Saturday, September 16, 2006

Saturday



Picture-only Saturday:

Overboard by Chip Dunham
The Meaning of Lila by John Forgetta and L.A. Rose

Overboard and Mallard Fillmore tie for the week with two SPPs each.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Old jokes



Two for this Friday:

Luann by Greg Evans
Monty by Jim Meddick

Monty always seems to have the busiest and most complex SPPs. Meddick goes through a lot more ink than most.

Today's Meaning of Lila:

Just say "fat." It's a lot funnier. And this recycled gag needs all the help it can get.

Today's Mallard Fillmore:


WTF? Your insanity knows no bounds, Mr. Fillmore.

I have a new favorite blog: Duck and Cover I have to stop myself from complaining about Mallard Fillmore every day, but this guy doesn't.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Muppets



The conservative comic strips are taking over the watch. Just one silent penultimate panel today:

Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Is this nit-picky? I'm not sure. But, when it comes to alien design, this Saturnian is pretty lame.

Why would a creature wear a shirt with a picture of his home planet on it? A being from Saturn would be no more likely to have a ring around his head than an Earthling would be covered in tiny clouds. This guy looks like a cheap, hastily-made background muppet used to fill out a muppet crowd scene.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Mallard Fillmore



Four silent penultimate panels today--all featuring animals.

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Garfield by "Jim Davis"
Barkeater Lake by Corey Pandolph
Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley

Mallard Fillmore follows up his debut SPP strip with--the exact same strip!

Just who is the guy with the glasses in the first panel?
A lazy federal worker? An analyst at the footnoted Bureau of Economic Analysis? James Taylor? Only the duck would know.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Two debuts



Two debuts today!

Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers
Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley

Mallard Fillmore finally makes the watch. The strip so rarely consists of sequential panels that it has never actually been on the watch before. Welcome, duck.

But where's the story? It's no secret or shame that some employers pay more than others.

Crankshaft is more of an ongoing serial rather than a gag-a-day strip, and these strips rarely appear on the watch. With just four panels a day to move a story along, there's never much time for a dead panel of no action.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Awkward Overboard


Four silent penultimate panels for this Monday
Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
On the Fastrack by Bill Holbrook
Momma by Mel Lazarus
Overboard by Chip Dunham

By my own rules, Overboard probably should not appear here.

The third panel is a reveal that is necessary for the gag. But the strip is so awkwardly paced, and the gag is so forced and unnatural, it deserves to be on the watch anyway.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Sunday



Five for this Sunday:
Dilbert by Scott Adams
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey
Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Dilbert still has not appeared on the daily watch. It's the most surprising hold out. It turns out that Scott Adams has a very quick and snappy wit. He rarely has to use an awkward pause to make his strips look like jokes. They're just actually funny.

Dueling 9-11 tributes; Brewster Rockit and Mallard Fillmore.


It will be interesting to see if the number of strips like these increase through the years. Like Christmas, the Fourth of July and Memorial day, will we see cartoonists trying to outdo each other in solemnity and righteousness every September?

Saturday


Another quick update here for Saturday (even though it's already Sunday for most of the planet.)

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney


I missed a couple from yesterday, thank you for pointing these out.

The Duplex and Sherman's Lagoon.

And Saturday's Prickly City uses a rare silent second panel.