Take a cue from Moose Miller – forget the rest of the newspaper and turn to the comics. Though, as Henrietta Beak shows, with seven, eight, even ten comics to a page you may need some help to read the Sunday Funnies.
We’ll start with an ending, a happy ending.
Patrick McDonnell created the feel good story of the year with plenty of heart tugging before the happily-ever-after conclusion. Today’s epilogue script of Mutts mirrors the prologue script but the art shows a big difference.
Dogs of C-Kennel keeps us on the treating-animals-right track. Which brings us to this digression…
PETA is gearing up for a Texas-sized showdown over a denial of permission to display a sheep statue decorated with thought-provoking messages and drawings by renowned New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. The artwork features a feisty flock of indignant sheep clutching signs reminding viewers that they’re individuals and urging people to let them keep their wool by shopping vegan. It was rejected by the San Angelo Public Art Commission, so now PETA is calling on the San Angelo City Council to uphold its right to free speech and has given the council until December 27 to reject the commission’s decision, after which the group says it “will be forced to consider its legal remedies.”
Once known as the “Wool Capital of the World,” San Angelo currently displays 110 sheep-shaped art installations, so PETA offered to send the city it’s “E(n)d Shearin’” statue (named after singer Ed Sheeran) to add to its collection. Members of the commission that rejected the statue called it “not fit for downtown” and “contrary to San Angelo’s history,” remarks that defy American values of inclusivity and freedom of expression.
Back to the funny pages.
Like the Mutts story the Dick Tracy – Xavier Libris chapter has ended (began here), unlike Mutts the ending disappointed. Not the whodunnit part – my vicious side was disappointed by the lack of gore.
In the final faceoff I was hoping Dick Tracy would suffer some Inigo Montoya type torture before prevailing, and was really hoping for an old fashioned Chester Gouldish end to the villain. My blood lust was not satisfied in either case.
On the other hand I enjoyed Luann this past week.
I liked the DeGroot family down to the basic four for their Christmas vacation and found the mid-week role reversal funny. There’s at least another week or two of lodging to look forward to.
Pooch Cafe had a week long arc about Chazz and Poncho hanging Christmas lights.
The Friday strip had me laughing out loud (and satisfied my blood lust).
Not funny:
I get that Bill Griffith worships at the three rock altar of Ernie Bushmiller but this is the second time this Fall that he uses Zippy to malign the current Nancy. Bushmiller’s gone, there’s no more turning back. Enough already.
Charles M. Schulz is gone too.
Tuesday’s Dumplings brought to mind Charlie Brown.
We’ll end with Don Wimmer‘s pleasing exercise in the Thursday Rose is Rose.
feature image by Herb Cook, staff artist for The Dayton Daily News in the late 1920s and that’s all I find about him
Sunday Puzzle – Can you name the comic characters in Herb Cook’s 1928 comic space filler panel?
Left to right:
The Guard Dog arc in “Mutts” did not end with the “epilog” on Sunday (Dec. 17th); it continues at least to Monday’s strip, which is even sweeter (and much more surprising) than the day before; see: https://comicskingdom.com/mutts/2023-12-18
P.S. It’s also worth mentioning that Friday’s strip indicates that Doozy gave Guard Dog a new name (Sparky), which is almost certainly McDonnell’s tribute to Charles Schulz; see: https://comicskingdom.com/mutts/2023-12-15