’s the link to the last time it ran. It looks like they rerun it every one or two years.
Mr. O'MalleyMay 14th, 2011 at 5:04 pm [Reply]
@Mr. O’Malley (#94): Phooey. Here’s the link to the last time it ran. It looks like they rerun it every one or two years.
Black DrazonMay 14th, 2011 at 5:19 pm [Reply]
I like to picture Opportunity off-panel saying “No, no, this was your one chance to get into the pooper-scooper business, you fool!” It was really all it could salvage for Ziggy. When it sets it on fire, that will just be personal.
As far as user names go, I don’t like having numbers in my user names and will go to absurd stretches to avoid them. Mine’s a reference to a set of stories of mine that haven’t been completed yet. It’s the English name for a subspecies of alien and doubles as a joke about localization. Despite being a made-up word, I apparently misspelled it because pronunciations wildly, which is funny because the Drazon themselves use a phonetic alphabet.
Alfred E. NeumanMay 14th, 2011 at 5:33 pm [Reply]
@Randy (#47) said: “Luann: Quill is either gay or a 60 year-old monk masquerading as a high-school student. For a straight male teen, if a girl, ANY girl, practically spreads her legs in front of your face, you aren’t too concerned about emotional aftermaths.”
Right on.
Let’s review Luann’s “boyfriends”: Aaron, impossibly pretty and not particularly attracted to her; Gunther, likes to make fancy dresses; Quill, only wants to be “pals”. See a trend here? I think Evans is running out of ideas for “Luann” and is setting up his readers for a time-jumped sequel strip, “The Perky-Breasted Hag of Castro Street”.
May 14th, 2011 at 6:07 pm [Reply]
BC— The artist missed a huge product placement opportunity. Any car guy can tell you that it’s not “Dodge the Raptor”, but “Ford the Raptor”.
ShrugMay 14th, 2011 at 6:18 pm [Reply]
To be fair to Mark Trail (must – control – gag – reflex – while – saying – that…), John Thrasher has just displayed impressive skulking skills. Judging from where his speech balloon is coming from, he’s apparently managed to successfully hide himself in the thin white area separating panels two and three.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 14th, 2011 at 6:21 pm [Reply]
@Alfred E. Neuman (#97): *SNURK!*
does seem to be a bit of a pattern there.
ShrugMay 14th, 2011 at 6:23 pm [Reply]
9CL: Fernanda, I don’t think dropping your whole weight suddenly down on Seth is such a good idea. You’ve forgotten that he just mentionaled that he really, really needed to use the bathroom.
Richard RiisMay 14th, 2011 at 6:54 pm [Reply]
BC – Dodging raptors aside, I’ve always wondered who these guys are playing baaseball AGAINST? Aren’t there only about nine people, one turtle, one archaeopterix, one aardvark, two clams, and a handful of ants in their whole world?
not myselfMay 14th, 2011 at 7:15 pm [Reply]
I’m not myself today.
SideshowJonMay 14th, 2011 at 7:16 pm [Reply]
Yesterday, I was convinced Marvin’s babysitter was gonna sell him for weed money. Today, I fear a horror movie flashback motif may be coming, ending in sadistic baby impalement.
John C FremontMay 14th, 2011 at 7:16 pm [Reply]
Dodge the Mystic Raptor,
Seth has to pee,
They frolics with a shock collar,
In a land that’s called B.C.
Yeah, I know. It stinks. Or rather, it stinks. Also, see…
Rocky StoneaxeMay 14th, 2011 at 7:22 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#61):
After a while, I thought it was safe to drop the “Old Man,” but discovered that people, for reasons I’ll never understand, thought “Muffaroo” was a girl’s name, so “Old Man” came back, in brackets.
Little Miss Muffaroo meets the Spider*:
http://www.costumes4schools.co.uk/Muffet%20&%20Spider.JPG
*Costume design by Gunther Berger of “Billy the Bookworm” fame!
Alan's AddictionMay 14th, 2011 at 7:25 pm [Reply]
Today’s “B.C.” is trying way too hard to sell that joke. Really, I think most people would be happy just to see the titular character (or any character, for that matter) needlessly and comically electrocuted; in fact, I’m so eager to see the character electrocuted that I’m willing to overlook the fact that electricity won’t be invented for tens of thousands of years, and dinosaurs have been extinct for almost a hundred million years by the time the strip takes place. But then they throw in a one-legged, blind member of the Mickey Mouse Club for no good reason. And that’s much more interesting than any joke on the comics page. Suddenly, I want to know more about this character; such as why he wasn’t abandoned to the predators since he is, undoubtedly, the slowest, weakest member of the tribe and will only attract saber-toothed cats and dire wolves. And how did he get a mouse-ear hat, let alone the cool sunglasses?
I think that today’s “Ziggy” is a subtle scream for help from the artist responsible. The subtext is, “They offered me really good money to do my hobby, and it seemed like a great idea at the time, but now I find my fate intertwined with that of a sad, small, bald, pantless man without genitals! I didn’t know it would lead to this, I swear! Just get me out!” It seems like an appropriate sentiment to express via an allegory about an abstract metaphysical concept leaving a bag of flaming dog feces on the doorstep.
May 14th, 2011 at 8:24 pm [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#74):
How could I forget Mark flying through the air because Kelly untied the wrong boat!? That panel, the kicking the baby deer’s ass panel, and today’s panel showing Mark being pushed into the pit are all beyond wonderful. Mark Trail consistently provides some of the most entertaining moments on the comic pages – sometimes intentionally, but more often not.
@Artist formerly known as Ben (#82):
Re: Judge Parker – I wish I’d thought of that.
@Shrug (#99):
Maybe he thinks he is in a Magritte painting.
Chip WhittleMay 14th, 2011 at 8:28 pm [Reply]
@Artist formerly known as Ben (#86):
My own username has a pretty mundane origin.
For my identity I meant to be making an allusion to a recurring joke on a late night talk show, but I remembered the last name wrong. By the time I noticed had already built an identity here. I stuck with the glitch and now nobody will ever figure it out. Luckily, trying to be slyly clever and stumbling so the whole project fails and then sticking with it through inertia efficiently defines the real me. Thus it comes back around to being a perfect way of identifying me.
