CSotD: May You Live in Spooky Times
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It’s Halloween, which I know because I saw Christmas stuff at the store yesterday. I was going to do a day of Halloween humor, but not much rang my bell. I think holiday comics are like obituary cartoons: It’s mandatory that you do them, but it’s awfully hard to come up with anything very impressive, particularly after you’ve done a bunch over the years.
But I did like today’s Buckets, though I don’t understand the color scheme. I don’t really get the idea of having take out brought in. Sure, I realize it has a long history for pizza and Chinese food. Maybe if I lived in a city where going across town was a half hour drive and then parking was impossible, but then if it’s half an hour for me to go there, it must logically be half an hour for someone to come here, which sounds like cold food either way.
However, I recognize that it’s become a Thing, so the notion that Eddie has to fight off people who think he’s delivering is funny.
Though if somebody is going to hand you $40 or so, give’em the candy.
And Cravens gets a good timing award, too, given that DoorDash has just acquired Instacart, which will allow them to do for restaurant prices what VRBO, AirBnB and others have done for housing prices. What I’m looking for is the point where they start saying “The pizza is $30, but we’ll give you an $8 discount if you pick it up yourself.”
Alex Hallatt also gets recognition, as much for what the gag isn’t as for what it is. I’ve been sorting through Frankenstein gags for the past week, several of which have dealt with the bolt in his neck. None of them dealt with it like this, and the notion of a rectangular cell is a secondary giggle. The mitochondria are a nice touch, too, since the strip always has a tiny bit of science in it.
And, BTW, if you’re going to pipe up to say it’s Frankenstein’s Monster, not Frankenstein, I’d point out that his name is Adam and the bolt is not canon. Don’t try to outpedantry me.
Halloween seems to be more fun over on the editorial page, which is what an election year will do for you. This Horsey gag is funny, but also points out that the Republicans sure don’t have much, which makes sense, because what are they going to run on? The war? Inflation? Character?
They’re running against Talarico based on him being gay, which he isn’t, and vegan, which I guess he was but isn’t, which inspired Dear Leader to get up in front of a group and mock him, saying, “I love the meat.” Yikes.
He also obsesses over candidates’ asses, which, as Darkow implies, is pretty damn silly if you’re attacking Talarico for being light in the loafers. Come on, Donnie: Is it a flaw or not?
An interesting contrast in how voters might take Dear Leader’s fascination with backsides. Deering shows them as puzzled and a little grossed out, with the mother covering her daughter’s eyes, and it is weird to have a party running on conservative Christian values while their head spokesperson prattles on about comparative buttocks as a campaign issue. How can you attack Talarico for purportedly being gay while Dear Leader is telling you to vote for John Husted because he has a nice ass?
By contrast, Sack assumes people are used to Trump’s antics and dismiss them. Where the cartoon runs in newspapers, it might have the effect of planting a seed of “we all know he’s crazy” among anyone wavering, but I have my doubts.
Anderson also has his couple-on-a-couch expressing a lack of surprise at Ramaswamy’s outrageous attack ad, and he’s right to tie in the way the GOP protects the people named in the Epstein papers with the way Ramaswamy defends the man indicted for raping a girl from the time she was nine until she was 12. (And, BTW, the Epstein thing just got uglier.)
In both Anderson and Sack’s cartoons, however, it seems the couples have already decided how they’re going to vote, and so these fresh revelations don’t move the needle.
But what I’ve seen in the coverage of the Ramaswamy matter is proof of my thesis that even a losing team fills the stadium: People in interviews say they think the ad was in very bad taste and shouldn’t have run and they’re going to vote for him anyway because “I always vote Republican.”
Same thing. They’re voting for laundry, and whether it’s a quarterback throwing interceptions or a political figure defending child molesters, it doesn’t matter if he’s wearing my team’s jersey.
And another thing: This cartoon is from Australia, but it’s the same the whole world over, and particularly here, where a TV star can successfully run for the presidency with absolutely no qualifications beyond a bogus reputation as a business tyro. Trump’s “wheeler-dealer” reputation was part of the hype around The Apprentice. Until then, people in Gotham laughed at him and nobody else knew who he was.
Downes cartoon points to the relevance: People vote for candidates they’ve heard of. We see it in particular in underdeveloped countries, where uneducated voters overwhelmingly support their strongman dictator in elections, because they recognize his name. There’s no need to fix the elections, because people will vote for the guy they’re heard of.
Perhaps this isn’t the point Kelley was trying to make, but the GOP is investigating the Alaska senate race because a second “Dan Sullivan” was brought in to run, which is legal as long as he’s not being paid, and certainly not unprecedented.
But consider this: In 2010, Lisa Murkowski was not on the ballot, but reached the Senate because 101,091 voters were bright enough and literate enough that they could write in her somewhat long, Polish surname.
Apparently, however, the Republicans feel they cannot win by appealing to bright, literate voters. Kelley demonstrates the subpar folks they’re counting on: The ones who vote for laundry, not for policies.
Alice is still famous. Is he available for 2028?
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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