Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for September 28, 2022

Poor girl. I know how she feels. Sometimes I don’t want to walk out of the door… but then I realized that I need money to keep the roof that’s protecting me

I really like this arc so far, both for it’s honesty and for being really well crafted. It’s also some nice growth for Jerry Scott who ten years into Zits rejected tackling heavier topics because “I don’t want to see the 6 o clock news on the funny pages”, and is now doing just that (if in this strip rather than Zits, but he’s also done the ocasional strip there tackling heavier topics, so he’s learning)

So much for adults being parents.

As a parent so am I. :-(

Can’t blame Zoe, but she has to face the world eventually, unless Wanda wants to go the homeschool route …

Wanda’s hair resembles a bunch of mortarboards. Missing the tassels, though…

I’ll come back next Monday.

Time to enroll her and Hammie in Karate, Judo, or Tae-Kwando lessons. It builds self confidence, not just self defense.

I thought comics were supposed to be light.

Kinda heavy for a comic.

I know there are so of us who just want to escape into light hearted comics like these but occasionally it’s nice to see something like this. Like it’s telling us that “you are heard” and “you are not alone” in these trying times.

I like this.

The latest shooting in Russia was in the news.

That is so sad!

Aren’t we all, Zoe? On another note, everyone in Hurricane Ian’s path please seek shelter, and stay safe.

I think it’s wise of Jerry Scott to incorporate some reality into Baby Blues. This is a strip about parents and young children. The state of the world – school shootings, pandemics, etc – are elements that affect parents and their kids. Scott already has another (wonderful) comic strip that doesn’t reflect reality – so why not use this other platform to explore it? Plus, we don’t know that this is purely Scott’s decision – as much as Scott does the writing, it’s likely a joint agreement between him and Kirkman.

The only downside to the reality is that it kinda takes away from the passage of time in BB being 1/3 of real life. The pandemic, for example, sets things in 2020 and beyond. Thirty years since the strip began and Zoe is only 10… suggesting she should have been born in 2010 or thereabouts.

“… Hammie, on the other hand, IS coming in.”

“That’s what WE were afraid you would say.”

Poor wee lamb. What a terrible thing to know at such a young age

This is a tough one for a parent. You have to acknowledge the child’s fear, but at the same time you have to work on controlling that fear so they can go back to school. I know this arc is straying from the usual antics of Hammie’s and Zoe, but it requires us to think.

I remember of being afraid of that “bomb” being dropped on us. We used to have weekly drills where we ducked under our desks for safety from the bomb. I look back on that and wonder whose idiotic idea was that? How was hiding under a desk in an unfortified school building going to protect us from a bomb?

This strip is really powerful for what children feel in fear of an attacker wanting to cause harm. Sad is this society.

Republican Roulette: when you send your kids to school.

It’s 9:52 and I’m just waiting for the next one

:’(