I’m mixing political cartoons with humor today, and starting with a question: Does anybody really care about this issue anymore? Clay Jones isn’t the only left-of-center cartoonist to bring it up, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone right-of-center whining about the whole “Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays” kerfuffle. I suppose maybe I have […]
Loose Parts (AMS) hits at a good moment. I tried a hole-in-the-wall pizza place yesterday, and when I paid, got one of those screens. I don’t believe in tipping counterhelp and you’re not supposed to tip the owner, so I hit “No tip.” Again. Again. Again. Finally. “I’ll bet the 25% one goes right through,” […]
Capsule Debate Review: Trump didn’t respond to the questions, Biden didn’t respond to Trump, Bash and Tapper just asked the next question on their list as if they weren’t listening either. It was hard not to feel like the young couple invited to spend an evening with George and Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia […]
Sometimes you need a dose of silliness, and Jimmy Craig is just the one to deliver. This gag requires a little cultural literacy, because, first of all, you have to know who Jackson Pollock was, which isn’t all that esoteric though his paintings are. Plus it adds another chuckle to know that the story of […]
There’s a lot of political stuff I won’t be addressing today, because I’m tired of politics but also because there are several recent developments that will become cartoons over the next couple of days and I want to wait for them to mature. My objection to Clay Jones’s latest cartoon is purely editorial. I agree […]
Bizarro (KFS) strikes a nostalgic note, intentionally or not. I don’t think of Easter eggs as empty shells, but then I don’t think of them as this elaborately decorated, except in Eastern Europe where I doubt pysanky are mixed in with the candy. But it did remind me of being a tiny tot some 70 […]
There are several major news stories going on, but they happened late in the week, so, since only a few American editorial cartoonists post on weekends, we’ll have to wait until Monday or perhaps even Tuesday for commentary on them. In the meantime, here’s a serious funny piece from First Dog on the Moon, and […]
Red and Rover (AMS) Daddy’s Home — Creators Lola — AMS Yesterday’s comics page didn’t have a Juxtaposition so much as a three-strip pile up. One might suspect that all of the comic strip people live in the same town, but Red and Rover don’t even live in the same year as the others, being […]
Everything is horrible. We’ll talk about it over the weekend, which is to say, “Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.” But we’ll start with a Public Service Announcement from the Other Coast (Creators), with a combination of a caution and a suggestion. A dog for Christmas sounds like a lovely idea, but Christmas can be chaotic and […]
Offer to make dinner. Offer to rub her shoulders. Just don’t offer advice. You’re stepping on a rake. Daddy’s Home (Creators) demonstrates something I learned from Deborah Tannen’s 1986 book, That’s Not What I Meant, an analysis of men’s and women’s conversational styles that has since been echoed and confirmed, though mostly by other feminist […]
F Minus (AMS) offers an explanation for what’s gone wrong with the world which is both funny and, as is usually the case with funny things, thought-provoking. On the most mundane level, it’s a case of blaming yourself for what’s gone wrong in the world and, certainly, that’s a valid point, particularly if you’ve sat […]
So here’s the thing: I didn’t have to wait until the final panel of today’s Barn (Creators) to know what musical selection the ducks were performing. I could attribute that to my educational and cultural upbringing, and I do, but only to the extent that cartoons used to be a lot more educational and cultural. […]
Let’s start with Daddy’s Home (Creators) and no, I haven’t finished doing my taxes yet, but I’m finished dealing with the cost of putting kids through college, and somewhere in my storehouse of columns I wrote in the 90s is a rant about how college costs should be tax deductible. And now they are sorta […]
It’s National Grammar Day, and Day By Dave (AMS) celebrates it by dragging fingernails across a blackboard. Using “should of” for “should have” is not a grammatical error, dammit. It’s a usage error. Or, if you really want to shut them up, point out that it’s a case of catachresis. And note, that, as it […]
They Can Talk provides an excellent starting point for contemplating cartoons that remind me of other things, because, by playing on the social tendencies of cats and dogs, it mirrors those tendencies within ourselves, which is how good comedy works. It’s allied to the half-empty/half-full glass trope, except that that classic division between optimists and […]