Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for September 11, 2011

A word paints a thousand pictures.

Kate’s imagination is a lot less egomaniacal than Danae. 5 stars to Kate.

So sad that Danae is clueless.

4th panel could almost be a Gumby reference. excellent toon today, Wiley. i love to immerse myself in a good book, too.

I don’t always agree with Wiley, but in this, we are both on the same page (pun intended). Read.

Reading can take you far from whatever drab place you currently inhabit and transport you to worlds of wonder.5 stars, Wiley.

Kool Toon.

Very nice, Wiley. I think I’ll reread some Dickens classics for the Holidays this year.

♩♫♫ Consider yourself…at home.

A pleasant antidote to Danaeism.

Wnen in possession of a good book. Pass it on.

Thank you Wiley!

Lost in a good book.

You would think after all the talk about 9-11 there would be something in all the strips today. Guess some people don’t care.

t1warren:

I wonder if policing the comic strips for political correctness does the dead any honour?

Nicely done Wiley, nicely done.

Great toon, today! Just started rereading C.S. Forrester’s Hornblower series(for the umpteenth time) and every time I am transported to the swaying deck of a 74 gun, ship-of-the-line, in the heat of battle! Great stuff! I am there!

@t1warrenGet a life!

I spend hours every day reading, too, and I’m as clueless as Danae about this. Who in their right mind reads Dickens for pleasure? If you want depressing, we have a real world for that. Give me some good fantasy with swords and dragons and magic!

@t1warren: This strip has recently done more than any other to recognize 9-11 by its skillful depiction of the evil of religion.

I am very pleasantly surprised that so many of you still appreciate the satisfaction of a good book. I was beginning to think I was alone in the world.

Reminds me of Neal Stephenson’s “Diamond Age.” Wonderful strip. Thank you.

Virtual Reality Session — no batteries needed!

Disturb me all you want when I am reading Dickens, my brain needs all the breaks it can get from all that old English style of writing & vocab.

It’s always good to have things to take us away from sad remembrance too – such as good books, and CARTOONS that can put a smile on.

t1warren:To accuse Wiley of not caring is absurd.I appreciate this strip for it’s own message, and the distraction it gives me (and almost all the other readers) from a day filled with reminders of something we’ll never forget.For an excellant 9-11 tribute strip, see today’s Dick Tracy.

Good time to revisit old friends, RE-read the classics, they are better than most of the new garbage. Same goes for old movies, too many “remakes”

I am so glad that there are still plenty of us around that get lost in the printed word. My wife still doesn’t understand (she used to get angry that I was locking her out). Now, she says things about the dangers of being online. However, I can think of nothing more satisfying than to find a movie with the same vision I had when I read the book. I only hope that the book “Hiroshima Diary” never makes it to the big screen. Towerwarlock, I read that when I was ten or eleven. No hassles from the library.

“If you want your children to be brilliant, read them fairy tales. If you want your children to be more brilliant, read them more fairy tales.”Albert Einstein

The most depressing thing about Dickens is the realization that, although Ebenezer Scrooge himself reformed, his legacy lives on. “Are ther no prisons? Are there no workhouses? If the poor are going to die, then let them die and decrease the surplus population.”

But, in the end of all Dickens’ books (at least the ones I’ve read, which is many but by no means all), the good guys end well and the bad ones end badly. (Sure, there’s usually an Innocent who is sacrificed on the Altar of Pathos, but those “dips” are part of what makes the roller coaster worth the ride.)

PS: I checked out t1warren’s posting history for the day, and of the 10 comments showing, NINE of them were simple tongue-clucks at those strips which didn’t run a 9/11 theme. He seems to have nothing to say about the day HIMSELF, other than to disapprove of those who say nothing.

I find his toon today to be HIGHLy refreshing! Well done Mr. Miller.

Demanding that we all sob and wail and rail against ‘them’, that’s not the lesson I take from 9/11. What a dreary world view you must have to demand that we all share it.

