Recent Comments

1. 8 days ago on Tank McNamara

   … and the typo is in panel two. Sneaky.

2. 3 months ago on Super-Fun-Pak Comix

   Look up “Flatland” by Edwin Abbott.

3. 3 months ago on Dick Tracy

   Mysta was created with the face and figure of Moon Maid, Junior’s late wife. In fact, I think she was believed to be (even by herself) the original. Somehow hanging out with Junior and his present family feels like a setup for soap opera scandal — unless they’d already done that in a period (I missed some years before finding a reliable online source).

4. 3 months ago on Nancy Classics

   Didn’t they have a resident rich kid for money gags? Think the name was Rollo.

5. 3 months ago on Doonesbury

   Well, “bungled years” nicely describes the impact of the Republican-led House of Representatives. Afraid to do anything beneficial because it might make the government look good; unable to agree on a Speaker for any length of time; allowing a clown like Tuberville to publicly damage the military to impress a very few voters; and competing to see who can grovel most humiliatingly to avoid a mean tweet from Trump.

6. 3 months ago on Doonesbury

   For a stretch Doonesbury’s life was not fun: His wife left him and his career in advertising cratered. Trudeau found this handy for commenting on the economy and age discrimination but ultimately felt sorry for his titular character. A summer daydream — old college chum Bernie hires him and Mike starts a new life in Seattle — was suddenly revealed to be real life. Thereafter Michael Doonesbury prospered, remarried happily, started his own company, and saw his daughter turn out okay. This may or may not be his last summer daydream, but it’s an oblique shot at boomers — plus some older politicians — hanging on to power under the delusion they’re indispensable.

7. 6 months ago on Fred Basset

   Baseball is a thing in England, or was this altered for the American market?

8. 6 months ago on Peanuts Begins

   In time, Schroeder and Lucy will catch up with Charlie Brown, while Linus will either catch up or be a year behind (they eat lunch together at school). Sally, who was born after the others settled in around the same age, will ultimately be just slightly younger than Linus. Snoopy, definitely a puppy in the early years, grows into an awkward sort-of adolescent and finally a compact, eccentric adult. Woodstock has his own nest so is presumably grown up, but gives the impression of being pushed into the world a bit early.

9. 6 months ago on Doonesbury

   Mike started out as a laughable jerk, spending much of his time trying to pick up girls. For the strip to last he had to become reasonably sympathetic, and spent much of his time as ringmaster to more colorful characters. For a long time his story arc was frankly depressing: His wife left him and his advertising career dissolved, so he was a struggling single dad. Then Trudeau took pity and made him prosperous (in high tech, opening up that for satire). So for many years Michael Doonesbury has been happy, successful, and essentially a nice guy … forcing Trudeau to look elsewhere for the sharper laughs. Mike’s complaint is a meta one about his significance in the strip rather than a gripe about his circumstances. He joins Barney Google, Walt Wallet, Kerry Drake, Judge Parker, Steve Roper, and other titular stars gently edged into secondary roles.

10. 9 months ago on Mutt & Jeff

    Jeff isn’t factoring in his own costs. Ancient joke has a young man telling his girl, “I make $200 a month. Could you live on that?” She answers, “Sure, but what would you live on?”