Scott BotMay 14th, 2011 at 8:54 pm [Reply]
DT – But it’s not really a flour delivery truck. It’s the Mystery Machine, incognito (and they would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that meddling Dick).
wossnameMay 14th, 2011 at 8:56 pm [Reply]
Usernames: I tried Krazy Kat (a beloved hero of mine) briefly, but found out there was already a Krazy Kat. At the time, I was just getting into Terry Pratchett and loved the use of “wossname” as his (or a British or Ankh-Morporkian) version of “whatchamacallit,” so I went with it.
If I had it to do over, I might go with Nanny Ogg or even Gaspode. And I have occasionally posted under other topical names including *gasp* Bobbie Merrill.
Scott BotMay 14th, 2011 at 9:07 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#61): I started posting here as Cedric Weehunt (one of my favorite radio characters), but I had trouble with the spam filter blocking my account, so I gave up on that and posted as Scott Bot. It was a nickname I got in college from one of my film professors that could never figure out how to pronounce my last name.
Bill ThompsonMay 14th, 2011 at 9:24 pm [Reply]
BC: One thing (out of everything here) I don’t understand is why Dugout Dude is complaining now. Didn’t he say anything while he was being collared? Like “Why are you locking this futuristic invention around my neck? Since when do any of us even have necks?” Did he fight back? Was he held at spearpoint? Are his reflexes so slow that he’s only now reacting to his predicament? Or did Standing-on-toilet-plunger Dude catch him skulking toward the Spiderman arc and decide to fit him with a vampire-repelling collar?
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 14th, 2011 at 9:52 pm [Reply]
@Chip Whittle (#109): I’ll be darned. All this time, I think I was assuming this might have been a joke based on the manly man’s names that were going around here a while back: Rocky Crag, Stormy Fjord, whatever.
Oh, and for those who haven’t tired of the explanation (that is, those who haven’t heard it), “Old Man Muffaroo” is the name of one of two continuing characters in one of the most oddly inventive comic strips in the history of ever, “The Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo.”
Go look at this page. Click on the link for August 21. Bizarre stuff. Now click on the second link for August 21 and you’ll see the same six panels inverted, and they’ll become panels seven through twelve. Old Man Muffaroo, rotated 180°, becomes Little Lady Lovekins, and vice versa. It’s just damned amazing, that’s all.
Then for more thrills, peel back the URL to just http://www.barnaclepress.com and look at the mind-boggling array of completely forgotten strips from back in the days when a comic strip could actually just end and not be noticed, even though it had been running since 1900!
commodorejohnMay 14th, 2011 at 10:04 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#114): Ooh, some fascinating stuff there. I swear Madge the Magician’s Daughter must have been an inspiration for minus.
LiamMay 14th, 2011 at 10:18 pm [Reply]
MT-Wow! With all the traps that are hidden in the woods and Mark is pushed into the pit by a guy hiding in the bushes with a stick.
mollificentMay 14th, 2011 at 10:30 pm [Reply]
I’ve always been mollificent, which is a nickname given to me by a friend way back in high school (meant to be a mashup of Molly and magnificent, with no relation to the evil stepmother in Sleeping Beauty).
In an odd twist, “mollificent” is also the handle of my primary YouTube channel (twinkly harp videos and such). When I decided to make videos of sundry Comics Curmudgeon parodies, I created a new channel (since a lot of professional contacts see my main channel and probably wouldn’t get the joke when I’m singing about Rex Morgan being a pedophile). So I had to give the CC (and now miscellaneous) channel a new name, sowing much confusion. ;)
bourbon babe, unbuckledMay 14th, 2011 at 11:05 pm [Reply]
@Chip Whittle (#109): That’s okay—my name is based on an error, too: Some folks are under the impression that I like my bourbon. ((sips)) Don’t know where that idea came from.
Bill ThompsonMay 14th, 2011 at 11:11 pm [Reply]
@Liam (#116): That isn’t just any old stick jabbing Mark Trail. It’s the Clue Stick, and it’s about time someone hit him with it.
KarMannMay 14th, 2011 at 11:15 pm [Reply]
@bourbon babe, unbuckled (#118): Could be worse. When I was partway through reading that, I figured the “error” was related to the “unbuckled” part, i.e. “Bucky”. ;)
Rocky StoneaxeMay 14th, 2011 at 11:22 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#114):
Three early comic characters made a guest appearance in this 1969 strip:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglNlVI3K3WvBSzA1KFc7gS85cWvPp9OTcO5fvIs91xuIXv9A-OFt1YYMInccNtqpBZUIPe73HA9bNfut9aJeqyFTfN0YY-l9ed-_PEglsfEW8Vtubim_qEHx32LFdeBb-gWr73VPNEglQ/s1600/oop+april+21+1969.jpg
Rocky StoneaxeMay 14th, 2011 at 11:52 pm [Reply]
@Rocky Stoneaxe (#121):
A.D. Condo (1872-1956):
http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/05/d-condo-1872.html
commodorejohnMay 14th, 2011 at 11:52 pm [Reply]
@Rocky Stoneaxe (#121): The only problem with that strip is that it does not feature Everett True beating someone.
Rocky StoneaxeMay 15th, 2011 at 12:12 am [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#123):
Here you go:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/images/theoutburstsofeveretttrue.jpg
Rocky StoneaxeMay 15th, 2011 at 12:28 am [Reply]
A proud day in Stoneaxe* family history:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwI3qitbhY9YZfICjib6qDK6q_RLvI_8mxOr01oQFopUMp9l2hed8MRhRpNfubu4Dcqcvufjof9OG9Hzi0ii82uwMFDJdsbZc5QMgSD8JfRKtrUeTnn4jSJNxdIfTFKRXUZKoAOtegX2xs/s400/aug+9+1913+history.jpg
*Grandpa Stonehammer changed his name to “Stoneaxe” when he immigrated to America from Stonehenge 100 years ago!
NeigedensMay 15th, 2011 at 12:35 am [Reply]
I find it kind of disturbing that in today’s FC Mom’s rack is exquisitely rendered but half of her face isn’t drawn in. Seems like a problem you’d have in Beetle Bailey, not in a FAMILY strip.
Speaking of which, do I have to turn in my Cynical Bitch(TM) card if I admit to liking both today’s and yesterday’s Beetle Bailey? I guess giant novelty bottles of liquor/bouquets of flowers are non-stop laffs for me, or something.
