There are several strips doing “odd summer camp” arcs this week, but Cul de Sac is featuring something that not only could exist but does, if not quite in this format. And, as always, Richard Thompson elevates things with a bit of social satire beyond the obvious, and a reaction shot to remind us that, […]
The idea of an intellectual roofer is well within the framework of Frazz, which is, after all, about an intellectual janitor, though I think pounding nails* to Beethoven seems a bit unlikely. Gilbert & Sullivan, more likely, but only complete recordings with all the dialogue, not those cheesy “highlight” recordings.Given the current weather on the […]
Vic Lee often uses “Pardon My Planet” to make subtle and insightful commentaries on the logical inconsistencies, small moments of self-serving hypocrisy and psychological foibles in our relationships.But not today.
In today’s Stone Soup, Jan Eliot explores a workplace issue that the EEOC has yet to solve, as far as I know.However, I have a potential fix. I once worked at a paper housed in two buildings that shared a parking lot. One building held the newsroom, production and business. The other held circulation and […]
One of the great joys of my relentless efforts to avoid cities is holiday parades in which everyone gets to be in the parade or on the sidewalk, more or less by choice. I’ve been a Cub Scout walking down Route 3 in Star Lake, NY, with my parents and probably 100 other people at […]
(Editor’s note: The Saturday profiles are pieces I wrote in 2003 for the Post-Star of Glens Falls, NY. Since that time, FBOFW has ended its first run and gone back to the beginning, retelling the story with a combination of old and new strips. This is a direction Johnston decided on after this interview, and […]
Only hardcore Arlo & Janis fans will get the joke in today’s headline, and I’m not trying to address them, so I’ll start by decoding for everyone else: Their last-and-seldom-used name is “Day.” Decoding what else has been going on in the strip is a little more complex, but I’ll give it a shot because […]
I didn’t know how old Jeff Corriveau, creator of “Deflocked,” was, but as I looked for the live link to his strip, I found a Wikipedia article that says he’s 38.That’s about my kids’ age, which is relevant because I remember buying them Cracker Jack and being appalled at how lousy the “toy surprises” had […]
For several weeks now, Retail has been starting a secondary storyline about its main character, Marla, and her impending marriage. That should send up all sorts of warning flags, since the strip has been tightly focused on retailing, but (1) if Norm Feuti brings the same cynical reality to weddings that he’s brought to management […]
Okay, this time it’s personal. Zits happens to have used this gag the morning after I finally closed my eyes, clenched my teeth and plugged in what I hoped was the right power source.Three weeks ago, my computer died and needed a system restore, which, you may know, wipes it entirely clean and brings it […]
Lincoln Peirce’s “Big Nate” is about life in the sixth grade, but school is out and apparently this is a world in which kids are not overscheduled into back-to-back-to-back camps, activities and sports.This isn’t a particularly new joke: An Irish friend used it once as a demonstration of the difference between the old Ireland and […]
The prolific Bill Holbrook offers a gag in On the Fastrack today that avoids being too geeky for most people to understand but is up several steps from the “what is this consarn newfangled thing?” level. I think there’s a large number of people who, like me, know when the brakes on the car need […]
(This is one of a series of cartoonist profiles I did in 2003 for the Post-Star of Glens Falls, NY)She works in space, but talks about time.Bunny Hoest operates under very specific rules in writing “The Lockhorns.” It’s one panel with a set cast of two and only a very small supporting cast.In addition, there […]
Technically, John Cole’s cartoon is from yesterday, but editorial cartoons tend to float a little bit in the distribution channel and I didn’t see it until last night. So it’s here today, in part because it’s a good drawing and I think he’s laid it out well, but mostly becauseA: It’s an incredibly appropriate gag […]
Some strips are more autobiographical, or perhaps self-referential, than others. It’s a dangerous game to play, because the more you base any work on personal experience, the more you risk a kind of slavish dependence on real events, and a tunnel vision about what it all means, that keep it from being universal. Which, in […]