Big Nate: My favorite place in the mall is Pretzel Time!

This comic is hilarious because fat kids like to eat.

Adam at Home, Big Nate, Betty, and Candorville: Have you given any thought to a New Year's resolution?

I don't really blame cartoonists for using any particular trope (unless it's an especially egregious circumstance). The sheer number of stories (short though they may be) that cartoonists have to come up with over the course of a year is pretty daunting, after all.

The problem is that it's hard to really say anything particularly new or interesting or funny when you're simply rehashing a set-up that's been used a thousand times over. And that's what's happening here. These are all solid comic strips, but they're basically just going through the motions today.

Big Nate: Success!

Nothing rocks harder than a goat. True story.

Big Nate: I'm packing us some water and trail mix.

This comic is hilarious because teenage girls like to shop.

Big Nate: Rrowr!

This comic is hilarious because Nate is sexually harassing girls at the library.

Big Nate: ...Not including comic books.

Shouldn't comic strip authors know better than to diss the literary cred of comic books?

Big Nate: ...I guess first I'd have to have a cell phone!

While it's nice that Lincoln Pierce is interested in providing his comic strip with a fairly large and diverse world, that's an awfully long set-up for such a tentatively related, throw-away punchline.