Beele Bailey: There--isn't this just as funny and less polluting?

Yes.

But to its credit, at least Mort Walker Inc. seems to know it.

Herman: The main thing with a horse is you've got to make sure he knows who's the boss.

This cartoon is hilarious because jockeys are short.

Doonesbury: Mike's summer daydream.

This Doonesbury is more smart than it is funny, but we here at The Comics Section are a cultured sort, so we can appreciate this kind of thing.

Trudeau is talking about the tension between our desire to see people change and our desire to see them stay the same. Change is inevitable, to a degree, but at the same time, that change comes so slowly that we don't even notice unless it's been years since we've seen each other. What's more, people will never change in the way we want or expect them to. And what's still more, if they were to change in the way we wanted or expected them to, we would inevitably be disappointed.

Trudeau is also talking about all of this as it pertains to characters in serialized fiction, which is even trickier. If characters remain the same for too long, a comic strip or a television show or whatever will become stale. But if the characters change too drastically too quickly--and thus unrealistically, like the old friends at reunions--they become fake, and the show becomes a shadow of its former self.

The scale is nearly impossible to balance. But this is what we ask of our artists. We're bastards like that.

Ziggy: I always bring a little extra money in case there's another postage hike before I get to the window!!

Considering it's appearing in a Ziggy cartoon, this is a very clever joke. It contains two parts. First, it's hilarious because service at the Post Office is slow. Second, it's hilarious because service at the Post Office is expensive. Granted, neither of these potential sources for humor is even remotely original, and at least one of them is rather strikingly false, but for Ziggy it really is an impressive piece of art.

Which is to say, it's not just a piece of shit. It's like two pieces of shit in one.

Prickly City: Your tush is itchy!

This cartoon is hilarious because the coyote is humping the back of the girl's head.

The Fusco Brothers: How ironic that I'm also agoraphobic.

This is not what irony is.

Family Circus: SCHOOL BUS

This cartoon is hilarious because the city employees are cleaning buses in preparation for the start of the school year.

Thel, meanwhile, still has a huge rack.

Beetle Bailey: A bunch of bozos from the Pentagon are coming to inspect us.

I'm hoping that Fat Hitler--there in the final panel, looking displeased--becomes a regular character.

Wizard of Id: What are you going to do?

This cartoon is hilarious because the wizard is going to torture and murder his wife.

Family Circus: It must be hard work being a saint. You hafta pose for a lot of windows.

What Billy means is that it's hard to be saint because of the way you're constantly having to live up to other people's expectations, their perfected image of you, the image they reproduce in windows and paintings and books.

Thel, of course, has no idea what the fuck Billy's talking about; it's especially hard being a saint when you're surrounded by people as stupid as the Keanes.