I'm really just sort of shocked there's a comic strip, or any piece of supposed entertainment in any medium in the world, that would actually be lazy enough to use this absurdly old joke in such a straight and unironic fashion.
This cartoon is hilarious because Billy's going to grow up to be a cult leader.
This is a very old joke, but it doesn't actually make a whole lot of sense. While the dead may not be able to complain, the relatives of the dead surely can.
This cartoon is hilarious because Thel was apparently unaware that drums are loud, suggesting that the stupidity so evident in her children is, in fact, a genetic condition.
Nobody ever seems to believe me when I tell them that "Cheeseburger in Paradise" is actually a somewhat depressing song about existential longing. Look, the character in the song wants a cheeseburger. But he can't have it! He's stuck out on the ocean living off of sunflower seeds and carrot juice. And the song ends not with him actually reaching port and eating a cheeseburger, but with him crying out to God asking which way to steer, recalling nothing less than Christ on the cross demanding to know why his father has abandoned him. It's a song about how these things we wish for--heaven, salvation, cheeseburgers--are always just out of reach.
Today's Doonesbury is just a good, solid example of the character-based humor that Gary Trudeau can do in his sleep. And this kind of thing is the reason the strip is so good. The political humor is fine, and I agree with most of it, but it's the impressively textured world that Trudeau has built that really makes the comic go.
This comic is hilarious because public transportation is for poor people and godless city-dwellers and losers with small dicks, all of whom women hate.
This cartoon is hilarious because the Keane children are immoral and materialistic, perfectly willing to lie brazenly to manipulate their loved ones into buying them the things they want.
Of course, as his facial expression in the final panel indicates, Dagwood talking about food on the internet is less like him logging onto Facebook and more like him logging into a chatroom wherein people share their fetishes with one another. That his children are watching him while he does this just adds to the, um, hilarity?
This cartoon is hilarious because Marmaduke is big.
This isn't a bad cartoon, exactly. But I feel like it would make more sense if the cats were sitting around getting high on catnip or something. Catnip to pot is a far better parallel than mice to beer.
This comic is hilarious because Marshall and Bradley are going to contract gonorrhea and possibly die of AIDS.
Actually, Bulk Club makes money by leveraging its suppliers into selling for very little. This, in turn, forces those suppliers to set up their manufacturing plants overseas. Meanwhile, other retail and grocery stores have to slash their prices so they can compete with Bulk Club. To do this, they cut their employees' wages. Even after they do this, many of them go out of business. Bulk Club then hires some of its suppliers' and competitors' former employees at reduced wages and hours. Those employees then can't afford to shop anywhere besides Bulk Club, the aisles of which they wander while wondering how it could make any money.
Bucky Katt: future Republican congressman.
Bucky Katt: Prickly City cartoonist.
This cartoon is hilarious because Billy has been helping Jeffy bury bodies.
This cartoon is hilarious because it was taken from a collection of child molesters' fantasies.
This cartoon is hilarious because Jeffy's a pathetic weakling.
Don't worry, kids. The Winslow house isn't going to fall down. It only looks that way because Marmaduke's so darn big that he's skewed the perspective of the entire cartoon!
This cartoon is hilarious because both Sarge and Otto are alcoholics.
This cartoon is hilarious because Ziggy has unwittingly stumbled into a gay snuff film.
I appreciate the utter bleakness of Stephan Pastis's vision. If Pearls Before Swine is never going to have the texture of Peanuts, at least it shares the same existential despair.
Considering the constraints of the single-panel cartoon, Brevity couldn't really have done this joke any better. Beyond the mere gag of nobody using beepers any more, it actually does a pretty good job of establishing the character, which is impressive considering it's not someone we've ever seen before or will ever see again.
This cartoon is hilarious because Bill and Thel are already preparing Dolly for a life of vague cartoon office humor.
Honestly, the gratuitousness of the tax humor here just makes it all the worse.
While The Family Circus settles for combining just two tropes, Betty manages to riff lamely on three of them:
Not counting this post, I've written about the misadventures of the Keane clan 54 times, and have found the resulting cartoon moderately decent only once. Today's installment marks twice.