HammerOfTheCarpMay 15th, 2011 at 12:37 am [Reply]
BC – Shock Collar, holes in the ground, grown men playing “dodge the raptor”. Sounds like the kind of whimsical hijinks to be had at the local public park around 3:00am.
Ziggy – Please let it be a double fistfull of sleeping pills with a rum chaser you pantless mutant.
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 12:50 am [Reply]
Prince Valiant
“Draco points, with high drama, to Val.”
Pardon me, while I quit snickering….
The Art work is all very interesting. I like Maeve’s portrait in the second panel, but Draco and his posse look just weird. Especially the one with the teeny weeny mustache and bowl haircut. If he were to speak, I would expect a very nasal tone and a lot of white lacy handkerchiefs. The other one reminds me of some movie actor from some sand and sandal epic or a war movie, but I can’t remember who. Maybe the guy Ben Hur rescued?
Anyway, it’s in the middle of the night. Lousy time to go around waking everybody up for a duel. Go get some sleep, people.
————
Rex Morgan
Poor Riley. I don’t suppose looking like Don Knotts was a laugh riot at prison, but maybe someone will cut you a deal if you turn in Holly and Tony. or at least Holly, as he’s the one who made the call.
If that lottery ticket turns out to be the real deal, I hope Stella at least gets a huge screen television as a reward, but she’ll probably get the boat. However, with the way that she broke the broom handle over Riley, she’s probably the type who is very outdoorsy. However, I call that Riley successfully sues for assault.
————–
Mary Worth
Nice apartment, Liza. So are you going to go lie in wait outside Drew’s apartment? He lives with his dad, you know. Wait–maybe Jeff would be more interested in a woman who actually wanted him, instead of his current girl fried who is mooching dinners all the time. And Liza, in a man who is retired and has plenty of time for her?
Maggie the CatMay 15th, 2011 at 12:56 am [Reply]
THIS JUST IN: Rex Morgan is a huge pussy! How unchivalrous of him to let the middle aged cleaning lady to take out the ex-con safecracker.
What? Everyone already knew that? Carry on, then.
Maggie the CatMay 15th, 2011 at 12:59 am [Reply]
I see Liza is trying the ol’ “we can’t break up unless I agree, because it has to be a mutual agreement or it doesn’t count” line.
FOOBed againMay 15th, 2011 at 1:09 am [Reply]
@ElkMeadow (#128):
Mary Worth Nice apartment, Liza. So are you going to go lie in wait outside Drew’s apartment?
Snrk! At first I thought you meant literally lie outside his apartment, like Seth in 9CL.
Artist formerly known as BenMay 15th, 2011 at 1:14 am [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#83): Just want to say how much I enjoyed the phrase “his lampshade as well as his beard.” Didn’t get around to it earlier because I was on a public library computer.
Jim NorthMay 15th, 2011 at 1:23 am [Reply]
Sunday Sunday Sunday . . .
Curtis: That can’t possibly be a Flyspeckian deity. Both of its eyes are even on a horizontal plane.
Phantom: I’m starting to get the feeling that this Nomad fellow has a secret identity of some sort. The kind of secret identity where nobody knows he’s the Nomad.
Pluggers sometimes forget where they stashed all those Earth Day pamphlets they promised to hand out.
S-M: I’ve found it endlessly fascinating that for all the times this has happened and for all his supposed technical genius, Spidey has never once thought to install something like a low-battery indicator in his webslingers.
Mr. O'MalleyMay 15th, 2011 at 1:33 am [Reply]
SlyFo: Mouse pellets, hippo dung, bird droppings or a hairball.
“You mean you’re going to trade this four-foot cube of 18-carat Swiss bullion, and the snake knifes, Mrs. Presky, all for that little bag?”
Comcis FanMay 15th, 2011 at 1:50 am [Reply]
MW: Come on, there’s a high-rise condo like this in Santa Royale? Guess that’s the housing reserved for aggressive, delusional, man-crazy single girls. Everyone else gets mauve vinyl window treatments and popcorn ceiling tiles and low-rise institutional residential compounds. And the ferns, everyone gets the ferns — even the high-rise chicks.
bats :[May 15th, 2011 at 2:04 am [Reply]
5/15
RMMD: absolutely super! Love it!
MW: where the deuce is Mary?!? If this current storyline is crying for something, it’s good old-fashioned meddlin’!
FW: die die die die die.
MT: oh, for heaven’s sake, we were edumacated about fleas less than FOUR years ago, and poor ol’ Andy was the scapedog back then, too! Is it too much to think that Andy gets more baths than anyone in Lost Forest? (Note how Andy’s butt bears a striking resemblance to Andy falling into the tiger trap earlier this week, too.)
And why do I remember this? Because I thought there might’ve been a more interesting person helping Mark wrangle Andy into the tub…
May 15th, 2011 at 2:45 am [Reply]
@Comcis Fan (#135):
Liza said she went after the apartment she wanted. Everyone else is content to stay at Charterstone.
MaryAnntheRestMay 15th, 2011 at 2:47 am [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#57): I’d like to nominate “Look out Mark, he’s got a stick!” as the shortest COTW contender ever.
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 2:48 am [Reply]
@FOOBed again (#131):
That did cross my mind, but I wouldn’t want to have anyone act like Seth. I think Liza’s more the type to be waiting behind the giant fern and then run up from behind and grab the guy’s arm.
Comcis FanMay 15th, 2011 at 3:01 am [Reply]
MW: This is what results when “He’s Just Not That Into You” runs headlong into “The Secret.”
Alfred E. NeumanMay 15th, 2011 at 4:11 am [Reply]
Sunday
Hi & Lois— “Say hello to my little friend”? Hi is hardly one to channel Tony Montana, and I’m surprised that he’s saying it to Chip. That’s the line he reserves for Lois when he’s feeling frisky.
PipMay 15th, 2011 at 6:17 am [Reply]
@Jessy (#90): Thank you! I am an English student. =)
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 7:37 am [Reply]
Slylock Fox: Wrong again, Foxy. The earring is a red herring, a plant. The police duck, you know, the one with the shifty eyes? Yeah her. She’s in cahoots with Reeky Rat. And by “cahoots” I mean “bed.” Reeky’s using her like a Kleenex.
