Pardon My Planet: Art objects.

It would appear that modern art is every cartoonist's worst enemy.

Perhaps comic strips are every modern artist's worst enemy as well.

Red and Rover: I'll never forget the day I brought you home.

I like seeing stuff like this, older incarnations of a comic strip set against newer incarnations. The drawing generally remains distinctly that of the cartoonist, but as time goes by it tends to become more refined. And we can see that in this Red and Rover. Of course, sometimes it goes the other way, as with Schultz as he got older.

Baby Blues: And brown--I shoulda rinsed the bucket first.

The coloring is correct in this comic. This hardly ever happens even when the coloring should be obvious, let alone when there's something tricky going on, as with this brown water that's not actually revealed to be brown until the last panel. I can only assume that Baby Blues is one of the few comics the colorist actually reads before going to work on it. Kirkman and Scott should feel both proud and grateful.

Curtis: I just bought this matching blouse and flip-flop ensemble!

This is a particularly clever way of solving the ever-present foot problem. If your characters are supposed to have ugly feet, it completely frees you from having to draw non-ugly feet. Agnes called attention to this just a little while ago. Curtis takes it a step further here by crafting an entire storyline around it.

The only odd thing about it is that Ray Billingsly actually draws pretty decent looking feet, so it's not so much a way to cover up an artistic deficiency as just an idea he had for a story. But hopefully some other cartoonists *cough*MortWalkerInc.*cough* will take note and borrow liberally.

Agnes: How did your day go?

Wouldn't this be a good day for any of us?

Agnes is a terrific comic strip.

Drabble: You stared into the refrigerator for half an hour! You're on your way to becoming a true man!

Is this something men actually do? Or is Ralph/the guy who writes Drabble just making up sexist tropes to torture his son/audience?

Family Circus: I'm so mad at Billy, but I can't 'member why!

Jeffy's murderous rage continues apace.

Upon further review, however, we can't discount the possibility that this has all been part of Billy's plan for martyrdom. Everybody loves a good martyr, after all. The tricky part, of course, will be the whole "rising from the dead" thing.

Non Sequitur: The first draft...

Odds are good the first draft of this comic strip was nothing more than a drawing of a giant penis.

Family Circus: Daddy, don't they make a BRIEFER case than this?

In Dolly's New World Order, brief cases will be the size of postcards. They will hold two carefully folded, poster board-sized pieces of paper and possibly a pen if you position it just right.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith: Harpees.

I imagine the brainstorming session for today's Snuffy Smith went something like this:

Cartoonist A: OK, our punchline is purty gud. But I reckon we need a little background humor.

Cartoonist B: Welp, they're gunna be holdin' some fashion magazines, ain't they?

Cartoonist A: Sure.

Cartoonist B: Welp, why not make up some funny names fer 'em that sound like th' name o' REAL fashion magazines?

Cartoonist A: Hey there, that's a great idea!

Cartoonist B: Vogue can become Vague...

Cartoonist A: That's hi-larious!

Cartoonist B: And Bazaar can become Bizarre...

Cartoonist A: Ho ho! You're on a roll now!

Cartoonist B: And ... um ... hmm ...

Cartoonist A: Welp, how's about, er, that there Harper's magazine.

Cartoonist B: Harper's, eh? Is that a fashion magazine?

Cartoonist A: I reckon it must be.

Cartoonist B: Sure. Sure, you must be right. All magazines is about fashion these days, ain't they?

Cartoonist A: They sure are.

Cartoonist B: Welp, then we'll call it Harpees.

Cartoonist A: Ooh, Harpees! That's terrific! It sounds just like a derog'tory word for women!

Cartoonist B: And a lot like a sex'lly transmitted disease!

La Cucaracha: Marmaduke, here I come...

I actually think Marmaduke is better than La Cucaracha. Each comic has a fairly limiting premise--"big dog" in the former, "cockroach that rants about politics" in the latter--that's rarely funny on its own. But despite all of La Cucaracha's various gimmicks (correspondence, politicians monologueing, Boondocks homages, etc.), it doesn't have offer any departure from its basic premise funnier than Marmaduke's more surreal turns.

So to sum up, Marmaduke riding on top of train is funny. An angry panda taking lazy jabs at Marmaduke, not so much.*

*And yes, I realize "an angry panda taking lazy jabs at Marmaduke" is a mere angry panda short of describing this fine blog.

Family Circus: Frank Sinatra? Elvis? The Beatles? Grandma, don't you have any of these things by Justin Bieber?

This cartoon is hilarious because Billy does not understand that media platforms have changed since the time when Grandma was young.

Family Circus: Don't worry, Daddy! We can keep going. I'm not tired yet!

Here we see what is really a very clever foreshadowing of what Dolly's treacherous reign is going to be like for those unfortunate enough to be under her heel.