The Dogs of C Kennel (Creators) are experiencing a temporary lull, but we’re not. However, St. Stephen’s Day is, granted, not as exciting as Christmas and the dopamine hit is more subtle. We’ll get to the wren in a minute, but there’s no park. I just liked the headline, because if you are of the […]
I’m with Lizzie in Reply All (WPWG), with some mixed feelings about the holiday season but a large dose of “When is this over?” For the self-employed and empty-nested, the holidays are mostly days when the banks and the post office are closed, but, in addition, we’re entering a Dead Zone where a lot of […]
Several comic strips have been anticipating Christmas with gags about kids trying to clean up their acts for Santa and people decorating their trees, but now we’re getting right down to the real nitty gritty, and Monty (AMS) brings up the topic of Christmas cards as we enter the home stretch. I used to get […]
Zits (KFS) is starting a story arc that could mark a shift in the comic, with Jeremy and presumably his friends beginning the college search. The strip has a glacial pace, but that’s better than no pace at all, and, over the years, we’ve seen the kids get drivers licenses and cars and even a […]
In today’s Pearls Before Swine (AMS) Rat is a bit more proactive than most of us in dealing with neighbor issues, but, then, Rat has never been a model of patience. I particularly liked the cartoon because I’ve just set a new record, going over 13 years of living in the same house. In both […]
For some reason, I didn’t see a lot of “bear trap in the fireplace” gags this year. Which is a good thing, I would add. However, Monty (AMS) put a spin on that tired old chestnut, and there’s nothing I love more than watching Sedgewick try to be a real boy, while his patient butler, […]
I don’t know how far ahead Jef Mallett works on Frazz (AMS), but he hit this one squarely: Michigan, where he lives, looks to be hovering around freezing for the next week but in no particular danger of snow before Christmas. Here in New Hampshire, we got just under a foot yesterday and it seems […]
I retired in June in a combination of newspaper cuts and my boss’s retirement, but before we shut things down we were facing the prospect of a spring workshop for our young reporters in the midst of the pandemic. Today’s Alex (Telegraph) is therefore particularly relevant, because I telecommuted the editing job except for two […]
While we avoid politics on Friday, the term “funnies” doesn’t preclude serious commentary, of which this Non Sequitur (AMS) is a good example. There are all sorts of comics about masks and social distancing, and some are silly, which is fine, since escapism is a good thing as long as it doesn’t lapse into denial. […]
Stuart Carlson (AMS) picks up on a twisted saying that I’ve just noticed entering the conversation, and which we need to nip in the bud. It’s different than my oft-raged-upon misuse of “rats leaving a sinking ship,” of which I spotted two examples today, both by cartoonists I greatly admire. As noted before, there is […]
One of the facts of life for reporters is that the news is a 24/7 thing and someone is going to have to work on holidays. Today’s Mother Goose and Grimm reminds me of a favorite story. I have several favorite working-on-Christmas stories, because after you’ve run around and talked to the people at the […]
Sally Forth specializes in bizarre takes on holidays, but they get special credit for last Sunday’s take, which kept me wondering what the hell was going on until the last panel. A lot of their weirdness relies on your being familiar with the characters, but this is an excellent standalone — anybody could stumble into […]
Dwane Powell sets the mood for today’s array. There have been several “screaming toddler” approaches to Trump and his hissy fit over the wall, but Powell not only modifies an increasingly tired concept but melds Trump’s infantile stubbornness with the Christmas angle. I’ve never understood the “hold my breath” threat and I certainly never saw […]