Kit 'n' Carlyle: Dang! I hate it when she gets a leak fixed!

This cartoon is hilarious because Kit neglects her cat, and Carlyle is going to die from dehydration.

Family Circus: Aw, Mommy! "My Brother's Clothes" isn't really a brand name, is it?

At this point, I think it's safe to say that Jeff Keane is using the family cartoon as an outlet for his exhibitionist (and possibly oedipal) urges.

Born Loser: I saw Ozzy last night, Mr. T! You don't know what you missed--he rocked!

I'm just going to assume that Art Sampson drew this strip thirty years ago, deemed it unprintable, and stuffed it in a desk drawer where it sat for thirty years until Chip Sampson found it a few weeks ago and, being lazy, decided to send it into the syndicate and take a thoroughly undeserved day off.

Because the alternative--that Chip Sampson actually drew this cartoon a few weeks ago, thinking it was a timely and humorous pop culture reference--is just way too depressing.

Mutts: Looks like you gained a little weight this summer, Mooch.

It might seem to the outside observer that Mutts is a comic I should probably hate. It does, after all, consist of overly cute characters telling generally terrible jokes.

The thing of it is, though, I actually really like Mutts. But I'm not sure I can say just why the hell that is.

I think it has something to do with the sense of melancholy it sometimes displays and the traditional drawing style. Even the overly cute characters and terrible jokes are overly cute and terrible in old-fashioned ways. It just has a feel to it that no other contemporary comic strip has. And maybe that's enough.

Family Circus: When I get older, will I hae to pretend to like coffee?

And so Bill continues to prepare Dolly for vague cartoon office life.

Working Daze: The staff is now totally familiar and comfortable with the new software we're using!

The moral of this cartoon is that if you can't think of a decent joke, just distract your audience with a gratuitous ass shot.

Cathy: Khakis, Mother! They're called khakis!!

And so the poor soul who earns a living by coloring Cathy every day has finally had enough and has decided to sabotage the strip from within.

This has been a long time coming.

Born Loser: Okay.

This comic is hilarious because women talk too much and men are inconsiderate assholes.

Family Circus: Mommy, which of these is my flip and which of these is my flop?

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these kids' legs?

Peanuts: I'm not the going-to-school type!

This Peanuts includes a very Family Circus-like malapropism in the third panel when Sally proclaims that she can’t be expected to remember “all that stuff about…the electrical college.” The important thing about it, though, is that it’s not the whole point of the comic, as it would be in a Family Circus cartoon, but rather a slightly humorous sub-joke based on character and context. The actual punchline—that Sally is worried about all of this even though she’s only going to kindergarten—is in the fourth panel.

Or maybe I’m just trying to justify chuckling at something in a Peanuts comic that I would have viciously mocked in a Keane cartoon.