Sally Forth: OK Ted, you have a case of “the propanes” when you’re on your patio. What explains your wigginess everywhere else?
Marvin: The original speech bubble was, “How can he explode an XXL diaper now? I just changed him 2 minutes ago????”
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 7:42 am [Reply]
Mary Worth: A couple days ago, what we all thought was a glory around Liza’s head was actually her sanity leaving the reality where the sky is blue and the good doctor doesn’t love her.
Sherman’s Lagoon: Hawthorne’s done well at the “Move to the State of Denial for Romance!” seminar by Liza the Nurse.
KarMannMay 15th, 2011 at 7:43 am [Reply]
9CL: No. Just, no.
Freshly Squeezed: I haven’t been reading this one long, so it’s not as infuriating to me as Funky Winkerbean Groovy Blinkerlegume or 9CL, yet. But boy, is it ever giving the ol’ college try!
Heathcliff: whut
Lola: Ah, I used to spend time at a Brewed Awakenings, in Milwaukee. Good times.
Strange Brew: Nice, semi-obscure Blues Brothers reference. Something about that scene always got me.
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 7:43 am [Reply]
Apartment 3-G: Doris says, “Look at me.”
Margo retorts, “Doris, that dress reeks of mediocrity!”
May 15th, 2011 at 7:45 am [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#146): Is silly the look they’re going for? If so, mission accomplished!
KarMannMay 15th, 2011 at 7:47 am [Reply]
S-M: That’s OK, Petey. It happens to all the guys sometimes, right?
CanuckDownSouthMay 15th, 2011 at 8:01 am [Reply]
Well here are my random minor observations
Bizarro This is weird to ask this about this strip instead of AS, but is there a joke here? Maybe about jewelry being as dangerous as guns? Because I just don’t know a cute bracelet or a wedding ring set would be an insidious signpost on the road to ruin.
Blondie In these days of Powerpoint, does anyone take along poster tubes to a client meeting? (A trade show, sure, but he’s not setting up a booth.)
Cranky um, joke please? Because confusing biology with geography isn’t a cute malaprop.
FW Seriously, joke please!
NS I get the point but find the traffic metaphor ironic considering the emerging evidence that the US uses so much signage to micromanage the expected traffic (traffic lights ahead, change in speed ahead, several different required or suggested speed limits to negotiate one turn…) that it’s counterproductive. People seem to not pay as much attention to the actual road conditions, and it’s no safer than low-signage situations.
ArchieNemesisMay 15th, 2011 at 8:03 am [Reply]
To cushion their fall, it’s fortunate that Spiderman and MJ have an airbag handy, in the form of MJ’s enormous ass.
Jocelyn KnockersburyMay 15th, 2011 at 8:11 am [Reply]
@cheech wizard (Yester#99): I used to post under Sheila Sternwell, but then I watched an old “Hancock’s Half Hour” and, well, here we are.
GF: You know, Darb didn’t have to go to the trouble of writing a joke here, he could have shown 5-8 panels of Satchel with his tooth bones and everyone would have been happy.
KarMannMay 15th, 2011 at 8:17 am [Reply]
@CanuckDownSouth (#149): I think what he’s going for is a place to sell stolen jewelry. But if so, it would have gotten the point across much more clearly if it had been “pawn shop” instead of “jewelry”.
Pseudo3DMay 15th, 2011 at 8:54 am [Reply]
@KarMann (#145): Unfortunately, Freshly Squeezed was never decent in the beginning like FW and 9CL were.
FC is slightly funny in a cruel way today.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 9:02 am [Reply]
CdS: “Just So” stories, updated.
Doons: does a meme-take.
FT: meganekko fail.
GF: Bucky figures if Les and Mikey can be authors, he can too!
NS: more of Wiley’s signature subtlety and light-touch in action.
OtH: Lousiana says “poorly timed”
PBS: I saw one coming, just not *what* was coming. *gets a match*
rMC: ooooo, fanservicey! me likey!
Bizarro: I’ve seen that strip mall. I think it’s on 8-Mile, along with several cell-phone stores and a tittybar across the street.
Lockhorns: detailing the threat of invasive exotic species.
MT: poor Andy, just can’t catch a break. First pit traps, and now fleas.
Mutts: the Jazzdog testifies.
SFx: proving yet again that a ten-year old could do a better job than Reply All. (someone with a dead-tree version, could you enlighten us as to the solution and culprit? even on zoom, TimesUnion is unreadable upside down.) plox.
Zits: you can’t complain about lazy artists with this strip.
Ghost-who-takes-Sunday-off: oooo, nice half-track!
RwO: gentle win. *golfclap*
SF: Ces, you magnificent bastard.
Jim NorthMay 15th, 2011 at 9:49 am [Reply]
BC: “Thor, you’re turning into a penguin. Stop that.”
GF: “And then Dave was a zombie.”
JimboMay 15th, 2011 at 9:54 am [Reply]
Mark Trail–”Energy, not muscles, creates this springing power”? WTF? I obviously had it all wrong in medical school when I learned that muscles use the energy stored in ATP to contract. Apparently, it’s pure energy, unmitigated by silly material objects such as muscle, that makes fleas jump. I guess fleas simply float around like incorporeal specters, waiting to jump–without muscle contraction of any kind–on St. Bernards as they pass by.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 10:00 am [Reply]
Beagle!
seal pup
do you have any Grey Poupon? (alt title: Diabeetus)
Floofy corgsqui. (alt title: not sure if want)
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 10:05 am [Reply]
@Jimbo (#156): it’s actually a biological spring. Muscle power isn’t sufficient to move them like they do. (as an additional note, jumping spiders use hydraulic power to do their thing.)
John C FremontMay 15th, 2011 at 10:11 am [Reply]
RMMD – Not so much Don Knotts as Arnold Stang, really.
HibbletonMay 15th, 2011 at 10:13 am [Reply]
@CanuckDownSouth (#149):
Jewelry store = “bling”
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#154):
I had to go to seattltepi where you can blow the comic up when you click on it.
The RidgerMay 15th, 2011 at 10:19 am [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#154): The cat lost an earring and that’s what’s in the bag.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 10:25 am [Reply]
@The Ridger (#161): hrmph.