Getting lost in a book, been there done that… still do… often

I know the feeling :D

Thank you Wiley! For not following the other domesticated cartoonist’s with some pathetic tribute.

Beautiful artwork. I love it.

@t1warren: We should each remember 9/11 in our own way, but demanding that a comic strip artist do it your way is just out of line. Non-Sequitor is consistently one of the best comic strips, and today’s is one of the very best. Neither you nor I know how Mr. Wiley Miller is remembering 9/11 and it is none of our business.

Oh danae, look what you are missing….do your school work and read….

Lewis Carrol would also fit in their nicely. (Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice found There).

Dickens writes some wonderful descriptive passages of 19th century London and English country life. The good people are usually from the working class, while the villains are usually the super snobbish of the upper class. He created some memorable characters and stories.

A good book does the same thing to me. Don’t see the words, see the story.

i remember saying, at the time, that the best revenge on the terrorists would be for all of us to continue to live our lives and not make any overblown shows of grief or change what we had always done any more than absolutely necessary. i felt then that to do so would give the terrorists a victory by having their heinous acts acknowledged. i’m 10 years more mature now, and realize that people’s need to express their grief can take many forms – and that what seems “overwrought” to one person is “necessary” to another. whether you say it as pax, shalom, salaam, or peace (or any other way, for that matter), it’s what i wish you all.

National Book Week was last month, but it’s never too late for encouraging reading! This is a saver! Thx, W.

I love that Danae and Kate have their own personalities! Kate is more literary, Danae is more… entrepreneurial. :)

@t1warren: Half the comics in my paper were about 9/11 this week. It was clear that some strips felt pressured to doing a tribute comic, and sometimes it felt forced. While it is important to have a moment, or a day, of silence, it’s wrong that people must feel pressured into paying reverence, especially in such a specific way as ‘your strip must pay tribute.’

Not much of a Dickens fan, but I always have at least one book in progress. Usually more.

it has to be good engrossing book. not one with way too much symbolism and a stream of consciousness acid trip.

I haven’t had the chance to read that story, but recognized the opening…. and it fits quite nicely into today. Just never knew it was Dickens. Some comic artists’ are true artists and make us think. .Today’s strips have ranged from overt and dramatic, heart-felt, tender, simple/streamlined and oblique. Some have made us forget for a moment, where we were 10 years ago. Which is just fine. One cannot see the light unless there has been darkness. …. Laughter heals. ’nuf said.

What can one say…On such a day…I know where I was…Wondering the cause…To end a life for naught…With no one to be caught…On a sleepy Tuesday morn…And the common man to scorn…With an act of war…That to be sure…Would be better dealt…To those who never felt…The atrocities all done…By the hand of the Father on the son…That those with eyes closed….Were most likely posed…For a revelation never thought…And a price never sought,,,For the few that paid so dear…And the resulting decade of fear…With no light at the end…And no hope to send…Can only be afraid forever more…And the leveling of the score…Is unlikely at best…And here is the test…That to be better than those…Who would suppose…We all are all full of hate…And to the debate…We bring cries of what’s right….And to continue the fight…Till the battles are won…And we stand in the sun…Not as Victors or Saints…But as people who faint…At the sight of a wrong…And our voices in song…That the only true test…Of Us at our best…Is to say we are one…And when day is done…We call on our Gods…And hope that the odds…Will favor the few…Like me and you…That know tolerance is key…And to really be free…Will take more than we know…But in faith we will go…Towards the day we all know…Must happen and if not so…Will bring the show to a close…And as the audience flows…To the street in a trance…That our true enemies dance…On the end of an era…And an idea so clever…That won’t be seen again…As the New Times begin…In total loss and desperation…And the death knell of a nation…

Pax 9/11/2011

Don’t bother commenting to t1warren. He’s been trolling all the strips with his nonsense. Guess some people have nothing better to do with their day.

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. — Groucho Marx

Excellent, Wiley – thank you!

As Dickens is my favorite 19th century writer and one of my favorites of all times, I have to feel sorry for anyone who can’t appreciate his special brand of genius. You’re missing some great stories!