David Horsey gets the prize today for faking me out — I almost didn’t bother reading the captions because I am so sick of lame cartoons in which the kids are, in fact, dressed as the scary candidates.Those cartoons run every two years or, at least, every four, and it’s enough to make you wish […]
We’ll start today with the front end of a four-day weekend with this Doc and Raider salute to Canada Day from friend-of-the-blog Sean Stephane Martin.The four day stretch between July 1 and 4 was a big deal when I lived in Plattsburgh and I assume still is. We were less than an hour south of Montreal, but […]
I think school is out most places now. Both “School’s Out” and “Back to School” cartoons have a problem of timing, since the actual events can vary by about a month depending on location. But they also have a problem of “same old same old,” and Deflocked sidesteps that today with a gag that goes beyond the […]
Deflocked nails my current working situation, because telecommuting does lead to becoming a bit, well, casual.I had to buy a white dress shirt last week and the good news was that I remembered my neck size, but my sleeves were two inches short and so I couldn’t shoot my cuffs like a well-dressed fella should.Fortunately, I […]
I’m not sure when crossovers in comics became “a thing,” though likely with the Comic Strip Switcheroo of April Fool’s Day, 1997. But two years earlier, apparently Zippy popped up in Family Circus, inspiring this Tom the Dancing Bug that is today’s Classic at GoComics.Crossovers generally pose the challenge that readers need to be familiar with […]
Glenn McCoy leads off the weekly foray into politics with a plain statement about where we’re at.People who bridle at having to vote for the lesser of two evils might be tempted to stay home in November, except that the Republicans are providing two strong motivations for voting: Hatred or fear of one of the likely […]
Deflocked touches on a new lesson I’ve just had. As mentioned before, I’m currently at the Colorado Chapter of the International Reading Association conference in Denver, which is a massive event drawing teachers from well beyond Colorado itself.Among the benefits of hanging out with teachers this year is the discovery that there are now cell phones for […]
I’ll admit from the start that this is not my favorite time of year. Back in the days of listservs, I had a filter set to automatically delete any email that contained the phrase “Twas the night before,” because there was never anything entertaining in the satiric doggerel that followed.And I wish Facebook would figure […]
Oh, good. I was hoping for a good Mother’s Day strip and Jeff Corriveau came through with a Deflocked that emphasizes yesterday’s point about character-driven comedy.Corriveau throws a lot of mud at the wall and it doesn’t all stick, but, when it does, it’s fabulous stuff.It’s hard to preserve the freshness of the Acerbic Animal, […]
A really disconnected grouping today, so let’s start easy with Edge City, in which the grandparents have been exploring the concept of retirement communities. I can be objective about this because, though I am approaching retirement age, I won’t ever be able to afford to retire and writers don’t “retire” anyway. I came to grips some […]
Gonna start today’s short-takes with Hagar the Horrible because it sparks the best rant.To start with, I like the strip because the term “Viking meal” takes me back to my Year of Living on Campus, when someone would occasionally declare a Viking meal at the dininghall, meaning that we were expected to eat without implements […]
Mike Thompson takes a poke at the chickenhawks who would like to see us take on a major nuclear power because, y’know, it would make us more macho and stuff.I’ve recently-and-often said that I don’t much like chickenhawks, and I like them even less since the draft ended, since now they aren’t even required to […]
Terri Libenson on a problem I rarely have but can really identify with. One of the issues with freelancing is that, since you are never on the clock, consequently, neither are you ever off the clock. I don’t juggle a boatload of projects, but there is always something lurking, and even when I don’t have a […]
I really like today’s Deflocked for no particular reason except that it’s cynical and funny and true, despite having not quite plugged all the gaps.That is, I suspect some readers would argue that Thanksgiving also celebrates our bloodthirsty need to possess things, but I’d say the charge, while certainly not baseless, is a bit misplaced. Let’s […]
Some days, you’re just in the mood for thoughtful silliness, like Deflocked. And I don’t mean “thoughtful” in the sense of “absolutely new gags,” much less in the sense of “gags you need to really think about before you get them.” First of all, there aren’t a lot of new gags, at least not since […]