I figured Mr. Weber Jr. was just drawing a butch dykitty.
John C FremontMay 15th, 2011 at 10:32 am [Reply]
Now I know where all that spam’s been coming from.
SFx – “What’s in the bag, Slylock? What’s in the f@#king bag?”
wossnameMay 15th, 2011 at 10:37 am [Reply]
A3G – Well looka there. Margo’s dress grew sleeves to comply with the Comics Code Sunday Modesty Regulations.
Curtis – This would be a whole lot funnier if the statue had visible genitalia.
MT – If you have an indoor-outdoor pet, you may have trouble keeping it out of pits dug by crazed survivalists.
RMMD – Ha! You go, Stella!
Sly – I don’t know why I bothered reading all that blurry upside-down print – I could tell the cat was the guilty party just by her expression.
TheDivaMay 15th, 2011 at 10:39 am [Reply]
9CL: Thank you, I’ll print this out to save for the next time I need an ipecac.
C’shaft: “See, your father doesn’t mind being a senile old bat, so why should you?”
DT: “This white powder isn’t flour!….It’s baking soda!”
FW: Ha-ha, what a scamp that Owen is! With their hands stuck to their lockers, the seniors will have less chance of getting away when he takes out his semi-automatic and goes to town.
Marvin: I suppose with Cathy gone someone has to fill the void.
MW: If nothing else, they can build a relationship based on selective obliviousness.
Pluggers make hoarders look like obsessive-compulsive neat freaks.
SM: Damn, how hard is it to make sure those things are charged before you go out?
JD RhoadesMay 15th, 2011 at 10:39 am [Reply]
Phantom: a big-ass castle in the desert, complete with airstrip and caretaker? This is a definition of “nomad” with which I am not familiar.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 10:41 am [Reply]
The Amazing[?] Spider Man: Two takeaways from today’s strip. One, Peter Parker is too damn lazy to do routine maintenance on his web shooters, and just lets them run out of fluids. Two, Mary Jane has got back, as illustrated in the last panel. Those gold spandex pants were probably not the best choice. One wonders how she became a couch potato when the only couch in their apartment was always occupied by Peter.
JD RhoadesMay 15th, 2011 at 10:44 am [Reply]
@JupiterPluvius (#28):
This makes me think there needs to be a subcategory of COTW for “comeback of the week.” Well played. Very well played indeed.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 10:53 am [Reply]
MW: Drew thinks “I’m not having much of an effect here.” Which is the same thought balloon which shows up over his head during sex. He thinks he’s about to leave, but when he starts to go is when the physical restraint begins. When Liza says she wants to get Drew away from his usual routine, she ain’t kidding.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 10:57 am [Reply]
@ArchieNemesis (#150): I see you noticed the presence of Mary Jane’s new friend, Hugh Jass, before I commented on it in #167. All apologies, etc.
GotFuzzyMay 15th, 2011 at 11:07 am [Reply]
@CanuckDownSouth (#149): re Bizarro, I took it as 1) you go to the bar and get drunk, 2) go next door and get a gun, 3) then rob the jewelry store, so you 4) need the services of the bail bonds place.
As far as name origins, when I started posting here we had two cats. One was very Bucky-like, all hissing and claws and attitude. The other was a Satchel clone, completely sweet and stupid. Therefore, I felt like I really got Get Fuzzy.
ArchieNemesisMay 15th, 2011 at 11:13 am [Reply]
@Mark B (#170): No problemo. In fact, your line “Mary Jane’s new friend, Hugh Jass” is the winner. Any mention of my favorite Simpsons prank call ever always makes me smile.
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 11:16 am [Reply]
Dick Tracy: This strip completely swamped my awesome-o-meter. Damned thing is stuck at pegged out. On the other hand, Dick Tracy is awesome!
Red GreenbackMay 15th, 2011 at 11:18 am [Reply]
That coach in B. C. is obviously a very wealthy caveman, what with his Calder hat and Noguchi peg.
HankMay 15th, 2011 at 11:35 am [Reply]
RE: Pearls before Swine. Pastis has gone to this particular well way too many times already. Having Rat say the joke sucks doesn’t make it any funnier, especially when it’s becoming a near-weekly bit.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 11:45 am [Reply]
FW: The joke is that the molasses is highly carcinogenic, and all of the seniors will end up getting cancer of the hand … something like 40 years from now.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 11:47 am [Reply]
@Hank (#175): Two years from now, Rat, Pig and Goat will be gone, and the strip will consist entirely of the Pastis avatar reciting bad puns.
Rocky StoneaxeMay 15th, 2011 at 12:00 pm [Reply]
@John C Fremont (#159):
RMMD – Not so much Don Knotts as Arnold Stang, really.
Works for me!
http://blog.wfmu.org/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/23/stanglp.jpg
HankMay 15th, 2011 at 12:11 pm [Reply]
@Mark B (#177): Nah. The syndicate will keep the animals around, assuming the strip survives, because that’s where the merchandising is. The avatar will be dropped, as will the final panel “that joke wasn’t funny” attempt at redemption. Pastis will count his money from stuffed pig dolls and try to tell himself that he’s not Jim Davis.
nerowolfgalMay 15th, 2011 at 12:12 pm [Reply]
MT – I have just figured it out. It is not a crazed mountain man who poked Mark Trail with a stick, it is really a bush that poked him with a stick! Lost Forest has HAD it up to here with Mark bumbling round spouting randomly shouted monologues. The giant animals have had their chance to shut him down, now the Forest itself is taking charge. From now on, whenever Mark steps into the Forest he will be closely followed by stealth bushes who will poke him with sharp sticks. Andy will smile.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 12:17 pm [Reply]
@nerowolfgal (#180): Funny you should mention Jim Davis. I’ve seen a few things lately that Jim Davis did that were not Garfield related, and I’m convinced that Davis can actually be funny when not trapped in the Garfield universe. I imagine Pastis is on a similar career arc. Although PBS is a great strip, it seems to be running out of steam in the last couple of years, hence the repeated pun gags.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 12:18 pm [Reply]
Reply failure: above post was a reply to Hank @179.
zerowolfMay 15th, 2011 at 12:19 pm [Reply]
A3G: Just anyone? Just anyone!?!? Do you know who I am? I am Margo Magee. I’ve crushed losers like you for far less! Just anyone? Sheeesh!
CloudbusterMay 15th, 2011 at 12:20 pm [Reply]
MT: OK, John Thrasher is fucking insane (I guess that’s to be expected, what with the facial hair and all). Hiding out in the wilderness, setting dangerous traps for people who happen by. This goes way beyond “I’ll do my ‘friend’ a favor and go talk to his reclusive son.” I’d be hightailing it back to civilization, calling the state police about the homicidal maniac living up in the mountains and telling my “friend” to go risk his own damn life to go talk to his son.
HibbletonMay 15th, 2011 at 12:25 pm [Reply]
PBS: I enjoy the puns. That must make me some kind of CC Plugger.
CloudbusterMay 15th, 2011 at 12:30 pm [Reply]
JP: And Constance turns into a blonde. Don’t the colorists even try?
HibbletonMay 15th, 2011 at 12:32 pm [Reply]
@John C Fremont (#159):
I agree:
@Hibbleton (#37):
May 15th, 2011 at 12:33 pm [Reply]
@Hank (#175): Sad but true. Maybe Pastis should take a short sabbatical like Watterson did with Calvin. We don’t need another Darby. Sorry to say that Darb but it’s true. Enough with the weird “guest cats.” Get Rob out of the house, give Fungo and Francis more face time. Joe could show up more often. Motor and Roger could liven up the strip. Use the characters you have. Enough with the new cats.
gleebMay 15th, 2011 at 12:37 pm [Reply]
Slylock: It’s supposed to the the cat’s earring, sure, but why’s Officer Duck got such a shifty look on her face?
Phantom: Fast-paced wine-sipping action with exciting international assassin Eric Sahara, the Nomad!
:Monty This literally had more action than The Phantom today. Manly action.
‘bean: So, lazy, stupid, and we now add vindictive to the growing list of Owen’s unpleasant character traits.
Dick: Hot Rize, cold heart. It’s a good thing that dog is a junkie, or they’d be slower in catching the murderous Ms Rize.
HankMay 15th, 2011 at 12:38 pm [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#188): Yeah, I thought of Darby too. Scott Adams is another one. Dilbert started out as this great surreal strip and now it’s a vehicle to market workplace gag gifts. Pastis needs to do something (and, by something, I don’t mean dropping Pearls completely for a chance to do zombie Peanuts) before it’s too late.
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 12:46 pm [Reply]
@gleeb (#189): I had the same idea but added a risqué backstory.
RimpyMay 15th, 2011 at 12:47 pm [Reply]
Ziggy: Perhaps Opportunity left a dead body on Ziggy’s front step. This way, Ziggy will go to prison and finally find love.
John C FremontMay 15th, 2011 at 1:04 pm [Reply]
@Hibbleton (#187): Oops! Sorry I missed that the first time around, Hibbleton. I’d make that comment about great minds thinking alike, but my mind’s moment of greatness happened when I used to impress my friends with my impersonation of that Boxcar Willie album commercial back in high school. It’s all been downhill since then.
How about “Great minds and minds that peaked during Boxcar Willie’s reign of terror in the 1970’s sometimes think alike?” It’s got a nice ring to it.
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 1:05 pm [Reply]
@Hank (#190): I don’t put Adams in the same category as Conley. Adams had a decade or so of great years. Conley had, what 4 or 5? Adams can still hit ‘em out of the ballpark. The last time Darb got close was Bucky’s missing door but someone screwed that up royally by interrupting that storyline with a couple weeks of something else. Before and after that it was Bucky’s weird cat visitors and Bucky reinventing literature/plays/entertainment in his own ignorant style. Again.
Come to think about it, a weird cat visitor helped with the door and was actually funny. I’m still not changing my mind. NO MORE CAT VISITORS, DARB!
Écureuil ÉcumantMay 15th, 2011 at 1:31 pm [Reply]
@Jimbo (#156): Fleas don’t have muscles and they do use pure energy. They acquire it directly from the tiny black hole in their butt. Fleas don’t have a black hole in their butt you say? I guess you never looked too close at one then.
Islamorada GirlMay 15th, 2011 at 1:34 pm [Reply]
@Mark B (#41):
COPW!
Pseudo3DMay 15th, 2011 at 1:36 pm [Reply]
DT – I love how they had to indicate “CHALK LINE”. I suppose if it was a black-and-white Locher-era DT, it would make some more sense.
Black DrazonMay 15th, 2011 at 1:41 pm [Reply]
DT: “Today, the nation begins its annual observance of National Police Week. Remember to turn your thoughts and prayers to those that have given their lives upholding the law.” We now return you to a story about hillbillies eating crack biscuits, already in progress.
FOOBed againMay 15th, 2011 at 1:47 pm [Reply]
@Hibbleton (#185): Me too.
Joe BlevinsMay 15th, 2011 at 2:01 pm [Reply]
Today’s ZOMBY suggests things too unpleasant to describe. Enjoy.
Ukulele IkeMay 15th, 2011 at 2:19 pm [Reply]
@John C Fremont (#159): You can’t convince me that Don Knotts and Arnold Stang were two separate actors!
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 2:20 pm [Reply]
@Black Drazon (#198): Ha ha HA! Good one.
@Ukulele Ike (#201): Have you heard them speak? No contest. There’s no way one person could sound like both of them.
Mark BMay 15th, 2011 at 2:25 pm [Reply]
@ArchieNemesis (#172): All the best humor is recycled.
HankMay 15th, 2011 at 2:26 pm [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#194): We can quibble about the exact time line but I think we can still agree that Dilbert is a hollow shell of the great early years. It’s almost a mad lib at this point.
commodorejohnMay 15th, 2011 at 2:35 pm [Reply]
A3G – Let’s have a round of applause for Frank Bolle, who stretched far beyond his usual today in order to make Doris’s dress moderately not hideous. Bravo, Frank! You really earned that tee time today!
Bizarro – I’m pretty sure I’ve driven past this place in Superior.
Curtis – If you had asked me which comic strip would be the first to graphically depict a hermaphrodite, I would not have guessed Curtis. (For the record: probably 9 Chickweed Lane, once Brooke runs out of everything else that used to piss off the sisters at his school.)
DT – “This isn’t flour!” and Sgt. Richard Pryor here hardly needs a dog to tell him that.
FG – “Just imagine what we could have learned from them had they lived! You know, if we hadn’t killed them.” [*]
MW – Lock Board your doors, Drew. And windows. And…hell, just reinforce the walls with concrete while you’re at it. Or rent a bomb shelter.
OB – He wouldn’t be so quick to tamper with it if he’d seen The Stone Tape.
PV – “Points, with high drama?” Are we sure Draco isn’t actually Gary Dent sent back in time?
RMMD – Note to self: do not fuck with the cleaning lady.
SM – “That’s okay, honey, we can just cud-oh wait, no, we’re going to die.”
Vince MMay 15th, 2011 at 2:56 pm [Reply]
@Ukulele Ike (#201): I’d say watch “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”, but they weren’t in the same scene together, were they?
Pseudo3DMay 15th, 2011 at 3:13 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#205): re: Curtis: Ah, it’s just a statue. It’s not like someone slipped Greg estrogen pills.
Bill ThompsonMay 15th, 2011 at 3:17 pm [Reply]
The Amusing Spiderman: Second thoughts? Don’t boast like that, Martine, not until you’ve displayed a first thought.
CalicoMay 15th, 2011 at 3:24 pm [Reply]
I’m loving today’s Mark Trail – Rusty is zoned out somewhere with Sassy, nowhere to be seen, and Mark has to chase down poor Andy before shoving his ginourmous ass into a bath bucket and drenching him with “Gee, your Hair Smells Terrific!” shampoo. (Oddly still available through the VT Country Store, along with other weird anachronistic products.)
@commodorejohn (#205):
Drew is gonna need a safe room for sure.
May 15th, 2011 at 3:25 pm [Reply]
@wossname (#164): re MT: oh, when you have such insightful…um…insights, it just does something to me!
Red GreenbackMay 15th, 2011 at 3:26 pm [Reply]
Sunday Trail: Parasites all the way down.
@commodorejohn (#205): What the heck’s FG?.. Fallard Gillmore?
May 15th, 2011 at 3:41 pm [Reply]
@Red Greenback (#211): Flash Gordon, my friend!
(He’ll save every one of us, I’m told.)
Red GreenbackMay 15th, 2011 at 3:48 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#212): Duh. Thanks, CJ
CalicoMay 15th, 2011 at 3:53 pm [Reply]
@bats :[ (#210):
Hahaha! Another Bats classic.
May 15th, 2011 at 3:56 pm [Reply]
Fusco Brothers: Umm, Gloria, you’re barking up the wrong tree…
John C FremontMay 15th, 2011 at 3:57 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#205): “Points, with high drama…” makes me think of that Jonathan Harris quote; “I’m not British, just affected.”
I can definitely imagine Draco in that last panel saying, ” You disreputable dunderhead! You addlepated amateur! You – you nickel-plated ninny!”
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 4:14 pm [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#188):
Maybe Pastis should take a short sabbatical like Watterson did with Calvin.
Wait, a short sabbatical? Trudeau took a sabbatical and vacations. I’m not aware of any return of Watterson. If there has been, please tell and point the way, pretty please? [*]
KarMannMay 15th, 2011 at 4:15 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#212): Ah-ahhhhh!
MT: I can’t believe no one’s referenced it yet [*]:
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite ’em;
And so proceed ad infinitum.
May 15th, 2011 at 4:23 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#212):
Dale Arden can save me any time!
Personal to Dale Arden: I am in grave danger! Wear the blue shorts!
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 4:27 pm [Reply]
*flops back onto shore from three-day manga archive binge*
*shakes like Labrador*
Is it just me, or is a requirement for romantic comedy include having at least one, if not more, characters who carry an Idiot Ball on a regular basis?
commodorejohnMay 15th, 2011 at 4:35 pm [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#220): Romantic-comedy manga, like sitcoms and comic strips, follow two nearly-inescapable rules: no plotline may ever make permanent progress, especially when it concerns the relationship between two characters, and when a plotline appears to have made progress, it must be reset via a misunderstanding. This is exactly the reason I don’t read many such series.
daleMay 15th, 2011 at 4:35 pm [Reply]
Mark Trail
What are the chances that the traps were set by Burglary Boy in order to keep attention focused on the mountain man as the thief?
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 4:51 pm [Reply]
9CWL–Burn, Thorax, burn! Sunshine, keep on beatin’ down–burn, Thorax, burn!
Candorville–Nicely done; to my mind, the best of the credit card strips.
Doonesbury–Ack! Earworm warning! Drat you, Red Rascal! ? ? ?
Baka GaijinMay 15th, 2011 at 4:52 pm [Reply]
@ElkMeadow (#217): Is the Calvin and Hobbes Wiki a good enough resource? I remember the sabbaticals because after the second one I thought Watterson hadn’t returned to his previous level of great strips. And then there were none.
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 4:52 pm [Reply]
@ElkMeadow (#223):
Ack! Preview showed that those would be music notes, not question marks! Anyway, Drat you again, Red Rascal!
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 4:53 pm [Reply]
@Baka Gaijin (#224):
Good enough for me. Thanks for doing the research!
(and Preview is not my friend today.)
DesmondMay 15th, 2011 at 4:56 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#63): Thanks for the info. I didn’t know that. I guess we’re both right (because I really did see the “in the cellar” joke).
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 4:59 pm [Reply]
Which woman would survive the best in a Mark Trail forest?
Liza, if she decides she wants the mountain man?
June, just ’cause she’s June?
Berna, who would tell him off?
Stella, with her awesome broomstick powers?
The vampire woman in Spiderman?
Sally Forth?
Margo?
Mary Worth?
Ukulele IkeMay 15th, 2011 at 5:00 pm [Reply]
@Vince M (#206): “…they weren’t in the same scene together, were they?”
A-hah! You see?
When he wanted to sound like so-called “Arnold Stang,” he just inserted a duck down his throat.
ElkMeadowMay 15th, 2011 at 5:03 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#114):
Oh, and for those who haven’t tired of the explanation (that is, those who haven’t heard it), “Old Man Muffaroo” is the name of one of two continuing characters in one of the most oddly inventive comic strips in the history of ever, “The Upside-Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo.”
I printed it out, and read it. Wow, what an imagination! Thanks for the heads up!
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 5:07 pm [Reply]
@commodorejohn (#221): This one was “Kimi no iru Machi”, and it seemed to avoid the status quo issues pretty well, had some really d’awwwsome moments, and some where even the writer acknowledged that the plot twist was OTT. aaaaaand it’s still ongoing. Guess I’ll add it to my ‘webcomics’ bookmarks and see where it continues. :-)
The art is pretty good as well, with some gentle fanservice on a regular basis.
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 5:10 pm [Reply]
as a note on nicks.
‘queek’ is based on a favorite Special Character from one of my Warhammer armies, and the titles were added later due to comments by several of my favorite posters here. I’m pretty much ‘queek’ where-ever I go online, but only here am I considered a Source of Cuteness. :-)
tb4000May 15th, 2011 at 5:12 pm [Reply]
MW: See, I can’t feel too bad for his ass because by this point any normal guy would have run up out of there before she busted out with the sledgehammer and tied him to the bed.
PoteetMay 15th, 2011 at 5:41 pm [Reply]
@ElkMeadow (#228): I say Lu Ann, because she would disappear for months at a time and then briefly wander back into sight just when we vaguely began to wonder what might have happened to her, not really caring.
KatyMay 15th, 2011 at 5:47 pm [Reply]
@queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii Commando (#29): For just a moment, I hesitated to click that link, because I was afraid it would show a girl growing a dick. But then I thought “This is QUEEK’S link,” and clicked it, and now I’m punching myself in the head with sheer glee.
Dr. WeirdMay 15th, 2011 at 5:53 pm [Reply]
@Katy (#235):
All this talk about futanari here is going to start doing very interesting things to the ads before long.
“Christan Singles girl, noooooooo!”
HibbletonMay 15th, 2011 at 5:57 pm [Reply]
@John C Fremont (#193):
I was glad that someone else had made the connection to Stang. I always liked him.
I also use to snark on record commercials while attending high school in the seventies (Slim Whitman, in my case). Probably no coincidence that we’re posting here.
pugfugglyMay 15th, 2011 at 6:38 pm [Reply]
Oh boy! Slylock Fox is going to play ‘name that scat’ in order to identify the thief. I’d say that that’s a hippo turd in that bag, going by its size/bulk, and the fact that it seems to be offending everyone in the room, save that grinning hippolady. Everyone likes their own brand, ammirite…?
Meanwhile, if Maryjane makes it alive out of this week’s Spiderman, I think she has a bring future ahead of her posing in Gigantic Asses Magazine
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 6:45 pm [Reply]
@Dr. Weird (#236): *SNURK!*
I am giggling so hard at that visual, I truly am!
@Katy (#235): I tag my NSFW links, even if they do spoil the joke sometimes. ;-)
but yeah, that was such a happy pic that I had to pass it along.
wossnameMay 15th, 2011 at 6:48 pm [Reply]
@bats :[ (#210): Wow! A tip of the bats :[ pokey stick is as good as a float ride!
@ElkMeadow (#228): Ruthie’s grandma.
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 15th, 2011 at 6:49 pm [Reply]
Fred – “(One)”
“(Two)”
“(Three)”
“(Four)”
“(Five)”
“(Six…)”
“(…Seven!)”
Show’s over, folks. Return to your homes and families.
Slylock – Liz the cat wears a single earring to signify that she is a top who is looking. She wouldn’t be caught dead in that stupid store. The bag contains Ms. Mouse’s will to live. She was there, and though she didn’t commit the crime (the expensive perfume was swiped by an employee), she won’t contest the charge because she just doesn’t care what happens to her. Another victory for Slylock!
[Old Man] MuffarooMay 15th, 2011 at 6:50 pm [Reply]
@gleeb (#189): It’s supposed to the the cat’s earring, sure, but why’s Officer Duck got such a shifty look on her face?
I took it as a desperate look, and suspect that the hippo is extremely flatulent. The mouse’s look lends credence to this theory.
May 15th, 2011 at 6:52 pm [Reply]
@pugfuggly (#238): hippos mark their territories and announce themselves by twirling their tails as they defecate (a biological shit hitting the fan sort of thing). I suspect that if Ms. Hippo had had to go, it would’ve been all over the walls of the store…
queek, source of Cuteness, Kawaii CommandoMay 15th, 2011 at 7:05 pm [Reply]
@Katy (#235): a musing on the concept. (slightly mindbending, but basically clean.)
Rocky StoneaxeMay 15th, 2011 at 7:10 pm [Reply]
Weird Sound Effects (Sunday Edition):
Edge City — BEEP! x 7
B.C. — RUB… FWOONK
Spider-Man — FZZZZZZZ
Heathcliff — CHEW CHEW CHEW
May 15th, 2011 at 7:21 pm [Reply]
@bats :[ (#243): hippos mark their territories and announce themselves by twirling their tails as they defecate (a biological shit hitting the fan sort of thing).
Hence the expression, “ad ass turd per a spiral.”
The more you know!
pugfugglyMay 15th, 2011 at 7:35 pm [Reply]
@bats :[ (#243): Well, c’mon, it’s not as if Slylocks is going to scrape every last bit of that poop in for evidence. No, he’ll take a paper bag’s worth to the line-up to shove each of their faces in it to gauge their reactions.
Artist formerly known as BenMay 15th, 2011 at 7:53 pm [Reply]
SFx: The stork lady is wearing earrings even though birds barely have external ears. I guess she just hangs them from her wig. Yeah, it’s kinda weird.
H&J: Fun project: go through the letters and see how many are signed with “sealed with a kiss.”
A3G: Yeah, I guess if love is going to happen, it’s more likely to happen to “anyone” than “no one.” Jeez Doris, are you trying to break Margo’s brain?
S-M: Quick MJ, time for one last imptence joke about your husband.
BB: I’d love to see what led to this decision. “Stop! We can’t hold the beauty pageant yet. We need to find an infantryman with a permanent hard-on to be one of the judges. And I know just the man for the job.”
Écureuil ÉcumantMay 15th, 2011 at 8:30 pm [Reply]
@[Old Man] Muffaroo (#246): I got hit so hard by that turd I’m seein’ stars.
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